My legs and arms pump faster than I’ve ever pushed them before and all I can think is if I get far enough through these tunnels, will I find Tilly’s body lying limp and cold at the end of one of them?
The sound of Achates’ roar echoes behind me, spurring me on to sprint faster. My hand reaches out to push off the wall as I fling myself around a bend and take off. Just as I cross the threshold to a second tunnel, I feel a gust of air whip past in the spot I just was. It misses me, but it’s strong enough to catch the ends of my hair and send tendrils lashing about behind me.
Fear kicks in alongside the knowledge that I’m running from the very being who gave air wielders their magic. Who taught the very first of them how to harness his element and gave them the strength of Agate. How, over generations, that power was forged into stone as bloodlines grew weaker and further separated from the Stars, and instead of having the power of Agate running in their veins, it was accessible through a physical thing.
Thisis the Star that created it, and he is hot on my tail, intent on hunting me down. There is no hope in my mind that I can defeat him, not on my own. But can I outrun him? I guess I’ll find out.
FIFTY-FIVE
My feet stumble as a gust of wind snaps at them, intent on latching its invisible tendrils around my ankles. I can hear Achates behind me, the quick succession of his footsteps thumping through the tunnel, matching the pace of my heart beating in my chest.
‘Where do you possibly think that you can run to? There is nowhere you can hide; all of this belongs tome!’
A whistle slices the air behind me. A breath later I feel hot, sharp pain stabbing into my shoulder blade. A gasp is ripped out of me as my body jerks forward. I dare to look and find the hilt of the dagger I threw his way protruding out my back, rocking with each frantic stride.
Fuck!
I don’t stop to pull it out; I just keep running. My breathing turns shallow as the blade saws against my flesh, sending white-hot pain shooting through me. Warm blood spills beneath my robe, trickling down my back through the dress I’m wearing underneath. The tunnel ahead narrows to one final passage, the one that will take me to the stairs that lead to the main entrance of the Agate tower. I’m so desperately close, my heart pumping at a panicked pace.
I slow my steps just enough to claw behind me, fingers searching for the hilt. When they finally close around it, I yank it free from my flesh. The cry that erupts from my chest is loud and guttural. A wet gush of blood streams out of the open wound.
Out of the corner of my eye I see his shadow climb the walls of the tunnel seconds before his body emerges. I spin and hurl the dagger toward him, crying out when my shoulder throbs in pain. It arcs wide, the scraping of metal against stone telling me I missed completely. I bolt. My legs burn, my shoulder screams in agony and my eyes start to blur as I feel that constant stream of blood leaving my body.
But the stairs are just ahead. Just thirty more feet. I’msoclose. I count them like a prayer as I near.
Twenty feet.
Ten.
Five.
Two.
I launch myself forward. My boots squeak on the third step, my free hand catching myself on the sixth. I start to bear crawl up the stairs, clawing at the stone like an animal until the heavy fabric of my robe gets caught beneath my feet, causing me to slip. Tears prick at the corners of my eyes as frustration mixes with panic. I push myself up, desperate to keep going but then it happens – a force so brutal it steals the breath from my lungs as it slams violently into my back.
My body pitches forward, colliding with the stone. My dagger clatters loudly as it drops from my hands. Blood fills my mouth when my chin slams down against one of the steps and my tongue gets caught beneath my teeth. Stars burst across my vision. Before I have a chance to recover, I feel his hand clamp around my ankle. With a savage tug, he yanks me down to him.
‘No!’ I scream. I start to kick out blindly, savagely, like an animal trapped in a net and trying to find its way out. ‘Let me go!’
After several seconds of kicking, I hear him grunt as my foot collides with his thigh. I use that moment to scramble up another step, my hand slapping against stone trying to find my dagger.
Where is it? Fuck, fuck!
‘You Nocthares were always more trouble than you were worth!’ Achates bellows before a biting cold air wraps itself around my bodyand lifts me off the steps, only to propel me forward and slam me back down.
A keening wail rips from my throat. Blinding pain slices through my ribcage, my arms, my thighs. Everywhere.
This is it, I think, as darkness seeps into the edges of my vision. I can’t fight this anymore. He’s just too strong. Too powerful. I manage to roll onto my back, just to peer down and find Achates stomping up the stairs, closing the distance between us. ‘Maybe I’ll just useyouas my next host instead,’ he threatens as he crouches down to grip my jaw in one hand. ‘Just to enjoy watching your body deteriorate. Pathetic little human!’
I lay there, half crumpled against the steps, my head craning back to look up at him. I stare into his liquid milky eyes, at the evil that found root in him long, long ago. And my heart screams at my mind, fighting against the pain and urging me to get the hell up.Fight back. Get up!
He took my brother. He took my friend. He took Sebastian’s grandfather from him, too. He killed them all. Without remorse. He did it because he could. And I know down to my marrow that his tyrannical reign will not end here, withme. I will become another name inside an old book with a black mark to sit upon a shelf. How long will dust coat the edges of that book until another person like me stumbles upon it? How many names will be scrawled beneath mine? Dozens? Hundreds? Enough that mine won’t matter –Lukas’swon’t matter. The thought of his name fading beneath the weight of all those others is crippling. Lukas was enigmatic. Unshakable. And then Achates snuffed his light out and buried his memory in a book and filled the minds of everyone who knew him with lies. He made them hate him. Fear him …
I feel Achates’ power surge up around me. It licks at my broken and bruised skin, cold slashes of air making me quiver as the odd sensation I often get when near powerful magic rears its head. His power is stifling, even at a weakened state. It’s no wonder that the bodies he inhabits cannot bear its burden. Whyhisis deteriorating.
‘Look at you,’ he snarls. ‘So much weaker than that brother of yours. At least he had the decency to fight back.’ His magic whips out and wraps itself around my throat, cutting off my air supply.
I can practicallytastehis magic. It’s putrid. Sour. Like spoiled milk. I want to shy away from him, to curl up and hide until it’s over. But I don’t. The hold on my throat squeezes tight, making me choke on a gasp that isn’t there. I force myself not to panic, it’ll only get worse if I do. Let him think he won. Let him think the fight has left my body. Meanwhile, something within my chest shifts. Like a moving piece of a puzzle. A fissure forming along a cliff … it cracks.
