LITMIR.BIZ

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coming to her mother’s side.

      “Wake up, wake up!” she screamed, grabbing her mother’s face and shaking her. There were dark red marks around her small neck, and a wound on her head, staining her fair locks with blood.

      “Run!” The boy’s voice shook through her. She snapped her head up just in time to see the older man break free from the boy’s hold. He waved his hands and just like that, he could move again.

      The older man lunged at the boy. “You dare betray me for these savages, Falco Bane? Me?”

      Jessop turned her gaze back to her mother, who lay motionless. Tears fell from her and landed on her mother’s cheek, “Please, please, get up.”

      Nothing. No movement. A crashing sound above her elicited the greatest scream she had ever produced. The man had tossed the boy across the table. His body flew into the cabinet and landed abruptly beside Jessop and her mother. He looked at her with his sad gray eyes, blood coming from his mouth, and pleaded with her. “Get out of here.”

      He then leapt over the table, and Jessop heard a cacophony of destruction behind her. Swords struck one another and the older man yelled at the boy for his betrayal. There was a giant thud and the now familiar sound of a body collapsing. She did not know what to do, certain the man had bested the boy. She threw her body over her mother’s, holding her tightly to protect her from whatever he had planned. But he never came.

      There was a slam of the door and she jolted up. He had left them, even the boy, who now lay in a heap on the floor beside her father. His cloak was spread out around him like black wings, his sword fallen a few feet away from his now open-palmed hand. Slowly, Jessop got to her feet. If the boy lived, they could carry his mother to the village. Dezane would know how to fix this. She crept under the table and crawled to the boy, trying to keep her eyes fixed on him, forcing herself to look away from her father.

      “Wake up,” she urged, grabbing his hand. He lay motionless. She sat beside him, her hands grabbing his pale face as they had her mother’s. She shook him more vigorously. “Wake up, get up.” She patted his cheeks, trying to rouse him. She shook him, more urgently, as the distinct smell of smoke began to fill the room. The man had somehow lit a fire. She didn’t know how, but flames were rising, with no source, over the walls.

      “Get up!” She screamed, shaking the boy. He did not move. She fell away from him, her eyes landing on her father, motionless, then her mother, who was only inches away from the flames. She bolted to her mother’s side, grabbing her arm and using all her might to pull her away from the walls. As if knowing her intentions, the flames jumped from the cabinet to the table, onto an overturned chair, following her.

      She needed Dezane; she needed help from the village. She dragged her mother as close to the boy as possible, resting her between the boy and her father. She stood and immediately began to cough on smoke. She needed to hurry. She ran to the door and grabbed the wooden handle, pulling with all her might. But it did not budge. Something had forced it shut. She pulled to no avail. She released the handle as flames began to travel over the doorway, closing around her.

      She quickly leapt for the window, shoving the burning wooden shutters out, releasing a wave of air that gave new life to the flames. She shielded her face, and while she did not feel the fire, she saw it lick past her. It did not matter; she could not shy away from the flames now, not with so little time left. She grabbed the window frame and heaved herself up, teetering in the box, blind from the smoke, coughing, the smell of charring flesh tickling her nose. She rocked her small body forward but before she could move any further, strong hands grabbed her. Through the smoke she saw the dark, evil eyes of the man. She wanted to scream, but she couldn’t. She wanted to wrap her little hands around his throat and take his life away. He said nothing to her, but with a violent thrust, he threw her small body back into the burning cottage. She hit the ground heavily, rolling to her side as she choked on black smoke.

      She had never felt this way before. It was more than fear, more than sorrow. This was simply it. Her life would be over, very soon, as she would perish in the fire with her family, and the gray-eyed boy. She crawled to her parents, staying as low to the ground as she could. She knew she was crying, but it was too hot for the tears to reach her cheeks.

      She kissed her father’s forehead, and rolled over him to reach her mother. She had not moved, had not stirred at all. She kissed her cheek, and embraced her still body. A beam fell from the ceiling, crushing the table behind them. She shook with fear, holding her mother tighter as shingles from the roof fell, travelling in ash and fire, around them.

      “I love you,” she cried, shaking against her mother’s chest. She did not turn from her mother, did not look his way, but she did not want the boy to feel as though he were dying alone. She reached out to her side and found his hand, lacing her fingers through his. He had tried to save her parents; she knew that much to be true. He had tried to save her. He did not deserve to die without comfort.

      The flames were closer now. The snapping of wood, the splintering of their home, their lives, echoed all around her. The fire crackled with preternatural rage and strength, attacking the home in all its simplicity and beauty, destroying everything Jessop had ever loved.

      She squeezed her eyes tightly shut. She was not afraid of dying; she knew she would stop breathing long before the burns took her. She thought of Mar’e and wondered who would tell the Kuroi girl that her best friend, whom she had been so cruel to, had perished. She thought of Dezane and wondered how he would cry at this loss, and how he would tell his people. She wondered if there would be a ceremony, something done with all of their ashes perhaps.

      She burrowed her face further against her mother and thought of the day before this one. The three of them had walked through the forest, her mother had collected fruits, her father had cut a new path for them to reach the reservoir. She had collected small stones and fallen leaves and the odd desert flower as she followed alongside them. It had been a beautiful day.

      Suddenly, just as she was falling into their last moments together, Jessop was wrenched away from her mother. She tried to scream, but nothing came out. The boy had risen and he held her in his arms, forcing her small face into his chest. She fought him, somehow finding her feet. He kept an arm around her back, keeping her near. Smoke and sweat had stained his face, dark blood still pooled around his mouth and near his ear. He had his sword in his hand.

      His hood had fallen back and he looked at her with a sadness that could have floored her. Suddenly, he threw his sword-wielding hand out before him, and the space where the door had once been was blown away with a deafening explosion, creating a hole in the wall, an escape from the flames. He forced her further away from her parents and she tried to fight him.

      She needed to get her mother, she needed to pull her free. He was bigger than her and much stronger. She flailed against him but he barely seemed to notice, forcing her out of the cottage. They fell to the grass only feet away from the flames. She wriggled free, crawling away from him. She tried to blink to clear her vision, but it was an assault on her eyes. Her skin was warm to the touch, her mouth completely dry. The old man was gone.

      She leapt past the boy, determined to make her way back through the flames for her mother. But he was quick. He grabbed her ankle, and with no mercy or hesitation, he dragged her away from the inferno. Somehow, she found her voice, and she screamed and screamed. She kicked at him and fought him. She curled up and attacked the hand that held her ankle. In an instant, he fell to the ground on top of her, pinning her still.

      “They’re gone. They were gone before the flames got them. I’m sorry,” he yelled. She knew he was right. She knew what he said was true and she had known it before he freed her, but still, his words were her own death. She buckled over, sobbing tears that barely came, choking on black smoke, fighting him as he kept her safe.

      That man had killed her best friends, her parents. She had nothing anymore. She had no one. She wished she had died alongside them.

      The boy held her close against his chest, rocking her body slowly as she cried. “You have me.”

      CHAPTER 3

      Beyond the Grey

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