Taken

Chapter 21

Birds chirped in the trees in the backyards of the homes lining the street opposite the pallets and discarded tarp I was hiding behind. The stiff green material had not only provided coverage from eyes I wanted to avoid but also the downpour of rain that had me stopping to seek shelter. I hadn't slowed since I left Silas behind with uncertainty that had only grown since, not daring to stop until the weather left me blinded and soaked through, and my muscles screamed for a break. It had been hours since.

My fingers flexed on my knees that I had pulled up to my chest. They were stiff from the tight grip I had been using to hold myself together as fear had me jumping at every sound. And there were a lot. We were in the city. Though I had picked an alley that was still and empty, hiding behind leaning pallets that would garner no more than a glance, the streets it branched off of weren't. Even during the dark hours of the night. There was an overlap between those who were roaming the streets, ending a fun night out, and those waking to start a new day of work. There was a notable difference in the amount of noise the two groups made and I jumped at every single one.

I rolled my shoulders, enjoying the hard press of brick against my back as my bones shifted. A satisfying crack sounded at the stretch of my neck. I leaned away from the wall I had been pressed flush against for hours to peek out of the crack in the trap that allowed me to keep a lookout without being easily seen. I frowned at the way my cloak peeled away. It was damp, water having seeped down the bricks to dampen it. I hadn't noticed since the coat I wore underneath protected me from more than just the cold.

My butt was numb, the length of my coat protecting it from being soaked, and my muscles ached. Especially those in my legs. My fingers, though stiff, were warm in the gloves Silas had given me. I couldn't say the same about my face which had grown numb from the chill.

Through the thin crack in the tarp that I had been monitoring the empty alley through, I could see golden light begin to lighten the sky. Silas had had more than enough time to search me out. I was pinning his confidence in his ability to find me on the bond I was sure we shared. He didn't confirm it, but he didn't deny it either.

I had been trying to see if I could use it to locate him but was clueless as to how. I tried meditating, closing my eyes emptying my head, and focusing on Silas. Remembering his every feature, his green eyes, the way they hardened when they found me where they didn't want to, or how soft they could grow when he looked at Hilda when she was unaware, unable to keep up his pretext of anger. I held onto his image, deepening it as I remembered the shades his hair held, the way his muscles flexed as he worked, and the scent of freshly chopped wood and smoke that clung to him whenever I ran into him when he was making his way back inside at night. It had faded these last few days, the scents of our surroundings tainting and overpowering it, but it was clear and unmistakable in my memory, mixed with another scent that I couldn't place.

But it didn't matter. None of it did.

Despite everything I had witnessed in my time here, just like I did each time I tried to test if the Blood Stone had gifted me with even a fraction of the power it promised Fae, I felt stupid when nothing resulted from my attempts. I shouldn't given I had the marks and the unnatural warmth in my chest to prove it was rational to think something would happen if I tried hard enough, but it was still difficult to wrap my head around the idea.

Maybe that's why it wasn't working.

When I wasn't busy worrying about Silas, the men he drew away, and those who were probably searching the city for us, the worry shifted to Ash. It had been alternating between the two; where Silas was, how both of them were doing, if they were safe-

No. I knew Ash wasn't safe and suspicions for the last hour had been creeping in that Silas wasn't either. Though I guess he never really was given his father, he had been as close as he could get to being safe living in a house in the middle of nowhere with Hilda. But he wasn't there now. Now, he was somewhere in this city, being chased by men he had either lost by now or been caught by.