Sapphire Bones

Night

Updated: April 19, 2019

L

Sight was one of the things I took advantage of when I was younger. A privilege I was blessed with only to have it ripped away by people who placed blame in the wrong hands. Peter didn't regret blinding me. I saw it in his face for the remaining years I spent with him; smug glances and crooked grins that haunt my nightmares on the coldest of nights. This was one of those nights. I lay awake under the stars, and while I can't see them I know they're there. We're somewhere in the wilderness, far away from civilization and the damage it's done to the night sky. Out here planets and stars took center stage and showered a bright cascade of golden raindrops hovering in the sky. Or at least, Cole and Roddy described to me the wonders of the sky. It's amazing what a short few months did to a person's memory. What even did a star look like anymore? A flash of light amidst dark navy streaks painted with the loosest of hands? Or a twinkling dot on the horizon waiting to be plucked by a nearby boat? I surely didn't know but I think I liked it that way. The mystery of not knowing kept me awake at night; that along with Peter's haughty expressions.

My hands grasped at loose dirt at my sides. I rubbed the sediment into the tiny pores on my skin until they broke apart into nothing but forgotten dust, grains of brown that blended into my pale skin. Underneath my fingernails were probably horrid but I didn't care. Vanity wasn't a priority anymore. Escaping the government and hiding out in the dense wilderness became a priority as soon as I smelt the fresh blade fastened to the council guillotine. A blade meant for me but delivered to one of the men hell-bent on making my life miserable. To say I pitied him would be a lie. I hoped he felt the blade go through his neck. I hoped the blacksmith in charge of sharpening left it dull on purpose. Even if it had my name soldered onto the side, I still hoped those things. Because knowing that Jeffries took my place under the knife brought me more joy than seeing Allison's face sizzle off like lava.

"Can't sleep?" Roddy's sleepy voice came from beside me. Sometime during my trance, he woke and moved but I couldn't recall when. He settled down in a comfortable position on the ground before I answered. With his collapse onto the ground next to me a burst of dark floral hit the insides of my nose. Black roses and the serum from ferns, a heavy smell encased me in its grasp.

"No, you?" I shot back, hopeful the conversation would die off quickly. Lest he persisted in his attempt to fill the wakeful void we were both trapped in.

"Running from the government isn't my strong suit."

I chuckled, grinning. "You get used to it," I assured him.

"You've had a little more experience than me and Cole," Roddy returned. He turned his head over to face me. In the face of black, the bright maroon outline of Roddy's features was a blessing. An identifier. We watched each other for a while. He examined my face while I stared roughly through him. I still hadn't told them about my sudden ability to see heat signatures. I feared the moment I brought it up, it would vanish and I'd be left alone in the black world again.

"How did you do it?" Roddy asked. "Escape, I mean. The first time you escaped from the council." His thoughts were fragmented but his meaning reached my ears eventually. I hadn't thought of my first escape in so long, it seemed a distant memory unreachable by my own hands.

"Peter left the cell unlocked," I said, hoping Roddy would drop the conversation before it erupted into something I didn't want to experience again. "He was drunk and got careless," I added when Roddy didn't push further. The memory sent a shiver through me. What I said was true, but the rest would go to my grave. Give more and expect less in return. As long as I fed him what he wanted to hear, he wouldn't push. He wouldn't ask for more than I could provide.

"He didn't seem like a drinker in court," Roddy observed. I returned a laugh and turned back to look at the sky. This far away I didn't detect any heat signatures from the stars but I knew they were out there somewhere. Distant speckles of paint littering a darkened canvas splattered in blue and black. A signature hidden somewhere behind the billowy clouds.

"He's got a way with words and masks," I sighed. "There's no telling what that man's capable of."

I wanted to tell him he's lucky. He's lucky he had Cole with him when the rest of Ruby was attacked and slaughtered. For the next decade, he wasn't alone in a cell waiting for a trial he'd surely lose. He lived a relatively normal life while I rotted away in an underground bunker. His skin remained unscathed while mine would, for year after year, be repeatedly marked with reminders to behave and know my place in the Lycan world: a criminal meant to die. But I didn't say any of those things. Neither Roddy or Cole deserved to carry that on their shoulders, already knowing full well the past decade had been kind to them compared to me.

Instead, I listened for Roddy's eyes to flutter shut. When they finally did I allowed my head to loll over to look at him. His chest rose and fell with his heartbeat. It could've been my words that put him to sleep, or, the most likely of answers, the subtle breeze that wisped his hair and made his nose scrunch every few minutes. Despite winter being over and spring at its end, the dead of night in the middle of the wilderness still proved to be colder than anything I could've imagined.

I watched him sleep for a while but eventually went back to looking at the stars. At least they would stay awake with me, because if I dared close my eyes for longer than a second I'd meet Peter in the dark behind my eyelids. A face I never wanted to see again. 

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Hey, 

I hope you enjoyed another ethereal chapter with L. The first one was in the first book, chapter labeled Ethereal. These chapters are always hard to write because I need to get my details right. 

QOC: What do you want to happen next in the book? 

Comment, like, and follow if you enjoyed it!

More chapters to come soon.

Much love, 

-Kate