“I was trying to help. . . . The more I try to catch up, the farther I fall behind.” The words slipped out, clumsy but true.
Aria looked up from his hand. “What did you say?”
Her face blurred left and right. Finally his focus pinned on her.
“Nothing. Nothing. Just stupid things.”
Roar came back carrying Cinder across his neck in a hunter’s hold, legs to one side, arms to the other.
“Is he dead?” The question came out of Perry in one sound, all of the words sliding together.
“Unfortunately, no,” Roar said, out of breath.
Cinder balled up as soon as Roar set him down. He was shaking worse than before. He turned his face into the earth. Perry saw wide patches of bare scalp. They hadn’t been there before. His clothes were blackened. Almost falling off completely.
“We have to leave him, Perry. He’s too weak.”
“We can’t.”
“Look at him, Peregrine. He can barely hold his head up.”
“The Croven will come through here.” Perry gritted his teeth as stars bloomed before his eyes. Fewer words, he told himself. Less movement. Just breathing.
Aria draped a blanket over Cinder. She bent close. “Is it the Aether?”
Perry peered up. The Aether had a soft, washed-out look. It had waned back to the wisps of earlier that day. He was in so much pain, he hadn’t noticed. Then he realized the sting in his nose was faint. Hardly there. Cinder had to be linked to the Aether tides.
“Just leave,” Cinder rasped.
“Listen to him, Perry. It’s a haul to Marron’s, and we’ve got twenty Croven on our heels. Are you really going to risk our lives for this fiend?”
Perry didn’t have the strength to argue. He climbed to his feet, concentrating on hiding his unsteadiness. “I’ll carry him.”
“You will?” Roar shook his head, his laugh dry. “He’s not Talon, Perry!”
Perry wanted to punch him. He tried to get himself over to Roar, but his legs took him sideways. Aria jumped up, darting toward him, but he found his balance. For a moment, he was staring down into her eyes. Seeing her worry. She turned to Roar.
“He’s right, Roar. We can’t leave him like this. And we’re only wasting time arguing.”
Roar looked from Aria to him. “I can’t believe I’m doing this.” He went to Cinder and hoisted the boy roughly onto his shoulders, cursing viciously as he turned up the mountain and set off.
They traveled in a close pack now. Aria walked to Perry’s right, the blisters and cuts on her feet hidden by boots. Roar trudged to his left, breathing hard, making the climb to Marron’s with a hundred extra pounds on his shoulders. Perry tucked his arm close to his chest, but it didn’t help. He felt his heartbeat thumping in his hand with every step. Thirst gripped him. He emptied every one of their skins within the first hour but found no relief.
When the Luster wore off, he battled waves of pain that threatened to drop him. But he noticed something else, too. The pine shroud had lifted. Scents came with familiar clarity, isolated and sharp. His nose had finally adjusted.
The Croven’s fetid scents carried to him on the wind. He counted more than two dozen individual scents. Stronger, closer, were Aria’s and Roar’s tempers.
From them he scented only fear.
Chapter 21
ARIA
Aria stared into the woods with burning eyes, searching for crow masks and black capes. They were moving too slow and stopping too often for Roar to catch his breath. When they did rest, she didn’t miss the look of relief on Perry’s ashen face. Somehow, despite the state of her feet, she’d become the fastest one among them.
Her gaze fell to Perry’s bandaged hand. The white gauze, bright in the fading daylight, was spotted with blood. She’d never seen a wound like that. She couldn’t imagine the pain he was in. She couldn’t believe what had happened.
Who was Cinder? How could a human have that kind of power? Aria knew about animals that used bioelectricity. Rays and eels. But a boy? It was like something from a Realm. But then hadn’t she just learned about Scires and Auds and Seers? Couldn’t Cinder’s ability be just another mutation? Harnessing the Aether seemed like a massive genetic break. But it was possible.
She lost herself in the rhythm of picking her feet up and setting them down until Roar stopped suddenly and dropped Cinder on the dirt, making no effort at gentleness.
“I can’t carry him anymore.”
Night had fallen but a full moon shone, bold and bright in the sky. The Aether had weakened, fading to a wash of pale light. They’d reached a stretch of flat land. The mountain climbed up ahead, growing thickly wooded again.
Cinder lay in a heap, his eyes closed. He wasn’t shivering anymore. Perry swayed beside her.
“We’re almost there,” he said, tipping his head toward the wooded slope. “It’s just there.”
Roar shook his head. “My legs.”
Perry nodded. “I’ll take him.”
Cinder’s eyes opened to slits, searching for Perry. “No.” His voice was small, a whimper. He rolled to the side, turning his back to them.
Perry stared at him for a moment. Then he took Cinder’s wrist, pulling the boy’s arm across his shoulder. Perry’s wounded arm wrapped around Cinder’s waist as he hauled Cinder up. They began to walk together, Perry bending forward to bring himself closer to Cinder’s height.
Cinder glanced up as they passed her, his black eyes sparkling with the sheen of tears. With shame, Aria realized. He’d torched the hand that now held him upright.