The Shadow Thieves by Alexandra Ott

Author:Alexandra Ott [Ott, Alexandra]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781481472791
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Published: 2018-06-05T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

In the morning, it takes me a second to remember why I feel so awful.

My head aches, and my eyes do not want to open.

But now I remember: sneaking back into the apartment after my conversation with Beck. Tiptoeing into my bedroom, changing my clothes, and slipping into bed, only to watch the hints of sunrise peek through my window. I haven’t been asleep very long, and it’s already morning.

Late in the morning, in fact. Ronan let me sleep in again.

Oh, right. He and Mari still think I’m sick.

A twinge of guilt churns in my stomach, but I ignore it. The deception was necessary. And anyway, I needed the sleep.

I rub my eyes and force myself to get up, following the sounds of Ronan’s and Mari’s voices into the kitchen.

They’re both seated at the table, surrounded by the remains of breakfast.

“Hey,” Ronan says, “are you feeling better?”

“A little,” I say, yawning. “What’s for breakfast?”

They both laugh. “Your appetite wasn’t gone for long,” Mari teases.

Both she and Ronan are looking awfully happy about something. They’re grinning. In fact, they look positively joyous.

“What’s wrong?” I say, staring between the two of them. My brain is finally waking up, and the alarm bells are starting to go off. Now that I think about it, why are they both here? It’s late. Shouldn’t they be at work?

“Nothing’s wrong,” Ronan says, but something’s still off.

“Why aren’t you at work?”

Ronan and Mari exchange secretive smiles. “Why don’t you look out the window?” Ronan suggests.

Now I’m really confused. Why would I—

I glance out the kitchen window, and my eyes widen.

I look at Ronan, then at Mari, then back out the window. They’re both grinning again.

“It’s white,” I say. “The outside is white.”

I take a few steps forward. Cold air leaks through the window. It’s all frosted up, but I can still see bits and pieces of the street—or what used to be the street. Because I can no longer tell where the street is. The entire ground is absolutely covered in white, glittering snow.

I’ve seen snow before, of course. In Azeland, we’d get an occasional snowfall that blew down from the mountains during the winter, and I’ve already seen some here in Ruhia. But I never knew it could be like this. It’s piled up so high that the doors and windows across the street are blocked. I can’t tell the difference between street and lawn and sidewalk. Rooftops are covered. Windowsills are covered. Lampposts and benches and street signs, all covered. And the trees. I can only see a few of them out the window, but they’re so bowed over with snow, it looks like the limbs are going to break. Overnight the city has completely transformed.

“Did I sleep through a blizzard?” I ask.

“First big snowstorm of the season,” Ronan says cheerfully.

“You mean this is going to happen more than once?” I rub at the spot where my breath has misted up the window, trying to see more.

“Of course,” Mari says. “We’ll have several more snowstorms throughout the winter.

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