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She didn’t care. It was perfect for her to make her escape. A bike was a whole lot faster than being on foot. She was only glad for the solo-riders she’d had as a child on Strazan, before she’d been shipped off to the Royal Academy for the Gifted, like she’d been nothing more than fodder to keep the rest of her family wealthy.
She winced. She refused to think about her family now. They’d sold her out, plain and simple. Thanks to herrarepowers she’d been worth a mint, and her family had gladly cashed her in. Her parents had sent her away with nothing more than a cursory hug and a few guilty goodbyes.
She pushed the bike out from beneath the house, following the concrete driveway toward open gates. She couldn’t help but note the absence now of the banging on the doors. She stilled, and looked up at the bedroom window. A shadow filled the security screen, a large male form standing at the window with wings outstretched, a small noise then reaching her ears.
Shit.He was undoing the screws to the screen.
She needed to hurry.
She climbed onto the bike and began pedaling, getting a feel for riding once again as she turned onto the side of the road and followed it, Bongo running beside her. She glanced at the dog, the bike wobbling under her uncertain grip. “Bongo—home!”
His tongue lolling out, he turned to her, and with a joyful bark, he leapt through the air and landed in the basket behind her seat. She wobbled some more, his extra weight unbalancing her. Then she righted the bike and pedaled hard. She didn’t have time to stop and force Bongo out. She needed to get as far away from the house as possible.
The road sloped downward and she stopped pedaling with the downhill run. A handful of cars roared past, their bright headlights make visibility almost impossible thanks to the glare. That she had to put a hand over her talk-stone, reducing its fluorescent light, didn’t make things any easier. But at least she wasn’t using up more of her energy, keeping balance was her only concern.
The road ahead divided and she turned right, following the downward trajectory that would eventually lead her back to the river. It was also the fastest route away from Gray.
She wouldn’t think about the fact he could glide through the air after her, and might appear in the air overhead at any second.
That he must have carried her for miles uphill to take her to his house only showcased his strength and endurance. A shiver skittered down her spine. He’d make a terrible enemy. If he caught her again there’d be no mercy. He’d force her to talk by any means possible.
Another car swished past, the driver honking the horn at her audacity riding on the side of a highway at night. She only hoped her uncovered scaly arms and legs weren’t fluorescent green under the headlights.
Bongo woofed, reminding her that he was a passenger, and no doubt enjoying every second of the ride. She might have found it exhilarating too, with the cool night air blowing through her hair and under the long T-shirt to her bare skin beneath. Except this was her last ditch effort for freedom, everything was on the line, including her life.
It wasn’t until she sucked in a deep breath of air that was tinged with river water that she laughed with heady relief. She might actually make it! She might actually get to the safety of the river to escape both Gray and the Dronians.
Shit.She sucked in another, far more horrified breath. She was still in her primary form! The Dronians might pick up her energy output and possibly track her down. But she didn’t have the strength or the time to shift back into her human form. Shehadto get to the river and mask her true self.
The road flattened out ahead, forcing her to pedal to keep her momentum going.Bloody hell.When had her fitness levels tanked so drastically?
It’s not your fitness. It’s your lack of nutrients from too little food and even less time spent in the river.
The road came to a T-intersection, forcing her to choose left or right. Except, straight ahead, past a thick strip of grass, her Strazanian vision made out a dark ribbon of water.
The river Dahrt.
Gladness left her giddy and even weaker, and she stopped pedaling so that the bike cruised slowly to a stop on the other side of the road. Bongo jumped out and panted exuberantly, life to him in that moment just one big adventure. She shoved the bike onto its side in the tall, concealing grass.
“Let’s go,” she said to Bongo with a wry grin.
She pushed under a barbed wire fence and then ran toward the water. She was almost there, her breath heaving in and out of constricted lungs, Bongo galloping beside her, when a winged shadow swooped overhead.
Gray.
She scowled. He wouldn’t stop her this time. She ripped off his borrowed T-shirt, running faster and harder before all but freefalling over the river’s bank before she gained foothold, took two more running steps, then dove through the air and hit the water hard, allowing it to envelop her.
