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Oaken had built it, after all.

But if any of those planks or posts got yanked out of the ground into the air while we were still here…

Yeah. Time to go.

I staggered upon standing up, the air buffeting me so hard that, for a sickening moment, I thought I’d become so disoriented that I wouldn’t be able to find the house again. The ground seemed to seesaw beneath my boots as I stumbled out of Nali’s enclosure. My hair snapped against my face, the ends needle-sharp on my skin.

Blinking against the flying dust and debris, I saw it.

The tornado.

It moved like a living thing, like it possessed its own malevolent will. A violent, opaque, writhing spiral that dragged itself over the land.

Horror, unlike anything I’d ever known, numbed me.

The force of that thing…

It seemed unstoppable.

Destruction inevitable.

But I had Nali in my arms. Lala in my pocket.

And a man out there I loved.

My muscles shrieking in protest, I trudged unsteadily – almost drunkenly – into the wall of the wind. But after only a few steps, dismay nearly drove me to my knees.

I couldn’t see the house.

There was too much dust, dirt, grass, and other shit that should have stayed on the ground darkening the air. Nali bucked and wriggled. Her mouth opened in wild panic, but no cry came out.

I clutched her close, twisting this way and that, fighting panic, fighting nausea, fighting to stay on my feet.

I felt as if I’d been dropped right into the centre of the storm. The belly of the beast.Abyss.

There was nothing here! Nothing to lead me forward, nothing to guide me.

Nothing but wind and terror and dust and darkness. Nothing but…

White light.

Getting closer every second.

So fast that I knew he was running with everything he had.

In mere seconds, Oaken had me.

Just like he had that very first night, he dragged me up into his arms, holding me safe against his chest. He barely even slowed his pace to grab me, continuing relentlessly against the storm.

Bringing us home.

I held tightly to Nali with one arm, and clung to Oaken with the other.

I tried to tell him that I loved him.

But the wind stole the words away.

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