Page 121 of Ashen Wings

Granite explodes from the ceiling, shattering with a rumble in the tunnel walls. My scream is swallowed by the roar of collapsing stone. Crystal shards bruise my shoulders as Jace’s chest slams into the crown of my head. We collide and knock to the ground, the taste of sea-salted grime assaulting my throat.

I cling to him, nails biting into the fabric of his overcoat. This is bad. Really fucking bad. Jace grunts as a fist-sized fragment slams into his back.

“Move! Get out!” Saphine’s voice cuts through the chaos.

Isra dodges a salt deposit barreling for his head. My boots skid across wet stone, traction gone, and my pulse roars in my throat.

The tunnel narrows further as we fly down the passageway. Another boom shakes the floor.

Falling sea rock catches my calf. Pain seers my angry muscle, and I grit my teeth to keep from tripping.

There’s an opening in the tunnel just ahead, and by the look of it, the ceiling is still stable.

“There! Hurry!” I jut an index finger forward, barely keeping my balance as fractures spiderweb up the walls around us. My other hand tightens around Jace’s. No chance in all ten hells I’m losing him like this…especially when I just got him.

The sound of wounded men rattles the passageway and my boots skid to a halt.

A flash of panic pangs in my chest. Finnick.

That cry was most certainly his—weathered and crackling with age. I don’t give a shit about the couriers, but some repressed, fucked up piece of me frantically searches the shadowy rubble for him.

“Jace, we need to find Finnick,” I blurt out before the feeling flies away. Why can’t I let go? No matter how much I beg myself to leave his ass in the dust.

I was nothing more than a transaction, a rat collecting his riches. But to me, the old mercenary was home. Cruel, merciless, and abusive, but still home.

Gods be good, do I suddenly care for the old bastard? I’ll tell myself these feelings only seed from the selfish need to get the confrontation I’ve dreamt of since childhood—the closure of a fuck you to the man who molded me into a killer.

“Starling, we have to go…” Confusion flashes across Jace’s midnight eyes. “Leave the fucker.”

“I can’t…I don’t know why, but I can’t.” My voice is shrill and pathetic, but something shifts in his features. Another crash of stone shatters on the floor beside us, and I duck my head in response.

“Fuck, fine. I’ll get him. Get to the other end of the tunnel,” he commands, whipping around.

With that, my nightmare disappears into the shadows, nothing but a rainfall of rock and a roar in my chest in his wake. A cloud of grime and dust explodes from the darkness. Then a heavy cry and a splinter of bone. My heart leaps to my throat. Jace.

“Nova!” Isra booms from the opposite end of the cavern. He and Saphine are crouched at the opening, watching the chaos. “Get the fuck over here!”

I can’t leave without Jace, but the floor beneath me quakes with warning. Seconds, mere blinks of time, that’s all I have.

My mind and heart split, flying down opposing ends of the tunnel. Before my boots follow the only path I know is right, the one that leads me to Jace, a strong arm curls around my waist.

“Let’s go little one, he’ll be fine.” Isra’s words against my ear pull a flurry of protests from my lips. I thrash against his hold as we plunge into safety, but he only tightens his grip.

“Let me go!” My fists slam into his forearm. My nails bite into his skin.

Shrieking, sobbing, half-crazed, I fight every step.

“What did Jace tell you? To be an idiot and run after him? No. He said get to safety. He will be fine. Let’s go.” Isra pulls the side of him I haven’t seen since we met at Fleetwing’s, firm and commanding. A dust cloud of structural collapse nips at our heel when we reach the open chamber. The ceiling gives one last groan like an ancient, dying beast, before the final cascade of rubble seals the tunnel behind us. Salted dust billows out in a choking wave. Isra wrenches me deeper into the open chamber, his grip now bruising my ribs, and only when the ground stops bucking does he release me.

I spin on my heels so fast the world blurs.

“Jace!” His name unleashes the tears building behind my eyes.

“Nova…” Isra’s palm clamps down on my shoulder, heavy as a shackle. “Don’t be stupid.”

“I’m going back⁠—”

“You’re not.” Saphine’s voice, quiet but iron-edged, echoes from the far wall. She smudges a streak of grime across her cheek, her eyes searching the pile of bedrock. “No one’s getting through that.”