Page 3 of A Sun Scorched Bloom

Sniffling, Emma nodded, pressing her lips together as if trying not to cry.

"We’ll get her to Bearswillow one way or another," Janelle said, "But it won’t help her if we all die. Just—" Her head snapped up so quickly her bones popped. "We need to go. Now."

Crouching low and pressing himself against the wall, Gray edged toward the front gate, ordering them to follow with a wave of his hand. The portcullis appeared in front of them, two guards with red armbands rushing men and women through with hushed whispers and emphatic waves.

Lea could just make out the first houses of the village beyond the castle through the exit when Gray held up a hand, his head swiveling around as he scanned the open area between the side of the castle and the gate.

"Run!" Janelle shouted abruptly, grabbing Lea and Emma and dashing forward. "Close the gate!"

There was still at least a hundred yards for them to get to the wooden bridge that led into town, and Lea’s chest squeezed. If they started closing it now, they wouldn’t make it.

"Order them to lower it.Now,Gray!" Janelle’s legs pumped faster, and Lea struggled to keep up.

She pushed harder. If Janelle sensed something was wrong, she couldn’t afford to hold them back.

As they sprinted toward the gate, the ground started to shake. Gray looked over his shoulder as the thundering roar of hundreds of feet storming closer mixed with the scratch of metal and clang of swords. Lea followed Gray’s line of sight and a jolt of fear shot straight to her lungs, distracting her from the burn she felt with every inhale.

"Close it!" Gray roared, picking the three of them up and increasing his speed to a superhuman sprint. Emma’s elbow jabbed painfully into Lea’s ribs as his arm wrapped more firmly around their waists.

The two guards jumped at Gray’s command, quickly unraveling the ropes from their anchors and pulling, the rugged wooden door lowering with a loud, clunky groan. With the closing mechanism triggered, the guards darted under the gate, then removed their jackets to reveal red patches sewn into the arms of the shirts they wore beneath.

They turned and ran, bolting away from where the gate continued to descend, getting closer and closer to locking Lea and her friends inside. Twenty feet, then fifteen…

Arrows whizzed past their heads as Gray darted forward. Nine feet remained until they were trapped. Gray’s breaths were loud and his face red as he strained to carry them all and still get through in time. Lea’s skin broke out in a hot, nervous sweat, moisture beading on her neck and dripping down her spine.

Eight feet left, and Lea squeezed her hands tight, her fingernails cutting into the palms of her hands.

Cries of "Halt!" and "Stop them!" rang out from behind. Only seven feet until they were closed off from freedom. If they didn’t make it, they’d be facing hundreds of soldiers alone with nowhere to go. It would take too long for the gate to open again. They’d be completely helplessandsurrounded.

"Hurry!" Lea shouted, her heart hammering in her chest. Six feet remained until the gate closed, the path beyond disappearing inch by inch.We're never going to make it, Lea thought.Unless…

Reaching inward, she found her shadows. The ones she hadn’t used since the night she’d found out the truth of the origin of the Lonely Death. They swirled next to her light, but they felt different somehow. Within her night magic, something felt foreign, like there were two different types of darkness mixed inside her: the difference between the darkness of a waning versus a waxing moon.

Focus!she scolded herself. There wasn’t time to overthink things right now. Harnessing the thick layer of urgency and fear pulsing in her gut, Lea forced her shadows outward, gritting her teeth as she grabbed the bottom of the gate and used every bit of her strength to keep it open. It was like using a muscle that had atrophied, somehow physically painful in a phantom limb as she fought against a thousand pounds of wood and metal.

Just as Lea was about to break, Gray dove forward, closing the distance and rolling them under the door. The air was knocked from their lungs as they hit the ground and Lea’s shadows faltered, then disappeared altogether, the door slamming shut with athudthat caused a fissure to open in the ground beneath it.

Gray scrambled to his feet, pulling Lea with him, then shook out his arms.

"I can’t believe we made it," Janelle said, pushing herself to stand as breathlessly as ifshe’dbeen carrying them in her arms while running.

"It will at least slow them down, but we need to keep going. It won't take long for them to bring ladders and climb the wall." Gray offered Emma a hand as he looked behind him, then forward toward the hilly path that would take them to the village within Auropera. "Janelle? How did you know they were coming? Even I hadn’t heard them yet when you warned us." Gray asked, every bit the Eclipsed King as he stared down at Janelle. He appeared to be planning and plotting, his eyebrows scrunching together in concentration.

"I don’t know." Janelle shrugged. "I just know things sometimes."

"You justknow things sometimes?No," he said, his voice stern. "I need to knowhowyou knew." Gray stepped forward and put his hand on her shoulder, bending down to look directly in her eyes.

Janelle’s gaze flicked to Lea. "I cansenseit. When someone is coming, or when danger is near. It’s a feeling on the back of my neck… It prickles." She absently rubbed the back of her neck. "That’s why I’m so good at stealing things—I mean…" she shuffled her feet, "borrowing them."

Gray took a step back, a triumphant smile crossing his face. Even in the midst of danger, the sight of it took Lea’s breath away and caused butterflies to fly circles in her stomach. "I knew it." Gray took a step back, motioning Janelle ahead of him. "Janelle will lead from here."

"Ummm… did you hit your enormous head on your way down the big hole?" Janelle’s voice was panicked. "I don’t even know where we're going!" she argued.

"We don’t have time to fight about this. Get us through town, andfast. That’s an order," he said, crossing his arms and lifting his chin. Suddenly, Gray seemed ten feet tall.

Janelle’s eyes opened wide, and she swallowed, giving Gray a look that suggested she thought he had been smoking some redberry root before she let out a resigned sigh and darted across the path toward the village, running straight ahead until they neared the first homes.

"Shit!" Gray hissed under his breath as they crested a small hill and the cobblestone road between the homes became visible. He pulled his sword from his back. Up ahead between the two neat rows of houses, rebels and soldiers clashed, bloody weapons flying and screams of pain echoing. "I was hoping we could escape before the king’s soldiers made it here. Run if you can. But be prepared to fight."

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