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Alana, the one who is right now plotting to kill every Shadowkind left in the city, is not my Alana anymore. She is a stranger. A monster who has eaten the heart of Alana Leafborne and left darkness in its place. A chasmic black hole that is determined to swallow everything in its path.
“I’m not sure yet.” I tweak my fingers under the girl’s chin. “But we’ll figure something out.”
Leaving her to put on her tattered pair of shoes, I wait outside, leaning against the wall, breathing heavily.
I don’t know how to do this.
I have no idea how to take a school full of small fae children who can’t fly and get them out of the city unseen by Eldrion’s forces or by Alana.
The pair of them seem to share his ability to see now. But I don’t know what that means. Can they see whatever they want? Will they know that I’m here and what I’m trying to do?
I wring my hands together in front of my stomach. I feel like I might vomit.
In fact, I am going to vomit.
Running over to the garbage can opposite the dormitory, I grip hold of it and vomit hard into its depths. The taste is hot and acrid in my mouth, and leaves me retching and panting for several moments after it’s been expelled from my stomach.
When I’m done, I wipe my brow with my forearm and stand up. I straighten my shoulders, push back my wings, and nod determinedly. I can do this. I have no choice. Because I sure as hellfire am not leaving these children to die here.
I turn around, preparing myself to stride back to the door and pull it open with a smile on my face. But I don’t need to; they are already standing behind me. Silent and trusting, dressed in their sad grey tunics, they are staring at me. All twenty of them. Waiting for me to free them from their fate.
“All right, everyone. We’re going to move on foot through the city. I know it’s going to be scary because you haven’t been outside for such a long time. And because bad things have been happening.” I draw in a deep breath. “The sky might look a bit scary. But, trust me, if we keep moving, everything will be okay.”
No one makes a sound. Except for one small girl who sniffs loudly, already crying with the petrified anticipation of what’s to come.
“Everyone pick a buddy and hold hands. You’re in charge of your buddy. You keep them next to you always, okay? No one gets left behind.”
“What happens when we get out of the city?” asks the girl with the blue eyes.
I force a smile, and try to make it look real. “When we get out of the city, we are free. Easy street,” I say, laughing. “And you’ll love it. The forests, the lakes. It’ll be wonderful.”
I try not to think about the fact that Finn and Alana, if they carry on the way they’re going, are likely to destroy the entire kingdom. Forests, lakes, everything.
Or wonder whether Alana’s hatred of us, and her fear of us, and her newfound desire for vengeance, would see her fury reach beyond the walls of Luminael.
I have to believe it wouldn’t.
I have to believe she’d let us go if we made it that far, or that someone else would help us. Surely, if we made it to the mountains, the fae there would not turn away a group of children?
Surely, someone will come to our aid?
The sky is now completely dark. A deep, velvety purple that under any other circumstances would be beautiful – but tonight simply fills me with terror.
As we move through the Shadow Quarter, I expect it to be silent. For everyone to be hiding behind closed doors, shuttered up, sleeping.
But word spreads quickly.
The mistress from the orphanage might not have cared about saving the children in her charge, but she certainly got word out because – all around me – Shadowkind fae are tumbling out of their houses with belongings in makeshift bags and sacks.
Some are trying to load wagons, others are just taking off on foot.
Most are heading for the forests.
But I know what lies there, and I am not taking the children to the scene of Finn’s crimes.
No, we are heading for the ocean. We’ll cross the bridge that leads away from Luminael, follow the beach along the shoreline, and then go to the mountains.
The mountains feel safe. They feel out of reach, even though I know they are not.
