A face appeared in Aria’s mind. Gray was the stocky man she’d seen in the woods during the Aether storm when she’d found River. “A Mole was getting Markings and he couldn’t bear it,” Aria said. “He couldn’t let that happen. ”

Roar rubbed the back of his neck, nodding. “Yeah. I guess that’s about it. ”

Aria touched the scabbed skin on her arm. “A half Marking for a half Outsider. ” She’d meant to make light of it, but her voice wobbled.

Roar watched her in silence for a moment. “It’ll heal, Aria. We

can have it finished. ”

She pulled her sleeve down. “No … I wasn’t even sure I wanted to be Marked. ”

She had no idea where she belonged. Out here? In Reverie? Hess had banished her in the fall, and now he was using her. The Tides had tried to kill her yesterday. She didn’t fit anywhere.

She scooted closer to the fire and lay down, pulling her blanket around her shoulders. She’d been cold all day, racked with chills. Time would help, she told herself. The poison would work itself out of her blood, and her skin would heal. She needed to focus on her goal now. She had to get north and find the Still Blue. For Perry and Talon. For herself.

As tired as she was, she couldn’t stop thinking of the way Perry had felt against her that morning, warm and safe. Was he sleeping on the roof tonight? Was he thinking about her? After an hour, she sat up, giving up on sleep. Though Roar’s eyes were closed, she could tell he wasn’t asleep either. His expression was too strained.

“Roar, what is it?”

He looked over, blinking tiredly at her. “He’s a brother to me … and I know how he’s feeling right now. ”

Aria gasped as it struck her: by running away with no explanation, she’d done exactly to Perry what Liv had done to Roar. “It’s different … isn’t it? Perry will know I left to protect him—won’t he? You saw how many people left the Tides because of me. None of this would have happened if I hadn’t been there in the first place. I had to leave. ”

Roar nodded. “It’s still going to hurt. ”

Aria pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes, keeping back the tears. Roar was right. When it came to pain, reasons didn’t matter. She took her hands away. “I did the right thing. ” She wished she could convince herself.

“You did,” Roar agreed. “Perry needs to be there. He can’t leave now. The Tides can’t afford it. ” He sighed, resting his head on his arm. “And you’re safer out here with me. I can’t watch you come that close to dying again. ”

The rain had stopped when Roar woke her at dawn for another day of walking. They’d had a reprieve from the Aether after the storm, but now she saw thick streams of it running behind a scrim of gray clouds. The blue light filtering down gave the day an underwater quality.

“We’ll keep an eye on it,” Roar said, looking up beside her. They were traveling in the open. If another storm built, they’d need to find shelter in a hurry.

Apart from the soreness in her arm, Aria had recovered. They’d leave Perry’s territory behind soon, and she needed to be alert to danger. Every step took her closer to the city of Rim. To what she needed.

Late in the afternoon, she stood at the lip of a valley and looked south to the rolling hills stretching to the horizon. Last fall, she’d camped with Perry somewhere out there. She’d worn book covers for shoes. She’d lost her best friend. And she hadn’t known it yet, but she had lost her mother, too.

Aria reached into her satchel and found the falcon figurine. She’d grabbed it as she left Perry’s house, needing something real to remind her of him.

“I was there when he made that,” Roar said. He sat against a tree, watching her with bloodshot eyes.

“You were?”

Roar nodded. “Talon and Liv were there too. We were starting a collection for Talon, each of us making a different one for him. Liv nicked her finger barely five minutes in. ” He smiled faintly, lost in the memory. “She’s a brute with the knife. No finesse at all. She and I quit after a few minutes, but Perry kept at it for Talon. ”

Aria ran her thumb over the smooth surface. Every one of them, at one time, had held the falcon resting in her palm. Would they ever be together—all of them?

She spent the next hour adjusting to the sounds of the woods, staring at the figurine in her hand, taking the first watch as Roar drifted asleep. There were wolves out here. Bands of drifters and cannibals. She picked out the patterns in the wind and the rustle of animals, listening until she was sure they were safe. Then she put the falcon away and found her Smarteye.

Three days had passed since she’d contacted Hess on the beach. She glanced at Roar, asleep, and then applied the device. The Eye attached as the biotech activated, and her Smartscreen popped up.

She chose the Hess icon and then felt the familiar tug of fractioning, that moment when her mind adjusted to being here and here. She’d appeared at a café in a Venetian Realm. Gondolas glided along the Grand Canal just steps away, roses floating in the sparkling, clear water. It was a beautiful, sunny day, golden and warm. Somewhere, a string quartet played, the notes thin and brittle.

Hess appeared across the small table. He had modified his clothing this time, wearing an ivory-colored suit with light blue pinstripes and a red tie. He’d given himself a tan, but the effect was odd. He looked strangely older—or, rather, closer to his true age of well over a hundred—and his skin was orange. So unlike Perry’s bronze skin.

Hess frowned at her clothes. Before she could utter a word, she felt a jolt, like her entire body had blinked. She looked down. A royal-blue silk dress clung to her like a second skin.

Hess smiled. “That’s better. ”

Tags: Veronica Rossi Under the Never Sky
Source: readsnovelonline.net