Let the Sky Fall by Messenger Shannon

Author:Messenger, Shannon [Messenger, Shannon]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Publisher: Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Published: 2013-03-04T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 28

AUDRA

Watching Vane plummet from the sky rips me back to the past.

A man floats above me in the Stormer’s trap. A tangle of dark clothes and thrashing limbs and wind.

For one horrifying second I think it’s my father and my body shakes with sobs. Then I get a better look at his face.

Not my dad.

Vane’s dad.

I hate myself for being relieved—but I can’t help it.

His wide, terrified eyes meet mine and he tries to twist his arms free. But he’s too tightly bound by the winds to move. He’ll never escape on his own.

I have to help him. I have to fix this—make this right somehow.

Before I can decide what to do, a gust untangles from the wall of the storm, coils around the dark trunk of a dislodged tree, and whips it toward me like someone’s controlling it. I drop to the ground, covering my head with my skinny arms, and wait to be shredded by the jagged branches. But the wind shifts again and I hear Vane’s dad cry out.

Something red and wet drips on my arm.

It’s too bright among the gray and black of the storm. I don’t understand what it is or where it came from. Until another drop splatters my cheek.

I look back up and see crooked branches protruding from his arms, his neck, his chest. Streams of red trickle from the wounds.

I scream, harder and louder than I’ve ever screamed before.

Vane’s scream snaps me out of it, and I command the draft I’d wrapped around me to “Rush!”

I don’t breathe until I snag Vane by the waist and pull him into the nest of winds supporting me.

“Told you that was a bad idea,” he mutters with a shaky voice.

He’s right.

He’s even more helpless than his parents were.

I can’t let myself forget that—no matter how much promise he shows.

Our feet touch the ground and I realize I’m leaning on Vane more than he’s leaning on me.

I can’t let him end up the same way his parents did.

I can’t.

I won’t.

I pull away from him. “What happened up there?”

“I don’t know. I guess I blanked.”

“You blanked?” He’s being too easy on himself. His parents didn’t push themselves, and now they’re both dead.

“Hey, I’m not exactly used to being shot through wind funnels like a Vane-bullet. I don’t even like heights.”

“You don’t like heights?”

His cheeks flush. “I didn’t say I’m afraid of them. I’m just not used to them.”

“Well—you’d better get used to them.”

“I know.”

“Before the Stormers come.”

“I said I know—I’m not an idiot, okay?”

I sigh, trying to get ahold of myself. “Look, Vane. I know I’m pushing you really hard. But I’m trying to protect you. I have to teach you as many basic lifesaving skills as I can. And stopping yourself from falling is essential. So we’re going to have to practice this until you get it right.”

He pales as I point to the wind funnel, still swirling away in the darkness.

“Try to relax this time,” I suggest.

He runs his hands down his face as he stares at the funnel.

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