Fractured Crown (Book 1: Terra)

Chapter 39

Braedon wasn't sure if he was hallucinating or if he was really seeing Iris high above him, in the ceiling. No, in the air vent.

A brief wave of relief washed over him at the sight of her. He wasn't alone. She was here. But that last thought sounded panicked alarm bells in his head and with that, the realisation that something was very, very wrong. What was Iris doing here? In a vent? Why wasn't she in the Terra District with... His heart stopped, and Braedon's breath hitched. Raena. She was alone. She was alone in the Terra District. He had left her alone. The only person who would have been able to keep her safe in a city full of Terrans, safe from that freakish Commanding Officer, was her sister, the Terran Princess. But Iris was here, doing gods knew what in a freaking vent... And then he remembered. The promise Iris had made to him. The promise he had mistaken as empty words, a meaningless condolence. Iris had said she would get Grandpa Sage back, and she had indeed meant to keep her word. And now his last three days in search of this place meant absolutely nothing.

Al had not been joking when he said the tunnel route they had taken was a lot longer than other routes. It took a whole day before they arrived at the end of the tunnel leading out to the Lymphan District patrol area, and Braedon had never once let his guard down, always keeping Al at gunpoint. When he exited the tunnel, Al told him it would still be a few more days before he'd find the Lymphan District's proper location, if he ever managed to find it. Braedon let the Terran Border Patrol go at that point, no longer needing him – though he kept the gun, of course, and the guy had ran back into the darkened tunnel with a snarl, no doubt to inform Jasper.

It took days before he finally found this place, and his food supply was running low when he found the district by pure chance. Braedon had gone to wash his face in the glimmering, blue lake in front of him, but when he tried to, his hands didn't even feel wet. It was like the water wasn't even real. Then, just as he was about to further investigate this curious matter, there was a shout from behind, and then he felt something hard prick his neck and his arm, and he had turned around to find a man in a blue Border Patrol uniform yelling something along the lines of "trespasser! You're that boy from the waterfall! The one with the Lymphan Princess!" He blacked out before he had the chance to retaliate or respond. Then, after an uncertain amount of time, he had woken up here, strapped to a torture bed. They had stripped him of his supplies, too. His backpack had been dumped in the corner of the room, its contents emptied onto the floor.

He'd only just met the Commander – Eli, or something or other – when another man had opened the door and interrupted in the nick of time. Eli had seemed annoyed, but the man – who he guessed might have been second-in-command – had promised it was vital he came with him, immediately, so the Commander had left Braedon alone, strapped to the bed.

And now here he was, not a few moments after, where he spotted Iris high above him, mouthing his name and staring down at him with a look of both disbelief and concern that Braedon was sure was reflected in his own expression.

His breath came out in short, raspy bursts as he once again thought of Raena, alone. What had he done? What would Grandpa Sage think? That is, if he managed to find Grandpa Sage now that he had gotten himself trapped in an identical situation. Braedon swallowed, hard. How had everything spiralled downwards so quickly? He squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them again, wishing it were all just a nightmare.

"Iris," his own voice sounded foreign and small in his ears, hesitant to speak too loud in case Eli or one of his henchmen reappeared.

Iris glanced ahead of her at something on the far end of the air vent, in obvious longing and dismay, before returning her attention to Braedon and heaving a sigh.