A Force of Nature by Janna Ruth

Author:Janna Ruth [Ruth, Janna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-08-19T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

I CAN’T TELL you when the ambulance arrives and takes Leon away. He has lost consciousness at this point. From shock, the paramedic says, and we both hope that’s the truth. The ride to the hospital is a blur, as is the short meeting with the nurse who looks after the few glass shards that got stuck in my skin. When she asks me whether anything else hurts, I shake my head. A small voice tells me that that’s a lie, but I feel so numb I can’t find anything wrong.

Lukas picks me up. He and Camille have arrived together. She goes straight to find out more about Leon, who has been rushed into surgery while Lukas gets stuck with me. He doesn’t say anything after the initial “Get moving”, and I don’t mind following his lead.

We drive home in silence, which I’m grateful for. I doubt any words can penetrate the numbness enclosing me. A stray thought comes to me. I never captured the spirits—neither gnomes nor sylphs. They’re free and will recover in time, just to cook up a new catastrophe for us humans.

Finally, we reach the citadel. The giant doors of the gatehouse have barely closed behind me when Lukas explodes.

“You had one job! One fucking job! And you blew it!” he screams at me, spittle hitting my face. “I swear if he dies, you’ll suffer. I’ll make you suffer so bad you’ll curse the day you ever met us.”

I stare at him blankly, thinking that I’m already long past that moment.

Lukas is so angry his fingers are clawing, and for a moment, he looks like he’s trying to rip his own face off in place of mine. “He can’t see them! You can! You should have seen it. Why the fuck did you not see the sylph?”

I hadn’t considered that yet. If I had seen the sylph, I could have prevented it. Why hadn’t I? “There were gnomes.”

“Who cares about gnomes?” He turns away and walks a few steps, then comes back at me, his finger raised. “You’re supposed to be so good. You should’ve kept an eye out. But no, you let yourself get distracted and Leon killed. Argh! I wish I… I…” He can’t even think of a punishment that would begin to suffice for what I did.

Our fight has drawn Miriam out of her lab. Of course, she’s already aware of what has happened. A coat slung around her blows in the wind as she quickly walks towards us.

“There you are,” she says, momentarily offering me reprieve from Lukas’s onslaught.

Indeed, he turns his anger on her. “Don’t you dare! Don’t you dare defend her over this! Leon might die because of her failure.”

Instead of backing down, Miriam slaps him hard. Then she tells him with a calm but stern voice. “Go to the gym and hit the bag or something. But don’t you dare take out your frustrations on her.”

Before Lukas can pull himself out of his daze, she takes my arm and leads me into the hall.

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