Harbinger by Etienne Sara

Author:Etienne, Sara [Etienne, Sara]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Penguin Group
Published: 2012-02-02T05:00:00+00:00

18

WHOOSH. WHOOSH. WHOOSH. Their raw power rushed through me.

I stretched out my hand, touching one of the arrows. A howling filled my head, the rasping of steel against stone. A gray mountain of water rising up to meet me. Screams shattering the air. I ripped my hand away.

With a splintering pop, a tiny crack formed where my thumb had been and shot up the wall.

“What’s wrong?” Kel crawled in behind me and closed the small door.

“Nothing.” My voice shook in the sudden dark. Torn between terror and exhilaration, I reached out and felt for the crack in the wall of arrows. Checking if it was real. Goose bumps shivered across my skin as my fingers found the fracture in the cold stone.

Fear is an illusion. I’m in control of my own reality.

I fumbled with the penlight I’d stuck in my sock. Making a circle of light in the darkness. The solid rhythm of drums steadying me.

“Sneaky girl.” Kel’s voice was relaxed, teasing. But he looked genuinely impressed that I had a secret flashlight.

“You don’t know the half of it.”

“I wouldn’t mind finding out.” The secret passage suddenly went from horror movie to James Bond flick.

My tiny light ran across the gouged symbols. The insistent drumming trembling through me.

Does Kel hear them too? How could he not?

They shook my every thought now. Thrilling through every molecule of my body. And, there in the dark, I gave myself to them.

“Race you!” I yelled over my shoulder, already running. My feet already matching the pounding in my skull.

I careened around the corner. Left. Then right. Then left again.

Everything was so clear. The maze of hallways twisting through the rest of the Compass Rose was genius. They hid this passageway perfectly. I ran through the cool darkness, the crazed arrows pointing the way. Kel’s footsteps right behind me, egging me on.

The passage narrowed into a spiral staircase at the end of the labyrinth. The pulsing beat surged through me and I sprinted up the steps. Toward the door at the top. Toward the final arrow carved into the wood.

I grabbed the doorknob and twisted, throwing my weight against it. My shoulder slammed into the unmoving door. Kel crashed into me a second later.

“Locked.” My body ached with the blow and the drums and closeness of Kel.

Kel let out a huff of breath, his body still tangled up with mine.

“Perfect.” He didn’t sound that sorry about it.

I’d dropped the penlight in the collision, but even in the dark I knew where every inch of him was. One hand pressed against my leg. The other braced against the wall. I even knew the smile he was wearing on his face. My throat was dry and I forced the words out of my mouth. “I still have the key. In my boot.”

“What?”

“I still have the—”

“I heard you. Do you have wire cutters stuck somewhere? Maybe a getaway car?”

“Just help me find the flashlight.” We fumbled on the stairway. Hands grazing each other. Arms crisscrossing in the dark. Finally, a circle of light appeared by Kel’s face.

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