Lost Soul

Chapter Forty-Three: Fortress

I scream into the air, but it's snatched away by the wind. The wind slams into my open mouth, snatching away what was left of my breath.

I choke out a sob as I pass through a thin layer of clouds.

Even with how far up I am, I can see the trees stretching beneath me.

The blizzard has completely coated the ground in snow, but from this height and speed, even the thick coating of snow won't be enough to stop me from breaking every bone in my body.

I don't think Rae will be able to patch me up this time.

My eyes blaze silver and heat fills my entire body, as if I've swallowed the sun.

Pain bursts through my being, through my bones, and my muscles, even my bloodstream.

It feels like the scars on my back are ripping open. As if my mom is there now, dragging my dagger down my skin.

But my mom isn't here. And neither is that damned dagger.

Danny has it. Danny's keeping it safe for me.

I squeeze my eyes shut. I never wanted to see my death coming.

The heat is bursting out of my skin and tearing open the scars on my back. Blood rains towards the ground below me.

Something is pressing into my layers and the pain reaches a ceiling. It wants to get out, but it's trapped inside my clothes.

I thought Death would be the one thing that would make the pain stop. But I'm about to die and the pain just keeps getting worse and worse.

It can't end like this. With more suffering.

I dig my dagger under my shirt layers and rip upwards.

The shirts rip and whatever physical pain is pressing into my shirt makes the clothes snap off me in one, fluid motion.

I breathe a sigh of relief and spread my arms out as the ground races to meet me.

But in an instant, the pain returns.

Something snaps out at my sides with an audible crack noise. Something crackles, like bones that haven't been used in years.

Something tears and my back rips open more, as if I'm being ripped to shreds.

I scream into my teeth and my eyes flare open.

All I see is red.

As the pain slowly fades, as does the film over my eyes.

I blink the red away and realize I'm not descending straight down anymore. Instead, I'm gliding forward. Still downward, still on par for the tops of the forest, but I'm not about to be shish-ka-bobbed anymore.

I risk a glance to my sides and my breath freezes in my throat.

Wings.

They're huge.

Larger than Charlie's or Shay's.

They stretch out on either side of me. Big, and black, with silver feathers glittering in the fading sunlight.

The sleet is sliding off the feathers, but if traveling with Charlie taught me anything, that won't last long.

I don't have time to stop and process what's happened, as I'm still about to become best friends with a pine tree. Face first.

Charlie had taught me how to fight an opponent with wings, but it's not like we'd ever thought I'd need to know how to fly.

But it can't be that hard, right? Even if these things did just burst out of my skin somehow, they're still attached to me.