Chapter 42 #2
I pressed myself into as small a ball as possible, hoping no one would see me through all the foliage. Every limb in my body shook, and some of the leaves started to tremble to the ground from my involuntary movement.
The next Moderator’s voice, I immediately recognized as Zade’s. “It’s in her file that she’s deathly afraid of heights, so not likely. She probably heard you all shouting about her tracks and figured out a way to cover them.”
They continued talking about something, but their voices were too low for me to hear clearly.
A twig snapping from in front of me drew my attention to Soren crouching a few trees over with his finger on his lips to warn me to stay quiet. Then he pointed at me before bringing two fingers to point toward his eyes.
Look at him. Just look at him.
I nodded but couldn’t stop shaking, muscles cramping from tension.
“Let’s not waste time,” said Prisca. “Spread out. Remember to bring her back alive. I want to escort her to the Founder personally. The reward is mine.”
The boots moved away. Still, I didn’t dare move.
Not until Soren nodded and closed in, balancing easily across a branch, quiet as a phantom, steady as a stone.
“How’d you get up here?” I whispered as he reached me.
“I climbed,” he said. “Better question is how did you?”
I made the mistake of leaning over to look down, but Soren quickly grabbed my shoulders and pressed me back against the tree, forcing me to meet his eyes again.
“I don’t know,” I trembled. “There was a light. And then I was here.”
I left out the part about the voice for obvious reasons.
His eyes lifted to the canopy, then dropped to the pendant at my throat.
“Come on,” he said, softer now. “Let’s get you down.” Then he played hero again, holding me as he magically shimmied us back to the ground. I actually had no idea how we got down because I had my eyes squeezed tight the entire time.
The moment my feet hit the earth, my lungs worked again.
“Here,” he said, reaching into a nearby shrub and pulling out a backpack and a sleek crossbow—black, laced in gold. “Brought you this from the bunker.”
My face broke into an unfiltered smile.
“I know it’s not the longbow,” he added. “But it’s self-loading. You know how to use the crossbow, right?”
“Yes!” I squealed, catching myself too late. “Sorry,” I said more quietly and launched into a hug. “Thank you.”
His muscles tensed at my touch. But then an arm looped around my back, warm and sure.
I wanted nothing more than to melt into him, but it was my turn to tense before pulling away and fiddling with my new weapon. I’d never been an emotional hugger, so what the hell was that?
“Let’s go,” he muttered, voice rough again. “The others are meeting us at The Last City.”
I cleared my throat and sucked my cheeks between my teeth to get rid of my weird grin and the feeling of Soren hugging me.
Then I followed him in the direction that Prisca and her minions had come from.
We mainly trekked in silence, save for the buzz of mosquitoes, the chirping of the birds, and the crunch of leaves and twigs under our feet.
At least I had shoes now, thanks to our stop at the warehouse.
“Can I be the one to ask you a question now?”
Soren’s voice broke through the quiet after nearly two hours of walking.
I glanced at him under the pale light seeping through the trees. He wasn’t looking at me, but straight ahead.
“Sure,” I said. “But I can’t guarantee I’ll answer, seeing as you never answer mine.”
I could only see the edge of his face, but I would’ve bet both corners of his mouth curled up when his tongue flicked across his bottom lip in a quiet smile.
“Why do you really want to kill Azazel?”
“Ugh,” I groaned, “I thought you were going to ask something interesting.”
I stumbled over a root and flailed—not gracefully—and he probably saw that, too. But he was merciful enough not to react too obviously.
“He killed my mom,” I muttered. “Left me an orphan. Gets to live like royalty while I get nightmares and rage issues. He deserves to be punished.”
Soren didn’t give much of a response. Just a hum.
Several minutes passed. We walked in silence, too far apart for comfort.
I veered left to close the space between us. He shifted toward me as well, pressing a hand lightly against my lower back as he guided me around a stump. We’d somehow become magnetized, two poles pulled together regardless of our own will.
“It won’t bring her back,” he said.
I’d heard that before from Zade. Too many times.
“I think you’re chasing something else,” Soren added. “You’re not just after revenge. You want back what you lost.”
His voice dropped lower. “You want a family.”
“Hm,” I grumbled, turning the sound into disagreement.
Then I quickened my pace even though I didn’t know where I was going because no way was I letting this bastard into my head. His mouth might have the ability to set my skin alight, but he had no idea what I really wanted. I didn’t even know what I wanted, but it certainly wasn’t a family.
“Always running away,” Soren murmured behind me.