Page 89 of The Orc Outcast's Miracle

And she collapsed completely.

Chapter

Twenty-Four

MIRANDA

His skin was scalding. It pulled at hers, stuck to her like glue. She couldn’t wrench away even if she had wanted to.

She didn’t want to. A shiver rolled up Miranda’s spine and burst at the base of her skull. Flashes of Earth pierced through her. It was like she was there.

There were the skyscrapers that loomed above her as she walked from the bus stop to the bank for her morning shift. The blaring car sirens. The smell of exhaust and hot pavement.

The smell of stale coffee in the break room at the bank where Miranda had raided the employee fridge for snacks.

The droning clack of computers as the tellers worked away. Pleasant conversation wafting down the hall from the lobby. Mr. Barker had let Ashley take lunch early with Grace.

More sirens.

Sirens so loud and long Miranda felt them vibrating in her eardrums.

Mr. Barker yanked her down the bank stairs to the vault. Shoved her inside. Screamed at her. “You wait here! I’ll be right back with Nichole!”

The memory came back in a flash of pure white light.

Nichole. His granddaughter, who was working as a barista at the coffee shop across the street.

He’d left to go get her. He’d sworn he would be right back.

But he never came back.

And then the bombing began.

Her mind flooded with that white light again. A fog soaked into every corner of her mind.

The mist.

The sight of the barren desolate wastes after she’d somehow escaped the ventilation shaft flashed. The crumbled buildings. The mangled cars. Everything was charred and ashen and pungent with the scent of smoke and baking chemicals.

And Earth, her planet, it was gone. Gone.

“Miranda!”

She snapped out of her mind and back into the present world so violently it felt like drowning. The air was too different, too clean, the voices were too low and rumbly. The smell of smoke and fish was strong and curled in her stomach. Bile climbed up her throat.

“You are not of Faeda.”

“Get the fuck away from her.”

“Govek, calm down! Look. She’s fine!”

She barely registered the words spoken so loudly. The growling voices dimmed as she managed back to her senses. She was held up against warmth. A chest.

Govek’s chest. She was back with Govek. On Faeda.

Miranda’s head pounded, and her eyes watered, but she looked up at Govek. He was baring his teeth at someone, sharp dripping fangs. She reached up to touch the side of his mouth. “Y-you can put me down.”

“No,” Govek snarled into her ear and she shuddered again. Put her arms around his neck.

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