Page 2 of Ash Fall

Mars appearing in my house with no warning feels like one more decision someone else made for me.

"I'm sorry."

Torrin's voice cracks slightly, and some of my anger disappears before I can hold onto it. Now that I'm actually looking at him, I see how exhausted he is. There are dark circles under his eyes, and his shoulders are tight enough that he looks like he hasn't slept in days.

Whatever happened on his way back wasn't easy, but he still came home.

Torrin reaches for me again, and this time I let him. "There's so much we need to talk about. Mars included." He pulls me close. "Just not right now, yeah? Not with this guy dead on the floor and soldiers still nearby. We get you safe first."

Voices carry from the street out front, and all three of us go still.

"We need to move," Mars tells us.

He crosses to the soldier and crouches, getting his hands under the man's arms. "Help me move him somewhere they won't find him right away. It might buy us some time."

"Are you insane?"

Mars looks up.

I point at the window. "You can hide him wherever you want but you can't hide the bullet hole in the glass, the one in the wall, or all the blood in my carpet."

His jaw clenches as he looks around the room and then lets the soldier settle back onto the floor.

"She's right," Torrin says. He scrubs both hands over his face. "Moving him won't help. Anyone who comes down here is going to know something happened."

"Then we leave." Mars stands and turns his attention straight back to me. "Wherever you're planning to go, we go now. All of us."

Apparently "us" is a thing now, great.

I take a breath and try to think past everything crowding my head. We can use the ravine. We can go through the backyard, down through it, and avoid the street entirely.

I'm opening my mouth to say it when boots hit the deck above us. The steps are heavy and fast, and they're getting closer.

Torrin grabs my hand while Mars turns toward the stairs and moves in front of us.

Then something shifts at my feet.

I look down and see shadows sliding across the floor from the corners of the room.

"What? What is that?"

They move straight toward Mars. Darkness gathers around his boots, then winds higher around his legs.

Torrin jerks me backward. "What the fuck is that?"

"I don't know." I gasp in fear.

The shadows keep climbing, and Mars looks down at the darkness surrounding him and glances back at us. He sees the shocked expression on my face and says, "Don’t be scared."

That strange buzzing sensation starts under my skin, something I can't name, and the longer I stare at the darkness around Mars, the stronger it gets.

"Torrin?"

He doesn't answer but his grip disappears from my hand.

"Luna."

The way he says my name makes me turn and I see he's staring at my hands.