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Crunch.
I jumped back to look down at whatever I had stepped on. It was a toy man, wrapped in strings. Picking him up to look for any damage I may have caused, I realized his tangled strings led to a parachute hanging off his back. With an energetic gasp, I untangled the strings to look at his parachute. It was not incredibly complicated: a square cloth with four strings.
Could it work?
I pulled down the curtains and their ropes, laying out the little man so I could copy his parachute. Tearing small holes in the corners of the curtain, I laced the rope through and met the ropes in the middle. I couldn’t help but applaud myself. It was almost an exact replica.
Then reality struck. I wasn’t a toy man, I was a real person, and there was a lot to lose if this didn’t work.
I grabbed the toy and took him to the entrance, looking into the drop below.
“I expect nothing but the best out of you, good sir,” I said to him. “Luc and Adrian’s fate depends on you.”
With a salute, I dropped him over the side.
He slowly fluttered down to the bottom of the den.
Slowly…
Slowly…
Gliding down for what seemed like a real eternity before hitting the bottom. There wasn’t a noise or alarming signal from where I stood, so I took it as a sign.
I picked up my own parachute, wrapping the ropes around my waist and legs like the toy man’s parachute. With each sailor’s knot that my father and Henrik had taught me, my heart ached more and more.
Henrik…Adrian…Luc…my father…
It felt like each rope of my parachute represented each person I wanted to help but couldn’t.
My stomach clenched with the last knot. I walked closer and closer to the entrance, the pain between my shoulders almost screaming at me. I told it to quiet down, ignoring its throbbing protests.
If I had my wings, I could save them.
But if I had my wings, then my father…
I exhaled, looking down. The ground warped and swirled once again, like a black marble whirlpool. I sat on the edge of the ledge of the entrance, my feet dangling off the side.
“This is your last chance to help a damsel in distress!” I called out to the den. “I’m going to jump if you don’t answer me!”
The threat seemed to fall on deaf ears. Or reluctant ears. I was well aware that the sirens acted distant from me for some reason. At first, I thought it was the human thing, but the sirens weren’t even so aloof when it came to Henrik, and he had a demon in him. It wasmethey were avoiding. Was Luc avoiding me too? No, no. That thought had no merit. Luc was protective, not wary. And if he knew I was thinking about jumping from this place, he would lose his mind.
I sighed, the realization of how bad an idea this really was. I couldn’t risk leaving Luc alone. I would just have to yell into the caverns until someone answered. But away from the edge.
I slid back, putting one hand on the ground to come up to my feet.
There was pain as my ankle rolled. And then the floor was gone. And then I was screaming.
Air rushed through my clothes and hair as I plummeted down toward the marble floor below. I reached for the ropes still attached to my arms and legs, trying to straighten myself. There was a sudden tug on the ropes as the parachute opened up. My fall slowed—the parachute was actually working!—but I was still falling too fast for my liking.
Heart in my throat, I looked up at the parachute to see that it was fully opened.
But one of the corners was ripping.
I pulled on the opposite side as if that would take the pressure off the corner, but it was an illogical idea. The parachute tipped sideways, pulling me along with it.
And the corner ripped.
“Luc!” I screamed with everything in me.
