Page 118 of Thief of Souls
It’s an arrow to the chest.
Suddenly I’m back there, staring into her eyes as I see recognition slowly dawn there. She was reaching for my hand to haul me up the cliff until a sheet of glacial indifference came over her.
“You’re only slowing me down,” she’d whispered, her voice cutting through my chest like a rusty hacksaw. “You’re going to get us both killed.”
“Don’t leave me! We’ll do this together—”
But Soraya only shook her head, her eyes locking down tight and hard as if she was nailing the coffin shut on the love we’d once shared. “He was right. Father was right. You’re weak. And I have to be strong enough for both of us. Goodbye, Z.”
And then she turned and walked out of my life.
Forever.
“Maybe I am weaker than you are,” I snarl. “But that doesn’t mean I’m going to just walk away right now. I’m better than that.”
“Curse you, let me go—”
Grabbing two fistfuls of Soraya’s coat, I steel myself. I’ve done this before.
I can do it again.
“No! Don’t you dare!” she yells.
An arrow ricochets off the ledge.
“Come out, come out, little rats,” Ruhle whispers, his voice dipping into a laugh that echoes through the cavern.
One day soon, I am going to drown that skulking rodent, and I’m going to enjoy it.
But right now….
“Don’t move!” I hiss at Soraya, and then I plunge us both into the shadows.
We punch into darkness, but this time it feels like a weight keeps dragging me down. Flickering in and out of being, I move as fast as I can. Alighting on a ledge. Slamming into the tree outside the cavern. Toward the lake….
Every time we slam back into the world, Soraya’s scream rings out until I’m forced to clamp a hand over her mouth to stop her from giving away our position. Speckles of shadow stream off me until the hem of my cloak is ragged and torn. Somehow I’m losing particles of myself. Maybe I’m not strong enough to hold us both incorporeal for this long, but I knot my fists in Soraya’s shirt as though I can somehow hold her together physically. It’s like falling through an endless chasm of darkness, screaming, screaming, until you finally hit rock bottom.
We slam into the waters of the lake.
I’m inside out. Blind. Breathless.
And it’s so cold here.
The darkness closes over me, and the last thing I think is how heavy my bones feel….
Slap.
Pain ricochets through me.
Water rushes past.
I cough out a lungful of water and try to get my bearings as someone drags me from the lake. The world is spinning, or maybe that’s just my eyes rolling back in my head.
Slap.
“You stupid bitch.” Someone’s rubbing heat into my hands. “Z, wake up.” A hand slaps my face, gripping my chin. “Wake up! Or I swear I’ll leave you here. I swear I will.Wake up!”
She breathes into my mouth, and heated air fills my lungs. It’s like swallowing light. Heat. My eyes pop wide, and then it feels like every ragged edge of my body suddenly melts into liquid.
