Bone Crier's Moon (Bone Grace #1)(105)

I hurriedly draw the two Chained backward to the Gate. One of them lunges at me. I strike his chest with the heel of my foot. The other barrels forward, and I sidestep him, jabbing his back with my elbow. My ibex agility keeps me balanced on the narrow bridge.

I turn to fight the first Chained, but he cuffs me hard in the jaw. I stumble backward, barely dodging a blow from the second one. I tighten my fists and attack faster, using every measure of my falcon speed. Once I have the advantage, I grab both souls by their chains and heave them through the Gate.

“Send more!” I shout to my mother.

She tosses me another Chained. A robust woman who immediately throws a punch at my face. I duck and ram into her stomach with my shoulder. With a sharp twist, I yank her around. She growls, thrashing as I drive her backward toward the Gate. I kick her off me and shove her into the black dust.

As soon as she’s through, I bolt away to fight another Chained my mother thrusts at me. We ferry on and on like this until our movements become one fluid rhythm.

My chest burns with pride. She can’t doubt my ability now. She must see how I’ll be a worthy matrone.

The souls that are Unchained dart past us and run to the call of Elara’s realm. Some are threatened by the Chained, but my mother and I help them break free.

I lose count of how many dead we ferry. A Ferrier’s work can last until sunrise, if necessary. During the age of the plague, when death was rampant, my famille needed as much of that time as possible. But my mother and I must be nearly finished. The number of dead are starting to thin.

I throw another Chained through the Gate and look above me to the rift Bastien blasted open. I shout his name, but don’t hear anything back. My pulse beats out of time. Where is he?

My mother glances my way while she fights three Chained. My falcon vision narrows on the twitch of her brow. A sign of guilt? Did she find Bastien before he could return to me? I fight to breathe. “Bastien!” I cry again.

“I’m here!”

My pulse jumps. His voice sounds throaty and exhausted. He’s standing on the ledge just past the foot of the bridge. He blindly battles a Chained with his father’s knife while another one crawls headfirst down the cavern wall, ready to leap on him.

“Watch out!” I race to intervene, but my mother throws two more Chained at me. I scowl and fight them back toward the Gate as quickly as possible. “Above you, Bastien!” I call, though I can’t see him anymore.

My hastiness makes me sloppy, and when I cast one of the Chained through, the second one grabs my dress. I’m dragged dangerously close to the swirling black dust. I grind my teeth and yank away just in time. The Chained tumbles through the Gate. I fall backward on the bridge from the force of our separation.

Well done, Ailesse, Tyrus’s realm sings to me. Now come and receive your reward.

Reward? My limbs tingle, and I pull to my feet.

“Move back from the Gate, Ailesse!” my mother shouts. “You’re too close!”

Vaguely, I hear the growls of several Chained surrounding her. She’s too enmeshed in fighting to come for me.

My chest sways toward the Gate, but my feet root me to the ground. “I . . . can’t go,” I murmur into the hot breeze reaching out for me. “Bastien . . .” I frown and shake my head. What about Bastien? I can’t remember what felt so urgent a moment ago.

Tyrus’s siren song shivers through my body, a euphoric rush that promises more. Where I am is a better place. It has greater power. You can do anything in my realm.

“Ailesse!” A woman’s voice. My mother again. What does she want now? “He is lying! Come back to me!” Her words are insignificant. They fade as the siren song blares louder.

“I want to fly,” I tell Tyrus, my imagination running wild. “I want to breathe underwater.”

I will give you that and more.

“I want . . .” My legs tremble. “I want love.” Love has two faces. A blue-eyed boy. A dark-haired girl. But I can’t remember their names.

“Do something, Bastien!” my mother cries.

My thoughts snag. Bastien? I almost know what that means. It doesn’t stop my feet from slipping forward. The black dust undulates like beckoning fingers. What would it feel like to have that glittering darkness wrapped all around me? I lift my hand. I reach.

“Ailesse, no!” A new voice. Male. One that stirs warmth in my blood.

The drums beat harder, but I can’t forget that voice. It doesn’t come from the Gate. My sixth sense pounds up my spine and across my shoulders.

“Walk away from the Gate, Ailesse, or I will kill Bastien!” my mother yells.

Bastien. He’s the boy I love. That’s his name.

The siren song shatters. The black dust snaps at me like the jaws of a jackal. I jump backward and dodge the bite. Blood rushes to my head as I spin around. Two Unchained run toward me. I leap aside, and they race through Elara’s translucent Gate. I look across the bridge. Three Chained fall off its side in streaks of chazoure. My mother delivers a powerful round kick and strikes the last soul standing. He screams and falls off the bridge with the others.

I gape at her. Those were the last of the dead, and she didn’t even ferry them. She’s staying close to Bastien with her hand at his back. He’s unnaturally stiff—and he’s no longer holding his father’s knife. My heart stops. My mother is using it against him.