His quiet but deep laugh permeated my bones. “Oh, it is fun, Bonecarver. Win and I’ll show you what it’s all about.” I couldn’t wait to see a part of him that loosened up. He was always so rigid and serious. Of course training someone to kill vampires should be, but still, he didn’t need to be in the trainer-mind at all times.
I pulled up my hood and mask and ran alongside Taewyn. The excitement of the game swirled within me. This was the first time the apprentices were without our trainers, and the taste of rebellion was on the air. As a group, we surrounded our threehostages. A girl with wisps of bronze hair waving out from her hood at the front held the map and led the way with a stout, broad-shouldered boy at her side.
The woods out of Drakthar smelled of sweet spice. We didn’t enter the tunnel system like the first day I’d arrived here. I doubted any of the apprentices knew their way around down there. But once the outskirts of the city buildings were within reach, the lead girl leapt onto the edge of the clay-tiled roof and pulled herself up. Everyone quickly followed her while Taewyn and I took up the rear.
“Ladies first,” he gestured to the building.
Celine was already waiting for us at the top and waved wildly. “Sometime tonight, Bonecarver, we don’t want them to catch up to us.”
“I’m coming.” I got a running start and latched onto the edge of the roof tiles. Pulling myself up was easy enough. I wondered if the people inside this home could hear us. Light and muffled voices came from inside. Taewyn moved like a cat and fluidly grabbed hold and swung his legs up in one motion.
Grinning like a few kids who’d snuck away from their parents for a day of adventure, we chased after the others. I didn’t slow as I approached the edge of the roof and leapt, stifling a giggle as I soared to the next. Most of the roofs in the city were spaced close enough that we could jump the gap. Until we came to one of the higher rises with four stories and had to scale the piping and rails. I silently thanked Vander for making me climb ropes and trees for the past several weeks. Halfway up, I heard a door creak open and paused. Celine was already over the rooftop’s edge, but Taewyn and I were on the drainpipe just below the highest balcony.
“What a beautiful night,” a man’s voice came from above us. He leaned on the balcony’s railing, and I tucked myself closer to the wall. If he looked down and to the left, he’d see me andTaewyn hanging on the metal pipe. I glanced up, to find Celine and a couple others peering over the roof’s edge. One of them wore a green sash. He’d stop the game if we were spotted and we’d lose.
“The ivy, we can hide among the ivy,” Taewyn whispered. Thick dark-green ivy covered the railing and hung a foot over the bottom of the stone ledge. Taewyn swung over to the balcony and gripped the black metal railing. I’d have to let go of the pipe and my foothold and rely solely on my hand grip. Sweat already dampened my uniform. Shit.
“Sweetheart, come look at the moon. It’s bright tonight,” the man called.
I wouldn’t lose this game for us. I grabbed the bottom rung of the railing and released my legs from the pipe. Taewyn and I hung four stories up with nothing under our feet. I didn’t look down, I couldn’t. If I slipped, Vander wouldn’t be here to save me this time.
“Oh wow, it must be close to a full moon,” a woman said. Her feet pattered across the balcony, and she stood directly in front of where we dangled.
I closed my eyes and started counting as a distraction from the ache starting in my crippled hand.
“Go back inside,” Taewyn muttered.
“Remember when we used to dance out here when we were young? Why don’t we do that anymore?” the woman crooned.
Please, not tonight,I internally groaned.
“There’s no music,” the man said, but then I heard her giggle and the swishing of their footsteps.
“You’ve still got the moves.”
I’d already counted to a hundred and started counting back down while they danced, having the best time of their lives while Taewyn and I were suspended over certain death.Ninety-nine, ninety-eight, ninety-seven?—
“You doing alright?” Taewyn whispered.
My formerly injured hand was burning. Even my good hand was beginning to ache. If I was moving, if my grip had the assistance of my feet and legs, I would be fine, but this was a dead hang with all my weight. I nodded and kept silently counting. “You?”
“I could hold here all night.”
The woman giggled again, and the man made a moaning sound. “They can’t be serious,” I whisper-hissed.
Taewyn pulled himself up to peer over the edge then dropped back down. “Ugh, he’s got her pressed against the wall, and her hand is down his trousers.”
“Are they distracted enough that we could sneak by?”
He smiled mischievously. “Might be.”
I couldn’t hold much longer and would have to risk it. I swung back to the pipe and gripped it hard between my boots. Celine waved for us to go. I didn’t even look, I just moved, fast and silently, and swung over the top of the roof’s edge. I peeked down just as Taewyn launched himself over. The couple was still canoodling, completely unaware.
“Luck is on our side tonight,” Celine said with a giddy grin. The other apprentices had waited, but now we had to move double time.
We made it to Etterdam’s Library, crossing into vampire-team territory, and went down a road that turned into a district of the city that appeared to be abandoned. The homes were run down, with tattered roofs and holes in the walls. There were no lanterns or torches. The overgrowth of weeds was so thick there wasn’t much of a road left. What looked like an old stone temple was crumbling and missing walls. Why would they let this part of the city go? Why not bring people from Lothleton in if there was room? It could be repaired and turned into something nice.
We came to an old wooden bridge over the river and paused. The moonlight sparkled off the dark water and fireflies fluttered around the reeds.
