She felt the moment that visionwhooshedaway from her. Like something had plucked it from her skull and sent it soaring.
Six inhaled beneath her.
Like she saw the vision.
The wolves stepped closer, and their wings snapped out.
They were going to lunge.
She was going to die.
‘Fly.’
Six turned towards the cliffside, her paws rooted deep against the snowy ground.
‘Yes,’ whispered the wind. ‘Fly.’
Ezer had no choice but to hold tight as Six pushed off, taking three bounding steps …
Before she leapt into the open sky.
They fell.
Into the coming night, they fell.
At first, Ezer thought they would rise. But they began to spin slowly, as Six screeched beneath them, helpless. Lost, like a stone tossed out over the cliffside, falling too fast.
With each second, they picked up speed.
They weren’t as high as the Aviary; they didn’t have enough time to rise …
‘Six!’ Ezer screamed. ‘Fly!’
The terror in her veins made her arms and legs strong enough to hold on. She was falling, her hair ripped from its braid, the wind tearing at her skin, her cloak, the snow blurring everything in front of her eyes. Kinlear’s grip was a vice around her middle, but she felt him sliding away.
Oh gods, oh gods.
‘Pull up!’ Ezer screamed.
They kept falling.
She could see the ground now. She could see the stones they would crash against, could imagine the way they would all be shredded.
‘Six!’ Ezer screamed. ‘Your wings!’
At the last second, the raphon snapped her wings out.
And caught the wind.
Ezer’s stomach shot into her throat as they soared upwards. Kinlear was howling with laughter in her ear, and Ezer shouted, ‘Yes, Six!’
They soared higher and higher, rising into the sky. The fear rose like bile in Ezer’s throat. She was going to throw up, she was going to pass out?—
No.
She forced herself to stay present for Six.
‘You’re doing it!’ she shouted. ‘That’s it!’
