Page 28 of To Steal the Sun

She scrambled from the bottom of the window ledge to the thin lip above the window, wobbling dangerously as she clutched at the ivy around her. The greenery began to tear away from the building, and she screamed as her body swayed backward away from the wall.

Before she could topple far enough to lose her foothold completely, however, Natalie’s slim, firm hand grabbed the shoulder of her dress. A seam somewhere in the material tore, but the dress itself stayed in place, and Natalie’s intervention steadied Charlotte.

With a helping hand, she managed to pull herself all the way onto the roof. Once she had both feet under her, she breathed a sigh of relief, careful not to look toward the edge.

“Come on,” Natalie said shortly, sprinting off across the sloped surface.

Charlotte’s face paled, but she followed at a slower pace. She didn’t want to escape the queen’s guards only to fall and break her neck.

When they reached the edge of the house, Natalie didn’t slow. Taking a running leap, she flew across the narrow gap between the house they were on and the one behind it.

Charlotte gulped, eyeing the narrow alley that lay between the houses. But she couldn’t stop. The angry cries behind her had already reached roof level.

Backing up a couple of steps, she ran forward, pushing off against the edge of the roof and sending her body flying into the air. For a heart stopping moment, she soared, certain she was going to slip when she hit the other side and bounce her way to the ground below.

She landed on her feet, falling to her knees but remaining firmly on the new roof.

“See, it’s not that hard,” Natalie said from where she had paused to check Charlotte’s progress.

A chuckle burst out of Charlotte. “It was actually sort of fun.” A glance over her shoulder quickly sobered her. “But please don’t tell me we have to do a lot more of those before we get to your house. And I definitely can’t jump over the width of a full street.”

“We’ll never make it to my house via rooftop,” Natalie said undaunted. “But we don’t need to stay up here much longer anyway. We just needed to get you out of that trap.”

She took off running sideways, skipping across a row of connected houses. Charlotte followed, finally finding her gait on the rooftops as she got the hang of how to keep purchase on their surface.

The last house in the row stood on a corner of two minor streets, and a balcony wrapped around the front and side of the building. Natalie slid down the roof, dropping onto the balcony below. Charlotte followed her, feeling the rush of free falling, her heart soaring into her throat. Despite their situation, she landed with a smile on her face.

Natalie had already disappeared, so she hurried to follow her down the trellis that stood against one end of the balcony. After their route so far, the trellis seemed as secure and simple as a staircase, and both girls reached the ground in less than a minute.

“And now,” Natalie said, tucking her head down, “we run.”

Charlotte didn’t have time to catch her breath before they were both off. Pumping her legs as hard as she had ever done in her life, Charlotte flew down the street behind Natalie. They wove in and out of foot traffic, carts, and carriages as they crossed the city’s streets.

When a small dog turned unexpectedly, putting itself in her path, she didn’t even break stride. Leaping over it in one smooth motion, she immediately had to duck beneath a giant crate being carried by a man two steps further down the street.

“In here,” Natalie panted, turning into yet another narrow alley.

Charlotte followed, acutely aware that their pursuers were in human form this time. A narrow alley wasn’t going to foil them.

But the guards had fallen behind, slowed by the need to clamber up and down roofs to follow where the girls had gone. So when they darted out of the alley into another street, there was no one visible behind them.

Natalie looked over her shoulder, checking the street behind them was clear before she swerved suddenly into yet another alley. Charlotte followed, nearly colliding with her three steps in.

Instead of the usual hodgepodge of walls and doors that lined most of the alleys, this one contained one smooth, unbroken wall as if the whole length bordered a single property.

“What—?” she asked, but Natalie was already moving again.

Climbing onto a crate, she strained upward, just managing to reach the top of the wall. “Give me a boost!” she whispered, and Charlotte rushed forward, offering her laced hands as a foothold.

Natalie stepped into her fingers, pushing off and hauling herself over the edge of the wall. Charlotte stepped toward the crate, ready to follow her—or at least attempt to do so—but Natalie’s head was still poking over the wall, now on the other side.

“Go further down,” she hissed. “I’ll meet you there.”

Charlotte hesitated, struck with the irrational anxiety that Natalie meant to abandon her. But the girl had been the one to lie in wait for her with a plan for their escape. Charlotte would trust she knew what she was doing.

Running down the alley, she heard footsteps keeping pace on the other side of the wall, reassuring her that Natalie was still with her. As she reached a small door in the stretch of wall, it swung open. Charlotte slid to a stop, panting.

Grabbing at the edge of the wood, she pulled herself through and slammed it closed behind her. Her breaths rasped in and out as she stared at Natalie, the two girls now safely on the other side of the wall together. Laughter bubbled up inside her, pushing its way out, and she doubled over, giggling.

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