Page 93 of Death of the Glass Angel
“I’m. . .” Janus stuttered the beginning of an apology.
“Fine,” Talon articulated, dropping his hand. “We’ll go look for the others.” Striding around Janus, he took the lead, though he had no idea where he was going.
Silence draped the remainder of their journey. Talon held his injured arm tightly, mind blank. If he felt anything, he ignored it. His emotions had been repressed for years, locked in a glass bottle, and cast into the Clodian harbor.
Janus sounded like she was preparing to apologize again, but chose otherwise. Talon preferred the silence.
“We’re back where we started.” He spun around. “What now?”
Janus drew something in the air and wandered east. “This way.” She mumbled.
“Be careful,” Talon warned.
Counting her steps, Janus weaved through the mountains, eventually stopping at a dead end; the rise of a cliff blocked their path on all sides.
“The entrance was here,” Janus said, tapping the ground with her feet and drawing a line through the air. “It probably connected to the tunnel we didn’t explore. If we just follow this east. . .” She trailed off, turning around.
“Wait.” Talon followed her. “You remember that? I thought you couldn’t remember Des.”
“I do now. I’ll. . .explain later.”
The mountainscape became more familiar as Janus led them closer to the city. After a few minutes of walking, she turned abruptly and jogged down a narrow pass.
Awaiting them in the middle of nowhere, almost camouflaged in the dirt, was the hatch he and Des had emerged from days before.
Evoker’s memories were something else.
Hand shaking, Janus evoked a small torch and pulled the hatch open. Talon stepped in front of her. “Let me go first.”
Wincing, he climbed down the ladder into darkness. Everything appeared intact, with no signs of cracks or any rubble. Strange.
Janus dropped beside him, flushing the tunnel with fire light. Holding a hand out to stop her, Talon narrowed his eyes and listened. Faint thuds sounded in the distance.
“Stay behind me.” He ordered, unsheathing his dagger as he crept forward.
The thuds grew louder. Footsteps. Multiple people running, if he had to guess.
A light appeared in the darkness as a woman clutching fire in her palm approached. Red hair peeked from beneath her hood, though she ran with a limp. Valkyrie.
“Lady Janus.” She exclaimed, relieved. “How did you escape?”
Valkyrie limped past Talon to check on Janus. Felsin emerged from the shadows behind her, torn up and bleeding in a few places.
“You’re alive,” Talon said. “Can’t say I expected that.”
“Isn’t that my line?” Felsin retorted, watching Valkyrie fuss over Janus. A white cat poked its head from his bag, beady black eyes watching Talon closely. “You could act more concerned.”
“Would you like me to pretend?”
“If you wouldn’t mind.”
Talon almost smiled. Felsin returned the expression.
“We need to get out of here,” Valkyrie said. “The whole place might be coming down.”
At least Janus seemed willing to listen to Valkyrie. She heeded the other songbird’s orders and trailed her back towards the hatch. Felsin paused to ensure Talon was alright, and he nodded.
Talon leaned against the wall, lingering behind. He listened, eyes closed, for reverberations in the distance, a sign the world would soon swallow him in its embrace.
