Chapter 30
While the children play in the yard with the support workers watching over them, Maya and I sit in the kitchen.
I cup the chilled tea. Three bobbing ice cubes float in mine.
She stirs her coffee with a spoon. Her bright silver eyes hold a cloud of worry, but ease with every flicker of movement towards the bag resting near my feet.
I’m leaving today. Someone in the Fountain of Silver can smuggle me into the Kingdom of Cloud.
“Mr Walsh can take you wherever you want to go after August. Lie low there for a while, and don’t show your face. The Knights of Eraminia won’t know any better if you don’t. And he can sneak you away unnoticed when it has calmed down.”
“And you’re sure he knows I’m coming?”
“Yes. He’s a loyal worker for Nancy. They had a, uh…romantic business relationship.”
I eye her and then look away. “She never left Oceanview Harbour.”
“You don’t always need to see someone to persuade them to do something for you, Myra,” Maya says with a breathy laugh. “Phone sex is still a thing.”
I blanch at the thought.
Xavier wanted phone sex when we started dating. While he panted through the receiver and made horrific moaning noises of someone in pain, I stared at the ceiling with a bland look. Exotic words whispered sweetness into the ears of an elemny who ejaculated after one hitched breath I made.
He would then ask how it felt to me. Lies were spoken, as expected. I told him my fingers oozed with possibilities, but they were as dry as a fucking desert. No amount of time on the phone would have made me leak like a faucet. It was dry, like a shortbread biscuit without milk.
Fucking annoying.
I refrain from telling Maya my thoughts, as she reminisces on sexually repressed teenagers in her relationships while at the academy.
It makes me laugh because it’s true. Fuck me; they’re like a vibrator without an off button.
Many boys at Oceanview Harbour and Loreth Elemny Academy grabbed their package—and lack of one—and spoke obscene words of desire as if it would make me spread my legs on command and froth over their pin-dicks.
There was only one elemny I desired, and he was far from a pin-dick.
But now he’s dead.
“How did it feel?” Maya’s silver eyes dart to the TV and the news of what’s happening at the castle.
“Oh…” I struggle to think of a suitable word because, when it happened, I didn’t sit and consider how it made me feel.
Only the after-effects of Queen Ji-Sun’s unfortunate death remain.
“Nothing at first. I didn’t have time to register.
But when I was on the ship, I felt disgusted with myself.
How he tried to touch me reminded me of all the times my body was… ”
I force a smile. She likely doesn’t have a clue what I’m talking about. Therefore, I’ll give her the most generic answer to please her.
“I laughed.”
“Wow,” Maya says with a smirk settling on her face. “Hardcore.”
I knew she would say something along those lines.
After finishing my drink, I rise from the table and say, “I should leave. Thanks for letting me stay.”
“Here.” Maya slides the envelope with a key to her postal locker in the Fountain of Silver. “The passport should be there when you arrive. Sorry that I couldn’t have it here. With everything you’ve told me, I want nothing traced back to me.”
I shake my head. “Honestly, letting me stay for a few days was enough.”
I grab my bag when the screen door flies open. One of the soaking-wet children enters the kitchen and clings to Maya’s jumper. “A black car has parked out front.”
I leave the kitchen and head towards the back of the house. Through the heavy rain, a silver-haired figure in a grey suit speaks to a child through the open rear screen door. I mutter a swear, thrust open the basement door, and close it as silently as possible before creeping down the stairs.
I reach for the narrow, frosted glass window when I hear tapping from the front door. They didn’t even push the fucking buzzer.
Fuck! Fuck me! I’m so fucking dead!
Two sets of footsteps creak against the floorboards. Slivers of light from the lanterns illuminating the living room fade as shadows move across. “Prince Reen, have you come to make another contribution to Sweethearts Orphanage?”
A low, dark chuckle breathes through the rumbling thunder and heavy rain. “Sure. Let’s entertain ourselves for a little while, shall we?”
“I will check upstairs.” My throat tightens at the familiar drawl of his voice. It’s the air elemny I met that night.
“If you find her, let her run,” Prince Reen says. “I like a challenge.”
Motherfucker, really? Gee, thanks, I fucking guess.
My focus settles on the windows again. After pressing my hands against them, I wait until the thunder claps before I twist the latch and let it hook against the support.
Water flows over the ledge when I press my hands against it and push myself up with my backpack filled with the extra supplies Maya offered me.
Rain already drenches my clothes and plasters my hair to my face as I rise.
The man who spoke to the children appears before me, and my stomach flips at the sight of him.
With cautious movements, I step back and rest my hand on the dagger’s hilt.
I doubt I can take him, but I hope I can distract him enough to flee… hopefully.
He’s an air elemny of colour. He can manipulate the wind. Or worse…force the air out of my lungs until there’s shortness of breath.
Silver eyes shift right, looking at the gate leading out of Sweethearts Orphanage. With careful movements, he takes a step to the side and nudges his head. My eyes narrow, and my lip curls as I shuffle away from his suggested direction, instead moving towards the fence closest to me.
I grip the metal poles, throw the bag over the spikes, jump up, roll over the bag and onto the other side. I land with a thump in the sodden puddles, and when I rise, the elemny of colour watches me curiously before he turns away and heads toward the front of the orphanage.
My frown deepens, but before my thoughts drift too much, I sling the pack over my shoulder and go to leave.
However, my focus shifts towards the black sedan parked out front.
A risky idea comes to me. Sneaking across the shrubbery lining the front of the fence, I reach the car.
The dagger spins around my fingertips before I drive it through the back and front tyres.
I peek in the window and notice a wallet in the cup holder. Opening the door, I wince at the dinging alert coming from the open car door. As quickly as possible, I grab the wallet, flip it open, take the thick slab of cash, toss it aside, and run for it.
I leave through the back alleyways I’ve never taken, but it doesn’t matter.
The entrance to the Kingdom of Storm is visible, so I run towards it.
However, I face a dilemma when I arrive.
The ship I booked will leave within half an hour.
I suspect they will know where to go if Maya breaks down and provides them with information. Therefore, I need to change direction.
At least I should travel somewhere else.
I can visit another free city until I figure out how to reach the Fountain of Silver and get a new passport.
Shit.
The guards on duty don’t bat an eyelid when I leave, and I head towards the ships. It’s high tide, so I don’t have to travel down thousands of stairs. That, on top of everything else, would’ve ruined my day.
As I step onto the pier, the ship I aimed to take boards up.
“Please, let me in,” I say.
“Sorry,” the water elemny apologises, “We stopped taking anyone ten minutes ago. The next one will come this evening.”
“Okay,” I say.
Fuck!
There are two other ships when I scan the pier. The one I need to get on will leave in thirty minutes, but that’s too late. The other leaves in an hour, which isn’t any better. So, what the fuck should I do?
I drag my hand down my drenched face and groan. Through parted fingers, my focus fixes on a ship nearby with no one standing guard. I tilt my head to the side and eye it until I suddenly realise it’s Prince Reen’s—oh…
I eye the harbour, but the ship I wanted to get on left, and it’s empty—aside from the other two ships. So, my feet take me down a dangerous path. My breath hitches, and my heart breaks through my ribs as I move up the stairs and stand on an empty ship.
There are no workers. It’s a fucking ghost ship.
My hands tighten on the bag as I walk across the deck and around to the other side.
I notice stairs leading up and head up to the second floor, where rows of doors come into view.
I grab each handle, jiggling them until one finally opens.
Slipping inside, I turn my attention to a relatively unused room.
After I lock the door, I creep through and open the bathroom door.
After wringing out the excess water, I peel off my drenched clothes, flop them into the bathtub, and change into something dry.
Then, I wrap my backpack in a dry towel before dragging the other towel across the tiles and floorboards until no footprints remain.
“What do I do now?” I say. “I’m literally across enemy lines and dancing with fire on this one, Pandora.”
There’s a door to a closet that looks directly at the bed.
My focus settles on the shelf above, stacked with boxes.
I throw the bag up first, step onto the dresser inside the closet, and then push myself until I’m on the shelves.
I crawl behind the boxes, wiggle through the space, and push the boxes forward once more.
Then I eye the open fucking wardrobe door and mutter my complaints.
I move the boxes to the side, lean forward, hook my finger on the panel, and close the closet before pushing them back into their rightful place. But I leave enough of a gap to see through the boxes and out of the wooden panels overlooking the bed.
This is the stupidest fucking plan of my life. But no one said I was fucking bright. If anything, the enemy wouldn’t think of searching their territory, right? They might think I boarded the departing ship.
All I need to do is wait until they dock somewhere else, give it half an hour, and then flee to another ship. But if they dock at the Fountain of Silver, I must weigh my other options.
Until then, I should focus all my attention on this room. I take a deep breath, ease my tight muscles, and glare at the door leading into the room. My hand clutches the dagger, ready for anything.