Page 3 of Tower of Tempest
“Leave it.” Her voice was sharp. “We’ll get another one.”
I yanked my arm from her grasp as the big shadow swirled over us like a storm cloud. If Gran had her full strength, she could tug at the trees’ shadows, command them to fight this mysterious shadow. But she was too weak now. I could tell from the way she clenched and unclenched her fist, like she was trying—and failing—to summon her magic.
A stubbornness rose up in me at seeing Gran like this. She needed those mushrooms. “No. Let me get the basket, and then we can go.”
Her brown eyes flashed with anger. No, not anger. Disappointment. Which was always so much worse. Didn’t she understand? I was just trying to help her.
The big shadow lunged at Gran and she jumped back, then hunched over again, coughing.
Blood and skies, I was being a child about this. No, Gran shouldn’t have come after me, but she was also sick and not entirely in her right mind.
“It’s okay,” I said gently. “We can leave the basket. Let’s just get you back to the tower.”
The big shadow dove straight toward Gran, and she barreled into me with a strength that surprised me, both of us tumbling toward the ground. Branches cracked underneath my back, Gran landing next to me.
The shadow zigzagged overhead as if trying to find whatever, or whoever, it wanted. Right now, that seemed like Gran.
I turned my head toward her. “Gran,” I said, “why does the shadow want you? Is this who you’ve been hiding from all these years? Whoever is after you?”
She’d always told me the tower protected us, kept us safe from those who would do us harm if they ever discovered we lived.
“I was so stupid thinking we could hide. He’s finally found me.” Her voice shook as she stared up at the shadow. “After all this time, the bastard found me.”
“He? Who’s he?” She’d never told me the details about this threat, always saying it was safer if I didn’t know. I stood and reached out toward her. “Come, Gran. Let’s go. Now.”
Before she could grasp onto my hand, the big shadow shot from the trees and straight into Gran.
I let out a scream as the shadow snatched her from the forest and yanked her upward.
I ran after them, arms stretching out. My wings twitched, and I looked behind me, begging them to flap, to do anything, so I could rescue her. “Gran!” I yelled.
Her dark gaze met mine, no fear in them. Just a heavy resignation as the big shadow took her up, up, up toward the night sky.
“Remember, girl, magic always has a price.”
And then, she was gone.
Chapter Three
LOCHLAN, THREE MONTHS LATER
Two months. It had been two months since I’d left my home and journeyed to find the woman that plagued my dreams. The woman I didn’t know. The woman who made me feel like I was going insane. If I closed my eyes right now, I could see her: that long brown hair, those stark green eyes, the freckles that dotted her nose and cheeks—and the fear in her eyes as she screamed from the tower where she was trapped.
Two months of long treks, cold nights, meager meals.
“Can you stop breathing so loudly?” Leoni said from behind me.
“Oh, sorry that my basic bodily functions are annoying you,” Driscoll shot back.
And two months of them. The companions I didn’t ask for. The ones my older sister insisted I take with me. I’d never know how she survived her own journey with these two, stuck with them for months on a pirate ship. Out of everything I’d faced thus far, they’d been my greatest challenge. I’d be having a strong word with Gabby when I saw her again. If I saw her again.
I ignored them both, striding through the forest with purpose. Thin trees surrounded us, tall and willowy, bark gray, white, and brown.Canopies stretched overhead, leaves thin and spindly, the trees like the shape of a cone. My breath puffed out in front of me, and despite the sun, the air was chilly.
I closed my eyes again, just for a second, picturing her, focusing on her, on my goal of finding her.
“You don’t breathe like a normal person,” Leoni said, then did an imitation of Driscoll’s breathing, which to her credit, sounded like a hog with respiratory issues, and also to her credit, was pretty accurate.
The lovely image in my mind burst like a bubble, two annoying faces replacing it. One pale and feminine with red freckles and red-gold hair, the other with brown skin and even darker hair, coiled tight in rings, a sarcastic word ready at the tip of his tongue.
