Luella heard them behind her. Slamming into a tree, she grabbed the bark as she swung around it to hide, one foot braced on a thick branch.
The thump of beating wings drew close.
"Princess," she heard a voice call, nearly singing in tone. "Come out now."
An awareness prickled at her back. She turned and caught a flash of dark wings—a Fallen in the treetops, bow drawn. She pressed herself against the trunk.
He drew and fired. The arrow thudded into the bark above her head, showering her with leaves. The sound of her gasp echoed.
A hand pressed against her mouth. "Got you."
She thrashed, her elbow connecting with the Umbra’s stomach, but he only held her tighter, bruising her.
He forced the spear beneath her chin. She fumbled, hooking her arm around it to dislodge it, and threw herself into him. He fell back, toppling off the tree—taking her with him.
The spear dropped. She lunged, wings snapping open. Her fingertips grazed it, narrowly missing it. Below, the Fallentumbled, his wings jerking out of control—as if the Umbra that controlled him didn’t know yet how to properly work the wings.
He crashed against the ground, the spear flipped in the air, and the point impaled his chest.
"You can’t fly forever," he choked out, blood spraying from his lips. Then, his head lolled to the side—dead.
She had to go.Now.
Luella’s wings jerked in the air, back throbbing in aching pain, along with her left ankle. She was lagging. The Umbra behind her knew it, too, for the sound of laughter echoed through the treetops, all around. She couldn’t tell which direction it was coming from. She whirled in the air, searching. Which way should she go?—
Netting wrapped around her—too quick for her to understand—catching her wings, dragging her down, and shescreamed,but it didn’t relent.
The tangled netting cut into her wings, rendering her immobile, and the ground rushed up around her. Tree limbs snagged on her hair and tore her clothes as she fell. She screamed in pain as the bark cut into her skin and her bones slammed into the trees and rocks. She fell to the ground with such a sharp, vivid, crushing pain that everything went dark momentarily.
It was moments of bliss, that darkness. Until she was forced back to awareness.
Something sharp prodded into her stomach. She curled into herself on the ground, feeling leaves in her hair and welts on her skin. Blood beading from the cuts and scrapes. Her side was bruised. Her right wing throbbed when she tried to move.
She gagged.
The hard thing dug deeper into her stomach, kicking away her trembling limbs, where she tried to curl up and protect herself.
Voices filtered in and out.
"There she is."
Luella blearily looked up. The tan netting wrapped around her obscured her vision, making it hard to see. She tried to move her hand, but her wrist?—
She gave an anguished cry as the shattered bones in her wrist throbbed. She tried to move her head and stare at it. She saw a flash of white bone, jutting from her wrist. Red covered her arm. Bile rose in the back of her throat.
She must’ve landed on it.
"No, no—don’t go back to sleep," said a voice when her head lolled on the ground.
The tip of a boot kicked her stomach, and she whimpered.
Please, help.
She was on the ground. Bodies around her. The Umbra. Some Fallen, some not.
Thunder rumbled so loud that the ground she lay on seemed to quake.
Laughter. "Look at that. The bitch does have power after all."
