Page 6 of Clouded by Envy

Bray’s lips tugged to the side, but when she heard a car door slam shut outside, she felt like she couldn’t breathe. She had to get out of there.

“Crap, Wes is home. Hurry!” Luca sprinted for the back door, tearing it open, and gesturing for Bray to escape. She zoomed out without a proper goodbye and pumped her wings as hard as she could toward the tree hole, until her body slammed against the floor.

Hurriedly, while still out of breath, Bray gazed out the hole and saw Luca giving her a thumbs up from the glass window before heading back to his brother.

3

Brenik

Ten Years Ago

Abright white light seeped through the darkness, and Brenik felt a sudden shake under his feet. He turned toward Bray, but he could not see her face, only an outline. Still, he heard her whisper softly, “It will be okay, little brother.”

He nodded in the dissipating darkness as the Stone of Desire’s arm pushed them farther and farther out toward the light. Brenik’s heart had not ceased pounding, and it needed more oxygen than his own lungs did.

Skyscraping trees appeared in his vision: green and brown. They were tall and full of needle-like leaves he had never seen before.

“Pine trees,” Brayora whispered as her blue eyes sparkled under the light. “Junah told me about how we have them on the other side of Laith.” But they were no longer in Laith.

Junah had never discussed those things with him, but he had never asked her about leaves either. “Where are we?” he demanded, clasping his hands together while digging his index finger into the skin of the opposite hand.

“You are on Earth,” the loud voice of the Stone boomed in Brenik’s head. He whirled around to see its face had already closed in.

The Stone tilted its alabaster hand, and Brenik and Bray slid down until their backsides hit the dew-covered grass. Leaping up from the moisture, Brenik brushed the dirt from his wings.

“What do we do now?” Bray inquired, calmly flicking a blade of grass from her brown dress.

“You try and live. The girl will have the gift of survival.” Without another word, the Stone of Desire withdrew and curled itself back into the rose-shaped boulder, tucking its head in first followed by arms and legs. A low grumbling penetrated the air as the Stone slowly sank back into the dirt. The ground shook beneath their feet for several of Brenik’s heartbeats, until the Stone looked the same as when they first discovered it back in Laith.

Running a hand through his shoulder-length black hair, Brenik turned to Bray and asked, “What do we do now? The Stone said you have the gift of survival, so what is it?” He could not understand why the Stone did not let them know what it was. A large part of him desperately wanted to go back home.

Her nose crinkled as she thought. “I—I don’t know. I don’t feel any differently.” She took off on a sprint toward the rose stone and slammed her palm against it. Nothing happened. “Come back! I have more questions.”

The realization that maybe they should have stayed in Laith washed over Brenik. Shaking his head, he ran up beside Bray to set his hand beside hers on top of the cool stone.Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.

Bray took a couple of steps back and turned around to take in the scene before them. “One sun. Look, Brenik, there is only one sun in the sky here.” She tugged on the edge of his brown tunic and pointed a finger at the light blue sky.

Astonishment buried itself inside his chest as he gazed up at it. “The sky is blue! Not a pale pink like Laith’s sky, butblue.” It was beautiful. There were enormous, white puffy clouds pressed into the sky that contrasted with Laith’s, which were the darkest of grays.

Flapping his inky wings and feeling the wind dance against his face, Brenik soared up to the top of a tree to look out as far as he could. Sharp points pricked his skin from the tips of the needle leaves, and he backed away in annoyance, a slight stinging sensation lingering on his arm.

Bray appeared next to him, scanning the foliage, almost meticulously. “We have to be careful—we don’t know what species this place has. What if they are worse than Junah’s kind?”

He could practically feel the blood boiling in his body, unable to hold the anger back. “Quit acting like you are in charge all the time, Brayora. I know what I am doing. I am not a youngling anymore, so stop treating me as such.”

A sorrowful expression crossed her face, and Brenik instantly felt terrible for yelling at her. But there was also a little bliss at seeing the hurt there—maybe she would understand now how he felt.

“I am sorry, I did not mean to yell at you like that. It is because I already miss Junah, and I am not sure what to do.” This was an unfamiliar place, and he had to learn new things—the idea frightened him.

In understanding, she smiled as she nodded, and they decided to fly through the trees until they found something to eat. There were birds and insects, but he could not find one fruit tree anywhere in sight. A gurgling sound rumbled from Brenik’s stomach, and they flew until the edge of the forest neared, where there were no more trees to pass through.

Descending to the ground, Brenik’s feet hit a hardened gray surface. “What is this?” he asked Bray as her bare feet thumped down beside his.

Leaning forward to inspect the gray color, Bray crawled on the surface, as if she was trying to get a real feel for it. “I don’t know, but what are these white lines in the middle?” She bent her head down, letting her nose touch one of the white shapes, and breathed heavily through her nostrils.

Brayora wasn’t paying attention as a loud roar filled the air—a demonic black beast was barreling toward her. Brenik lunged forward as fast as he could and yanked Bray back before the monstrosity collided with her. They tumbled backward into the grass, and he released her to stand up. He was livid. If she had gotten herself killed, he would have been all alone because of her stupidity.

“What were you doing crawling on the ground like that? Not paying attention!” he spat.

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