AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I curled my wings around my arms to shield my face from the wind as it barreled into me and tried to go through me. I could feel hands nipping at my feathers, intentionally trying to throw me off balance or take pieces of me with them. Abaddon’s hand in mine was the only tether I had, the only thing keeping my resolve from breaking entirely.
Then I heard it.
“Sarakiel,” came a whisper that seemed to move through my wings, through my feathers, to reach my ears. Though I didn’t stop moving, I perked up and looked around. I couldn’t seeAbaddon’s face with my wings curled around my head, but I knew he hadn’t been the one to speak to me.
I also knew better now than to engage this strange, raspy voice.
“You should not have come,”came the voice again.
It seemed to have settled into the space between my wings and was swirling around my head, invisibly. I kept telling myself not to answer it, not to speak to it, but it buzzed around me like an angry wasp, forcing and almost demanding a reaction.
I fought it for as long as I could, but my composure cracked just far enough.
“Leave me alone,” I hissed.
“Why would we do that?” came that withered, raspy voice.
“We? Who are you?”
“We are the winds, we are the forgotten, we are theleft behind. The onesyouleft behind.”
“I didn’t leave anyone behind. I fell.”
“You fell, and we suffered. We still suffer. It is endless, never ceasing. Our pain is such that it tears this world apart.You did this to us.”
“I’m trying to help you. I’m trying to fix it.”
“You cannot fix us. You cannot help us. Just like you could not helpher.”
I paused, my words catching in my throat. “What did you say?”
“The one condemned to the pit, the one sentenced to suffer as we do.Gadriel.” A chorus of voices joined in to whisper her name. It was a disorienting sound, but I was able to keep my footing and my pace, one step in front of the other.
“Don’t you talk about her,” I warned.
“It is your fault she was thrown into the pit. Your fault she suffered.”
“I tried to help her.”
“You failed. You could not save her. You could not even save yourself.”
Another whispering voice buzzed past my ear. “She is foreverdamnedbecause of you.”
“She is theenemy, now,” said a different voice.
“No,” I shook my head. “No, I won’t listen to this.”
It was difficult to keep track of who was speaking, now. The voices were all different, but they all had that same, raspy tone, as if their mouths were filled with gravel.
“You wear your regrets on your sleeve, Sarakiel.”
“They are so… deliciously easy to taste.”
“Give us more.”
“More regrets. We need more.”
“Stop it!” I yelled, and I uncurled my wings, letting the wind rush past me in an attempt at dispelling the voices. It worked, they were gone, but in the clarity that followed I realized Abaddon had stopped walking. We both had.
