Chapter 56 Avalynne
AVALYNNE
Storm clouds rage above me, releasing a torrent of sleet and snow as I navigate the dense, tangled woodland.
The forest canopy obscures almost all light as I push ahead in the darkness past thorny vines and winter-barren trees.
Brittle leaves crumple beneath my feet, concealing pits and rocks that lay traps for my ankles, as rough branches score my skin.
I barely feel their stings, though. My flesh has gone dead. The numbness sinks inward now.
My heart drums louder than even the thunder churning overhead. I tear clumsily through the forest, my feet blunt weights tied to my legs. My lungs feel like they're going to pop behind my ribs, but I can't stop.
Not now.
Not after everything.
Not until I can find my way off this godforsaken island and back to Grandpapa.
Lightning crackles through the clouds overhead, illuminating twisted branches in a pulse of brutal flashes.
Then I'm plunged into the dark again, enveloped by shades of gray—gray trees, gray sky, and gray rock.
Wind curls beneath my camisole, unfurling icy fingers around my middle.
I press forward, even as the world distorts through another downpour.
Forest blends with snow, snow with shadow, and shadow with ground.
A wounded roar sounds behind me.
Xade.
The thought of his name twists a serrated blade in my chest. I thought I could trust him. I loved him, and he said he loved me, only to partner with the person who despises me the most.
That's not love. That's betrayal wearing dress slacks and a white button-down.
Xade was supposed to be mine, my safe place, my everything, but now he's just another person in a long line of people who have tried to steal from my family and take advantage of my grandfather's generosity.
Then to tell horrific lies on top of it all?
What he did was unforgivable. I want to bleach his words from my memory and make him pay.
Anger fuels my footsteps tonight.
Relentless sheets of sleet plunge from the furious sky as a rush of air pulls at my hair and plasters my camisole to my skin in ribbons of wet, shredded satin. Dirt and blood stain the fabric, and vaguely, I realize that the thing is falling off of me, one of the straps torn.
I'm too cold and too tired to care.
I keep moving, pushing through my chattering teeth and dead feet. My limbs are turning into concrete anchors that tug at my middle. The sensation of pins and needles is gone, replaced by blissful numbness.
Half of my flesh is lifeless and waxy from the storm. The other half will be soon enough. I can't feel the icy air anymore as it spears my lungs. My leaden feet trip over a root, and I tumble forward, my skull smacking a tree and wobbling the world.
A pulse starts in my brain as I push myself upright, bark lodging splinters beneath my fingernails.
My thoughts are slow to form, thick as molasses.
Where … where am I?
What am I doing here?
Reality returns to me with the nearby strike of lightning.
Run.
I'm supposed to run, but maybe if I lie down for a moment. If I just close my eyes …
No! Wake up!!
I'm dead if I stop moving. Slurred thoughts and shivering, confusion and drowsiness, hypothermia is here.
Stay awake.
One step, two steps, three. I continue to count them, trying to anchor myself to reality, but wait … what number comes next? I thought the road was this way? Or is it behind me?
The sensation of encroaching paralysis draws my attention down, and horror twinges inside my gut. It's just a pinch, nothing more. A high-pitched whine splits through my ears as I examine someone else's hands. A dead person's hands.
The skin is mottled, covered in spiderwebs of dusky blue. I blink at them, shaking my head and trying to clear my thoughts. Lightning strikes again, splitting a nearby tree and sending shrapnel through the air.
RUN!
I start forward again, my breath clouding as my lungs freeze.
"Avalynne!" A name cleaves the storm.
I can't remember why I'm running, but I know I must. Instinct keeps me going.
I plunge deeper into the thicket, dodging low-hanging branches and sloshing through puddles of wet snow. My feet fall clumsily, not wanting to obey, and my toes snag on slippery rocks.
That familiar name is called again.
It's … it's Xade. Xade calls my name. He's the reason I need to run. I remember now.
His voice is thin, edged with panic, and I want to scream at him, but I don't know what to say. Frost ices my thoughts, but the emotions I remember.
Anger. Betrayal. Fear.
I wheeze and stagger out of the thicket. Branches claw at my arms as the trees thin. I enter an open field and look ahead, then left, then right. My brain freezes with the rest of me.
Fucking run!
I jolt forward. My breath comes in shallow pants as my chest tightens. The wind picks up, howling like a wild thing. Sleet hits my skin like dull darts, and somewhere up ahead, the ocean roars. Brine and whitewash flood my nostrils. This hell tastes like frozen salt.
A shadow moves ahead of me—no, to the left—but when I look directly at it, it's gone. Trees warp like reflections on twisted glass. They all look the same. Every direction leads to nowhere.
I stumble, my ankle twisting painfully as my knees meet rock. A cry bursts from my throat, and for a moment, I'm still. I stagger to my feet with a groan, my vision going gray and slanted. It clears to the shrill ringing sounding again in my ears.
I start forward, but my right leg is dead, dragging behind me.
Step. Drag. Step. Drag. The pattern continues.
Buried deep beneath the cold, part of me realizes the sea is closer now. I've lost my bearings.
My tongue is thick and heavy. My breath is slow and labored. The cold is no longer around me—it's inside, lancing the hollow behind my ribs.
Everything is distant, and I blink. My vision doubles, triples, then resets.
The road.
I remember. I have to find the road.
It's east of here. Or maybe it's west?
I turn in a sluggish circle, squinting through the downpour.
Which way did I come from?
Which way leads back to the convent?
I try to focus, but I spot him instead.
A figure stands in the distance between two tall trees. It stretches, becoming monstrous, and shrinks back down to reveal a man cloaked in black, unmoving and watching me.
The Devil of Saint Margaret's has come to collect his dues.
A deluge of freezing rain blinds me. When I look ahead again, he's gone.
Was he ever really there?
Pebbles pop beneath my feet as the bluffs stretch in either direction. A toothed edge marks where the island ends and the sea begins. Waves explode against rock, spraying salt and foam into the air.
"Please!" Xade's voice is closer now, and the terror in it thaws my frozen thoughts. "Stop!"
"Stay away from me!" I scream, the words sluggish and choppy.
I pivot toward him and step back. My heel slides on gravel. I blink and forget why I'm here.
He's so close now.
"Stay away!" My words are weaker this time. I can't remember why I'm saying them.
His face crumples before he lurches forward the moment before I slip backward.
Wind snaps at my spine. The world pivots in a sickening spin as the sea rushes past my ears. I fall for a fraction of a second before his hand latches onto the tatters of my camisole and yanks me forward.
I slam into his chest. He stumbles backward and falls. We collapse in a tangle of limbs against the rocky shore. His arms cage me and crush me to his chest.
"Avalynne." His voice trembles against my ear.
I push him away with a sob, rolling free as he releases me. I climb to my feet, swaying. I stagger, my vision pulsing in and out with each sluggish heartbeat.
"Angel …"
A voice curls through the storm, wrapping me in hot caramel. I turn, trying to see, but everything goes sideways. My mind detaches from my body as a strange warmth bursts from the back of my head.
And then—nothing.
I fall again.
This time, the dark catches me, and it doesn't let go.