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A flood of relief washed over me. I placed my hand in hers and then my other, getting a tight grip. “I’m going to jump, okay? I’ll count down!”
She nodded, glancing to her left to keep a lookout on the wyvern.
“One,” I began. “Two … three…”
I hopped off the small notch, putting my full weight and trust in Calandra as I dangled in her grip. My feet tried to find traction on the wall of rock, but I only met loose dirt and gravel.
The wyvern sounded again, closer. My skin prickled with fear.
“Come on, Elowyn. Pull!”
I pulled against her, the vein in Calandra’s forehead threatening to pop as I finally found my footing and shimmied my torso up and over the ledge and onto solid land.
Calandra slammed into the wall behind her, spent and out of breath.
I rolled onto my back, beyond thankful to be on solid mass.
“Girl, what were you thinking?” She yelled, her eyes bulging with anger, “You looked right at me and ran off when I called for you! Were you deliberately trying to kill yourself?”
I sat up, facing her. “I didn’t hear you. Then dust got in my eyes, and I wasn’t thinking.”
“No shit!” She laughed, tossing a handful of dirt at me. “Honestly, it’d be inspiring if you weren’t so incredibly thick-headed. Come on.” She got to her feet. “Let’s go get that elixir before Aeron. Stars, that’s all we need is him having even more of an upper hand.”
“I saw him hanging at the edge of the bluff right before you saved my ass. He looked scared as shit.” I kept close behind Calandra as she trekked up the trail. “Maybe he’s cracking.”
“Nope, I’m only getting started,” an invisible voice said.
She and I paused, looking for where it came from when Aeron hopped down from the tree, landing right in front of Calandra.
She shuffled back, but she wasn’t fast enough.
Aeron grabbed her vest and pulled her to him, snapping her neck with his hands.
“No!” I screamed.
Her body fell to the ground. Limp.
“What is wrong with you? Why would you do that?”
I wanted to run to her.
Help her.
Tears stained my cheeks as I sobbed—and my cries lodged in my swollen throat. I didn’t know what to do, frozen in fear as I stared down at her too-still body while flashbacks of Lilian and Breana ripped through me.
“It’s part of the game, Elowyn. Drop the innocent act. It’s pathetic,” he spat, stepping over Calandra’s dead body and toward me.
I backed up as far as I could until my foot slipped off the edge. My stomach sank. I peered over my shoulder. It was the end of the line. We were too high up, and I felt lightheaded.
Aeron cackled at my expense. Relentless in his approach. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. I’ll make this quick.”
I focused, taking a deep breath as I tried to figure a way out of this. If I could get over to the tree, I could climb away from him.
Keeping my eyes glued on Aeron, I balanced on the ledge.
Closer and closer.
I was almost there when he lunged for me with a feral gleam in his eyes.
