Immortal Longings by Chloe Gong

Author:Chloe Gong
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Gallery / Saga Press
Published: 2023-07-18T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 14

It’s not even the right season. The last time Calla heard this siren, she was still living in the Palace of Heavens. The Rubi Waterway had risen past its banks and sent a flash flood rippling five feet high. It wrought havoc for two weeks, her parents unwilling to handle the chaos. Civilians died, businesses closed, fresh food stalls went under because they couldn’t move anything from building to building and it was impossible to carry crates up fourteen flights of steps for the rooftop routes.

“I need to go,” Calla declares, pivoting fast for the couch in the living room and picking up her sword. It makes no sense, but she won’t take the chance. Chami and Yilas’s diner is on the ground level, and floods from the waterway come quick. Much as she would like her former attendants to stay safe, she is most concerned about keeping an eye on Chami, because if Chami needs to get to the hospital, then Calla’s false identity starts to crumble.

“Fifty-Seven, wait,” Anton calls after her. “There’s something shifty about this. It’s not the right month for tides to be rising. It could be a ruse—”

“I know.” Calla secures her sword onto her belt. “I just need to check on something. I’ll find you later.”

Then she’s gone, slipping through his front door and climbing up instead of down. With the siren whining, the ground of San-Er will be crowded with civilians trying to get their business in order, transporting what cannot be transported if the streets are soon to be flooded for days on end. Calla sticks close to the edge of the stairs, trying not to brush shoulders with the masses surging down, grimacing when she passes a man in scrubs reeking with the smell of blood. They’re all yelling at one another, drowned out by the wails of the siren, but Calla catches their confusion, snippets of doubt and their hypotheses that it could be the games drawing its players out for slaughter. It would be a nonsensical plan. Every soul in San-Er flocking down to the ground would only make it harder to find the players. And yet, Calla cannot imagine why else the alarm would be going off.

She emerges onto the rooftop, slapping her hands over her ears. The siren noises are coming from speakers installed alongside the television antennas atop each building. They are relentless, echoing off one another, sound waves bouncing back and forth. Calla has to grit her teeth hard when she breaks into a steady jog, finding a rhythm as she crosses the rooftops and jumps the gaps across buildings. She would have expected more movement here, but there are only pigeons and debris keeping her company.

“Hey!” Calla yells when she spots a child, but she cannot hear herself past the sirens. The child only keeps playing. When Calla glances down, squinting at the ground, she sees no water anyway, only a sea of heads pushing in movement. She swallows her warning, shaking her head.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.