Chapter Eleven #2
Will wipes sweat from his forehead. “We’ll have just missed the changing of the guards. Tomorrow at dawn—that’s our best shot to sneak through the barrier while the patrols are switching shifts.”
Gabriel’s eyes narrow. “What about tonight? Slip through under the cover of darkness?”
Will shakes his head. “Underling activity is more volatile after the sun goes down. We stand a better chance at escaping the Burning Lands with our lives if we wait until morning.”
I look between the two of them, tapping my fingers on the hilts of my daggers as I consider Will’s proposal.
Gabriel’s gaze slides to me once more, his expression taciturn. “Captain?”
I nod slowly, gesturing at Will. “Lead the way.”
I pull the brim of my tricorn hat low to shield my eyes from the blistering sun, my feet aching. I take a sip of water from my flask when Will announces we’re a few miles from the cave, and several drops of liquid seem to sizzle on my parched tongue.
Henry follows close behind Will as we climb the ridge, silhouetted by the blazing orange sky as the sun finally relents, sinking below the distant flat-topped mountains.
All day, Henry has been mindful of his brother’s uneven gait, his constant struggle for breath, catching him each time he stumbles and slowing his pace when Will appears close to collapse.
As they disappear over the dusty hill, Will places a hand on Henry’s shoulder, and though I’m too far behind them to hear what he says, Henry gives a determined nod, and I catch the words “…Annie would want to see you.”
My chest squeezes. I know what he means by this.
When Morana is forced from Annie’s body, there’s the possibility that Annie’s soul might linger a moment more, just like Dorothy and Leo had clung to life in the minutes after the Sylks had been expelled from their hosts.
And Annie will want to see her brothers one last time.
My heart clenches as Henry pats Will on the back, and the two of them continue to speak in hushed voices. They remind me so much of my own siblings—the bond we share. I know the pain of grieving a sibling, but while success today means that we save Owen, it also means that we will lose Annie.
“You’ve got that look in your eye,” Gabriel says quietly, matching my pace at the back of the group.
I glance at him sidelong, his hand resting on the bloodred hilts of his swords. “What look?”
He lets out a sound somewhere between a huff and a laugh. “The one that means trouble.”
“That hardly narrows it down.”
He rolls his eyes. “If you’re planning on doing something reckless—”
“All my best plans include doing something reckless.”
His expression turns grave as he shakes his head. He whispers, half to himself, “You sound just like Flynn.”
A knot forms in my throat. Flynn. In the short time I came to know him, he became someone I trusted.
Someone I considered a friend. And the sincerity in Gabriel’s voice makes me realize that while I’ve feared the Shifter has replaced someone close to me—while it would break my heart to discover he’s taken Margaret’s form, or Henry’s—I don’t want it to be Gabriel, either.
I open my mouth to ask Gabriel what he thinks of Owen’s message on the train when Will signals that he’s found the cave, and Gabriel jogs a few paces ahead to scout our surroundings.
It doesn’t take us long to set up camp for the night.
We don’t light a fire. We don’t want to risk a patrol spotting us.
Gabriel and Will take the first watch, while Margaret, Jack, Henry, and I roll out our sleeping mats at the back of the cave.
I don’t think any of us plan on falling asleep, but we agree we should rest, if we can.
It will be a few hours before the patrols change, and with all the anxious energy passing through our group, it’s going to be a long night.
I settle into my corner of the cave, attempting to give Jack and Margaret their space, while Henry sits propped against the side wall, close enough that he can watch Gabriel’s and Will’s backs, if necessary.
I try not to think about how, in a few hours, we’ll enter Morana’s kingdom, where an army of Underlings awaits us, because if I think about it for too long, I start to doubt my plan—if it can even be called that.
There’s a moment where I feel foolish for not listening to Mother.
For thinking it could be this simple. For thinking we could win.
But I focus instead on what we stand to gain.
Delivering Annie of Morana’s influence—allowing her a dignified death.
Liberating Owen from his bondage and curing both him and Will from the Shifter curse that demands they feed on blood.
The same curse that, if the Shifter who bit me wills it, could turn me into a monster who would kill the people I love without remorse.
If we win—when we win—Morana will be weakened.
We will have turned the tides of a six-hundred-year war.
We’ll be one step closer to freedom. Safety.
Security. For everyone—not just Myths, not just humans. Nightweavers, too.
It’s that thought that conjures up images of Elsie and Albert playing on the beaches of the Red Island.
I smile, thinking about how happy they’ll be to see Owen again.
Surely, everyone will agree that our two youngest siblings don’t need to know what he’s done while in service to the Underlings.
If Father can forgive him, my siblings will follow suit.
They just need time. And whether I’ve admitted it to myself or not—I’ve been so driven by my need to save him that I haven’t allowed myself to really think about what it will be like after he’s been saved—I might need some time to forgive him, too.
“Aster!” Will hisses, rousing me.
I jolt upright. “How long have I been—” I blink, attempting to adjust to the pitch-blackness, but all I can make out are hazy shapes. “Is everyone—”
“Everyone’s fine,” Will whispers, steadying me as I get to my feet. “But we don’t have much time.”
“Why—” I look past him, where Gabriel appears to have dozed off, too, slumped against a boulder at the mouth of the cave.
“Don’t be angry,” Will starts, speaking quickly—perhaps more quickly than I’ve ever heard him speak, “but I influenced him to sleep. Not for long. A few minutes. Which means we must go,” he adds urgently. “Immediately.”
My heart races as he takes my hand, practically dragging me out of the cave and into the hazy twilight.
“What’s happening?” I ask, glancing back at Gabriel, his chin resting on his chest, one hand still clutching his dagger, even in sleep.
My heart skips a beat when a sliver of moonlight reflects off the cuffs of Elysian Iron chained to his wrists.
I tug on Will’s hand as I attempt to take a step back, but his grip is unyielding. “What have you done?”
Fear unlike anything I’ve ever seen from Will flickers in his eyes, but I can tell he’s doing his best to stay calm for my sake. “Aster, you need to come with me—”
“Or what?” I jerk free from his grasp and stagger back a step toward the cave. “You’ll use your powers on me? Influence me to obey?”
He looks as if I’ve slapped him across the face. “Of course not!” He searches my gaze, his eyes glassy. “You don’t really believe I would do that, do you?”
The hurt that cracks his pleading expression makes me want to say, No, I don’t believe that. But my silence is its own answer.
“I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what’s going on.”
“I’ll tell you everything,” he whispers, his voice breaking. “But first—”
I plant my heels. “Tell me now.”