Page 134 of Skyshade
Just when she almost reached her, Wren ran down the bridge connecting the isle to the mainland. Isla followed, just a few steps behind. “Wren!” she yelled at the Wildling. But she didn’t stop.
Isla crashed through the trees, clearing them with her power, but Wren remained just out of reach.
Enough. She burst forward with a shot of Starling energy and was nearly on her—but then she was gone. Isla stood in the clearing. Turned around.
“Where—”
And then there was a blade, stabbing toward her face. Wren. Isla barely got her own weapon up in time.
“What are you doing?” she screamed at the Wildling. She wasn’t wearing her snakes. What had happened? “Where are the rest of the Wildlings?”
“Isla,” a voice said. It was Oro’s. He was standing a few feet away, looking unsure of what he should do.
She blocked another blow, her blade grazing down Wren’s arm in the process. It was an accident. “I—”
Dread seized through her chest.
There wasn’t any blood.
She looked up at an expressionless face. Glassy eyes.
“No,” she said, or cried, she didn’t know, all she did was block yet another advance. Another. Oro stood there, inching toward her, as if seconds away from interfering.
Tears swept down her jaw. “I—Oro, I can’t,” she said. She was gasping for air.
He seemed to understand, because before Wren could take another step toward her, she was covered in flames.
Isla watched her burn. Wren just stood there, expressionless, as the fire consumed her. As her skin separated from bone. As she burned until she was nothing but ash.
She sank to her knees. Wren was here, on Lightlark. Isla knew what that meant.
That was how Lark had gotten to the island so quickly. “She—she has my starstick.”
Oro’s features turned to stone. With portaling power, she could be anywhere at any moment. They needed to stop her now. They needed that cursed dagger. He pulled her to her feet.
Isla reached for Grim’s portaling power to take them to Remlar.
But it was gone.
No. She reached again. Again. But it was like the bridge between them had been severed. It was like it had never existed at all.
Her heart was beating so fast, clawing up her throat. She couldn’t breathe.
She reached. And reached.
Her emotions broke out of her chest, exploding from her ribs. “I can’t feel it!” she screamed. She nearly sank to the floor. Only Oro kept her steady. “Oro—I can’t feel him!”
He couldn’t be dead. If he was, she would be too, right? Or was the heart of Lightlark keeping her alive for a few stolen moments?
Her scream was a guttural rasp; it didn’t sound natural. Pain nearly ripped apart her chest. Power exploded, and Oro just barely shielded against it.
“Isla,” he said carefully, “Grim is tough to kill. His power is likely blocked, like with your bracelets. You need to stay calm, or we won’t survive this.”
She couldn’t. The idea that he was in trouble—that he had been captured. That he could be dying—
Oro grabbed her wrist, as if feeling something she could not. He threw up his Starling shield around them.
Seconds later, trees snapped in half as easily as matchsticks, as the forest was flattened.
