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She shook away the memory. “Where are you taking us? Where are Peregrine and Cinder?”
The soldier’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully, as though he was trying to recall where he’d seen her before. Then his gaze dropped to her injured arm, tucked to her side. His appraisal was intense and it unnerved her, making the blood pound in her ears. She sensed Roar’s tension beside her. He was holding his breath, and she wondered if he remembered the Horn soldier too.
“I have orders to take the two of you to Sable,” said the older soldier at last. “I’m authorized to use whatever force necessary to carry out that directive. Is that clear?”
“I can’t put my hands back,” Aria said. “I was shot a week ago. ” Just imagining the pain she’d feel made her head spin.
“What do you want to do, Loran?” asked one of the other soldiers.
“I’ll watch her,” the senior soldier replied.
Loran. Aria recognized the name. That day in the courtyard, Liv had shouted it just after she’d soundly defeated him.
Roar’s hands were tied in front of him with plastic cuffs. Then Loran took her by the left arm and yanked her into the corridor.
18
PEREGRINE
The ceiling was different. No more pipes and wires.
It was the first thing Perry noticed when he opened his eyes. The second was the prickling sensation of the Aether, deep in the back of his nose.
Cinder.
Perry turned and saw him in the next bed. Cinder lay strapped down by thick plastic cuffs, his eyebrows knitted in concentration like he’d been willing Perry to wake up. He was dressed in a loose gray shirt and pants, and tubes fed liquid into his arms.
Perry wanted to shoot to his side, but bindings held him down as well; he couldn’t move an inch.
Cinder licked his cracked lips. “You came here just for me?”
Perry swallowed. His throat ached fiercely. “Yes. ”
Cinder winced. “Sorry. ”
“No . . . don’t be. I’m sorry I didn’t get you out of here. ”
Every word took effort. The scent of the medicines hung heavily in the room. Perry tasted the chemicals on his tongue. He felt sluggish and slightly dizzy, but the urge to move, to get off the cot and stretch his muscles, overwhelmed him.
Cinder fell silent, his breath wheezing, his eyelids drifting closed for a few seconds.
“I tried too,” he said, finally. “To get out of here, I mean. But they’re giving me this medicine. It makes me so weak, and I can’t call the Aether. I can’t reach it. . . . I don’t feel very well. ”
Perry glanced at the long glass wall that divided the room in two. It looked almost exactly like the room where he’d found Cinder earlier, except larger. The other side was empty—just a long table and a dozen chairs.
“We’ll find another way out of here. ”
“How?” Cinder asked. “They’re doing the same to you. ”
He was right. Perry couldn’t help anyone in his condition.
“Was Willow . . . was she . . . has she said anything about me being gone?” Cinder asked. “Forget it. I didn’t mean to ask that. I don’t want to know,” he added in a rush.
“She’s said a lot, Cinder. Too much, actually. She took up cursing the day you were taken. Nobody can get her to stop. She’s got Talon swearing too. . . . I think . . . I think even Flea is barking swear words. Probably it’ll be that way until we get you home.
“Molly misses you, and so does Bear. Gren feels terrible Kirra’s men got past him. He’s told me so a dozen times, and he’s told Twig and the rest of the Six a hundred times more than that. . . . That’s how it is. Everyone misses you. Everyone wants you back. ”
The effort of saying so much gave Perry a pounding headache. He wanted Cinder to smile, though. Now that Cinder did—a shaky, teary grin—Perry felt tears well in his own eyes.
