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I expel the last of the air in me.

Eli crashes two more light stones together, illuminating his face. The three of them leave me in the center of the clearing, trembling and frozen in place while they situate the four light stones around the edges.

Solemn features and a tight jaw take over Eli’s bruised face when he returns. He leans close. An earthy scent surrounds me as his lightness evaporates, and I lick my lips at the taste of blood. I’m getting used to his darkness.

His cheek grazes mine, lips to my ear. “Get ready to run, little prisoner. It’s the only time I’ll let you.”

Chapter

Sixteen

Sypher returns from the darkness beyond the edges of the clearing with a wire cage. Inside, a creature thrashes its wings. It stands on two hind paws while its front ones lean against the wires, curved claws protruding. It ruffles its hybrid of fur and feathers, constellations of orange and brown and gold on a satiny black canvas, its head almost like a penguin—small with a long, pointed beak and the same amount of regalness.

“What is that thing? I’ve never seen anything like it.” I can barely spit the words out.

“That’s because you only have non-magical creatures in Caldera,” Milo says. “Magical creatures used to be all over the land, but that changed when the border was created around Sonnet. The Separation pushed non-magical creatures out ofSonnet with the Hollows, and all the magical creatures were forced to relocate here with the Vaile.”

Of course, more magic.

Sypher looks affectionately at the cage—a rare glimpse of his face without the scowl he only seems to lose while staring at Eli. “It’s a blitzer. Wild and fast, not quite lethal.”

“Not quite?” His description only adds to the forceful thumping of my blood. I add magical creatures to my denial list. “And what? You’re going to set that thing loose to make me afraid?” I lock my sweaty palms into fists. The blitzer’s owl-like eyes search mine—mirrors, full of pain.

“Yes, but you’re already afraid,” Eli says. “And it knows it.”

I’m torn between fear and fury.

Eli releases the bolt on the cage door, and the blitzer launches into the air, a majestic threat hugging the treetops.

I run for the sake of running, not knowing if I’m going toward or away from the damn thing. I search the sky above. Trees and dark swirling clouds close in. No blitzer.

Eli, Sypher and Milo scatter to the edges of the clearing to watch. Fear steers through me, and I hear it—a screeching roar—and with a turn of my jaw, I see the sprawling wings of night coming straight for me.

Running again, the cold night air sweeps over my face. The sound of wings behind me forces my legs to move faster. The flaps get closer, and the injustice-fueled fire grows inside me.

I duck down, yet the impact still comes—the whack of a beak at my neck, then another and another, beating away my strength, my barely-existent confidence. I smack the blitzer away, and it sinks its claws into my back, all four paws claiming me as their prize. The shock drops me to my knees, and the wind rushes in low and hard as if to break my fall. I pretend the pain is nothing more than a vision.

Claws drag along my back, determined to dig deeper, to tear me apart. I reach behind me and rip the creature off. Its beak goes for my arms as it flails in my grasp, clawing at anything within reach. I put all my weight into a spin and hurl it away. The blitzer flips in the air and lands on all fours.

Run.The wind picks up, bashing against me from all sides, strong enough to send me off course. My hair flies in my face, and I swivel my head, catching a glimpse of the blitzer gliding my way. It sails over the cage, howling. I’m pumping with terror when the forest has always brought me comfort. Rage rampages my insides. I won’t let them take that from me.

I yell out into the night, not quite sure at who or what, “What do you have againstme?” My voice is lost in a violent rush of wind. The blitzer’s eyes come back to me, pulsing in my mind, blocking my vision. “Why the fuck are you so angry?”

I risk a glance behind me. It’s gaining, its paws dangling uselessly in the air. I make a sharp turn. It turns too, overshooting my path and gliding in a wide arc. I gain some distance. I turn again and again, sharp turns that destroy my knees, each one creating more distance and taking me farther from home, from who I am, from answers. I weave through the clearing, keeping out of the blitzer’s reach.

Each breath is a burning pain. I can’t tell if it’s my lungs or the fire raging inside me. I turn again. The wind wreaths roughly around my legs, threatening to topple me.

I’m done. Please let me be done.

The blitzer screeches again, a sound of pure agony. It calls to me, pleading. I feel it, the severed connection with nature, like lines on a map torn down the middle. I suck in a gravelly breath. I know what it wants.

“I hear you!” My heart flutters.Me too.

I pivot again, racing toward the light stone on the opposite side of the clearing, zigzagging as I go. The ground flies at me asI dive and slide toward the stone. I pick it up and run, my heart walloping in my ears, worsening the ache from the cold. I dive for another stone. The blitzer hoots and howls above me, circling its cage.

This is for you, Kelter. I dart across the clearing, a stone in each hand, wing beats close behind. Reaching the cage, I drop to my knees, raise the stones above my head and bring them down, bashing and smashing it into a tangled mess of wires. I pummel the cage, lights flashing, the clashing, clattering sound carried away on the wind and the mangled wire slicing red into my arms until the cube shape of the cage is unrecognizable.

The wind dies down to a swirling breeze, and the blitzer glides in for a landing at my side. I don’t bother flinching. It lifts its front paws onto my thigh and lowers its head, its beak bumping me gently.