Page 123 of Skalterra By Nightmare
I waited and watched Ciarán for any signs that he had noticed. His breathing went uninterrupted. I looked back at the horizon over the tops of trees that swayed in a nighttime breeze. The sky was still dark except for the bright line where land met sky in the far distance. I had time. The birds weren’t even awake yet.
I bowed my head so that more blue hair fell in my face, as if it might better hide me from Ciarán. The next bit of magick slid down the bond too fast, and Ciarán’s deep breaths hitched.
I held my own breath, feeling the next tiny bit of magick bounce along my nerves as I waited for Ciarán’s breathing to resettle. I would have to take even smaller amounts, and maybe not so close together.
I forced myself to wait and counted to one hundred in my head before taking the next bit of Skal. And then I did it again, and again, and again, all while watching the lightening horizon.
When the first birds started to sing, I got nervous, and took more than I should have. Ciarán rolled over so that he was facing me, and I shrank against my column, but his eyes stayed closed.
I counted to five hundred before I dared to take more. The magick was tangible in my fingers, buzzing with electricity that wanted to be let out, but I wasn’t sure if it was enough to modify my body or break the Skal around my wrists.
If I tried and failed, it might wake up Ciarán, and then he’d make sure I missed my interview.
The birds outside became louder, and the horizon wasn’t just getting brighter, but I could now see the hazy shape of the sun taking form to dye the tops of trees in hues of red.
I siphoned more magick than I should have again. Ciarán, with his eyes still closed, screwed his face up. I counted even longer than before, losing track of my numbers somewhere in the seven hundred range.
The sun was rapidly chasing away night. Von Leer would be calling any moment. I shook hair out of my face. I hadn’t managed to steal as much as I would’ve liked. It definitely wasn’t enough to give me my favorite bone spikes, or even to form a weapon.
But I could tell by the way the Skal that bound my wrists buzzed and snapped that it wasalmostenough to overpower the magick there.
Almost.
I shimmied my way up the column until I was standing. I would have one shot, but the sun was nearly fully risen, and it was now or never.
I gave the invisible bond that bound me to Ciarán’s service a final, mighty pull and magick poured into me. Ciarán’s eyes snapped open, and the flow of magick stopped so suddenly that it flipped my stomach.
I pushed every bit of magick I’d stolen from him into my wrists before he could pull it back, and orange sparks flew as I broke free of the tie.
“Dammit!” Ciarán scrambled to his feet, but I was already sprinting out the doorway towards the rising sun. “Blue!”
Low, crumbling walls covered in moss streaked past me, and birds took flight as I charged through the outpost. A fine, morning mist hung over the ruins, and droplets of dew clung to my bare arms as I hurtled through it.
“Wren Warrender,” Ciarán thundered behind me, “I command you—”
I reached the lip of the cliff and launched myself into open air. I twisted to catch a final glimpse of Ciarán standing on the cliff edge, his hand outstretched in a last ditch attempt to stop me and his tattered cloak billowing in the wind.
And maybe I was my mother’s daughter after all, because as I plummeted into the bright golden air of dawn, I lifted both hands and flipped him the double bird.
The stone below rose to greet me, and darkness swallowed the red-gold sky overhead.
29. Communications
Those few moments where I was falling in the sunrise were the closest I’d come to knowing peace for the rest of the day. Consciousness slammed into me, and I threw my quilt across the room before my eyes were fully open. Jonquil squealed in anger and bolted under my dresser as I fought to orient myself.
“Phone!” I leapt out of bed to turn wildly in the center of my room. “Where’s—”
It was, of course, right where I’d left it the night before, sitting on my bedside table. I lunged for it, ignoring the pain in my knees as they collided with the table.
A missed call notification lit up on my screen.
“No!”
Jonquil hissed back at me from under my dresser.
I jabbed at the screen with shaking fingers. I’d missed it by two minutes.
Two. Measly. Minutes.
