Page 8 of Wings of Lies
I dug my nails into my palms, pacing in front of the pane of glass. If I didn’t escape, he’d lock me away again. I’d never find my mom. She’d never be able to tell me who I was or fix the agonizing pressure trying to take over.
I needed out. I had to find her!
The stabbing pressure surged against my skin, sending me to my knees. I hunched into myself, clawing at my chest.
“What’s happening to me?” I cried.
Hysterical, I slammed my fists repeatedly into the window, overcome with the stabbing pressure. “Make it stop. Make it stop,” I whimpered.
After the third pound, a white flame burst from my hands. They plunged through the glass, melting a hole through the window faster than they melted the doorknob.
Globs of glowing red slid off my shaking fingers and plopped to the sill, burning holes into the wood. As I pulled back, the rest of the glass shattered.
I jolted. If he wasn’t up before, he was now. Ignoring the shards of glass, I dove through the window, hissing and dropping to the ground. My flaming hands scorched the grass. I jerked them back and shook them as if that was their off button. They mocked me, flickering higher instead of fading back into my skin.
Something banged inside the house.
Shit, was that a door?
I forced my unsteady legs up, keeping my hands away from my body, and through sheer willpower, I ran into the forest.
It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t graceful. It was hardly even running.
Chapter
Three
Istumbled my way through the forest like a newborn fawn for what seemed like hours. My traitorous hands flickered in front of me like a neon sign, turning everything I touched to ash.I was leaving a path to follow without meaning to.But no amount of shaking, blowing, or rubbing them on the dirt put them out. No, they just flamed in front of me—unresponsive and useless. Plus, they drained my energy.
On my fifth fall, I peed myself. My body was failing me. I couldn’t keep this up. But resting intensified the squeezing pressure on my chest and heightened my flames. While running didn’t cure the feeling, it helped to lessen it.
After so many falls, my legs refused to stand. Sunlight waned behind the canopy of trees, turning my hands into even more of a beacon.
I heaved in and out, looking left and right for a cream cowboy hat. But before my quick breaths could suffocate me, my flames sank in time with my eyelids.
Startled awake by a snap, I found myself in a moonlit forest. I tensed, listening intently as someone moved in the distance. They took a few steps, then paused as if uncertain of their destination, or they were searching for someone. I scooted closer to the thick brush and only relaxed when the noise faded.
My forehead dropped, and I held back a groan as my entire body throbbed. Luckily, they didn’t catch me while I slept, but I couldn’t hide here.
With a little more energy, I stood, grabbing onto a small branch to help support my measly weight, grateful my stupid flames were put away. It bent, but it held as much as my wobbly limbs did. I stepped, wincing at the crunch of leaves resonating in the quiet, and wandered through the shadowed trees with my arms wrapped around my body.
If only I knew where I was and what the heavenly hell had happened to my memories and my—Footsteps crunched in the distance.
I darted behind a tree trunk. The damned crushing pressure sensation took over as they approached. I stifled my quick breaths, cramming against the rough bark, and they passed me.
Oblivious.
The tall guy didn’t know I was there. He walked through the forest without a care in the world.
It couldn’t be a coincidence that he was here, could it? He wasn’t wearing cowboy attire, but who’s to say he wasn’t working with the other guy?
I didn’t know. But I also didn’t have the luxury to let him go. With his casual confidence, he clearly knew his way around these woods, and without water or food, I wouldn’t survive trying to find a way out alone. But I also wasn’t stupid enough to give myself up.
I let him walk ahead before creeping after him.
After passing a few trees, black dots shimmered before my eyes, making me sway. I shot out a foot to steady myself, caught a root, and tumbled to the ground.
My head jerked up, and our gazes met.
