She steps back, pressing herself flat against the edge of the drain so I can shuffle past.
I blow out my candle and stuff it in my bag, then pull out my hairpin, freeing my heavy tumble of hair. Digging the long, tapered tip into the lock’s pinched mouth, I twist … flick …flick—
The padlock clunks open, and I flash Gael a victorious grin.
She laughs, shaking her head as I swing the grate wide and gesture for her to lead the way. “You’re full of surprises. If your coupling falls through, I’m snatching you up and keeping you for myself.”
Cheeks blazing, I redo my hair, then pluck a tentative trail over big, smoothed stones clothed in a layer of algae, squinting into blinding daylight as I peer at our surroundings.
We’re on the edge of a small rise that fringes a large glen, cobbles spewing out the drain and down the shallow slope with the spill of water that feeds into the unruly jungle below. There’s a river roaring somewhere in the distance, the hilly stretch of untailored grass sparsely dotted with trees beneath a powder blue sky that makes my heart soar.
I can’t see the wall past the thick jungle clothing the hill behind us. “So we’re—”
“Outside the city, yeah. Pretty cool, huh?”
I nod, bagging her candle before I trail her down the hill—toes digging into the soil, legs lost amongst the grass …
My eyes sweep shut and I pause, listening to the wind weave between the foliage as I tip my head to let the sunlight sink into my pores like a warm cloth set upon my face.
The hearty, organic smell of natureinfusesme, dissolving the heaviness in my chest. The echo of ache between my legs.
Out here, everything feels easier. Less serious. Like everythingin theremelts away.
“Come on.”
I open my eyes, seeing Gael’s big, bright smile.
She leads me over a rise, down into a gully poked with a sparse collection of trees drooping with big, vibrant bulbs of fruit, thick tufts of grass pillowing the ground.
Gael unbuckles her cloak and looks up into the foliage of a gnarly peach tree laden with fruit. “I’m not sure anyone else knows about this place.” Grabbing hold of a low-hanging branch, she swings herself up then pushes to her feet, looking like something out of a fairytale in her gold-brushed dress that blows in tendrils around her body. “Don’t look up my skirt,” she jests.
I laugh, whipping my hand up, snatching the peach she drops.
“Quick hands,” she says as I sit cross-legged in the grass and set it on the ground, waiting for the next. Once we have a mound bigger than my head, Gael leaps down, landing in a flutter of sparkly gold fabric, sitting down on the other side of the pile.
“Now what?”
“Now,” she grabs a peach, inspects its fuzzy skin from every angle, and bites into it, sending a squirt of pink juice dribbling down her chin. “We eat until our bellies ache. That’s what papa and I used to do …”
A heaviness settles between us as she chews, looking at the raw, exposed flesh—brow pinched, her golden curls dancing in the breeze like a restless aura.
It’s on the tip of my tongue, to ask her how he died.
The thought grows wings in my chest that flutter about …
She shoves a peach into my hand. “Nothing,yeah?”
I take a deep bite of the sweet, juicy flesh, swallowing the question down, and garnish her with a gentle smile …
“Nothing.”
Asoft beat tapping against my ribs pulls me to consciousness, radiating through my heart and my fucking soul.
‘Zykanth …’
Silence.
That hollow, aching silence.
