A Chorus of Ashes and Shadows by Melissa Karibian

Author:Melissa Karibian
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hansen House
Published: 2023-06-16T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

Kae

I was in the desert again. Endless sand as far as the eye could see. No signs of the sea. No signs of life.

“Kae,” Aqeara said. I turned and saw her standing in a dazzling emerald dress that fluttered in the wind.

Before I could say a word, my body reacted in a way that seemed familiar. My breathing quickened, my chest tightened, and my hands slickened. I could not breathe. I could not think.

As if to answer my body’s call, Aqeara reached up, fingers digging into the flesh of her face. She pulled her skin down and off her completely. Instead of revealing muscle and bone, Salophine greeted me with a smile made of razor incisors.

“Kae,” Salophine said, using Aqeara’s voice, “You cannot save them all.”

A pile of bodies appeared to my right. My entire crew, dead. Eyes glassy as they stared directly into the burning sun. Rigby. Doc. Arden. Kenley. Doc. Barnes. Dalton. Ruff. Marsden. Dyer. Atty. Birch. Aqeara.

I screamed.

The next five days came and went like a flash of lightning, illuminating the sky for just mere milliseconds before succumbing the world back into darkness. Everyone had heeded my words and went about each day with routine and precision. For just a moment, I almost forgot where we were heading. I lost myself to my role as captain as we sailed the expansive seas. And then night would come with all sorts of dark thoughts that left me scolding myself for even forgetting what our mission was.

Despite my words to remain calm and collected, I lost sleep to nightmares. I was succumbed to torture with the rise of the moon. I watched Aqeara die in a thousand different ways, all bloody and painful and completely my fault. Salophine would drown me in the depths of watery hell, laughing as my lungs collapsed. Rigby’s ghost flowed through me, cursing my soul to eternal damnation. Ruff bled from his neck and died in Dalton’s arms. I was glad that I hadn’t seen Dalton at the library. I knew that if I had, his white eyes would haunt me on top of the other horrors I endured in my sleep.

Each of those nights left me sweating and panting by morning. My brain would wake up before the rest of my body, leaving me unable to move once I opened my eyes. Losing control over my own body made my skin crawl and heartbeat accelerate until my breathing was so rapid, I induced a feeling close to having a heart attack. Then, after a few minutes of contemplating on whether I was actually dying, I could move again. I always managed to wake before Aqeara did and tried my best to calm down. I could not have her seeing me like that, knowing she did not need yet another thing to worry about.

On the morning of the fifth day of sailing toward Esrose Isla, I found myself at my desk, reading over the map again. There had to be some way that got us to the magical island faster.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.