“Wait, I’ll come with you,” Altair rushed out, pressing his hands onto the table as he stood and making the wood groan in protest. Why was he so fucking eager to be around me? Hehatedme. Why was he even letting me stay there? Why was he helping me?
The questions rattled in my head like a half-filled jar being shaken. They stung with each slam against my skull. I needed to get out of there. To have a second of peace before everything inevitably crashed down.
So, as gracefully as I could, I threw off my bag, ripped open the front door, andran.
As it turned out, I hadn’t been paying nearly enough attention when I first arrived in front of Altair’s cottage. The vast sea beyond the sharp and plunging cliff mirrored the grey sky, less blue than I had thought it was.
Not that way, then.
On the other side of the cottage was what looked to be a towering mountain, easily three times the size of the one near Elite Academy, the surface nearly black. It seemed to take up almost all of the island, with the peak I stood on being the second highest.
All around me was rubble. Houses cracked and broken, vegetation overtaking stone. The grass was beginning to take on an orange hue, crunching beneath my feet as I ran down the hill. Where I was going didn’t matter, only that I was moving. I’d go back for Death when I could think—plot—breathe.
“Silly girl. You run, but you can’t hide.”
I sped up, my lungs burning as the icy air flooded my chest. If I kept moving, maybe I could outrun the sound of their echoing voices.
“You know that isn’t possible.”
Leave me alone!
My arms and legs ached from the day of disuse. While my mind demanded I continue, my body began to protest, my feet burning as cold rocks dug into my soles. Pumping my arms faster, I leapt over what looked like chunks of a wooden bed, my heart aching at what once was.
We had destroyed everything. For what?
“For us, of course.”
The stars seemed eager to say more, a hum beginning in the back of my mind. I screamed out, collapsing near a large chunk of what must have once been a wall, the faded brick thick with the smell of smoke.
Sucking in the briny air, I noted that the scent wasn’t just on the bricks. It was everywhere. Looking up, I caught sight of a faint cloud leaking from the top of the mountain.
Not a mountain, a volcano. I had read about those before, though I had never seen one. If I had the energy, I might have actually been fascinated. As it was, I closed my eyes, letting my head thunk against the brick as I slumped into the wall.
“You know, Nova Tershetta, you are on the precipice of something quite big.”
And what is that?
“Ask Azazel Altair.”
As always, I could sense that they were done with the conversation, their hushed whispers and incomprehensible ramblings fading to the back of my mind, where they so loved to fester in my subconscious.
Ask Altair? What answers could he possibly provide me? He’d been burrowing away like the snake he was, brumatingbefore striking when the time was right. There was nothing he could give me. He was vile, hateful, egotistic, violent, and despicable. Impossible in every way. All he could do was annoy me at best and kill me at worst.
Though I wished it wouldn’t, my mind strayed, as it always did. I thought of the letters Mama had written him. Had he written back with the same kind tone? I hadn’t had time to look through Mama’s drawers and find them, nor had I thought to. By the way she responded and the fact that he had kept them, I assumed he was compassionate towards her.
Fine, there was one redeeming quality about him then. He knew Mama’s value. Not that it took much to see her for the beacon she was. Still, I’d give him that one thing. Nothing else, of course.
For the first time in a while, I wished the stars would speak, if only to tell me more.
Sighing, I let my torso slowly tip, my shoulder hitting the prickly grass and scattered bits of debris. Every inch of my body ached already, so a bit more pain didn’t really matter. Comfort was the last thing on my mind as I curled into a ball and let myself cry, anyway. It was a useless waste of time to let my emotions loose, but I needed to break while I was alone. Because, despite my best judgment saying I couldn’t trust Altair, I knew I had to go back to him.
***
Altair was still at the table when I got back, his feet propped up and Death in his lap, purring as he stroked her fur. Both of their eyes were already on the door as I walked in, gazes piercing. As always, my anger burned bright in his presence.
“Back already?” His voice was steady, a slow drawl that sounded almost bored. Death leapt from her place on his lap,dashing my way. Though she was a traitor, I still reached down and picked her up, holding her close to me as if she was an anchor to reality.
Saying nothing to Altair, I slammed his door closed and strode over to the table, slowly sitting in the stiff wooden chair across from him. Bright grey eyes widening just a fraction, he used his foot to shove a plate towards me, his sock almost touching a pancake that sat near the edge.
