Page 130 of The Garnet Daughter
She sniffles into my hair and whispers, “When will we see each other again?”
“I don’t know, but I do know that I love you. Despite this, I would have found you. Our paths would have always crossed because they are ours and no one else’s.”
“Thank you, Calliape, for all you have done. My life would not be the same without you.”
Hearing the sob she is holding back breaks my heart, the earnestness in her voice sending a bolt of regret that I wasted even a moment hiding behind my walls.
“Ferren . . . there are so many things I wish I did differently?—”
“We are flawed; that is all.” She grips my shoulders, shaking her head to convince me to stop my line of thinking, then pulls me forward in an embrace. “Do not hold back with August. Let yourself bask in it,” she whispers into the tether between us, one I will never close off again.
“Goodbye.” I squeeze her tightly as my voice cracks.
“Goodbye, sister. I love you.” She rips away painfully and wipes her cheeks.
She can’t meet our eyes as she turns to 99 to walk up the ramp together.
August laces his fingers in mine as we watch our friends ascend. Ferren’s legs seem weak, as she walks with as much of her weight on 99’s forearm as possible, and when they reach the top, he holds her tightly as she cries into his armor. The tears I’ve managed to keep within my sockets spill forth freely when I see my friend, my sister, so broken and leaving, yet this time I am not sure when, if ever, we will see each other again.
August pulls me into his side, wrapping a strong arm around my waist and sniffling himself.
99 pulls off his helmet and kisses her. They speak for a long time, saying their goodbyes, half through the tether and the rest too far for our ears. And when he regretfully descends the ramp with his helmet firmly placed, his strides away from Ferren look as if he is moving through sinksand.
But when he reaches us, he turns his head to the side quickly, ignoring us as if he hears something we cannot.
And then the air itself changes, the sandy dryness easier to breathe in, like a fog cloud is moving in to cool the Estate.
A great sky boom rocks into my ear canals, and the Viathan alarms blare suddenly.
“Depart now! Do not wait!” 99 screams into his comm to the pilot of Ferren’s ship.
She stands at the edge of the ramp as it closes, eyes wild, hearing the new pattern of the tolling bells of her former temple, knowing the sequence of their meaning.
Commanders come to her aid within the entrance of the ship, but her entire body glows green, fury mixed with heartbreak ebbing in a ball of energy as the door seals her in.
99 watches the ship ascend into the sky and ignores the frantic incoming messages on his comm of the enemy arriving far before expected.
August is moving us away, holding me by the arm and steering us toward his ship. “We have to go. They are here.”
“Is it safe for her to leave now?” I ask frantically. We have waited too long for her to sneak out without notice.
Neither of them answer. It’s a question that doesn’t require one. We have no other choice. She must go, whether it is dangerous or not. None of us are willing to risk her staying here, so we watch her ascend into the dark sky, leaving behind a hole in each of us.
Chapter
Thirty-Nine
Every alarm bell in the city screams in warning as August and I prepare his ship, making sure we can leave swiftly. He checks the fuel and landing gear so many times my head spins. Departing procedures are double-checked as well, and then he moves the ship to the end of the cargo bay, away from the fleet ships, to be clear for takeoff when needed.
“We are only staying until his army has landed,” August states.
“99 said they need to be within range,” I remind him.
But his only answer is a sideview of his tense, flexing jaw.
“I will fold to the ship if you land it outside the city.”
“It’s not that easy.”
