Page 40 of The Divide that Binds Us

I scream as loud as I can but with that, the dream grows fuzzier until everything darkens and I’m left in darkness.Undetected, despair crawls in and my body shudders violently from the chilling, unwanted company of agony.

My eyes open sharply.I’m sweating and staring up at Billie’s mattress seeping through the thick metal wires of the bed frame.I share my bed with Evangeline; she’s in a fetal position snuggled next to me.I’m relieved that her bright Trace Mark is flashing slower in sync with her deep sleeping.

I wipe the sweat from my forehead and take deep breaths, hoping sudden movements won’t wake anyone.I’m more exhausted than before I went to sleep.The side of my face is streaked with dried tears, and I’m overheating from this stabbing heartache hiding in my bloodstream.

Closing my eyes, the weight of my past presses on my chest until I can’t breathe.

Chapter 9

On the Move

Fae

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Fae isn’t sure howmuch longer she can pace in the cave like this.

Between sneaking out to scour for food in the nearby pub’s dumpster and trying to keep herself warm during the colder nights, she thinks Poppy isn’t coming back.

Days have passed, but how many?Fae lost count.

She met one of Poppy’s friends already.A golden, prickly scaled baby named Gigi.Her eyes always squinted in apparent suspicion at Fae, but she eventually left her alone, so Fae can’t bethatscary since she’s in the same spot when Gigi comes back.Just like Poppy, Gigi is toothless, but with specks of glitter embedded in her scales.A true sign of a native Topazian.

The wind shudders into the cave with a slow, low howl.Fae shivers and moves to a tighter corner to keep warm.She needs a break if the Superiors can spare her one, or her toes will go numb when the night is over.

Her body is sore from the spaces she tries to hide herself in within the cave.She never knows if Mildred’s team will come back, or any wanderers, so she never truly falls asleep.It’s the safest she’s been, but still not ideal conditions.

A gleaming shadow catches Fae’s eyes and she jumps to her feet, hunched over and shivering in case she needs to run.The silhouette rounds the corner, revealing Gigi tucking her brilliant, fiery orange wings with green veins webbing across the stretch like velvet lines resembling a green moss peacock butterfly.

“Fee.Gigi is back,”she announces.

Fae slumps forward, knees buckling beneath her until she crashes on the hard rock structure.She smiles with relief from a familiar face, even if it’s someone who consistently pronounces her name wrong.

“Fee?You okay?”She inches closer to a resting Fae, whose stomach rumbles from a dying banana she ate an hour ago.“Fee, Gigi heard there was a dragon death on Isle Garnet last week.”

The tired Spirit User sits back up with the sudden lurch from her stomach squeezing itself.Her throat is thick with nausea, but the worry overrides the fear of puking.

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