Page 108 of Stormhold

Was this how I was finally going to die?

I stilled as his footsteps approached me. I felt his large presence hovering behind my back, and a low shiver swept across my spine.

I took a deep breath and lifted myself from the ground. Slowly, I turned back, and my heart pounded even faster when I met a pair of storm-gray eyes staring right at me.

He didn’t look much older than me, possibly in his early twenties, wearing a vintage-style leather jacket and a black bandana tied over the lower half of his face.

“You shouldn’t be here,” he said in a low tone. “This is a dangerous area.”

My fingers curled in fear, but I tilted my chin in fake bravery. “Help me get inside the trunk of this car.”

He raised a brow. “You want me to help an underage girl get kidnapped on her own?”

“It isn’t like that. But this car is going somewhere important, and I need to go there. It’s very, very important that I go there, but the owner won’t take me.”

He simply stared.

“Please,” I begged. “Please, you have to help me.” Shonda would return any minute, and I needed to be fast.

I didn’t know if it was the desperation in my tone or the helplessness in my eyes, but he nodded. “Fine.”

“Thank you.”

Within seconds, he pried the trunk open and helped me get inside. My hand gripped his without even a second thought as I climbed in and lay flat, holding the bag flush to my chest.

“You sure you know what you’re doing?” he asked, both his hands on the trunk lid. “There’s a high chance you’ll end up dead in a ditch somewhere.”

I didn’t know if his words were meant to stir fear, but they didn’t. “I’m sure,” I said in a confident tone. I’d already seen death, and I wasn’t scared of it.

He sighed, and just before closing the trunk, he searched his pocket and threw something at me. “To get yourself out.” He slammed it shut, and darkness swallowed me completely.

Not even a minute later, I heard the faint sound of footsteps and Shonda’s voice asking, “Who are you?”

My heart leaped to my throat. Did she see us?

“This is the city’s business.” I heard the boy say in a calm, collected tone. “You Valerians shouldn’t interfere.”

Valerian?

A moment passed, and no one spoke a word. “Yes, sir,” Shonda finally said.

Sir? Why was Shonda calling some boy, possibly a decade younger than her, sir? Was the boy someone important?

“Leave now,” he said, and it was soon followed by the opening and slamming sound of a door. Vibration shook the entire car, rattling my bones, followed by a sudden jolt that threw me against the hard metal.

Thankfully, Shonda didn’t notice, and the car swerved forward without a hitch. Minutes passed by with no incident, and my heart calmed.

I didn’t know what I was doing.

But I told myself I wasn’t coming back home till I knew how to fight. Till I knew how to protect my sisters and keep them safe.

Till I knew how not to let the past repeat itself.

Just like I had promised Mother.

CHAPTER 29

BELLE