Barefoot on the Wind by Zoe Marriott

Author:Zoe Marriott [Marriott, Zoë]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4063-6729-4
Publisher: Walker Books
Published: 2016-09-01T04:00:00+00:00

Thirteen

I remembered. I remembered everything. What happened to Kyo. And my grandmother. Father. The impossible thing I had come to the Dark Wood to do.

Dear Moon, how much time had passed since then? Weeks! Last night the Moon had been a thin, sharp crescent among the stars. It would be dark again in a matter of one or two days. That was all the time I had left to save my father’s life. And that was if Kaede had managed to keep him breathing this long. If he wasn’t already… If he was still there in the healer’s house on the other side of the Dark Wood. If it wasn’t too late for him, as I had believed, lying alone and bleeding in the earth, that it was too late for me.

It wasn’t too late. I would not give up hope of saving my father.

As I floundered out of bed, I felt the heaviness of responsibility settle into place on my back, and the familiar empty ache of Kyo’s loss, of my own personal despair and grief, unfolded within and around me as it had not fully done for … for days now, here with Itsuki. Not even last night, after Kimi. It was endlessly cold, like a deep, black shadow, and for just one weak moment, I faltered in its shade, sagging beneath the weight of unhappiness I had carried for so long.

How could I forget so much of what made me who I was? I ought to have been a completely different person – and yet somehow I had still been Hana. Still been me. Just…

Happy.

But that was all over now. I forced my shoulders to straighten, forced my chin up.

I had to go home.

First, though, I must find Itsuki. I must find him, and explain to him why I was here, what I had come to do and what was at stake. He would help me. I knew he would help me however he could.

After pulling my clothes back on and swiftly re-braiding my hair, I left the garden of knots to seek my friend out. I knew where he would be, in the garden of rocks. He and I had walked that way together a dozen times. Before I would have hesitated to travel the thorn corridors alone, but there was no time to worry about myself any more.

No time, no time, hurry hurry hurry, urged the voice in the back of my mind, triumphant that I was heeding it at last.

When I heard the wavering, plaintive notes of the wood flute drifting through the thorn hedges to meet me, I felt a rush of relief – not only that I had managed to find the right garden in the right part of the maze but also at the knowledge that I would be with Itsuki again soon and could tell him everything and … and…

I stepped into the garden of rocks, my mouth already opening to call out to Itsuki – and felt myself go as still as one of the glittering chunks of stone.

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