Vanish

It’s not one of the several hard-eyed, black-clad hunters who trussed me up like a holiday goose and tossed me into the back of a van. It’s Will.

A sharp, strangled sound rises from the back of my throat. I choke his name, a sound he can’t possibly comprehend.

But he doesn’t need to understand. He knows. He’s here for me. That’s all that matters. And that I didn’t incinerate him.

He’s on his feet, sliding his hands up my trembling arms as if verifying that I’m real, that I’m before him. “Jacinda!”

Relief rushes over me. My adrenaline takes a dive, and the pain and weariness flood back, closing me in a clenching, unrelenting fist. I give in, collapse in his arms — let him rescue me, save me from his kind, from the agony that screams through every particle of my being.

Will carefully wraps an arm around me, looking over my shoulder at my strapped wings. I feel his wince as he takes measure.

Anxiety radiates from him, underlies his movements as he handles me, trying to guide me away from the van. His changeable eyes dart, scan the mostly vacant truck-stop parking lot.

I hold back, peer inside the van. “Miram,” I say, the urgency sharp in my voice. “Let’s go.”

She hovers in the far shadows, where the sunlight doesn’t reach, fiercely shaking her head side to side.

“Miram!” I repeat her name, sounding like a parent addressing a child that refuses to obey.

She shakes her head harder, her eyes fixed on Will. “I won’t go with him.”

“Don’t be stupid. He’s here to help us—”

“What if it’s a trap? What if he’s just tricking you into going along meekly, like a lamb to the slaughter?”

“Do you even know how ridiculous you sound? Why would they do that? We’re already their prisoners.” I move between the van’s open doors, beseeching her with my eyes. Still, she shakes her head, shrinks back against the far wall as if I were the threat. “You’ll risk remaining in this van rather than going with us?”

Will tugs on my arm. “Jacinda! They’ll be back any second. This is our only chance!”

“Miram, please,” I beg. “Trust me.”

She jerks her chin once at Will. “I don’t trust him.” Then her eyes fix steadily on me. “Or you.”

Anger sparks my blood. She doesn’t trust me. She’s the one who’s been spying on me!

Will’s voice falls hard near my ear. His fingers flex on my arm, no longer so gentle. “Jacinda, they’re coming!”

I go. Tearing myself away, I leave her.

But not without her wide, haunted eyes imprinted on my soul.

Chapter 19

Will drags me across the parking lot. It’s an odd sensation. Running in broad daylight in full manifest in the human world. Such a strange, forbidden thing. Anyone could see me.

Not that I have a choice.

It’s either stay in the van, a prisoner awaiting execution, or risk the fifteen-second dash to the shelter of the waiting woods. For me, it’s an obvious choice. Why couldn’t Miram see that, too?

Will and I dive into the thick growth of trees edging the parking lot. One moment cracked asphalt burns beneath my feet, the next it’s the yielding, whispering soil of the forest floor.

A sense of desolation rises up inside me, suffocating. I look over my shoulder as if I can see the van through the press of foliage.

I’ve left Miram. I’ve failed her. Failed Cassian.

I blink stinging eyes and tell myself it’s the sudden sunlight. The sweeping, incomprehensible pain hammering my body. Not this invading sorrow for the girl I left behind and what will become of her.

Will’s Land Rover isn’t far. He helps me inside. I prop myself on the passenger seat, mindful to sit forward. It’s impossible to lean back with my wings bound tight.

There’s a flash of light in Will’s hand and I realize he’s holding a knife. He swipes through my wrist ties and I sigh. Except the relief is brief, eclipsed as feeling rushes back into my hands in a searing flood of agony. I moan. Drop my head.

Will hands me a bottle of water and moves to check my back, his fingers gentle on my bare shoulders. I drink deep, noisily, water running down my chin and throat.

Over my gulps, I hear his sharp intake of breath as he saws through the bindings. “You’re hurt.” A curse follows this, humming with an anger I’ve never heard from him. And something else. Regret? Guilt?

“They shot my wing.” The words rumble from my throat. At the guttural sound, I remember he can’t understand me.

He’s quiet for a moment, and then he says quickly, as if remembering the danger encroaching all around us, “It doesn’t look too bad.” His voice is a low rasp and I know he’s lying. It looks bad.

With a final jerk of his hand, my wings spill free. Again, agony. Red-hot as fresh blood rushes back into the abused appendages. The sensation makes the edges of my vision gray, my head spin. I open my mouth wide on a silent scream.

This pain is worse than the last time I was hit, the first time hunters pursued me. The pain was intense then, but I healed. Mom treated the wound… Mom. Has she left her room? Did she even notice I was gone? The notes won’t be waiting for her.

Will’s anxious eyes flit over me, and then to the surrounding press of trees. “We’ve got to go… Jacinda, can you change?”

He’s asking if I can demanifest.

I nod once. The fear is gone — can’t force me to stay a draki any longer. At the moment there is only pain… and more pain to come as I force my wings to merge back inside me. Especially the injured wing. But there is no choice. He can’t drive out of here with me sitting in the front seat in full manifest.

I take a deep gulp and clench the edge of the seat with bloody-slick fingers, burying my draki, pushing it back down, hiding it away.

My features relax and loosen, bones decompressing. My wings shudder, quake from their recent abuse. One wing settles back between my shoulder blades with ease. The other one possesses a life of its own, quivering, resisting the demanifest… the pain. Tears stream down my cheeks in steaming paths. I arch my neck, fight the scream that bubbles there.

With my draki finally buried, I breathe again, ease my grip on the dash, and crumple back against the seat.

Will tosses a blanket over me. Even though I was trapped in a hot, airless van for a day, I snuggle into the scratchy fabric, glad for the comfort.

“Jacinda, are you okay?”

I try to still the trembling aftershocks, but the harder I resist, the more fiercely the shudders rack me. “Just get me out of here.” The words sound rusty, unnatural.

With a single nod, he’s around the truck and inside the car in a flash. Soon, he’s guiding the vehicle out of the woods, through the thick trees until he reaches a small country road leading somewhere. Anywhere. Away. Nothing else really matters but that.

I slide weakly in the seat, reach out a hand, and brush the sun-warmed glass of the window. The pads of my fingers squeak as they slide against the smooth surface. Miram.

“Where were you?” I manage to choke out in a scratchy voice.

“I couldn’t come. Out of nowhere, Dad scheduled a hunt. Ever since we spotted you, he’s obsessed over that same area. He paired me up with a group that he sent out on the other side of the mountain. I hoped if I didn’t show up you would just head back home. I didn’t think they would move so close to the pride. God, Jacinda, I’m so