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Chapter

Thirty-Two

ARA

The first sign that something is wrong is the smell of smoke. It’s faint at first but soon becomes stronger and hangs in the air like a cloying blanket, drifting down and wavering along the path the others took.

Unease tickles my back. We flew here, and as far as I remember, this path was the only way out of here other than climbing the steep wall while literally hanging off the face of this mountain.

I march over to the ledge, look down, and dread settles heavy in my gut. I have no problem with heights, but the drop in front of me goes on forever, the trees below looking as small as the seed of an apple.

Yeah, even I don’t want to climb this without a safety line. A few ledges on the way down are occupied by dark brown spots that have to be nests. Whoever those nests belong to probably wouldn’t be happy if I showed up, especially if eggs have been stolen lately. Great.

I turn away from the drop of doom and look up the mountain. Smoke forms a dark gray blanket over the forest, drifting between it like the earlier mist.

I am fine here, I try to reassure myself.

It surely won’t come this way, right? I try to make out the direction of the wind, but our camp is too sheltered, and the smoke makes it hard to see anything. If I could just get a little higher, I should be able to feel it.

I don’t think twice about it. Happy to finally do something other than sit around and wait, I start looking for the best way up the cliff.

I’m halfway up when I notice the bird circling restlessly above me. My hope that it’s one of ours plummets when I realize there is no harness and no rider.

It’s a female Strix, easy to identify by her white-and-gray color and the missing violet markings. I hope she doesn’t think I’m a threat.

The wind correlates with where the smoke comes from, and while I know nothing about wildfires, I know that is not a good thing.

Shit, what do I do now?

The Strix keeps circling, and back in the camp, I watch the bird and the smoke, and I soon realize why she isn’t leaving.

The nest blends in well, and I wouldn’t have found it if the Strix hadn’t landed. And in the nest is an egg.

She doesn’t have a choice , I realize. The egg’s shell is too smooth and slippery for her to carry away in her talons.

I sit literally on my hands on a boulder at the edge of our camp, unsure of what to do.

I’m still pissed at Tate, but I would appreciate his presence right about now.

I know nothing about dealing with a fire like this.

Where I grew up, even thinking of anything going up in flames is laughable with the amount of rain we get.

My mind switches between stewing about the problem at hand—one I don’t know how to solve—and the way Tate has gone all overprotective of me all of a sudden, reminding me of my brothers. Can’t any of them see how frustrating it is if they demand the right to protect me but don’t let me do the same?

My mind goes back to the kiss we shared. Tingles shoot through my body just thinking of it, but my stomach sinks when I think of the way he pulled away.

We shouldn’t…

What in the mists had he wanted to say? “We shouldn’t” isn’t “I don’t want to,” right? Or is it just a polite way to say the same?

Cawing makes me look up, and the smoke is getting heavier.

Why is no one coming back? What if something happened to them? What if I’m stuck here?

Is there a chance I can get a better glimpse of what’s going on from up there?

The Strix looks agitated. Her movements are jerky. She keeps unfolding and folding her wings and hops from one side of her nest to the other.

They are intelligent creatures. If I offer help, will she let me near her nest? Would she even carry me off while I hold her egg?

I decide to at least try talking to her. I can’t just sit here and wait. What if they don’t come back?

Tate will come back for me.

Will I really sit around and wait for him to rescue me when I just complained that I don’t need his protection?

The stone is more corroded the farther up I climb. Soon, it takes twice as long to cover the same distance since I have to check for loose parts before going on.

I reach over with my left hand, my feet wedged into a tiny crevice.

I tug slightly, and it seems sturdy enough.

I swing my left leg over, and suddenly, the stone crumbles beneath my fingers.

Because of the sudden shift of my weight, my right foot slips, too, and I scrape against the rough stone, the grip of my right hand the only thing that keeps me from falling.

My legs scramble for purchase as I frantically look for something I can grasp with my hand.

There is a small crevice where the piece broke off.

I grunt when I shove myself up with a push of my legs while pulling my weight up with my right arm.

My left hand latches onto the place that nearly made me fall before, and I pray what lies beneath is sturdier.

It holds, and after I find purchase for my legs as well, I take a second to simply breathe.

That was close.

I look up. I’m nearly halfway there. The cliff is only about as high as the fourth story of the academy buildings, and I could have climbed that at least three times by now. Going slow is not only annoying but also eating away at my strength.

The wind pouring down from above is getting warmer and picks up speed, ripping at my clothes. But that’s not the worst. It’s also heavy with smoke, stinging my eyes and nose, and itching my throat with every breath I take. My eyes water, and I cough repeatedly.

My progress slows to a crawl. My sight blurs with tears streaming down my face, and my arms start to tremble.

This was a fucking terrible idea .

My body is covered in sweat, the wind doing nothing to cool me anymore, and all I want is to rest, to sleep.

A violent cough shakes my body, and that’s when it happens. I slip.