Chapter 57 Pretty in Pieces #3
He forced the spear beneath her chin. She fumbled, hooking her arm around it to dislodge it, and threw herself into him. He fell back, toppling off the tree—taking her with him.
The spear dropped. She lunged, wings snapping open. Her fingertips grazed it, narrowly missing it. Below, the Fallen tumbled, his wings jerking out of control—as if the Umbra that controlled him didn’t know yet how to properly work the wings.
He crashed against the ground, the spear flipped in the air, and the point impaled his chest.
"You can’t fly forever," he choked out, blood spraying from his lips. Then, his head lolled to the side—dead.
She had to go. Now.
Luella’s wings jerked in the air, back throbbing in aching pain, along with her left ankle.
She was lagging. The Umbra behind her knew it, too, for the sound of laughter echoed through the treetops, all around.
She couldn’t tell which direction it was coming from.
She whirled in the air, searching. Which way should she go—
Netting wrapped around her—too quick for her to understand—catching her wings, dragging her down, and she screamed, but it didn’t relent.
The tangled netting cut into her wings, rendering her immobile, and the ground rushed up around her.
Tree limbs snagged on her hair and tore her clothes as she fell.
She screamed in pain as the bark cut into her skin and her bones slammed into the trees and rocks.
She fell to the ground with such a sharp, vivid, crushing pain that everything went dark momentarily.
It was moments of bliss, that darkness. Until she was forced back to awareness.
Something sharp prodded into her stomach. She curled into herself on the ground, feeling leaves in her hair and welts on her skin. Blood beading from the cuts and scrapes. Her side was bruised. Her right wing throbbed when she tried to move.
She gagged.
The hard thing dug deeper into her stomach, kicking away her trembling limbs, where she tried to curl up and protect herself.
Voices filtered in and out.
"There she is."
Luella blearily looked up. The tan netting wrapped around her obscured her vision, making it hard to see. She tried to move her hand, but her wrist—
She gave an anguished cry as the shattered bones in her wrist throbbed. She tried to move her head and stare at it. She saw a flash of white bone, jutting from her wrist. Red covered her arm. Bile rose in the back of her throat.
She must’ve landed on it.
"No, no—don’t go back to sleep," said a voice when her head lolled on the ground.
The tip of a boot kicked her stomach, and she whimpered.
Please, help.
She was on the ground. Bodies around her. The Umbra. Some Fallen, some not.
Thunder rumbled so loud that the ground she lay on seemed to quake.
Laughter. "Look at that. The bitch does have power after all."
Another kick. "Get the portal."
Luella’s breathing was labored. All of her awareness honed in on the throbbing pain in her wrist, her ruined ankle, and her swollen body. Could she die from this? She felt like she could.
Maybe…
Death would be a mercy.
"Get Ambrose for a portal…"
The Umbra spoke to each other. She was dimly aware of their words.
"The Tenebrae is waiting."
The thing she was aware of next was hands under her, rolling her onto her back. She stared up at the canopy of the trees, darkened by the thick storm clouds.
The moon was long hidden. She envied it.
Thunder rippled through the forest, echoed by bolts of lightning.
"Leave before… the storm breaks—"
Their tones grew worried.
Luella smiled dully.
And the storm finally—finally—broke free.
It didn’t start as a soft, lazy drizzle. It went straight into a fearsome deluge. It fell upon them all in glass-like shards, pelting their skin.
They growled, cursing.
The sense of relief she felt was unparalleled—a piece of her eased from the storm’s shattering break. She didn’t realize how tense she’d been, holding it back, but now that it was here, she felt like she could finally breathe again.
A face appeared above hers, angry and familiar.
The male from the cliff.
His lips moved, forming words. "Caught you, bitch."
She tried to open her mouth and say something, but could only manage a stuttering gasp. His lips split into a grin.
Another Umbra called, "Ambrose, we must hurry."
The male before her—Ambrose—pulled away, looming over her. She blinked, water clinging to her lashes. She could barely see through the thick sheets of rain falling from the sky. It washed away the blood from her skin.
"Drag her. If she can’t walk, we won’t fucking accommodate her," Ambrose said harshly.
One of the Umbra hissed, "He will not want her hurt further."
Ambrose growled, storming to the Umbra who’d spoken and wrapping a hand around his throat. He slammed the Umbra back into a tree, one hand placed on his chest, finger tapping against his collarbone. "Do not ever tell me what to do."
The Umbra faltered for a moment, until:
"You will pay for this later." The voice was different. As if someone else had spoken through the Umbra, using him as a vessel.
Luella watched as Ambrose made a fist and punched straight through the other Umbra’s chest, bone cracking as he reached right inside him and pulled free his heart.
It was threaded with darkness. Ambrose threw the heart to the ground.
The Umbra wheezed, and as Ambrose withdrew his bloodied hand, he dropped to the ground, gaping hole in his chest.
Ambrose wiped the blood on his pants, carefully cleaning all of it away. Luella found that odd.
He snapped his fingers and waved a hand to Luella. "Drag her."
One of the Umbra, a female Fallen with short-cropped dark hair, walked to Luella and lifted the top of the net by her head, twisting it until it formed a rope, then she began dragging Luella over the ground.
She screamed brokenly as rocks and roots dug into her bruised body.
Ambrose raised a hand, and a portal of darkness formed. Luella was dragged right through it.
A flash of utter coldness seeped into her skin. Everything went dark, as if all light had been stolen, the rain disappeared for a moment, then—
Noise. Sounds. Rushing around her.
Her stomach churned with nausea. She was going to be sick.
She was thrown onto something hard and wet. It rocked beneath her.
She knew what this was.
A ship—
Through the netting, she stared up as a male came into view. Rain sluiced through the air, blurring his shape.
But as he drew nearer, Luella knew exactly who he was.
Dark, silky hair, elegant pointed ears rising from the sides. Pale skin. Green eyes, deep with shadows.
She trembled.
"Hello, conquered Princess," Caliban said.