A second woman lies beside her, face down in her knapsack, like she hadn’t yet woken when the Sols attacked. Blair, judging by the mid-length blonde strands coated in crimson.
I startle when the third woman’s fingers twitch. Her helmet isn’t fully secured to her suit, revealing a sliver of ashen skin that pulses with the faintest golden light. Lowering to my knees, I cradle her head while pulling off the headgear to reveal glossy gray eyes.
“Meridna?” My voice cracks as I wrap her hand in my own and use the other to tuck her loose silver-and-brown locks behind her ear. Blood spills far too quickly from the six gaping wounds in her chest, and I wish I could do more than offer comfort.
Though her forehead contorts in pain, Meridna’s pale lips pull into a smile.
“My Georgie,” she whispers hoarsely.
“Meridna, it’s me. O?—”
“I’ve missed you so much, Georgie.” Meridna blinks slowly, smile spreading, and I know it isn’t me she’s seeing, but her son—the one who died a little over three years ago.
“I’ve missed you too,” I say as a tear slips through the ventilation slit of my helmet, spilling onto her cheek.
“Don’t cry, my love.” She gives my fingers the gentlest squeeze. “I’ll never leave you ever again. Our forever . . . starts . . .”
The last of the golden glow drains from Meridna’s pallid skin.
Gem begins to mutter the prayer of departure. “Shadows guide your spirit. May you find peace in the eternal night in the name of ourholy darkness.” She cups a hand in front of her helmet, symbolically shrouding her vision, and lowers it to Meridna’s unseeing eyes in a final farewell.
Once Gem finishes, we linger for another silent minute.
I stare at the pool of crimson surrounding Meridna’s body and leathers, recalling Jacqueline’s method of survival. But how can I desecrate the last of her lifeblood? Take advantage of her death to prevent my own? I can’t.
A fresh wave of cries cut through the morning breeze, and I leap to my feet.
“What are you doing?” Gem calls from behind as I take off towards the commotion.
“I need to make sure it isn’t Gabe,” I say over my shoulder, trusting that she’ll catch up.
Seconds later, she does. “He’s got those nightstone missiles, remember? I’m sure he’ll be fine.”
“Why hasn’t he used one yet?” I ask while dodging spindly branches, chancing a glance at the cloudless blue sky above. Selfishly, I’m glad to see it hasn’t been marred by the false night of Gabe’s carbon nightoxide, but I can’t help but wonder why he didn’t use it against the Sols. “Were there too many to attack at once?”
“I don’t know,” Gem admits. “He woke me up maybe a half hour ago, all freaked out, saying you were missing. Kalden was gone, too. I figured you were together, but didn’t know for sure, so we split up to search for you.”
“Oh,” is all I say as we continue weaving through the thicket, still following that inexplicable magnetic tug, as if the sun’s energy coursing through my veins senses its likeness nearby.
Gem huffs a dry laugh. “That’s it? No ‘I’m sorry for scaringyou shitless, and I promise not to do it again’? What were you thinking,Orelle?Wandering off right before dawn without telling anyone? Without tellingme?”
“I’m sorry for not saying anything. It was still pitch black when I woke, and I wanted to let you sleep.”
“I don’t give a shadow’s fuck about sleep,” Gem snaps. “You left your helmet behind, and I had no clue if I’d find you in time. I could’ve lost you.”
“The Sols weren’t near?—”
“That’s not what I meant.” She lowers her voice, as if that’ll prevent her built-in camera from picking up her next words. “You and I both know there are worse fates than death.”
Like becoming the very creature we’re meant to hunt. A creature who wouldn’t hesitate to feed on people it might’ve once cared for, too ravenous to discriminate friend from foe.
An unwelcome image of Gem in Meridna’s place materializes—except instead of me grasping her hand as she takes her final breaths, I drink from her bleeding heart until I’ve drained every drop of her life essence.
I stumble over a thick root, bile coating my tongue as I blink, evicting the image from my mind. Gem slows her pace, waiting for me, despite her frustration.
“That won’t happen,” I vow.
She folds her arms tightly across her chest. Though I can’t see it, I feel her narrowed gaze slicing through her helmet, like she can sense the golden light flooding my irises and veins beneath mine. The polarized lens completely extinguished Kalden’s illuminated features from view, but what if the tint on my headgear isn’t dark enough?
