“No!” she said, spinning back around to face them. “You all are my friends. I’m not giving up on you.” Suddenly an idea struck her, and she raised her eyes to look through the group, asking, “Finn, where are you?”
“Right here,” he said, raising his hand to the low tunnel ceiling.
“Do you have any Snapper with you?” she asked.
“Finn, if this is the one time you don’t have Snapper,” Leon exclaimed, “so help me I’ll…”
“Of course I have Snapper,” Finn answered, holding up a large pouch in the air.
“Do you think it’ll blow through the steel?” Emmett asked.
“Not this much steel,” Hunter answered. “It’s too thick. It’ll blast through wood just fine, but I’m afraid we’d end up killing ourselves if we tried to cut through this.”
“It’s not the grate I was thinking of,” Norabel explained. “I was going to use it to blast open the barrack door. Then I could smother the black powder and stop it from spreading.”
“You’ll still kill yourself,” Hunter said, adamantly shaking his head.
Norabel reached her hand out to touch his shoulder, saying, “I won’t. You just have to trust me on this.”
“No!” he said. He took her hand and held it softly in both of his. “I won’t let you do this.”
She gave him a sad smile, saying, “I’m afraid you can’t stop me. Either you keep me in here to die, or you let me go. And once I get out past this grate, you can’t keep me from trying to save you.”
“Norabel, please,” he whispered desperately. “Don’t do this.”
“You have to let me go,” she told him. Her eyes moved from his to the silent faces of the young men behind him. “Trust me,” she said, addressing all of them. “Everything will be alright. I have a guardian looking out for me.”
Hunter held onto her hand even tighter. She looked down at it, and then up into his face. Moving slowly, she planted a timid kiss on his cheek. Pulling away, she saw that his face had frozen in a dazed expression of shock.
“I’ll see you soon,” she whispered, her face growing pink over the boldness of what she had just done.
She tried to pull away, but Hunter held her back, saying, “Wait, Norabel!”
She turned around and looked back up at him.
He struggled with his words a moment before saying, “I missed you too.”
She gave him a smile, and he finally let go of her hand. Then, holding onto the grate, she crouched down so that her legs swung through the first part. Squishing her arms through, she grabbed the grate from the other side and pushed off of it. When she was finally out, she turned around to face the guys peering out from the tunnel. With one last, fleeting look, she gave them a small wave and disappeared into the darkness.
She made sure to hug the wall as she walked around the castle. She could hear a group of officers congregating towards the back of the stronghold, so she went around the other direction towards the front. When the main steps were in her line of sight, she took a deep breath and retreated back into the shadows. Though there didn’t seem to be any officers patrolling the front, which, under the circumstances, was not that odd, she still couldn’t just walk inside. The black smoke might have migrated into the main hall, and she would kill herself by opening those doors.
Resting her back against the stone wall, she closed her eyes and tried to picture what her Guardian Albatross looked like in this moment. Please help me to do this. Give me the strength to get to the door.
She opened her eyes and looked up. There were a few clouds sliding over the moon, moving like a leaf gliding across a smooth lake surface. It was beautiful, she thought. And it wouldn’t be such a horrible thing if this sight was one of the last she ever saw.
Taking her eyes away from it, she set her mind firmly at the task at hand. In order to get deeper into the castle without dying first from the smoke, she had to close her lungs to stop the poison from affecting her. While anyone could hold their breath, not everyone could physically close up their lungs like those suffering from Jotham’s Disease could. If she survived the attack she was planning on inducing, the disease might just save her life.
Stepping away from the wall, she began to jog in place, going faster and faster. It didn’t take long for the familiar squeeze of Jotham to find her lungs. She had suffered from the beginnings of an attack earlier that night when Fletcher had beaten her half-unconscious. Now it only took a little bit of effort to prompt another.
Feeling the air drain from her lungs as they tightened shut, she knew she had no time to loose. She ran up the front steps of the stronghold, grabbing onto the front door and squeezing herself inside. The black smoke hadn’t made it to the main hall, but turning the corner towards the wing that led towards the barracks, she saw the ominous dark smoke swirling outwards. Through the smoke, she could see the door that led to the barracks. It was barricaded with a wooden table, but she figured that the small compartment in the stairwell between the two doors would be more heavily fortified.
Not wasting a second, she plunged straight into the smoke. She was beginning to feel severely weakened from the lack of oxygen, but so far she felt no effects from the Black Powder. At least it seemed her plan was working.
When she reached the door, she was nearly doubling over in fatigue. It was a mental battle to keep from gasping for breath. Yet, even if she tried, she knew no air would reach her lungs. Digging her hand into Finn’s pouch of Snapper, she threw a handful on either side of the doorway and then lit them simultaneously by snapping both of her hands. She had made a small trail about an inch long going to each of the piles, and so had a few seconds to get back before the whole thing blew.
In a flash dulled by smoke, the table flew away from the door, and the wooden door itself was rocked from it hinges, laying sideways in its frame. The explosion blew some of the smoke away, but it returned with a vengeance a moment later, for the open doorway exposed the source of the poison.
Panic started to grab ahold of Norabel as she realized she didn’t have much longer before she passed out. Once she did, the chances were slim that she would ever wake up again.
Crouching beneath the un-hinged door, she crawled into the stairwell that housed the smoking silver box of Black Powder. It was hard to see much inside the room, for the smoke blocked visibility, and her vision was starting to go. She fought hard to retain her consciousness as she crouched over the box, smothering it with her body. However, she knew that this would not be enough to stop it.
Raising her hand blindly in the air, she grabbed ahold of the Pax flag she knew to be there. Using it as support, she pulled herself up until her hand could clasp onto the torch mount. Stone rumbled in her ears as the secret passageway opened. Weakly pushing against it, she created just enough space to stick the smoking box inside. Pushing the torch mount back up and closing the door shut, she finally collapsed back down to the floor.
Though she had stopped the smoke from spreading any further, she knew she wasn’t done yet. She had to open up the doorway to the barracks in order to aerate it, otherwise the boys still might die from the amount of smoke trapped inside.
Blackness shrouded her vision like a blanket as she blindly grasped for the Snapper pouch once more. She couldn’t tell what was barricaded against the door, but she tried her best to push the pouch right up against it. Her fingers shook as she weakly grasped for a pinch of the Snapper in which to light it.
Crouching back through the rubble of splintered wood, she crawled through the opening under the first door and rested her back against it. She knew it wouldn’t be enough shelter to protect her from the blast, but it was all she could manage at this point.
Her arms wouldn’t stop quivering in exhaustion as she reached back into the small corridor. Then, snapping her fingers, she flicked her wrist to send the spark flying, as if casting a pebble over a lake to make it skip across the surface.
She did not much feel or hear or see the blast that res
ulted. A dull roar echoed in her head, a hazy vision danced in her eyes, and a faint touch of warmth brushed her skin. It was almost as if the explosion was not quite there, like it was merely a memory, shrunk down so that it could no longer harm her.
She was aware of flying for a moment. But the sensation, though dulled in her head, was odd. She knew it was the power from the explosion that sent her across the room, but for a second she felt as if she was being carried. Though she could no longer see, in her mind she could picture a great pair of snow-white wings. And in the center was her protector—her own Guardian Albatross.
Chapter 20
The summer sun had just lit the word in a sleepy blue morning light when Mason heard the sound of hoof beats galloping down the road. Immediately he shot up from the chair he had been sitting on in Norabel’s kitchen and raced out the door and onto the street. Outside, the whole village already seemed to be up. Word was spreading fast about Auberon’s death. Logan had gone out earlier to hear what people were saying, and it wasn’t good.
It was the ruthless Harbinger team, they said. They tried to fill the whole castle with Black Powder and kill them all in their sleeps. Auberon found them and tried to stop them, and Ashlin killed him without mercy. He was only able to raise the alarm and save everybody before he died.
Of course, they all reported that Auberon was unarmed when Ashlin stabbed him, and it hurt Mason to admit that the reports were right. But the part about the Black Powder and their Harbinger team trying to kill them all—he didn’t know where that came from. One thing was for sure, it would turn nearly the whole village against them. They would no longer have justice on their side. The village would see them as the bad guys, and the Pax would suddenly become the heroes.
Though the thought made Mason’s blood boil, it was far from his mind as he watched the horseman ride closer down the road towards him. Logan came out from the house as well and stood beside him.
“He’s carrying a body,” Mason breathed out, running a hand down his hair in desperation. “If she’s…” he shook his head. “I’ll kill him!”
“Hold on Mason,” Logan said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “You don’t know anything yet.”
“What’s there to know,” he said, taking out his sword and charging forward.
The officer had just dismounted from his horse and took Norabel’s unconscious body in his arms when Mason charged towards him with his sword.
“Take your hands off her, you wretched leacher!” Mason spat at him.
The officer continued to briskly walk up the street towards Norabel’s house, blatantly ignoring him. There was a fire in his eyes, and Mason’s sword didn’t seem to scare him at all.
When Mason ran forward to block his way again, the officer calmly stated, “If you come near her with that, I will run you through where you stand. Now get out of my way.”
Logan ran up to the pair and stood between him and his brother, asking, “You’re not the leacher that took her?”
“No,” he answered simply. “Now help me get her inside.”
Mason lowered his sword and took a closer look at the body in the Pax officer’s arms. He clamped a hand over his mouth at what he saw.
“Norabel,” he breathed out painfully. She looked severely beaten and bloodied, and the left side of her face was slick with red.
“Is she dead?” Logan asked as he hurried alongside of the officer.
“I can feel her breathing,” he answered. “But I don’t know what kind of state she’s in. She should be dead. She passed through Black Smoke, but for some reason, she’s still alive.”
Going through the open door of her house, he brought Norabel in through the kitchen and rushed down the hallway towards the bedroom. When he laid her down on the bed, he turned to the others, demanding for water to be brought. Logan returned a few moments later with a pitcher and a cloth, and everyone stared down at Norabel’s still face as the young man dabbed it with water.
He didn’t take his eyes away from her face as he quietly asked, “I don’t suppose any of you know how it’s possible she breathed in Black Smoke and lived.”
No one said anything. Mason couldn’t even cope with her being beaten, but now Black Smoke…he couldn’t imagine what horrors she had gone through in that castle.
“How do you even know her?” Archer asked from his corner in the room.
The official dabbed the cloth on Norabel’s forehead, and an irritating fire licked at Mason’s nerves as he watched this young man touching her so tenderly.
“He runs the checkpoint between Norabel’s home and work,” Logan stated, giving Mason a shock. The officer turned to him in surprise as well, and Logan explained, “I recognized you. Plus she mentioned to me once that she had a friend from the Pax. I figured it must be you.”
“And you never told me!” Mason exclaimed, feeling as if his own brother had betrayed him by keeping this knowledge a secret.
“Because you never listened!” Logan countered, growing angry. “Not when I tried to tell you that she was in trouble. Not even when she herself tried to tell you! Several times! You were just…”
“Guys!” Archer cut in. “Look,” he said, pointing to Norabel.
Mason’s anger instantly drained as he turned back to the bed, watching with baited breath as her body stirred and her eyes moved behind their lids. Wake up, he silently begged her. Please Norabel. Please don’t leave me yet.
*
Norabel felt something warm envelope her hand. The world around her was still dark, but inside she felt as if she was filled with light. Without opening her eyes, she knew she was alive. Relief flooded through her like a summer spring as she realized she wasn’t gone yet. Thank you. Thank you for giving me a little more time.
The gentle pressure on her hand moved, and with a little effort, she strained her eyes open to see what it was. At once she was met with the sight of worried green eyes and warm, brown and golden honey colored hair.
“Hunter,” she said softly, smiling up at him. “I’m so glad to see you.”
“Norabel,” he whispered, staring soulfully down at her. “How—how are you even,” he shook his head. “You should be dead right now.”
“Is everyone alright?” she asked, her eyelids drooping in fatigue.
“Yes,” he answered, reaching a soft hand up to hold the side of her face. “Yes, they’re all alright. You saved us all. We owe you our lives.”
She shook her head weakly. “Please. You don’t owe me anything.”
“We owe you everything,” he insisted, rubbing his thumb across her cheek. “You…”
He was cut off as Ashlin suddenly came rushing into the room, announcing, “I saw the horse outside. Is everyone…” She trailed off when she noticed Hunter kneeling in front of the bed.
Hunter turned back and stared at Ashlin in stunned silence, and all at once Norabel could feel the weight of the world come crashing down on her shoulders. No one seemed sure of what to do. Ashlin took out her sword, but the expression on her face was that of wary confusion.
“You’re,” Hunter stuttered out, turning back to where Norabel lay on the bed. “You’re a Harbinger?” His expression was deeply pained, and his lips were tightly pressed together as if he was struggling hard to accept this information.
“I’m sorry.” Norabel shook her head, floundering.
“This whole time?” he whispered out.
“I never thought of you as my enemy,” she insisted, reaching for his hand.
“And I never thought of you as mine,” he remarked sadly.
“Yeah, none of us are the other’s enemy,” Ashlin broke in, raising her sword in Hunter’s direction. “That’s really great and all, but let’s be serious.”
“Would you please put that sword away,” Norabel begged, feeling quite helpless.
Ashlin kept her sword where it was as she said, “If I do, he escapes, and you all go to Arkadiak. Is that what you want?”
Hunter stood up from the bed and
raised his hands up in defense. “I won’t turn you in. Not if she’s one of you. I couldn’t do that.”
“Don’t give me that crock!” Ashlin exclaimed, taking a step closer to him.
Seeing Ashlin’s sword only a foot away from Hunter, Norabel knew she couldn’t just lie there and do nothing. Defying the sickness of slumber that tried to dull her mind, she rose from the bed and stumbled across the floor so that she was standing in front of Hunter.
“Norabel, no!” he said, gently grabbing her arms to steady her.
Her body swayed as she looked out to Ashlin, saying, “If you try and hurt him, you’ll have to strike me first.”
“He’s just saying those things so we don’t kill him,” Ashlin insisted angrily. “Now step out of my way!”
Before she could come any closer, Mason ran across the room, grabbing onto her arms and raising them in the air so her sword was no longer pointed at Norabel.
“Ashlin, stop,” he said firmly. “I do not think he will turn us in.”
“Mason!” she objected, her eyes flashing to him in irritation.
While still gripping onto her hands, Mason turned his head to address Hunter, saying, “Get out of here!”
Hunter glanced between Norabel and the door in confliction.
“Go,” she whispered to him remorsefully. Though she wasn’t sure if she would ever see him again if he left, she didn’t want him to stay there and risk whatever Ashlin might do to him.
Giving her one last ardent look, he slipped past her and out the door.
Ashlin struggled to get free as he left, but Mason made sure to hold tight to her arms. Only when Hunter was a safe distance away did he release her, suffering through her harsh glare as she stormed out of the room.
“Are we really gonna just let him go?” Archer asked, looking to the bedroom window with wide eyes.
“Archer” Logan said quietly, motioning to the door with a flick of his head. “Why don’t we give them some room.”
Logan caught Norabel’s gaze, and she wanted to stop him from going, but she could do nothing but sway there weakly as they left.
Chasing Shadows (Saving Galerance, Book 1) Page 27