Lumière (The Illumination Paradox Book 1) by Jacqueline E. Garlick

Author:Jacqueline E. Garlick [Garlick, Jacqueline E.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Skyscape
Published: 2015-08-10T16:00:00+00:00

Twenty-Seven

Eyelet

We pop through the back door of the kitchen like corks from bubbly bottles of champagne. But our happy mood is short-lived. The Vapours bear down on the house even harder than before. The noise is enough to stop your heart. No rain. No lightning. Just furious wind. Moaning and clashing against the sides of the Compound like incarcerated lunatics against the bars of their pen.

Nothing could have prepared me for this . . . this spiraling hurricane of all-consuming death. I never could have imagined anything so raw, so powerful, so unstoppable—it makes no sense. It’s horribly unnerving the way the winds come from all directions at once, slamming different sides of the Compound. There’s no pattern to their assault. It’s random. We can’t prepare ourselves.

Everything’s so dark and seamless; not even a slice of light to take the edge off the terror. It’s as though the house has been wrapped in the undertaker’s shroud. Smothered in it, really.

I feel my way along the chairs into the centre of the kitchen, shuddering at the thought. The blackened window over the sink that once seemed so forbidding is a welcome sight to me now.

I turn my face to it, staring through the black abyss of the room, and hug myself, imagining the giant booms at the edge of Brethren working furiously to protect its people. Growing thick with toxic muck as they hold back the destructive fumes of the Vapours from all those lucky enough to live behind them. My heart aches to be back in Brethren, safe within our apartment, held tight in the security of my mother’s arms. Her graceful fingers looping through my hair the way they used to when she’d soothe me. The warmth of her eyes. The breadth of her smile. The creamy pattern of her voice as she’d comfort me.

I should have said more often how much I loved her. I should have told her how much she meant to me. It’s a horrible thing when you lose the chance to express your love, and you realize how much time you wasted.

Urlick strikes a match, and I jump at the scratch. He reaches up, steadies the aether chandelier in the centre of the room, and lights it for the third time. He lets it go and it swings, flickering, slowly igniting into a weak, uncertain glow.

“You all right?” He moves toward me, his eyes wide and sympathetic. “I know it’s hard to stay calm the first time.”

The winds pick up, rushing the walls, rattling the dark window in its pane. I’m somewhat glad I can’t really see what’s going on out there.

“How long does this insanity last?” I shout, cupping my ears to block out the roar.

“Hard to tell! It could last a week, or it could be two months!”

An explosion rocks the hillside, jolting the floor beneath us, and I’m dropped to a knee. Urlick steadies himself on the back of a chair.

“Two months of this?” I shout as he helps me up. I grab for the table as another ripple shimmies the footings of the house.

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