Let the Sky Fall (Sky Fall #1)(39)

The realization smacks me back to my senses—and that’s when I catch it.

A single word. Over and over.

Strength.

The instant I separate the word, the wind seeps into my consciousness. It feels like draining a tall glass of water all in one gulp—only my brain’s doing the drinking.

My limbs fall still and I focus on the lyrics behind the melody, which I now understand. The north wind sings of power. Of invincibility. Of balance.

“Vane, can you hear me?” Audra calls from very far away. “Open your eyes.”

I want to obey, but I don’t know how to make my body function at the moment. The winds have coiled around my mind. Teasing. Tugging. Begging me to come with them. And I want to. The Northerlies sound so brave and strong.

They’ll protect me.

“Vane, listen to me!” Audra yells. “You can’t believe everything the winds tell you. I know it sounds like wisdom, but you have to resist. They’re pulling you away, and if you let that happen, you won’t come back.”

I don’t want to listen to her, but a blast of warmth shoots through both my arms like an electric shock.

My body jerks and my eyes shoot open. The blinding sunlight makes my head pound, and a loud moan slips through my lips. Then my vision clears and I get a glimpse of Audra leaning over me, clasping my wrists with her slender hands.

“Breathe,” she orders.

Why would she have to tell me to . . .

Burning pain in my chest wakes me up to the fact that it’s been a while since I’ve taken a breath. I suck in a huge gulp of air, hacking and coughing as it enters my oxygen-starved body.

Audra pulls me into a sitting position, pounding on my back. “You okay?”

“I’ve been better.” I hug myself, needing to feel my body again. I forgot about it for a second. “What happened?”

“The wind started to carry your consciousness away.”

I rub my throbbing head. “How about in English this time?”

She flashes a small, sad smile. “I don’t fully understand it myself. My father used to tell me Windwalkers are caught between two worlds. Neither purely of the earth nor the sky, and when we allow ourselves too much contact with either, it starts to lead us astray. In the earth’s case, food and water ground us, bind us to the land. Limit our abilities. And the wind’s call tries to take us with it, like an old friend begging us to come along for the journey.”

That I understand. Part of me still wants to follow.

“But if we let it lead us away, we leave our earthly forms behind, never to return,” she warns.

“How come it didn’t feel like that last night?” I was asleep for most of it, but I don’t remember having a hard time waking up.

“When I triggered your Easterly breakthrough it was me inside your head, and I could control the drafts and build the connections you needed to make without exposing you to the full force of the winds.”

“So . . . you were literally inside my mind—like how the wind just was?” I shudder, remembering the weird swishy, spinning feeling.

“Yes. When we shift into our true forms, we are the wind. We move and work and feel exactly the same way, only with more control.”

“That might be the freakiest thing you’ve told me yet.”

She rewards me with another partial smile. Then she looks down, watching her fingers as she twists them together. “I’m not sure if I should trigger the Southerly breakthrough. It might be too much for you to handle right now.”

I can’t begin to explain how much I don’t want to go through that again—ever. But this isn’t about me. “I need to learn the three languages, right? As soon as possible?”

A few seconds pass before she says, “Time is running out.”

“Then we have to do it.”

I can’t believe the words are coming out of my mouth.

But I can’t wimp out now. People might die. Audra might die. “I know what to expect now. I’ll be fine.”

“If the lure was that strong from the harsh, cold Northerlies, it’ll be ten times worse from the warm, welcoming Southerlies.”

“I’ll come back.”

“How can you be so sure?”

I take her hands. She tries to pull away, but I hold tight. “When you touched me, it yanked me back. So just do that again, and I’ll come back. For you.”

The last words I kinda mumble, but I’m pretty sure she caught them, because a hint of pink colors her cheeks.

She stares at our hands for a second, taking slow, deep breaths. “Okay. Let’s get this over with.”





CHAPTER 22


AUDRA


Vane has no idea how irresistible the Southerlies’ pull will be.

Their warm rush is intoxicating. The comfort they promise so alluring. Tempting you to slip away forever in their soft, wandering drag.

I’d been ready to follow their whispers anywhere they led, and I very nearly had. The vow I made my father was the only thing that pulled me back.

But all I can do is stick with the plan and hope Vane really will come back for me.

To me, I correct. And not even me—specifically. Come back to the world, to continue with his training. Live up to his potential. Step into his role as king. Those are my primary—my only—concerns.