Captain Rawlings.
He wasn’t dead—I could feel him even now…
Using my undamaged hand, I pushed myself up, teeth clenched so hard I was sure they’d crack under the pressure. I could see his tall figure through the flames, pacing at the edge of an uncrossable barrier.
“Mila! Oh, thank the Goddess, sister, I thought you were dead! Josh! Over here! she’s alive!”
I squinted, trying to make out the blurry faces of Belle and Josh hovering above me.
“Miss Tannovic! Can you move, lass?”
My head swiveled around as my father dropped to his knees at my side. “Goddess, Mila. I thought I’d lost you.”
A funny little sound crawled up the back of my throat. Something halfway between a groan and a laugh. Hadn’t they? Wasn’t I dead?
“You have to stand up. Come on now. The fire won’t keep him back for long.”
I turned bleary eyes to the flames. Captain Rawlings had stopped moving, was simply standing as close as he could bear, eyes fixed upon me. Making me feel every last drop of seething fury. His denial.
“Comeon, lass!” Josh stooped, sweeping his arms beneath my legs. “I’ve got you. Just wrap your hands around my neck—Gods, yourhand!”
A hysterical giggle burst through my lips and I flexed my right fingers, snorting when the skin crackled and flaked. “That’s pretty gross, isn’t it? I can’t even feel it…”
My father captured my charred fingers in his, hiding them away from sight. “Don’t do that, Mila. It’ll be okay, baby girl.”
“You haven’t called me that in ages, daddy.” Cold all over, I closed my eyes and went limp, unable to feel anything at all. So…sotired…
“Mila, wake up!” A chilly finger forced my eyelids open as Priestess ki kissed my senses. “She’s in shock. I don’t have the strength for a healing of this magnitude, but—”
“You won’t have anything t’heal if we wait much longer, Miss Belle,” Josh said, pressing me closer to his chest.
“Yes,” my father added, gasping for breath. “We haven’t got much time before they’re on us again.”
“This way,” Belle replied, her voice distorted through the fog filling my ears. “You must run straight through the planeth or theywilldefend their territory. They’ll already be agitated by the others running through their flock.”
An explosion rocked the tunnel, making Josh curse on a stumble, cracking his elbow on the stone wall. To his credit, he tried to protect my head, but the shock rippled through me anyway, dragging a ragged yelp from my raw throat, vision stuttering. Squeezing me closer, Josh pushed through, murmuring a litany of soothing gibberish under his breath as he went.
He needn’t have bothered, for I was long past the point of caring. What was another bump or scrape? Just add it to the list, because Goddess knew I couldn’t tell the difference between them anymore. I squinted, trying to focus on the blackened mess my right hand had become. But… there were two burned dead things dancing before my eyes. Had I ruined both hands and forgotten?
Our ragged group burst into the courtyard, sunlight forcing me to bury my face against Josh’s chest.
And for a moment, it seemed as if everything might fall into place. That is, until a two-toned squawk reverberated through my ears, followed by a hollowthonk, thonk, thonk!
“Don’t stop moving!” Belle shouted over her shoulder, sprinting just ahead of us, the flash of her silver skirts flicking in my peripherals.
The planeth.
Great colorful wings spread wide, one of the massive, flightless birds threw his head back, snapping his lower beak in quick succession of three—a warning which was quickly picked up by the rest of the flock. As my father, Josh, and Belle continued to sprint through planeth territory, the flock-leader crouched low, his great feathered frill puffing wide for a moment before it flattened against his skull.
And then he jumped, launching his weight toward Josh from across the courtyard, screaming in that strange two-toned squawk. Separating us from my father and Belle, he landed on the path in front of us, stomping his feet and spreading his wings as he pulled in a great, rumbling breath, rising to full height. Neck coiled.
Josh skidded to a halt, dropping me to my feet and throwing me behind his back. “Easy, you big fuckin—”
Too late, Belle tried to repeat her warning. “Josh,no!”
Without the strength to do more than cling to his shirt, I watched with detached fascination as the planeth charged, stopped, then charged again, spreading his wings and stomping with every bluff.
“Don’t move,” Belle whispered, her face pale as ice beneath the flush of exertion. “He’s testing you. Don’t move.”
