I nod, slipping past him and pausing at the door. “You’ve got a good heart, Gabe. Consider making room in it for more than just your constituents.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Rich huesof blue and gold spill through the mosaic walls across the aged wooden floorboards as I tread towards the kitchen the next morning, led by the faint scent of blueberry muffins and buttery toast. I rub the lingering sleep from my eyes while passing through the doorway, expecting to see a few of the Huntresses enjoying their breakfast. But the large circular table to the right of the walnut cupboards is vacant, minus the four plates of half-eaten food.
Maybe they weren’t that hungry?
Brows furrowing, I head back into the hall, until I reach the other rooms at the back right of the rounded bungalow. The creases in my forehead deepen as I take in the empty beds notably void of their gear and weapons.
Did the plans change?
No.
Gem promised me last night that they’d give it another day before asking Niles about releasing Gabe. She wouldn’t have left without saying goodbye.
I step outside, bare feet thumping against the wooden pathway as I search for signs of movement, in case they got restless and went for a walk before the still-sleeping village wakes. I break into a jog, aimlessly following the winding paths between the domes.
Just when I think I’m well and truly lost, I spot the gray opaque walls of the temporary confinement facility Niles had taken me to yesterday. Though I never got her name, perhaps the female stationed there would be willing to point me in the right direction, if she’s even awake yet.
I reach for the door, surprised to find it’s already cracked open.
“Hello? Sorry to bother you, but—” My words abruptly end when I slip inside and find no one manning the desk. I rush towards the door to the back hall. It, too, has been left ajar.
Needles dance along my skin as I push into it . . .
The third holding cell is empty.
Gabe isn’t here.
Gem and the others are missing.
“Shadows’ mercy,” I curse, then run back outside, aiming towards the village’s edge.
My chest tightens when I spot them a few minutes later: five figures clad in head-to-toe black treading south through the dunes below, backs turned on the village. But it’s the way the shortest of them walks stiffly, as if being tugged forward, that sends me back into motion.
Gem.
The cool ocean breeze whips through my curls as I lean forward and leap off the platform, sending Kalden’s sunstone pendant thumping against my chest. Sand greedily absorbs the footfalls of my dissenting legs. I cast a few glances at the brightening horizon to the east, pleading with the glowing orb to make its ascent.
As if it hears the unspoken plea, the sun mounts the horizon moments later, gracing the left side of my body with its light. A welcome tingle settles into my veins. With luminous hands streaking in my peripheral vision, I press onward with labored breaths.
If only I could give myself a boost, like the way the Pyres used thrusts of energy to leap across the dunes . . .
Maybe I can?
I direct the influx of power to my palms, letting it build to a potent warmth. Though the vibrations grow, I wait a few seconds longer, then release the flare toward the ground.
Grains explode from the dunes below as my body catapults dozens of feet off the earth.
Ireallydidn’t think this through.
Arms flailing, I spiral downward and scramble to reclaim a grip on the pulsing force throbbing within my hands, directing a more measured burst at the rapidly approaching sand—just enough to slow the momentum of my fall.
I land ass-first into the warm powder. The collision is relatively gentle, as if the fall spanned a couple of feet instead of several dozen. Rising, I reset my sights on the familiar figures that disappear over the nearest crest, then repeat the steps. I mount the top of the dune and nearly stick the second landing before swaying to the side.
“Elle? What are you doing here?” Gabe stretches out an arm, ushering the Huntresses to take cover behind him while clenching a rope in the opposite hand—a rope that ends in a knot around Gem’s wrists.
My nostrils flare. “What amIdoing? What in the fiery furnace areyoudoing?!”
