Page 26 of Stormbreaker

We both pause for a moment, and then she’s rolling over, pushing herself up. Her mask fell off at some point, and the murder in her eyes matches the blood running down her face.

“Bitch, I’ll kill you!” she shouts right before she leaps. I swerve, and then I’m running up the stairs, that red light flashing as I ascend up and up with the woman close on my heels. I make it a few flights before she’s on me again, her arms circling my waist as we go down in a heap, collapsing onto a landing between floors.

The metal grate digs into my stomach and thighs as I kick furiously. She snags my ponytail, bending my neck back. I scream and flail, trying to throw her off, but she leans down to circle an arm around my throat, snarling in my ear. I snap my head up, connecting with her nose, the collapse of bone visceral as she screams. I toss her off, then I’m up and running again.

Now I have a head start, and I keep circling up and up as her shouts follow in my wake. I’ve gained enough ground that she can’t catch me as long as I keep moving, so I climb. Thankfully, the red light doesn’t waver as I wind higher and higher.

At some point, my attacker must decide it’s time to let the next person deal with me, because I don’t hear her chasing me anymore. I come to a stop, panting heavily, pressing a hand to my aching flank. I need a moment to breathe, but I’m painfully aware of the invisible ticking clock over my head.

I’m not sure how much time has passed, but my ten minutes must be nearly up.

When my dizziness subsides, I keep climbing. The wound in my side burns, though it doesn’t seem to be bleeding too badly. My knee screams with every step, and my legs are starting to feel like jelly.

Finally, I reach another landing before a darker, narrower staircase leads into shadows. I try the door to the left, but immediately my wristband flashes blue. Up it is, then.

I’m not sure how many more stairs I can climb.

After pushing through, I arrive at another door. Heaving it open, I step outside. I’m on the roof of Amery Academy. The view is dizzying. I can see the factories, greenhouses, and barns; the miles of flats; and the wild, sprawling Wastes beyond stretching across the horizon.

I’m not afraid of heights, but I sway on my feet.

The wind is fierce, battering against me, and I cling to a wall for balance. The storm has picked up, and though I’d temporarily forgotten about the vague itching in my hands, distracted by my test, now tingles dance over my skin. The clouds tumble, flashing with glowing purple hot spots before discharging in the distance. I wish I could reach out and absorb that energy. Channel the agonizing pain ripping through my body before sinking into the bliss that always comes after.

It would give me the courage I need right now.

But that isn’t an option.

Another flash of light reveals a body lying at the far end of the roof, smoke curling off the surface of charred skin.

Like everyone, I run for cover when the storms arrive because I harbor the same fear we all do—that I will be struck. But my worry isn’t that I’ll die.

It’s what they’ll see when I survive.

A shadowed figure emerges on the far side of the roof. I prepare myself for another fight when a masked Stevie steps into the light.

“Not bad, kiddo,” she says, folding her muscled arms and cocking her head.

I have absolutely no chance of surviving her one-on-one, and I almost choke on a sob. This is it. I made the foolish choice to piss off my father, and now I’ll fail and be cast out of Society. My life is over.

Stevie confidently crosses the roof without a shred of fear. She stops near the edge to my right and peers down before gesturing me over. Still clinging to the wall, I force myself to release it with aching hands, and then, with my arms out, I slowly approach on careful steps, like I’m balancing on a thin wire dangling over iron spikes.

And I haven’t even found the edge yet.

When I reach Stevie, she shakes her head and points up to a nearby pole, where a long wooden beam stretches across the gap between Amery and the Citadel to a second pole on the far side. In theory, the other building isn’t that far away, but it might as well be a thousand miles. Several figures are gathered on the opposite side, obscured by the darkness. Waiting for me.

A piece of rope is attached to the middle of the beam, and Stevie grabs the end and holds it out to me.

“Tie this around your waist and get ready to jump!”

I do as she asks before she hands me another coil of rope with a hook at one end.

“What do I do with this?” I ask, and she shrugs.

“Figure it out.”

I look at the rope, then at her, and then at the line of people in the distance.

She’s got to be kidding me.