71

Chapter 77

"Wait!" I cry out desperately, convinced now that if I don't do what I have to, I'll lose the courage. My voice, however, is muffled by the rain, as if someone has pressed a pillow over my mouth.
"Glass!" My bare foot slips on the slick stone, and I stumble, catching myself, but after I scrape my bare knee against the trail, summoning a sheen of blood. But I pick myself up and continue, barely registering the pain. "Wait!"
He finally must hear me, or decides to stop ignoring me, because he turns with an annoyed look on his face. He must see my expression, because for an instant his glazed eyes focus, mouth drawn into an anxious line.
"What? Did he awaken?" He says worriedly, looking into my eyes as if the answer will present itself. It irks me that he would say 'he' instead of 'Coal' and 'awaken' instead of, like, 'wake up', as if Coal is some primeval, slumbering Beast.
"No." But he going to, I purposely neglect to add. Somehow, I feel that may put a wee bit of a damper on the spirit. "I was just wondering," I say, eyes darting to the half-empty wine-skin in his right hand, "Could I see that?"
He frowns, as if trying, in his drunken haze, to recall what is wrong with that scenario, but seems unable to, because he shrugs and hands it to me. "Aren't you a little young?" He asks, trying to fight off the self-induced haze, but failing, as Glass's eyes begin to glass over. No, that wasn't intended to be a pun.
I think, yeah, but it's not for me. Instead, I shrug, unable to think up a good enough lie, and begin to sprint as fast as I can without hazard in the opposite direction, hoping to put as much distance between Glass and myself as possible before he comes to his senses and calls back the ticked-off guards.
I'm coming, Coal. Just hang in there.