“Just get my brother back or die trying.”
Grabbing the strap of the satchel, I pull it into my lap. “I’ve got a map. I know where to go.” Lir scoots across the ground until he’s next to me. The map rustles on my lap as I unfold it and point out our route to him. He leans closer, following my finger with his eyes, until I can feel the heat of his chest against my back. “Bridgelake is here, your city is here.” My finger jabs at each location. “We’re about here.”
“We’re moving west? That is the wrong direction.”
“Yes. Well, it’s away from the city anyway,” I say. “It’s to throw them off if they try to follow us. We’ll head west and then cut north here, near one of the red circles, then back east here. This road should take us almost all the way there.”
Lir nods. “How much farther should we travel tonight?”
It’s hours until morning and the longer I sit here, the heavier my eyes get. My joints are starting to ache, especially my shoulders. Hanging from a window ledge was not friendly to my arms. “Maybe we should rest for a bit now and then head out at first light?” I don’t really mean for it to be a question.
Lir shrugs, his shoulder brushing my arm with the movement. “Sounds good to me.”
I fight a sigh of relief when he moves away until he’s across from me again and opens his pack. Puffs of dirt drift up when he rolls out his sleeping bag. He slides inside and closes his eyes.
Lir’s breathing has evened and his body relaxed into sleep before I even move to get my sleeping bag. At least he trusts me a little, if only enough to fall asleep in my presence. I envy his ease as I toss and turn for at least an hour before falling into a restless sleep.
My dreams are filled with blood and knives, a bright white light and Jace’s screams. And then they’re not. Images of towering buildings and silver ships creep into my head, followed closely by bright green eyes and a single upraised eyebrow.
NINE
Sunlight filters through the leaves and onto my face, waking me up. I push the sleeping bag down and stand. My shoulders are still stiff, but I do a couple stretches and they loosen up. Clenching my fist a few times loosens up my sore knuckles. Flint has a hard head.
The woods are quiet and I look over expecting Lir to still be sleeping. He’s not there. “Lir?” I call out, but there’s no response.
He left? I thought we’d gotten somewhere last night, at least a tentative truce, a mutual reliance on each other, but I guess not. One of these days I will learn my lesson about being kind to people who don’t deserve it. Hopefully it’s the same day I learn the lesson about how to figure out who does deserve it.
Stupid alien. No, stupid me for taking him at his word. I broke him out of jail and this is how he repays me? By ditching me when we’ve barely gotten started? My plan, crappy as it is, will not work without Lir’s help to get me into the city. I’ve got to find him. Unused to the forest and somewhat injured, he couldn’t have gotten very far.
I pull on my boots and I’m into the trees in minutes. I scan the area, looking for the signs of his passage. A broken branch points me in the right direction and it isn’t long before I find a footprint.
I creep through the woods, carefully placing my feet so not to disturb the quiet. I’m not good with people, but I know the woods and I know how to move through the forest in near silence. A few minutes later, I hear a curse and scramble up a tree to get a better view. About twenty feet from my perch is Lir sitting on a fallen log. His face is pale and sweaty. He runs his hands through his hair and stands up, turning in a circle and looking panicked. He curses again and kicks the log.
My hands catches my giggle, but not quickly enough. He freezes, moving only his eyes around, searching out the source of the noise.
“Jax?” He scans the area around him. “Is that you?”
Grabbing the strap of the satchel, I pull it into my lap. “I’ve got a map. I know where to go.” Lir scoots across the ground until he’s next to me. The map rustles on my lap as I unfold it and point out our route to him. He leans closer, following my finger with his eyes, until I can feel the heat of his chest against my back. “Bridgelake is here, your city is here.” My finger jabs at each location. “We’re about here.”
“We’re moving west? That is the wrong direction.”
“Yes. Well, it’s away from the city anyway,” I say. “It’s to throw them off if they try to follow us. We’ll head west and then cut north here, near one of the red circles, then back east here. This road should take us almost all the way there.”
Lir nods. “How much farther should we travel tonight?”
It’s hours until morning and the longer I sit here, the heavier my eyes get. My joints are starting to ache, especially my shoulders. Hanging from a window ledge was not friendly to my arms. “Maybe we should rest for a bit now and then head out at first light?” I don’t really mean for it to be a question.
Lir shrugs, his shoulder brushing my arm with the movement. “Sounds good to me.”
I fight a sigh of relief when he moves away until he’s across from me again and opens his pack. Puffs of dirt drift up when he rolls out his sleeping bag. He slides inside and closes his eyes.
Lir’s breathing has evened and his body relaxed into sleep before I even move to get my sleeping bag. At least he trusts me a little, if only enough to fall asleep in my presence. I envy his ease as I toss and turn for at least an hour before falling into a restless sleep.
My dreams are filled with blood and knives, a bright white light and Jace’s screams. And then they’re not. Images of towering buildings and silver ships creep into my head, followed closely by bright green eyes and a single upraised eyebrow.
NINE
Sunlight filters through the leaves and onto my face, waking me up. I push the sleeping bag down and stand. My shoulders are still stiff, but I do a couple stretches and they loosen up. Clenching my fist a few times loosens up my sore knuckles. Flint has a hard head.
The woods are quiet and I look over expecting Lir to still be sleeping. He’s not there. “Lir?” I call out, but there’s no response.
He left? I thought we’d gotten somewhere last night, at least a tentative truce, a mutual reliance on each other, but I guess not. One of these days I will learn my lesson about being kind to people who don’t deserve it. Hopefully it’s the same day I learn the lesson about how to figure out who does deserve it.
Stupid alien. No, stupid me for taking him at his word. I broke him out of jail and this is how he repays me? By ditching me when we’ve barely gotten started? My plan, crappy as it is, will not work without Lir’s help to get me into the city. I’ve got to find him. Unused to the forest and somewhat injured, he couldn’t have gotten very far.
I pull on my boots and I’m into the trees in minutes. I scan the area, looking for the signs of his passage. A broken branch points me in the right direction and it isn’t long before I find a footprint.
I creep through the woods, carefully placing my feet so not to disturb the quiet. I’m not good with people, but I know the woods and I know how to move through the forest in near silence. A few minutes later, I hear a curse and scramble up a tree to get a better view. About twenty feet from my perch is Lir sitting on a fallen log. His face is pale and sweaty. He runs his hands through his hair and stands up, turning in a circle and looking panicked. He curses again and kicks the log.
My hands catches my giggle, but not quickly enough. He freezes, moving only his eyes around, searching out the source of the noise.
“Jax?” He scans the area around him. “Is that you?”
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