Wind Flowers by Lina C. Amarego

Author:Lina C. Amarego [Amarego, Lina C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Silver Wheel Press

Twenty-One

IRINA

Sun reflected off the Black River’s face in twinkling flashes, so small and erratic it was easy for my mind to get lost in the daydream. I pretended each tiny orb of light was a fairy, ready to sprinkle fae-dust over the Current Chaser and transport us all away to a place where dreams came true.

Where it could stay like this.

Like Riku and Ren, bickering as they huddled over a pair of dice, the highest roller betting the other to do increasingly risky and outright ridiculous dares that varied from holding their breath in a handstand to licking Naveen’s dirty socks—much to Naveen’s dismay.

Like Naveen and Aya, huddled together on the crate, Naveen telling stories about his—likely exaggerated—escapades as a bouncer for Madame Tsojo’s, while Aya’s face still burned pink; from the magic I gave her, or from warm cadence of Naveen’s voice, I’d never know.

Like Davke teaching Kas small tricks, her Quantifying magic and his Control blending seamlessly, his eyes wide as fire danced across their fingertips in wonderful, impressive shapes: a horse, a tugboat, even a pair of small figures that looked suspiciously like the twins flipping over each other in perfect, blazing synchronicity.

Like Malina, humming to herself as she examined the dials and gadgets at the front of the tugboat, Driss happily naming each part she crouched over; the pressure gage, the thermometer, the throttle, and other words that sounded like gargled nonsense to me, but made Malina’s lips twitch upward toward her freckled cheeks.

Like Shin, sitting next to me again with one foot tucked beneath him, the bottle of fizzy liquid dangling dangerously between his fingertips as he watched over all of them. His shoulder brushed against mine as he relaxed, an ease about him that stabbed at my ribcage in repeated, brutal bursts.

But as the sun sank deeper and deeper, hanging low enough to brush against the horizon, the sparkles on the water faded, the fairies passing through the twilight gate again, back to the fae-realm, leaving me and the others behind.

“All right folks, hang tight!” Driss called from the helm, shifting the tugboat into a lower gear, slowing our chug up the river ever so slightly as we entered a shallower pass. “We’re almost to the border.”

The border. From there, it would only be a short walk in from the river to where Shin had set the rendezvous point.

I wished we could come to a halt, wished I could turn around and live instead in the embrace of the Breeze Haven, watching the Misted Muses perform each night, lounging around on a sun-bathed barge all day.

Sitting next to Shin for as long as he’d let me.

“What will you do when you get home?” Naveen asked, amber eyes turning a mahogany red in the setting sunlight as they trained on me.

I pulled my knees to my chest, the sunset stealing the warmth that’d caressed the day, the autumn chill setting in its absence—much like the hope that slowly cooled in my chest, light fading and flickering.

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