Page 32 of Wolf of Ashes
He releases me but tugs me toward the solid surface. “Come.”
I cast my gaze to either side of us along the corridor, my mind refusing to believe that he’s walking toward the solid structure. “Come… where?”
He throws me a reassuring look over his shoulder, but his focus shifts to our right.
Fuck. I guess the Commander is a liar after all.
My senses tell me that a group of angels is hurrying toward us, the intensifying floral scent in the air indicating that they’re now far too close for comfort.
I’m also aware of a haze building around me, the keeper, and the panthers—a haze that’s quickly enveloping the keeper one step ahead of me and the panthers all around us. Then me, too.
The fog is thickening so fast that I can’t breathe.
It’s as if the air is being sucked out of my lungs and my chest is imploding.
What the fuck?
A scream builds inside me, but I can’t cry out, can’t move, as the fog suddenly swirls and a tornado of mist forms in front of me. The keeper’s dark form blurs, swept into the tornado like streams of black blood in churning water.
My body seems to disintegrate and the scream in my mind fades as everything goes dark.
CHAPTERTEN
Iland heavily on all fours, my knees thwacking the hard surface that appears suddenly beneath me.
I’m grateful that I can breathe again, but my limbs are refusing to obey me, keeping me on the ground as if my instincts are telling me to never let go of the earth again. “What the fuck?”
I don’t know where I am, certainly not in the Cathedral anymore. A rush of air brings a maelstrom of scents that makes my head swim. Old food. New food. Oily scents I’ve never smelled before. On top of that, the air is intensely salty and feels heavy with moisture, a phenomenon I can’t explain.
The surface beneath me is rough and gray like gravel.A road, maybe?If so, I need to move quickly. Mom warned me about stepping onto roads. Moving vehicles are to be avoided.
A quick glance from side to side tells me there are only three vehicles nearby and they’re all stationary, sitting within white lines that mark the surface at regular intervals. I try to look up, but bright lights shine in my eyes from multiple spots high around the space, obscuring the sky and making it impossible for me to keep looking skyward.
The darkness I glimpse beyond the lights is confusing, since only moments ago, it seemed that dawn was on the way.
Still, I’ve seen enough to decipher what sort of place I’ve arrived at.
This must be a parking lot.
Low-lying buildings squat around the parking lot on the three sides I can see. They have glass fronts, but all are dark inside except for one to my left. Inside that one, I make out a few tables and chairs and a counter in the background, along with several humanoid shapes moving around within it.
Then a groan sounds behind me and I twist to find the keeper also resting on his hands and knees. His cheeks are tinged green, and he appears to be trying to hold on to the contents of his stomach. The panthers are scattered on either side of him, all lying on their sides, their chests heaving and tongues out.
“What the fuck was that?” I ask the keeper.
“I translocated us to a safe place,” he explains, visibly swallowing as he wobbles upright, slowly making it up onto his knees, where he remains for a long moment. “I’ll admit, my skills need some work.”
I raise my eyebrows at him. “You think?” I also make it up onto my knees, trying to make sense of the distant rushing sound. It’s strong and constant. “Where are we?”
The keeper’s chest fills out as he takes a deep breath and then seems somehow to exhale his nausea. His cheeks regain their color and his eyes brighten. “A little town off the northeastern coast of Australia.” He brushes his hands off. “It’s on the other side of the world, which means night is only beginning.”
Well, that’s something positive at least.
“Nobody will find us here,” he says.
I narrow my eyes at the rundown buildings, the chipping paint and peeling flyers plastered to their sides. I can now make out the signs in the fronts of some of the stores:For Lease.
“That’s because nobody lives here,” I say, surmising what I can from the empty buildings.
