Page 121 of The War of Wings
He didn’t want to go back to the eyrie. I was on my own.
“Here goes,” I muttered to myself, carefully stepping onto the ledge. It was just barely wide enough for one foot, and pebbles crumbled and skittered down the crater wall, swallowed by the lava below. Nope. Couldn’t look down anymore. I tried to keep my eyes forward as I took another awkward step, but the strip of rock was so thin I had no choice but to watch where my foot landed.
The heat pressed harder against me the farther I walked, the putrid smell clinging to the insides of my nostrils like a film. A constant stream of sweat trickled down my spine as each step brought me closer and closer to the lava’s surface.
This was fucking stupid. So fucking stupid. But it was the only thing I could think of, the only solution that had any chance at keeping Malosym out of the Human Realm and away from Petra.
My stomach lurched as a larger chunk of rock slipped from beneath my boot, my hands clambering for something to hold on the rough surface of the crater wall.Fuck.
Obitus trilled overhead.Cal. Careful.
“I’m trying,” I gritted out.
Cal. Stupid.
“Thank you.” Righting myself, I tried to will my heart rate to lower from its erratic pace, but it only beat faster as Icontinued my descent. I pretended the ledge wasn’t growing thinner and thinner, that more of my foot wasn’t hanging off the farther I moved. But before long, I had no choice but to turn inward, my chest flat against the wall. I balanced precariously on the balls of my feet, my sweaty palms uselessly holding to the wall as if there were anything I could grab on to to save me from plummeting to an excruciating death. A burning ache set into my calves as I shuffled along, my heels hovering over the ledge’s lip. Obitus’ anxious footsteps sounded from above me, his huffing breath growing faster as he watched each step I took.
Until finally, there was nowhere left to step. The ledge ended. Nothing but flat, unscalable rock waited ahead of me. Beyond, a blackened boulder jutted from the crater wall. I had nowhere to go.
“Shit,” I whispered. And as much as I wanted to turn around and shuffle back the way I came, disappointment was heavy on my shoulders.
Jump, Obitus thought.
“I know it wasn’t the brightest idea to come here, but no need to make me feel shitty about it,” I called up to him.
Look. Jump.
The boulder protruding from the sheer surface of the crater’s wall was the only thing of note, the contours of its shadowy surface flickering in the glow of the lava. It was about six feet away, if I had to guess, and maybe two feet below me.
“There’s nothing there!”
Cal. Stupid.
I squinted my eyes again at the boulder, just to appease the driva who clearly thought me a fool. “There’s nothing there,” I repeated, just as my gaze caught on a shadow I hadn’t seen before. The shadow was a little odd, now that I really looked at it. Almost like…an opening? Shit, itwasan opening, surrounding a path disappearing into the darkness within. Not a ledge. A pathway. A gloriously, beautifully wide pathway.
“Maybe Cal is stupid,” I muttered. I shifted as far as I could, trying to keep as much contact with the ledge as possible as I assessed the space between where I was and where I needed to be. What was going to give me the best shot at making this jump? A running start was impossible. Hell, even a regular jump was impossible when I couldn’t plant my feet side by side. The only way was to launch myself from one foot and pray it was enough.
Gritting my teeth, I inched as close as I could to the where the ledge disappeared into the crater wall.
Obitus’ thoughts filtered into my head.Gap. Big. Idea. Bad.
“You’re the one who told me to jump!”
Mind. Change.
I craned my neck back, my eyes trailing the ledge to the entrance of the crater. Up there was solid ground, mercifully solid ground. But ahead was salvation.
Without another thought, I bent my front knee, throwing my entire body forward with as much force as I could manage. There was nothing measured or graceful about the way I careened through the air, my sights set on that shadowy path. Time slowed down, separated into individual heartbeats.
Beat.My foot left the ledge.
Beat.I was suspended over the searing heat of certain death.
Beat.Realization hit me that my launch hadn’t been powerful enough, and…
Thud.I collided with the lip of the pathway, my stomach caving as it made impact with the rock. The packed dirt had little give as my fingers flexed and dug, trying to keep gravity from pulling me backwards. My feet kicked, trying to find anything to gain purchase. “Fuck!” I ground out, clawing to keep myself from falling, keep myself fromfailing.
Obitus paced faster, the sound of his talons scratching in the dirt echoing through the crater.Cal. Danger.
