Ending in Cadence by Catherine Downen

Author:Catherine Downen [Downen, Catherine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-04-25T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

EMMA

I can’t believe he was going to leave without me. I knew something was wrong all day. I tried to get him to tell me about his plan. I gave him the opportunity to ask me to go with him, and he didn’t.

Frustration still burns through me as we slide through the quiet streets of Artmith, heading for the loose spot of metal in the wall. I’m scared, of course, but I still want to be involved in this game. I’ve been getting around these streets late at night for years. It’s better to sell your illegally engineered tools when no one else is looking. What would he have done if he were ambushed on his own?

The knife he took from my parent’s kitchen is fastened against my hip. We each have one, like this will make a difference. After what happened the other night, I can only assume the vainders will be staying in bigger packs now.

No extra Patrol seem to be out, but Ash still walks with the hood of the jacket draped over his head just in case. Every once in a while, we’ll pass a billboard with their faces on it.

“They definitely got my nose wrong,” Ash jokes, leaning in to examine a picture of his face on the side of a building. Bold black words claim Lord Neko will give a hefty reward in exchange for the three of them. It’s a year’s worth of allowances. I’m actually surprised my mom didn’t want to try and get the money.

“Let’s keep moving,” I whisper, and pull him along.

When we reach the loose flap in the wall, Ash and I crawl through and hike toward Infinity Forest. I keep glancing and checking our directions with the stars above. The grey clouds still spin in the dark cyclone that spit them out, but the stars shimmer through.

We stop in the middle of the Golden Field and reevaluate our path. It takes a second for me to realize this was the spot I first found them. In the middle of the night, it looks different, like it’s balanced in a parallel universe. Rising Salvation soars up to our left and the linked stars hang directly to our right.

“Are you ready?” I ask. The next step will be to head into the dark forest and it all feels too soon for me.

Ash swallows and knocks back his hood, his focus trained on the stars. Finally, he looks down at me.

“Yeah. Ready.”

“Remember, we’ll be in and out as fast as we can.”

That’s the last thing either of us says until we reach the edge of the forest. Once we’re there, all the words Ash must have been thinking surface.

“Em, I can’t.” Ash freezes at the edge, his eyes searching the dark shadows of the woods. His chest rises and falls with shallow breaths, sheer panic taking over, and I think he may hyperventilate. “When I was up in that tree,” he forces the words pass quick breaths, “and Wren was

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