Page 25 of Storm Caller

“Go ahead,” I say.

He’s clearly reluctant, but I shift in my seat, and Rook wraps the cloth over my eyes, carefully tying it at the back. I feel the ghost of his warm breath on the shell of my ear as he softly says, “Sorry.”

Once I can’t see anything, I sit back in my seat, pressing up against Rook, worried that Calliope might skin me alive if I dare touch her. I can sense the tension in the jeep even without the benefit of sight.

“All set?” Percy asks, and someone must nod, because he revs the engine, and we lurch forward.

“Can’t wait to see you finally get what’s coming to you,” Fisher sneers, reminding me of why we’re heading to Cloudspire.

Rook’s punishment.

My stomach pitches, but I keep my mouth shut.

Beside me, Rook doesn’t move at all.

7

We spend the entire day bouncing over the landscape. The constant movement is disorienting without sight, and being blindfolded makes me feel more vulnerable than I expected. Every so often, Rook reaches over to squeeze my hand to reassure me that he’s close, as if I could forget the way I’m pressed up against him with his strong thigh against mine and his scent filling my nose.

No one says much, and eventually I doze off.

It isn’t until the jeep slows down that I wake up, my head lifting from Rook’s shoulder. My mouth is dry, coated in fuzz, and my temple throbs. I wonder how many hours we’ve been driving.

“I’m taking this off now,” Rook says. “She has no idea where we are.”

When no answer comes, I feel the knot loosen at the back of my head, and the blindfold falls away. I blink a few times, noticing the sun has set.

Clouds are rolling in overhead, the rumble of thunder echoing in the distance. I scratch my arms absentmindedly as I take in the landscape. It’s shifted, no longer resembling barren ground. We’re driving through lusher forest, with larger trees and green grass. It seems obvious that the farther we get from New Manhattan, the more life we find.

I wonder where these other cities are.

How far away are they? How far does the Veil stretch?

“Are we there yet?” I ask, my voice rough from sleep.

“A little way to go,” Percy says as he smiles at me over his shoulder.

“There are so many trees,” I say.

Everyone shares an uncomfortable look, and I feel my cheeks heat with embarrassment. Rook gently takes my hand. “These parts weren’t submerged under water for as long.”

Again, I’m forced to reconcile another lie. We were told there’s nothing out here. Not just a lack of humanity but a lack of anything at all. That our little haven is the only habitable strip of land left. I hate this feeling of utter helplessness and confusion. I feel like such a fool for believing any of it.

A scream of frustration bubbles up my throat. I must not be hiding it very well because Calliope pins me with a disdainful look, so I swallow it all down like flat rocks jammed in my windpipe.

We pass another encampment, much like the one we left. More people. More life. Percy honks as we pass, and I catch a few waves and friendly faces, but that’s probably only because they don’t realize who’s squished into the middle seat.

When lights appear on the horizon, I sense a shift in the jeep’s atmosphere. Rook sits forward, clearly anticipating this arrival. I can’t imagine how much he missed his family while he was at Amery. It makes me think of mine. I wonder where my mom and dad are. They must realize I’m missing by now. Do they have any idea where I’ve gone? What would they say if they knew I escaped to the Wastes with a Solitude?

What would they say if I told them the truth about all of this?

A moment later, the source of light becomes clear over the horizon.

A mountain rises from the earth, spearing into the sky. But this is no benign formation—it looks like a fortress. Dozens of swinging bridges and ladders crisscross the surface of the rock, all lit by flickering lamps. I spy people everywhere I look, climbing up and down, entering and exiting small doors carved into the mountainside.

A high chain-link fence cordons off a massive opening at the base, the entire thing buzzing with silver electricity. Along the foot of the mountains, large buildings and towers rise into a sky slowly swirling with storm clouds.

“Welcome to Cloudspire. Home sweet home,” Percy declares as we rumble up to a gate manned by several guards. Their uniforms match, made from the same molded black leather, and dark makeup lines their eyes. They carry stunners—the kind I’m more familiar with, used by The Shield’s Circle Guard and New Manhattan’s Patrol.