The torches on the walls had been lit, but they were burning low, as if they had been ignited some time ago. In the half light of the room, the first thing Hunter saw was Fletcher’s body, slumped halfway on his bed so that the other half was still dangling down to the floor. Even from the open doorway, he could smell the stench of alcohol reeking from his body.
Hunter’s eyes frantically searched the bed-chamber, but he could not find Norabel. For a moment, he thought that Emmett might have been mistaken. Maybe Fletcher hadn’t taken her at all. But then he took a few steps into the room and noticed a figure curled up on the ground.
Barely breathing, he fell to his knees, looking over her. There was a small patch of blood on her forehead, turning her snowy hair red. Her lip was split, there was a fresh bruise under one eye, and from where her hands were curled up to her chest, he could see the faint signs of old bruises on her arms.
“Norabel,” he whispered out in anguish.
He couldn’t believe she was right here. It had felt like so long ago since he had last seen her at the summer festival, had carried her in his arms over the checkpoint wall. All those nights on the road spent clutching her clay bird in his hands, and now he could finally see her again. Only, she wasn’t how he had left her.
Gripping his hand into a fist, he glanced over to where Fletcher was passed out on his bed. He remembered, before he had left on his trip, that Fletcher had warned him about claiming his territory fast. He had even hinted that he might start leaching off of her, but he didn’t think he’d actually do it. And he certainly didn’t think he would do this to her…to his Norabel.
“Is she…alright?” Emmett asked, closing the door behind him.
“Would you check Fletcher for me,” Hunter ordered. His head felt heavy, like a strange stupor had overcome it. And though he was grateful for Emmett’s presence, all he wanted was to be alone with Norabel.
As Emmett carefully stepped around them, going to check on Fletcher, Hunter held his breath as he reached a hand out for her.
“Norabel?” he whispered, gently placing his hand on her neck just under her chin. It seemed to be the only place he could touch her without pressing on a cut or a bruise.
He looked to her chest and saw it rising and falling in shallow, fragile breath. His thumb came up and rubbed her jaw.
“Norabel, please wake up.”
One of her hands stirred, and her eyelashes fluttered in weak movement. Hunter couldn’t move as he waited in suspension, hoping to see those starry eyes looking up at him.
*
Waking came gradually to Norabel. She was aware of a far-off pain in her head, but it was distant, like it was standing on the opposite shore of a lake from her. She could hear the small waves lapping against the pebbles on the mountain shore, back and forth in a calm rhythm. Then she heard her name being called, and the lake got a little smaller as the pain came a little closer. She heard it again, and she realized that the back and forth meter of the lake was really the rising and falling of her breath.
She felt something soft against her face, and though her eyes were still closed, she knew, somehow, that she was safe. And then her name was being spoken once more, and she could hear the voice that went behind it. It urged her to open her eyes and see.
When her eyelids finally lifted, and she saw the worried face of the young man above her, she forgot about everything else. She forgot about the pain in her body and Fletcher’s brutality, and she even forgot about Mason’s abandonment of her. Without realizing it, she felt a weak smile form on her lips as one word filled her head: Hunter. So her Guardian Albatross hadn’t abandoned her after all; he had just decided to come to her aid by sending someone else.
Parting her lips and fighting through the pain, she spoke his name. “Hunter.” She tried to lift her heavy eyes up to his as she said, “You’re back.”
“Norabel,” he whispered out again. His hand stroked the side of her face, and his eyes welled with emotion.
Moving slowly, she raised one of her hands and lightly placed it on his wrist. “I missed you,” she admitted.
“I’m so sorry,” he replied, shaking his head. “I’m sorry I left. I’m sorry I wasn’t there to stop him.”
“You’re here now,” she strained out.
“Too late,” he said, his eyes washing over her injuries.
Norabel shook her head. “It’s just bruises and cuts. Nothing that time can’t heal. I passed out before he could do anything more.”
He clamped a hand over his mouth and nodded gratefully.
“How did you find me?” she asked.
Hunter shifted his head to a spot in the room behind her, and a second later a familiar voice announced itself, saying, “Hi Norabel.”
Painfully moving her head, she saw Emmett standing on the other side of the room, looking unsure of what to do. She realized that it must have been Emmett that she had seen by the stables. He must have told Hunter what had happened. Emotion welled up in her chest as she silently spoke to her guardian. You had been with me the whole time. I’m sorry I doubted you.
“Thank you,” she breathed out to the young officer.
Emmett gulped and nodded. “Of course.”
“Norabel,” Hunter said, drawing her attention back to him. “I hate to push you too hard, but I’m afraid it’s not safe in the castle right now.”
“Do you know what’s going on?” Emmett asked him. “No one’s telling me anything.”
Hunter shook his head. “No, but my uncle just told me in no uncertain terms to get out of here now.”
Norabel’s heart sped up, hoping that it had nothing to do with the Harbingers. Had they gone ahead with their plan without her?
“Could you help me to my feet?” she asked.
Both Hunter and Emmett helped her to stand up, and Hunter kept his arm wrapped around her as he walked her to the door. Outside, there were a few officers poking their heads out of their doors, wondering what was going on. Across the hallway, Norabel recognized Finn as he peered from his room in curiosity.
“Norabel!” he shouted in surprise when he saw her. “What happened to you? Why are you here?”
Emmett stepped around them and explained, “Fletcher was leaching off her.”
“What?!”
From a few feet away, Leon joined them. Having heard their conversation, he exclaimed, “You should have said something! We would have set him in his place!”
Norabel was touched at their concern, and struggled to keep her emotions in check as she told them, “Thank you for saying so.”
“Sorry,” Hunter cut in, “but how do you all know her?”
“She helped me with an assignment one day,” Emmett said. “Taught me and a few of the guys how to play Shadow Snapper after.”
“Been teaching us how to have fun ever since,” Leon added with a sad smile.
“Norabel!” another shout sounded down the hallway. They looked over to see Kade jogging towards them. “What happened? Are you alright?” he asked, concerned.
“Look, I don’t mean to be rude,” Hunter said before anyone else could speak, “but we really need to get out of here.”
Norabel placed a small hand at his side, drawing his attention down towards her.
“I’m alright to walk on my own,” she said.
“Are you sure?”
Her wide blue eyes stared up at his face so close to her own. There was something about the compassionate way in which he looked at her, she realized. It made her feel strange, like he was mistaking her for something far more important than she really was.
“I’m sure,” she said quietly, staring down at the floor.
Letting his arm drop from around her waist, he immediately took her hand and gently tugged her forward as they walked down the hall towards the staircase. A few of the guys ran ahead, Kade taking the lead as he bounded up the steps. He went to the door, planning on holding it open for the lot of them, when it stuck in its frame.
“Come o
n Kade!” Leon exclaimed. “We have to get going!”
“I’m trying!” Kade insisted, gripping onto the knob and throwing his shoulder into the door.
“Let me try!” another officer said, pushing his way through the crowd that had gathered on the stairs.
Though this man was much bigger than Kade, the door moved little more than a shudder in its frame when he rammed his back into it.
“It’s jammed shut,” the officer strained out, still trying to attack it.
“I think it’s been barricaded from the outside,” Kade said.
Hunter gave Norabel’s hand a squeeze before breaking away and going up to the door to see for himself. Crouching down to the ground, he peered beneath the crack at the bottom of the door.
“You’re right,” he announced. “There’s something behind this door.”
“Who’d do that?” Finn asked, his worried eyes darting to each of his friends for an answer.
Before anyone could speculate, Norabel raised her voice, yelling, “Everyone, get away from the door!”
On the floor, where Hunter’s face had been moments before, a cloud of black smoke was seeping through. The officers on the stairs all spotted it and immediately ran down to get away from it.
“That’s Black Powder,” Hunter said, raising an arm to his mouth.
“Someone’s trying to kill us,” Kade whispered in disbelief.
Finn took a step up on the bottom of the stairs and cupped his hands around his mouth, shouting, “Help! Someone help us! We’re trapped inside!”
They waited in silence for a moment, but no sound came from up above. Finn was about to raise his hands and shout again, when Hunter touched his shoulder to stop him.
“That’s not going to do any good,” he said, shaking his head.
“But there’s officers up there,” Emmett pointed out. “One of them is sure to notice.”
“I…” Hunter shook his head and rubbed at the back of his neck uncomfortably. “I don’t think they’re listening Emmett.”
“What do you mean? They’re not going to just let us die!”
“Actually Emmett,” Kade said, staring up at the stairs in a daze. “I think that’s kind of the point.”
“That doesn’t make any sense!” Finn exclaimed, his eyes wide with fright.
“I don’t understand it anymore than you do,” Hunter said. “But my uncle warned me to get out. He couldn’t say why, but it only stands to reason that he knew this was going to happen.”
“So we’re just going to die here?” Emmett despaired.
“Is there no other way out?” Norabel asked, her tiny voice just reaching past the panic in the room.
Hunter broke through the crowd to stand in front of her. “I’m so sorry,” he said, taking her hand. “You weren’t supposed to be here.”
“Where does that door lead?” she asked, pointing down to the end of the hallway.
Kade stood by her side as he explained, “It just goes to some old dried up well.”
“Couldn’t we use that as a way out?” she reasoned.
Kade shook his head. “It just leads to a water-grate. There’s no way past it.”
“Isn’t it worth a try,” she insisted, knowing that all she had to do was to get them in the tunnel, and then she could go for help. “If nothing else, at least we’ll all be further away from the smoke down there.”
Hunter rubbed his thumb across the back of her hand as he said, “I think she’s right. We should at least try to survive this.”
Then, waving everyone to follow him, he led the way to the back door, holding it open for the rest of the officers. By the time everyone filled into the corridor that led to the well, the black smoke was already filling up half of the barrack’s hallway.
Hunter was about to shut the door, when Norabel gasped, exclaiming, “Fletcher! He’s still in there!”
“I’m not saving that scumbag,” Emmett said, shaking his head. “Not after what he did to you.”
“And plenty other’s I’m sure,” Leon added.
“But we can’t just leave him to die!” she insisted. “He may deserve a lot of things, but he doesn’t deserve that!”
Before anyone else could argue, she stole past them and hurried down the hallway towards Fletcher’s open rooms.
“Norabel!” Hunter called after her.
She looked over at the approaching black mist, and then behind her. Hunter and Kade had come away from the door and were racing towards her. Hunter grabbed her hand and brought her inside Fletcher’s rooms, and both he and Kade went over to Fletcher’s unconscious body, grabbing onto one of his arms and hoisting him up.
“Just so you know,” Kade strained out, walking across the room towards the door, “I’m not doing this for him; I’m doing this so you don’t get yourself killed.”
“Thank you,” she told them, holding open the door and keeping an eye on the slowly progressing smoke.
It was just a few feet from them when they exited the room with Fletcher’s body. Down the hallway, the rest of the guys were urging them to run towards them to safety. Dragging Fletcher’s feet across the floor, they hurried down the hall as fast as they could with Norabel bringing up the rear. The second that she came through the doorway, Emmett slammed it shut behind them.
“Take off his shirt,” he said, motioning to Fletcher.
“Sorry?” Kade asked, finding humor in his request even at a dangerous time like this.
“To stop up the door!” he clarified. “It’ll at least slow it down a little.”
“Good thinking,” Hunter said, lowering Fletcher to the floor and yanking his shirt from around his head.
Going over to the door, he stopped it up inside the crack at the bottom. Then, getting to his feet, he raced down the corridor to the well at the end. Grabbing the wooden slab on top, he gave it a hard yank and was surprised when the whole thing came off in his hands. Norabel hoped he didn’t notice the subtle burn marks on the edge of the wood from where she had used Snapper to blast it open. However, Hunter didn’t seem interested in why the slab had come off so easily. All that mattered was that they had a way in.
“Come on!” he said, waving the guys over. “Get in!”
Finn was the first to the hole, and when he dropped down inside, Hunter told him, “Go down the tunnel to your right, and don’t stop until you hit the grate.”
The rest of the guys followed after, until it was just Norabel, Hunter, and Fletcher left up top.
“Are you okay to drop down?” he asked her.
Before she could respond, Kade’s voice sounded from down in the well, saying, “It’s alright, Hunter. Lower her down and we’ll catch her.”
Norabel peered down the well and saw that a few of the guys had stayed to help her down. Again she found herself touched by their actions, but she knew she couldn’t waste anytime dwelling on it. Swinging her legs over the ledge, Hunter held onto her arms as he lowered her down. Immediately she felt Kade wrap his arms around her waist, gently pulling her down till her feet hit the floor. When they moved out of the way, they heard something heavy thud to the ground a moment later. Turning back, she saw that it was Fletcher’s body.
“You didn’t want us to catch him, did you?” Kade joked.
Hunter nimbly dropped down into the tunnel and nudged Kade in the arm. “Where were you?” he jested back. Then, turning serious a second later, said, “Come on. Let’s join the others.”
As Norabel crouched forward in the tunnel, she felt Hunter gently guiding her from behind, placing a hand on her shoulder, and one of the other guys taking her hand and leading her forward, up the slope of the tunnel. She wasn’t sure, but she thought that perhaps her being there with them took their minds off the danger of the situation. To them, she was someone to look after, and it was better that they focus on that than on the very real possibility of dying.
Of course, Norabel was planning on repaying them for all their kindness. She knew that once they reached the grate,
she would be able to fit through. She wasn’t quite sure how she would go about saving them after that, but she knew she would do everything to get them all out alive.
From up ahead in the tunnel, they could see the moonlight streaming through the grate at the end. It was clogged up with men in front of it, but at least it allowed some open air to come through.
“Hunter!” Emmett whispered out. His voice came from near the front, and Norabel guessed that he was one of the ones closest to the grate.
“What is it?” Hunter called out, keeping his voice hushed as well.
“There’s a small opening at the bottom of the grate,” he answered.
“Can you get through?” Hunter asked.
There was silence for a moment, before he replied, “No. But someone smaller might be able to.”
“I can try,” Norabel spoke up.
“Here, let her through,” one of the officers said, clearing a path for her through the group of guys.
When she reached the grate, she gripped her fingers around one of the bars and stared down at the opening on the bottom. Then, turning around, she looked back to the guys, finding Hunter crouched just behind her.
Nodding, she told them, “I can fit through.”
There was a sigh of relief through the group, but Hunter did not look any more at ease.
“And what are you gonna do once you get out?” he questioned, his features pinched with worry. “You can’t go for help.”
“He’s right,” Kade agreed. “The people up there put us in this position. They won’t just change their minds because you go to them for help. It’ll just put you back in danger.”
“Then I’ll try opening the doors myself,” she countered.
“And get yourself killed!” Hunter exclaimed in a whisper. “If you breathe in that smoke, you’ll be dead within seconds.”
Norabel looked back to the bars, desperately trying to come up with a solution.
“Norabel,” Emmett said sadly. “Just go. There’s no point in you staying here.”
Chasing Shadows (Saving Galerance, Book 1) Page 26