Page 5 of Splintered Shadow
The karu fluttered down from the bookshelf, landing on the table. Papers scattered.
“Those are delicate,” he said.
The karu squawked, feathers puffed up. She was unhappy. Their connection did not allow for words but gave him impressions. Curious or furious, Vekele knew her opinion on matters.
“Yes, I agree, but we have no choice,” Vekele said. If Baris saw Vekele as a threat to the stability of his reign and wanted that threat removed, there were easier ways than a convoluted mission to a sacred temple. “We must obey our king.”
If it were a trap, he would know soon enough.
Chapter Two
Sarah
A buzzing woke her.More like birdsong. Angry birdsong.
Her head throbbed. Harsh sunlight just made it worse. Hot and sticky, the humidity must have arrived overnight. May was like that. One day was rainy and cool, the next was all sweaty. Spring was over. Time to swelter in the summer heat.
Sarah groaned, shielding her eyes from the sun. Turning her head, nausea rolled over her.
Big mistake.
What was this? Had she gone out for drinks with Trisha after all? And since when did her alarm sound like a bird trying to deepthroat a jackhammer? Chirpy and mechanical and so freakingloud.
Awareness trickled in. Her bed didn’t just feel like the ground, it was the ground.
She cracked open an eye.
A vivid blue sky stretched over her. She wasn’t sure the exact shade—azure dreams, tropical waters, something unreal and more likely to be found on a paint swatch than in real life, certainly not in Philadelphia.
Oh, and the two moons huddled next to the sun in the sky. That was new.
Sarah carefully rolled to her side and picked herself up. Stone scraped the palms of her hands. Dirt and plant matter covered the surface. Tufts of grass and twisting, flowering vines covered the area, along with her bedsheets and scattered socks. Narrow trumpet-shaped flowers reached for the sun, the outside petals violet, and the interior a vivid orange.
Using her hand to shield her eyes against the sunlight, she slowly surveyed the scene.
She definitely wasn’t in Philadelphia anymore.
A thick green forest surrounded her on three sides.
A large stone building loomed behind her. Rectangular tiers were stacked atop one another. Plant life seemed to swallow up the building at the base. Cream-colored stone burst free of the thick growth, but the weather had taken a toll.
Ruins, she realized. She was looking at ruins.
She was currently sitting on the flat top of a stone pyramid. Peering over the edge confirmed the existence of steps, but doing so made her stomach flip.
Not going to tackle those for a while.
Sarah just knew she would grow dizzy and tumble down the endless flight of stone steps. Just being this close to the edge made her nervous. She shuffled back, scooting her butt on the ground.
Her hand brushed against her phone. She remembered the strange warning and the swirling thing that opened above the phone. A portal? A wormhole? Something fucky. The whole situation was fucky, and Sarah wished she had paid more attention to the science fiction books at the store.
Twin moons hung in the sky, pale orbs in the daylight and unavoidable, watching her like… some metaphor or shit.
Fuck if she knew. She was never any good at metaphors. Staring directly at them gave her a sense of vertigo, like she was falling off the… wherever she was. Roof? If this was an alien sky and not a hallucination brought on by food poisoning from dodgy mac and cheese, then she had to be on a planet.
Although a hallucination made more sense. Some plants, like jimsonweed, caused intense visions. Jimsonweed had tubular white flowers.
Sarah eyed the violet and orange tubular flowers surrounding her. She didn’t know exactly how she came to consume the seeds of jimsonweed—or any hallucinogen—but it happened all the time in the murder mysteries she read. You could never trust a baked good from a neighbor with a grudge or accept a drink at a party unless you wanted to be dead.
