Page 24 of The Last One
A single teardrop trails across the bridge of my nose and plops on his hand. “I have you now, though, yes? You and I and no one else? Until the start of tomorrow?”
He smiles, and his “Yes” is just a puff of air from his lips to mine, and I want more.
“Hey,” he whispers.
“Hey,” I whisper and lean in.
He leans in closer.
An explosion rips through the silence, and the nightstar is swallowed by fire. The earth splits open between us and a great beast—a wolf or a bear or a man—climbs out of that fracture, teeth bared, talons bloody. The creature roars but then it disappears as thick gray smoke billows from the fires burning above the earth and from the faults breaking the earth apart.
Ashes swirl and sting my eyes.
“Kai!” Jadon shouts.
“Where are you?” I shout back, crawling through the meadow, lost in the smoky dark.
“Follow the sound of my voice,” he shouts, sounding farther away.
I can only hear iron striking iron. Swords? Is Jadon fighting that creature? I hear screaming now. More striking. Roaring. The noise, this fight, sounds closer…closer… Screaming. Who’s screaming?Bam! Bam! Bam!Is that a sword? Is that Jadon—?
Roars cut through the explosions.
My eyes feel like they’re burning, and I close them.
Screaming.It’s me. I’m screaming. My cheek burns. I scream louder and touch that burning cheek. My fingers come away wet. Blood on my fingertips. I’m bleeding and now the flames lick at my bare feet and I scream and the creature bursts through the gray smoke and it swipes its claw across my face and—
My eyes pop open, and I bolt upright, gasping for breath. My throat feels raw. Jadon’s brown tunic sticks to my sweaty skin.
The world smells of smoke and sheep.
“Finally!” Olivia is sitting cross-legged behind me. “I thought you’d never wake up.”
“What’s wrong?” I blink back at her and then send my eyes darting around the…
Where am I? I’m sitting on quilts with yellow straw all around me. The small slot window shows only dingy blue sky. I’m high up.
Bam! Bam! Hiss!
Ah. Yes. I’m in the loft above the forge, not stuck in my dream with all those explosions of earth and sea of flames. But my memory of those explosions, the sea of flames and billowing smoke, the creature attacking me, losing Jadon, everything from my dream… It feels so real even as I sit here in a decrepit barn, fully awake, heart still pounding loud enough for the entire village of Maford to hear. And the other part of the dream, the part with Jadon… My skin heats at the memory of his touch, of the way he looked at me like I meant everything, the way he turned away and told me that he couldn’t come with me.
Bam! Bam! Hiss!
I scowl and rub my face with both hands. “Why is it so loud?” I massage my aching biceps and twist my head to loosen the muscles in my neck.
“Forges usually are,” Olivia says. “And it’s loud because Jadon’s working. Dawn was four hours ago, and you’re sleeping like you’re a duchess with a rich husband and servants when you’ve got geld to earn back today.”
Bam! Bam! Hiss!
I peek over the edge of the loft.
Jadon’s wielding a thickheaded hammer across a soft, red-hot shaft of metal. The air trembles from the violence, and I’m transfixed.
“I’ve been thinking,” Olivia says.
I ignore her, still focused on her brother. My dream is sharp and fresh in my mind—
“Are you listening to me?” Olivia barks. “I said you can go next door to Farmer Gery’s and help him out, since his wife is too ill to work. Milk his cow. Also, muck the stalls for the horses. He may need you to shear the sheep. Don’t go inside their house, though.”
