Page 124 of The Other Omega

“Lady Elowen Hart. Remain where you are.”

I stopped.

Tessa looked back at me. The aircraft began turning towards the gate, and beyond the wall, the transport engines were already running.

“They are looking for me.”

“Then you must get into the transport.”

“If I do, they will follow it.”

“Elowen—”

“Tell the guard I have taken the upper path. He must get all of you away.”

Tessa caught my sleeve.

“You cannot outrun that aircraft.”

“I may be able to draw it away from the gate.”

“And then?”

I had no answer.

Her grip tightened.

“Please go.”

I closed both hands around hers. She had taught me to wash my own clothes and sat outside my door after nightmares, talking about ordinary things until I could bear to open it. I wanted another morning beside her chopping board so badly that I nearly went with her.

A guard shouted from the gate. Tessa turned her head, still holding my hand.

“She is going uphill!” she called. “Help her!”

I pulled free and ran, her cry following me up the path.

My legs were already shaking, but I kept climbing until I reached a break in the trees. I stepped into the open and raised one arm.

The aircraft turned towards me.

I ran beneath the canopy. Branches struck my face as I forced my way down the far side of the slope, the aircraft growing louder behind me.

Beyond it, the transport engines began to fade.

I kept running until I could no longer hear them.

Then I ran farther.

Chapter 27

Elowen

Iwalked out of my nest to find someone dismantling my hallway. Someone had stripped a whole section of the wall. The decorative stone panels were gone; something dark and metallic showed beneath them, and three men stood in front of it, surrounded by tools.

There were people everywhere too. Uniformed alphas kept moving between rooms alongside men and women carrying equipment I’d never seen. Long pieces of dark iron rested against one wall, and open cases covered part of the corridor. Some held things that looked like carving tools, while others were full of crystals, wiring and little pieces of machinery.

Then a man came out of one of the rooms carrying a huge stone panel that I was fairly sure had still been attached to our wall when I went to sleep. He inclined his head as he passed.