Page 16 (1/2)

CHAPTER 18

AUDRA

Screa screaible blur of noise as rocks, dirt, branches, and so in to identify puround, refusing to let the gusts carry ht this storm--it’s already destroyed too s atthrough the pebbles and dirt and blurry wall of wind to find the outline of a boy’s face Takes o back," Vane yells

Before I can answer, a bloodcurdling screech pierces the air

"Mom?" Vane drops my wrist and races deeper into the stor at his side in time to see a woainst the winds that wrap around her like bonds, but she can’t break free

"Mo to reach her

She’s too high

"Vane?" She thrashes harder "Run You have to--"

Her words are carried away by a shifting gust The sudden flurry alters course, rushes past an uprooted tree, and whips it toward her I closecrunch as one of the jagged branches slams into her, and when I look up her body’s bent at an unnatural angle Her head lolls to the side Bloodred rain showers around us

Vane screae and terror

I do nothing

I cannotexcept stare at the broken body in the blue dress, trailing blood through the sky as it whisks into the darkness

"Audra?"etthe sky until I spot hih above et outside the storm’s path"

"Not without you" I start to jump the same way Vane did There has to be a way to reachin h yet

"Go, Audra!"

Never, in all my life, have I heard ht out ofrab Vane’s hand and drag hi faster with each step I take away frooing," es "Don’t coe of the stor around us I shove Vane through the wall of wind to the cal the safe, steady earth I know I’m supposed to follow him, but I can’t leave, can’t abandon my family I turn to head back, but my father’s voice stops me

"No, Audra"

He hovers lower Still out of reach, but close enough that I can see his tear-filled eyes

"Go,And take care of Vane"

He sends a powerful Easterly to yank me away I kick and screa I have, but I can’t defeat it It whipsBefore I can rise to my feet, the storm explodes

"Daddy!" I scream, so loud it feels like my throat rips

The funnel unravels before my eyes, and the threads of winds scatter in every direction I search the sky for son of him, strain my ears for the sound of his voice But I knoon’t find him I can feel him in the air all around me, and I know he’s ht them from the inside

I reach for the drafts, try to hold theone

Debris claps like thunder as it collides with the ground It bruisesheap, shaking uncontrollably

He didn’t say goodbye

He didn’t say he loved me

All he said was, "Take care of Vane"

A pair of arms wraps around me and I ju my father

But it’s not hi as he strangleshiround

I want to shove him away Pound him with my fists

Why is he here and not e won’t sell h ainst Vane, sobbing onto his shoulder as hard as he cries onto mine And I tell him the truth

I tell him it’s ht of what I did crushes everything insideStill, he doesn’t let go Doesn’t pull away

He pulls hter

The winds are cold and icy, and the world has never felt so lonely and dark But I feel Vane’s warer we hold each other, the y and life

I never want to let go

Take care of Vane My father’s last wish

I promise whatever’s left of ht But I’ll do everything I can to try

CHAPTER 19

VANE

Audra isn’t in the burned-down shack, which see through the air, drowning out the buzzing, chirping, crackling sounds of the grove