Page 12 of To Steal the Sun

Her cry brought his face forward again, halting his motion before he had fully turned. She flung herself in his direction. Catching him off guard, she seized the front of his shirt and yanked him toward the alley with all her strength. She used the momentum, sending him behind her while she staggered into the square.

Their positions had now been reversed. Easton was at the base of the cart, being urged by Natalie to “Climb! Climb!” while Charlotte was bringing up the rear of the group.

She spun and dashed to follow him. When he faltered, one foot on the cart, one still on the cobblestones, she screamed at him to go.

He complied, pulling himself up with a grunt. He looked like he was going to stop at the top to help pull Charlotte up, but Natalie must have had the same realization as Charlotte. Her wiry hands appeared out of the darkness, pulling him down the other side of the cart.

Charlotte threw herself the final couple of steps, her hands reaching for the side of the cart. But as they made contact with the round wood, she felt hot breath behind her followed by a tearing pain down her left arm.

She screamed, the cry splitting the night as red splattered across the cart. Immobilized by pain, she froze, but the wiry hands reappeared, pulling her forward. Wrenched into movement, she lurched up, somehow finding the strength to climb the side of the cart.

A change in the air pressure and a panting breath made her duck instinctively forward. The second stroke of the huge clawed paw missed her, hitting the cart instead.

The entire structure crumbled, smashed to pieces by the bear’s force. Charlotte tumbled down among the splintered pieces of wood. She twisted at the last moment, landing on her right side to shield her injured left arm.

The shock and pain of the landing held her still as the bear roared and struck at the cart again, reducing it even further into kindling. For a second, her eyes caught on his black ones, and then Natalie was behind her, hauling her to her feet.

“Come on!” she cried. “Run!”

The bear lunged forward, but the alley was even narrower than Charlotte had originally realized. She and Natalie could barely fit down it single file, her shoulders almost brushing the brick wall of the buildings on either side. It must have been a tight squeeze for Easton, who had already disappeared, presumably sent ahead by Natalie.

The bear roared again in frustration, and Natalie urged her to move faster, even shoving her in the back when she slowed. They burst out the other side of the alley onto a new street. Easton waited for them there, his eyes glued to the alley entrance, clearly having been debating if he should go back.

Natalie hissed at him wordlessly and took the lead. Abandoning the last of any pretense at quiet or subtlety, she sprinted down the street and careened around the second corner she encountered.

Easton took one look at Charlotte’s injured arm and scooped her off her feet, running after Natalie.

“I can run myself,” Charlotte wheezed through the pain. Her injured arm was jammed against his chest, and it was only increasing the agony.

“I know,” Easton said through hard breaths. “It’s your arm that’s injured, not your leg. But there’s no time to bind the wound, and we can’t leave a trail of blood.”

Charlotte fell silent, realizing why he had positioned her in such a painful way. She bit her tongue on the cries that tried to work their way out of her as he ran. She would be in worse pain if they didn’t escape the bears.

When they rounded the corner, Natalie was waving them forward from halfway down the street where she stood in what appeared to be a public water trough for the city’s horses. When Easton reached her, he dumped Charlotte on her feet in the trough and climbed up after her.

Natalie nodded approvingly and sloshed through the water. When she reached the other end of the long trough, she clambered out again, landing on a long length of rough fabric. Charlotte attempted to follow, only to have her knees give out at a fresh wave of pain, sending her splashing down into the water.

Easton braced her from behind, putting his hands under her arms and lifting her over the edge of the trough in one swift movement. As soon as she had her balance, she shuffled forward on the material, making room for him to follow.

Natalie had already run the length of the material, disappearing down yet another narrow alley. Charlotte gritted her teeth and forced her legs to work, clasping the gash on her left arm with her right in an attempt to keep too much blood from oozing out.

As soon as she’d rounded the corner, she saw the material led to an open door. Natalie stood just inside, waving Charlotte forward with urgency. She half ran the final steps, staggering inside with Easton crowding in behind her.

He seemed to have understood what was happening much more clearly than her, because the second he was inside, he turned and began pulling on the material. Someone behind them seemed to be helping him, because it whisked inside impossibly fast. As soon as the last length made it past the threshold, Natalie closed the door behind them.

“Phew!” she breathed, sinking to the floor and breathing hard. “That was too close.” She looked up accusingly. “How are you two so slow?!”

“We need help here!” Easton called down the dark corridor in front of them. “Someone’s injured!”

He grabbed a towel off a nearby chair and folded it several times, pressing it to Charlotte’s wound. She looked down, planning to take over with her good arm. But instead her head spun, and she nearly collapsed again.

This time Natalie propped her up from behind with an exasperated huff. “The cut didn’t look that bad,” she muttered, but Charlotte could hear the guilt in her tone.

“What. Was. That?” Easton asked threateningly, his eyes spearing into Natalie.

Charlotte didn’t have the energy for his outrage, but she nodded supportively. “I thought we were supposed to be creeping through the city unnoticed.” She wished she sounded more indignant and less exhausted.

“Unnoticed?” Natalie snorted. “I guess you two don’t know much about bears. Do you have any idea how well they hear? Well, their hearing is nothing on how well they smell! It wasn’t a matter of not being noticed so much as when we were noticed. I had to time it so we were most of the way across the square. Thankfully this city has a collection of ridiculously narrow alleys that date from before patrols were done by bears.”

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