Page 47 of The Last Aether

My entire body trembled. The shaking wasn’t because of fear or hurt. It was because of fury. The rage pounding through me rattled my muscle and bone.

Riven opened his mouth to say something, but Atlas grabbed his arm. “Give her some time.”

He yanked his arm loose from Atlas’s hold and stormed through the trees. I stared at his retreating back. Leaving. Just like he always did, with lies and pain in his wake.

But my rage didn’t abate. It kept pulsing through me. Burning. Leaving a wake of fiery ash behind.

This wasn’t real. Couldn’t be. My life had already been upended once. But this? It was a complete annihilation. There was nothing left behind.

I searched my mind, trying to pull memories of my parents. The people who had raised me until that night. The people I’d lost. It was a cruel twist of fate that I couldn’t even remember their faces. The only glimmer I had was the man from my dream.

Was he my father or simply something my mind had conjured up, trying to point me towards the truth? Panic gripped me in its talons. Was anything what I thought it was? How did you know when you couldn’t trust your own mind?

Movement had me jerking my head up. Kai approached me slowly, his hands raised as if I was a rabid animal. And maybe I was.

Sympathy washed over his expression as he reached for me. “I’m so sorry, Pip.”

I yanked out of his grasp. “No.” I couldn’t handle his touch. If he took my hand and pulled me into his arms, it would mean this was all real. I would break, and there would be no coming back from that.

“Okay, we won’t touch you.” It was Atlas’s voice now, coming from my side.

“We just want to help,” Phoenix said, coming around behind me.

I whirled to face him. They were too close. Everything was. The trees. The smell of singed vegetation. Smoke still hanging in the air.

It was too much. I couldn’t get my lungs to inflate. To bring in the air I so desperately needed.

Concerned voices filled the space around me, but I couldn’t discern their words. The only thing I knew was that they were trapping me. So, I did what I had to.

I ran.

Feinting to the left, I dodged between Atlas and Kai. A series of curses sounded behind me, but I didn’t listen. I just pushed my muscles harder.

Branches slapped against my arms, ripping at my blouse. Shrubs scraped my legs with their thorns. But I didn’t let any of it stop me. I only strained harder.

My lungs burned as I ran faster. A log snagged my foot and I fell into a heap, my shoulder colliding with a rock. I only scrambled to my feet and kept going, unsure of what I was looking for. A freedom I’d lost before I was even born? A past I wouldn’t recognize even if it smacked me in the face?

An arm snagged around my waist, lifting me in the air. I kicked out, hit, anything to be free.

“Shit, Pip,” Kai cursed. “It’s just me. You’re okay. You’re safe.”

But I wasn’t. I fought with everything I had. Twisting and jerking. Lashing out. I didn’t even know what I was fighting, just that I had to be free.

Voices rose around me. “Get her in the lake,” Phoenix called.

“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea,” Atlas said.

“It could be enough of a shock to her system,” Phoenix shot back.

A moment later, I was sailing through the air. But the arms around my waist didn’t let go. Kai and I fell into the sea of cold and he pulled me under.

The moment the water met my skin, all the fight went out of me. My eyes blinked against the swirling blues and greens around me. A blanket of comfort. Of weightlessness and nothingness. A balm to my ravaged soul.

I let myself sink towards the bottom. Letting everything go. I didn’t want to fight anymore. I just wanted the peace the water promised me.

Arms tightened around my waist. I didn’t battle against them this time.

Kai kicked us towards the sky, the sun. Bursting through the surface, the air stung my face. Some part of me knew I had to breathe. To suck in that oxygen and let it fill my lungs.