Chapter 18
A scream escapesand I run, tripping over drones that have come free and are now skittering across the floor like so many beetles. The exit is only a few meters, but it feels like I’m running a marathon, uphill. The ship is tilting; the nose diving down. I lung up and grab the edge, not wanting to fall to the nose which will crumple on impact.
Indiz is on his knees in the snow, hand outstretched but out of reach. “Jump.”
“No.” I don’t want to fall deeper into the ship, but I don’t want to fall out of it either.
“I can’t hold the ship up, but I can hold you.”
The ship drops another meter and I almost let go. My fingers are slipping on the cold metal. I scrabble for a foothold and find the drone shelves.
“You have to jump. Trust me. I will catch you.”
My heartbeat is almost drowning out his words. “Okay…on three.”
I need time to prepare, think over my regrets and all the things I’ve done wrong. The reasons I’m here. That Indiz is here.
“I can’t. It has to be now!”
The urgency in voice makes me obey. I push off the shelves and the ship disappears from beneath me, barreling down the mountain, twisting and crashing through trees and rocks. For those seconds I hang suspended in the air. Fear that I’m about to follow paralyzes me. I reach out my hand. Indiz holds out the staff and I grab hold. It’s only then I drop into the recently vacated depression in the snow. I’m still holding the staff and Indiz is at the other end.
He still has power over air. He is elemental, even though he’s now bound in his old body. He slides into the hollow and wraps me in a fierce hug. I’m not a crier, but this whole stranding experience has brought tears to the surface and I can’t help it.
He is a crier. Which is unexpected.
“I can’t lose anyone else.” He kisses the top of my head, his tears dripping on my hair.
I don’t like the fuss. I’m alive…but there’s a long way to go for both of us. I try to pull myself together. Drawing in deep breaths of the warm air against his chest. I’m enveloped in his arms and his fur. I should pull away, and we should get on with finding somewhere for the night, but I don’t want to move.
“I got the kit.” I manage to say. It’s strapped to my back. But I didn’t get any extra food. We have enough ready-made meals for a few days. I tip my head and look up at him. I see the devastation in his eyes and know that if I’d gone over, he’d have given up. “I’m fine.”
If I discount the adrenaline flooding my system, my thudding heart, and the way I just want to sit for a couple of minutes to catch my breath. But at least I’m still breathing, not at the bottom of the mountain, twisted and broken. I was lucky to survive the first time. But luck had nothing to do with it the second time.
I reach up on my tippy toes to kiss him, and he ducks his head. Our lips meet and I taste the storm on his tongue. But I don’t fear it. I have never been safer than in his arms.
