The Unforgiving Moon

13.

My body felt too heavy to carry, my legs were too tired to drive me forward. But I leaned on her—in more ways than one, and struggled next to her.

But I pushed through and followed her wherever she went, afraid I'd wake up as soon as I'd stop running, and shatter this dream.

The skies were weeping outside, and the heavy winds nearly blew me away. She explained how that worked in our favor—we'd be harder to track in these kinds of weathers. Still, we kept close to the walls if we passed them, engulfed by shadows that circled us like a safe hug.

The streets were mostly empty, though we did pass a few straying souls. None of them saw us, smelled us or heard us. We were invisible, though I hoped we wouldn't stumble upon someone who knew how to look for Kima's shadows.

I didn't know how long we had to get out of here, how long it would take for Mallee to come back for another lesson, only to find an empty cell. An empty cell and two dead guards.

I shivered at the thought, but they hadn't been innocent in any of this, so I didn't find it in me to mourn for them. I had stayed silent when I passed their bodies, partly because I could barely speak, but even if I could, I wouldn't have given them my final respects.

I let them die and rot, alone in those cells, just like they were doing to me.

My eyes kept fluttering closed, my body fighting against itself to keep going.

Everything hurt. The walls we passed scraped against my back and my sides, against the raw wounds, the new cuts and slashes. The remains of my last lesson.

But I kept going. Now that she was here, I had to.

The more I struggled, the more I felt her pulling me, keeping me up and standing. She kept talking to me, though I didn't hear what she said. But the sound of her voice, the reminder that she was here, that she came back for me, that I was touching her and she was touching me and it was a kind touch, a gentle one—

Moons, I had missed her terribly. So much, that even now that she was here, my heart still hurt at the thought that she was gone.

I followed her to the edge of the city, where the walls came into view. The gates were closed, and there four were guards stationed above, watching beyond the walls.

The shadow followed us and covered us as we walked to the gates. She only creaked it open a little, barely noticeable, and we slid our way through.

The guards blamed the movement on the heavy winds—for them, there wasn't a soul in sight. Certainly not an army, because that was what they were looking for. Though the world had stopped for me in those cells, here, outside, Beckett's threat still grew.

Still, we hid for a little while at the other side of the gate, before we made our way down to the forest, where disappearing would be even easier.

Once we crossed, our bodies vanished in the mixture of the rain, the darkness of the night and Kima's presence. We were absorbed in our surroundings, but that couldn't be true, they had to see us, they had to smell us, this had to be a trap, a coy, a new way to torture me—perhaps the most effective one yet.

My mind must be playing games with me, my eyes must be lying, my ears must be betraying me, because there was no way I was out and free, there was no way she was here, there was no way we escaped this easily, there was just no way.

The Alpha would be waiting for me in those woods, she'd be expecting me, ready to grab me and drag me back to that lonely cell, to my cold prison, to my miserable eternity.

My heart was racing, pounding, and my feet refused to move once we reached the edge of the trees. No, I tried begging her. Don't release me of this dream yet, let me stay in it a little longer.