Page 71 of Storm

We walk for what feels like eternity, my eyesight incapacitated in this—what I can only assume is a cave. The rush keeps me upright and heightened to every sensation. The chill in the biting wind. The soft echo of falling rock. The breaths from our lips.

At each step, hope takes over, willing the next to be the one that brings us to our final destination. The chorus of Sunny’s soft snores soothes my frazzled ends. He’d probably be beside himself if he woke up in this disquieting pitch-black. Though I think he’s more resilient than I give him credit for. Injured arm and all, he’d be a willing participant in visiting a new destination, more social than I. His childlike wonder is still uncorrupted, as much as I could keep him cloistered from the hollows.

Sweaty palms slip against Adam’s. I know he can feel them. The air is stifling the further we walk. He continues, unbothered, self-assured in a way I wish I could be. These unexpected, unfamiliar surroundings and relying on a fae I don’t know… Wormlike, all my fears slither through the corners of my mind.

Is this our end?

Just as quickly as it crests, the uncertainty slowly ebbs. A pinprick of light forms in front of us, and I could kiss the packed ground at my feet. I send a silent prayer to my mam for looking out for us. We didn’t come all this way for nothing. There’s something at the end of this…

This is it for us—our final happiness.

It has to be.

“What’s that?” Adam halts, pulling me close to his side. I didn’t hear anything but the sounds of my laboured breathing. “I need you to be very quiet, little human. Do you understand me?” He’s hushed and urgent, setting off alarm bells.

“Yes.” I gasp as he yanks me against a craggy rock wall. “What’s happening?”

“Shhh.” He puts his smooth, sunshine-scented hand over my mouth, crowding in on me with Sunny in his arms.

A heartbeat ticks by, his warm breath at my ear. “You see the light, yes?”

“Yes.” My voice comes out constricted. Adam pushes Sunny into my arms. I position him so his legs are wrapped around my body, trying to find a good angle with my extended bump. He exhales loudly, mumbling a bit until his breaths go even again, content to sleep on me. At least someone is comfortable. My back kills with a vengeance at the new weight, but I dig deep to keep going.

“Go towards it. Someone is waiting for us on the other side.” The fae goes to pull away. I take his arm, cutting my nails into him, unwilling to let go of my last lifeline.

“Where are you going?”

“We have an entourage. I need to deal with them without having to concern myself with your safety.” Of course they are after us. It couldn’t be as simple as hiding in a car. This all seemed too easy from the beginning. Nothing in my life has ever come painlessly. I expected people to follow us. I was just hoping it would be once we were in the Fairy Lands. Wishful thinking.

We’ve been gone an entire night, if the sunlight at the end of the tunnel is any indication. And we had at least an hour on the Halo keepers when we left home—maybe. I can’t account for the murders at the checkpoints. Most likely, they decreased our timeframe significantly.

“Go,” Adam barks at me. The gravity of this situation sets me at a tipping point, solence crashing, my body shocking into action. No need for further instruction, I follow his command, heading as fast as I can towards the light, watching it grow bigger and bigger with each hurried step. With the ground being slightly uneven, I have to slow a few times to catch my footing.

It’s not long before I hear the sharp, grunted echoes of voices coming from deep within the tunnel. Adam must have caught up with the hollows following us. With the weight of Sunny slowly dragging my tired bones down, those noises spur me on.

Fight, Storm. Fight.

They will not have me again.

They will not have my children.

The dream of a magical fairy land is better than anything Halo has to offer.

Ten feet away from the entrance, I see everything. A kaleidoscope. No sleeted grey fog. Yellow, orange, red, and pink, the sunrise begins to poke through the horizon. The beauty of the daybreak in this all-encompassing vista is foreign to me. The sight of it ethereal, something I could only ever imagine, yet the brandishing of morning light makes itself known across the waiting land without ceremony or applause in this part of the world.

It’s spellbinding. A sight I could never get sick of.

But a voice, rough and hardened from years of battle, makes its way through my reverie—one that tugs at my soul. “STORM.” I don’t need to see him to sense him in the air. Melek.

On instinct, my whole body pauses, waiting for him, the little head on my shoulder mumbling papa.

“If you take another step forward, I’ll slit the fae’s throat.” Caught. We are done for. There’s no chance for us after this. I’ll never know what’s beyond the horizon and if the fairy land is truly a sanctuary.

My stomach roils, my last chance for a bright future dashed.

Twisting around, my eyes focus on two figures a little way down the curved rock, where the light just catches before disappearing. Both of them dishevelled, hair askew, and clothing ripped. Melek has gotten the better of Adam. The fae kneels on the ground in front of the commander, my husband standing at his back, a knife to his throat.

Melek is the greatest fighter in the Halo Army—against other Halo keepers. I’ve heard the whispers about how he takes down boy after boy willing to fight him in the training academy. He’s a third-generation Halo commander. This position was bred into him from the womb. Just to look at him, he is beyond intimidating.