Page 84 of Wings of Ebony
“Th-these cuffs… I… I thought they just had s-something to tell me.…”
“They do,” Bati says. “Our Ancestors, our Elders, are saying they stand with you. With these cuffs, you have not only your own magic but theirs, too.”
“I… I don’t… but…” My words and thoughts are all stutters.
Bad-ass magicwouldcome in handy right about now.
“Rue, with this power, you’d be…”
“Unstoppable,” I say.
CHAPTER 27
APASSAGEWAY AT THE REARend of the cave opens up to the very edge of the island, hugged by jungle foliage and cricket-chirping darkness. A stone path cuts through the trees to a cluster of short huts—chakusas—with cone roofs and woven doors. Bati showed me back here to a spacious room where I could have just a minute, a second to breathe.
I appreciate that.
My Air Maxes are caked in dirt. Shit’s going to take forever to clean, if I can even clean them at all. I nudge a loose stone in the dusty floor with my shoe and glare at the woven ceiling, thoughts racing through my mind. I can hardly focus on any of them.
A mix of anger laced with frustration burns through me. I’m not some wielder of the Ancestors’ magic, like they’re making me out to be. I can’t even get this “inner magic” I’m supposed to have to work. I’m no one’s avenger. Ain’t nothing special about my blood. I’m just me.
But can I really just walk away and leave things like this?
They’re basically kin, brown-skinned like me.
I’ve never felt a connection to this place, butthis…thisis wrong.
I pull at the ends of my hair, which are crying for some coconutoil. Taking down the General and the Chancellor will do a lot of good for a lot of people. Maybe I can help that way? Not as Jelani, or whatever they think that means. But as me, as Rue.
But how would I even do that? Ugh, the million-dollar question. My head hurts. I’ll figure this out. Somehow, I’ll make a way. I always do.
I slip the cuffs on my wrists and they dangle there. The heat from them has all but died out, now that they’re united. I can sense them, but it’s not the same. It’s like they were using me to get back together. But now that I have them both, they have nothing to say. I don’t get it.
I close my eyes and search for that warmth, that familiar wiggle and twinge.
Nothing.
Focus.
I bite down, my nails digging into the straw arms of my seat.Ow!My tongue. I rake my hands through my hair. If they have an instruction manual on how to access this raw magic inside me, there because Aasim was my sperm donor, that would be helpful right about now.
“Jelani?” Aasim and Bati appear in the doorway. I wish they’d stop calling me that. I stand up and dust off my clothes. I can at least appear as if I have my shit together.
“Yeah? In here,” I say.
“Everything alright?”
“I’m fine. Just thinking… figuring out my next move.”
“You’re not in this alone,” says Bati.
I am. Protecting East Row, Tasha, taking down the General, theChancellor. I don’t see a line of people trying to hop back to my block and throw down. Iamin this by myself. But that’s why Moms raised a diamond.
“I appreciate it,” I say. Trying to work on my sass around these Ghizoni wholooklike me. “Thanks.”
Speaking of East Row… I pull out my phone. Eight percent battery, but no signal, of course. “I need to check on my sister.” How long have I been gone? No sunlight in the cave, so it was impossible to tell. And now it’s pitch black outside.
I tap my watch and buzz Bri. Maybe she can figure out a way I can talk to Tasha. “I’m asking Bri to come here.”
