Chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“The roof?”
“You see the ledge above the entrance?”
“Yes.”
“There’s something on the glass I need to show you.”
I tiptoed, straining to see anything other than bird crap.
“You won’t see it from here,” he added.
“Oh.” I swallowed, pulling at my collar. “I’m not sure I should be getting too close to the glass. What if I fall?”
“You won’t.”
“How can you be sure?”
“Because I’ll be right there with you.”
Yes, because you offer so much reassurance. “I don’t know. What is this thing you want me to see?”
“You just have to see it. Touch it.”
“Touch the glass?”
“It’ll be fine.”
Spectral hands wrung my insides like a wet dishcloth. “Why can’t you tell me what’s going on?”
“I will.”
“Why not now?”
“Because you have to see it first.”
I looked between him and the glass dome, hopping from foot to foot. If I did fall through that glass, I’d be breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the dead inside. At the same time, the alpha had successfully piqued my curiosity.
“You’ll be up there with me?” I asked.
“I will.”
“Do you promise?”
His lips twitched. “I promise.”
I rubbed at my left cheek, scrutinizing the dome.
Crap. “Let’s get this over with.”
Miko nodded and climbed up the wall with speed to make my head spin. He bent over the ledge, offering me his hand.
With gallons of trepidation, I took his hand—calloused and rough, so strong. A spark of heat bit at my palm as I made contact, his nostrils flaring as he clearly felt the same thing.
He recoiled, inspecting his hand.
I licked my lips. “One of us must be super charged.”
Static electricity. That’s all it was.
He cocked a brow at his palm.
“Are you okay?”
Miko blinked, offering me his hand again without a word. I took it, letting him pull me onto the ledge.
We stood inches apart, his breath on my face.
Hands still joined…
My lips parted, a flush of warmth racing across my skin as he stared at me.
He’s not taking his hand back…
A prickling energy danced within the small gap between us, calling to my desires, reminding me of his masculine beauty. Totally the wrong moment, absolutely inappropriate, yet I found myself mesmerized by the dark pools of his gaze, entranced by our proximity.
And he stared right back. Did not move, did nothing to break this weird spell.
Was it really a spell, or me being a complete idiot?
What about him?
A second spark struck our palms. Miko yanked his hand back, folding his arms to hide it.
I broke out of the reverie, coming to my senses. “So…” My mouth was dry. “What… Where… So…” Stars! What happened to my speech? “I…”
“It’s there.” He unfolded those big arms, pointing downward.
I followed his finger, happy to avoid eye contact. “Oh.”
Drawn on the mucky glass in blue paint was the shape of an eye with an X in the middle of it. I crouched to get a closer look at the crude symbol.
“What is this?”
“You haven’t seen it before?” he wondered.
“No. What is it?”
“The mark of the oracle. You ever heard of them?”
“No. Why? Who is it?”
“A possible link to ending Dawn.”
I almost fell off the ledge. “Really?”
A nod. “Try touching the symbol.”
My fingers flexed. “Why?”
“To see if anything happens.”
“Have you touched it?”
“Yes. Nothing happens.”
I bit my bottom lip, uneasy. “I don’t…I don’t want to touch it.”
“Why not?”
“Can I get down?”
“After you touch it.”
I looked up at him, his eyes swimming with scary shadows. “I don’t… What is this?”
“Are you hiding something, Orion?”
“What? No.”
“Then touch it.”
The menace in his gaze and the size of him frightened me. I might be quick on my feet, good with an axe, but he outdid me in everything else.
Unless I could shove him off the roof. Not high enough to kill, but enough to buy me time to run.
“Please, Orion.” His tone softened slightly. “Then we can get out of here.”
Rather than argue with him above a prison of zombies, I touched the symbol. I wanted off this ledge, and I knew he wouldn’t yield until I did what he asked.
Which made him an assbug.
Nothing happened as I traced my finger around the symbol. “Happy?”
No answer.
Whatever the sensation had been between us moments ago, it could jump off a cliff with an anvil hanging from its neck now.
I stood up, facing him. “I asked you a question.”
He was staring at the symbol.
“And here’s some more: What is this symbol? Why are we here? Why did you force me to do that?”
“Another test,” he said, drawing a blade from beneath his coat.
I shivered, dangerously close to tumbling of the ledge. “What are you doing?”
“Fae blood can be a useful tool if it’s used on or with the right things.”
My heels teetered on the edge. “Blood magic. Are you a blood magi?”
“No. Of course not. Listen, prick your finger, drop some blood in the mark. See if anything happens.”
Frightened, I gave in too quickly, furious at myself for being so weak.
I just wanted out of here.
I took his dagger, pricked my finger, smeared blood on the symbol.
Nothing happened.
“Now can we go?” I sucked my finger.
His eyes narrowed. “Who are you?”
A crack like a gunshot tore through the air. Seconds later, the glass beside me shattered. I yelped, losing my balance, falling into the new hole and landing on my hands and knees painfully hard. My palms sliced open on the blanket of glass, my knees screaming in agony.
I trembled with shock, the pain confusing me in the pool of daylight, shadows all around me. Trying to breathe, trying to comprehend my situation in the humid air and the acrid stench of decay.
“Orion!” Miko called from above.
A sickening chorus of hisses came from the shadows, drifting up the stairwell close by. Then the sounds of running, the familiar terror of speedies coming for their prey.
“Oh… Oh stars…” I wheezed. “Oh…”
The alpha landed beside me, boots crunching the glass. “I’m here.”
Your fault… “I… Gunshot.”
Dead footsteps closing in, the hissing louder.
Miko hauled me up, slinging me over his shoulder. “I’m getting you out of here.”
“What… What happened?” My mind swam in thick soup, the pain seriously assaulting my senses.
With an arm locked around my middle as if I were a rolled-up carpet on his shoulder, Miko took a run at the wall, launching at the hole in the roof. He got us up and out, dragging us into the cool air, back onto the ground.
He moved me off his shoulder, holding me in his arms.
“Are you alright?”
I blinked up at him, getting a grip on myself.
My angry self. “Do I look okay?”
“Shit.”
“What?”
I heard it, then.
Turning my head, my stomach dropped at the tsunami of speedies. An entire horde of them charging from all directions, drawn by the commotion. Blocking off every escape route.
“Oh. My. Stars.”