Page 193 of Stormbreaker

He lied to me, but I still believe this.

So I run.

The edge of the building draws closer, and I will myself not to chicken out.

I’m dead if they catch me.

I think of the Guards carrying away Raine’s body.

What happened to him? What did the general do?

Maybe I’m worse than dead if I end up in their hands.

I pick up speed, my arms pumping, and then . . .

I leap.

70

My arms and legs churn through nothing as my stomach drops out through my feet. The wind rushes in my ears as a massive cloud erupts overhead, like I’m leaping straight into its bloody, beating heart.

Then I’m falling.

Rook snags me around the wrist, and I drop, my shoulder wrenching as I come to a sudden, jarring stop. The world spins below me as I scream and kick, fighting for solid ground.

“Poet!” Rook is screaming. “Stop kicking!”

He shouts and shouts until I finally register his pleas.

“Look at me,” he says. “Don’t look down.”

I tip my head up and stare into his eyes.

Those green-and-gold eyes that told me I was beautiful and special, that he felt something for me. I see it there in the shadowed depths, but then I remember him searching through those subterranean levels. I remember seeing him the night Raine was taken from me.

“Help me,” he says, gripping my arm with his other hand, muscles straining with the effort of carrying my weight. “Use your feet! Poet, please. You have to help me.”

I do as he orders, slamming my boots into the side of the building to anchor myself as he drags me up, my skin burning where he’s gripping me tight enough to bruise.

“One, two, three!” he counts, and then, with a final heave, I go tumbling up the side.

I crash into him, and we roll across the rooftop.

“Stop! By order of The Shield. Stop!” a voice shouts through the sounds of wind and fire. Rook jumps up, taking me with him, and tugs me behind an air-conditioning vent.

I peer around the corner to find several Circle Guards surrounding the rooftop. I have only a moment to wonder where the Extinguishers are.

“We need to keep going,” Rook says. “Are you with me?”

I’m hesitating, unsure how to answer, when another figure appears through the stairwell door.

General Sol.

Her hair tosses in the breeze as she begins shouting orders to go after us but to bring us back alive.

“This way,” Rook says, dragging me toward a door. The same one I exited during my first Aria test. He yanks on the handle, but it doesn’t give.

“Shit. It’s locked!” Rook scans the roof. “Off the building. We’ve done it before.” He pauses. “Poet?”