Page 72 of The Garnet Daughter
She examines me, turning her head to the side for so long I shift on my feet, the curve of the boulder making it difficult to balance.
I wonder what she is looking for, what she would see other than the obvious missing veil that would convince her. I am not poised or refined, a quality I thought Selene embodied naturally until Ferren came to our village and moved the same way. Even without her priestess clothing, she held herself in the same manner as Selene. Perhaps it isn’t as obvious to others as it is to me.
The woman seems satisfied with her inspection. “Divine then?”
I don’t answer her, but I don’t need to. She witnessed me fold with her own eyes and there isn’t much I can do to deny that.
“I’m called Calliape.”
She nods in understanding of my caution. “I am Sav. You should not stay here. Others will come.”
“I have to.” If I leave, how will August find me? “And what do you mean, others?”
“Others.” Her tone comes out as a flat warning.
I glance around at the vast landscape I can barely make out in the eclipse light. We are within a grouping of large boulders, but all around us is never-ending orange sand, drenched in purple tones.
She turns her back to me and starts walking away, hopping over rocks with ease.
I step down from my safe spot on the sinksand’s edge and follow after her.
“Wait!” I fight the urge to fold back to where I know I will not be swallowed up.
“Every scrapper in the area saw you fall from the sky. The pod is gone, so there is nothing for them to take but you.”
An unsettling chill runs down my spine despite the intense heat.
“You are very fortunate,” she continues. “ButIam very unfortunate. I chose the wrong pod to follow.”
“The wrong pod?” Shock quickens my steps, but she is still striding farther away from me.
“The other is over that ridge.” She weaves through some prickly looking bushes.
I don’t know if I am still in distress or the pressure of the air change is making it harder to process information. So I fold right in front of her, blocking her way.
“What other pod?” I demand.
She gasps and steps back. “I . . . watched your pod fall, another and then the ship that birthed both.”
“The ship? You saw the ship land?”
“Over that ridge.” She points. “Both fell faster than yours, and then I saw orange light beyond the ridge and then smoke.”
I blink so rapidly, as if it will lessen the view of a thick trail of smoke coming up from behind a hill in the distance.
I swallow hard. The ship did not land—it crashed.
“The pod is there too,” she says.
There is only one trail of smoke. I’m instantly hopeful that August put himself in an escape pod because he had to abandon the ship when the First Son soldiers took over the cockpit and he is waiting for me just over that ridge.
“I can show you the way if the scrap is mine. You won’t make it there on your own. Sinksand is not the worst thing between us and there,” Sav proposes.
I could fold right to the ridge and call out to him. But the thought of landing somewhere more dangerous than where my pod settled is enough to make me take her offer.
“Fine,” I confirm. I don’t trust her, but from what she has insinuated, someone much worse could have found me first.
The pod groans from the sandy pool, arching up in a final crumbled mess. The lights flicker just beneath like it’s sinking into deep waters. The ground sputters, and then it’s gone.
