Page 107 of Stealing Embers
“If they’re really there, maybe we should go back and get some help,” I offer tentatively, rubbing my hands together for warmth and to cover nerves. “If someone really has taken them, it’s probably going to be a bigger fight to get them back than the two of us are prepared for.”
Twisting toward me, Steel enters my space.
“Yes, by all means. Go back, Emberly. Get help. I’d love that.” He throws a heavy arm in the air that falls back to his thigh with a slap. “Mind giving me directions? Because I made a straight line as a bird flies. But I’m sure you were keeping track of your route during the blizzard.”
Dang it. He’s right.
I know the general direction I need to head—I think—but don’t know exactly where to go. It’s not as if there are marked roads out here. Only obstacles stand between us and the academy. Mountains, trees, streams, snow, rock, ice, and wildlife.
“We’re at least ten miles from the academy. I know how I got here. Mind telling me how you did it?”
“I . . .”
I have no idea. Ten miles. How did I hike that far without realizing it?
Not to mention scaling a mountainside in the dark during a winter storm. The whole thing seems impossible, and that’s after I experienced it firsthand.
Steel gives me a wide berth as I mentally run over the events of the night before.
He marches ahead, a man on a mission.
“Steel—” I start after him.
“We can’t get back the way we came, so there’s only one path from here anyway.” He doesn’t break his stride or turn his head to talk to me. “Your only options at this point are to freeze or follow me.”
“Let’s just take another moment to think this through.”
“Do what you want. I really don’t care.” The bite in his words brings me up short. “But I’m going down there.”
Chapter Thirty-One
It doesn’t take long for Steel’s large form to disappear. The mountain begins to slope downward a few hundred feet away and once he reaches that point, his broad shoulders bob below the white line of separation and I can no longer see him.
I stand where he left me for a long while.
Numb.
Vaguely, I wonder if I stay here long enough, will my legs grow roots and plant into the soil buried beneath the layers of snow? A part of me secretly hopes they would. It would be a relief to know that the curse of my life—always running from someone, or watching them leave me—would be at an end.
If my own parents didn’t stick around, why do I think anyone else will?
I tell myself it doesn’t matter what Steel says or does, but it’s a lie. Somewhere along the way, I started to care—an affliction he obviously doesn’t suffer from as well. He easily dismissed me and walked away without a backward glance. He’s not concerned if I make it back to safety. He all but told me it would be impossible, and then just left.
The wind at the peak picks up and throws chunks of my hair every which way. Its chilly fingers absorb whatever warmth my body creates and carts it off.
That’s fine. I want my skin to mimic the cold inside.
Steel may have reached the valley below, but I can’t tell. The evergreens surrounding the cabin are too thick for me to see anything between them.
Besides, I don’t want to wonder about someone who regards me as little more than a nuisance on a good day, and trash that should be disposed of on a bad one.
Squeezing my lids tight, I command my mind to blank—for my subconscious to go somewhere else.
Anywhere else.
To travel to the dark place inside that is so deep, so far away from this world that nothing real matters. Because when nothing matters, there’s no way to get hurt.
I’m just entering my Zen-zone when brightness flashes behind my eyelids. My eyes instinctually open.