“I made it right,” Cinder said through trembling lips.
They came upon a pair of Croven huddled together in the shadow of a tree. At the sight of Cinder, they scurried away. Perry swallowed against the rawness in his throat. Had the boy ever known anything beyond fear and pity?
They rushed into Delphi, bursting into the courtyard. Perry set Cinder down next to Roar right on the cobbles. People were gathered inside the gate, armed with weapons, braced for war, for an invasion, for anything. The Aether continued to seal above. Whatever break Cinder had brought them was vanishing.
Marron cut through the gathered crowd. “Mark and Gage?”
Perry shook his head, then he staggered off a dozen paces, turning his back. He pressed his fist to his lips to hold back the guilt and everything else that threatened to come up. Behind him, Aria told Marron what had happened. People cried and cursed Perry. They were right. He’d brought the Croven here. Mark and Gage had died because of him. Perry saw no way of escaping that blame.
Marron came up to him. “You have to go. The Croven might return. Get home, Peregrine. Get Aria to her mother.”
Clarity returned with those simple words. He had no time to spare. He went to Roar. “You’ll come in the spring.”
Roar took Perry’s offered hand in a firm grip. “As soon as I can get there.”
Perry moved to Cinder. He knew he couldn’t command the boy, whose power was far greater than his own. But he also knew Cinder needed him. Needed someone to help him make sense of what he’d done, and what he could do. Maybe Perry needed that too.
“Will you come with Roar?” It was a bigger question than what it appeared to be on the surface. The true question was whether he’d pledge himself to Perry.
Cinder answered right away.
“Yes.”
Chapter 36
PEREGRINE
Perry and Aria stepped through the gate together. They collected their belongings from the rocks and ran. The Aether came screaming, dropping funnels that shook the ground beneath them. Smoke thickened the cool air as the woods ignited. Perry steered around the flames, holding tight to Aria’s hand.
They moved swiftly, driven by the need to put Delphi behind them. They cleared the worst of the storm in a few hours and then spent the rest of the night traveling in silence. Descending slopes with locked arms. Passing water back and forth between them, and sharing touches. Her hand holding his for a dozen paces. His, resting on the small of her back for a moment. Touches that had no real purpose but to say I’m here and We are together still.
By dawn, Perry couldn’t ignore the scents that clung to them any longer. Blood and ash crusted to their clothes and skin. The smoke from the Aether storm was thinning. He could no longer count on it to mask their scents and keep the wolves at bay. They stopped by a river that rushed over a cascade of gray boulders and washed quickly, shivering at the icy water, and then set off again. He hoped they’d done enough.
Hours later, Aria grasped his arm. “I hear barking, Perry. We need to find someplace safe.” Her words fogged in the cool afternoon.
Perry strained to listen. He heard only the lull after a storm, but the musk of the animals was strong, telling him a pack couldn’t be far. Scanning the woods for a sturdy tree where they could shelter, Perry saw only pines with high, slender branches. He quickened their pace, cursing himself for not grabbing more arrows from Marron when they’d taken Cinder and Roar back. He had only his knife to protect them. A knife wouldn’t last long against wolves.
Aria looked back sharply, her eyes wide. “Perry, they’re right behind us!”
Moments later, he heard the wolves himself, two sharp barks that sounded far too close. Desperate, he ran for the nearest tree, a poor choice. The branches too low and brittle. Then he saw a game trail, a worn dirt path weaving to a tree up ahead. He spotted a wooden shack set up in the branches of the massive pine. He ran, Aria beside him, as the snarling grew louder. Claw marks shredded the trunk around the base. A rope ladder hung from a thick branch.
He lifted Aria onto the ladder.
“They’re coming!” she yelled. “Perry, climb!”
He couldn’t. Not yet. Didn’t trust the brittle rope to hold both of their weight. He drew his knife.
“Go! I’ll be right behind you.”
Seven wolves prowled into view. Huge animals with glinting blue eyes and silver pelts. Their musk came at Perry in a red wave of blood hunger. They raised their shining snouts, reading scents as he did, then laid back their ears and bared their teeth, their hackles rising.
Aria reached the top and called out to him. Perry spun and leaped, grabbing the highest rung he could reach. He pulled his legs up and slashed with his knife as their jaws snapped at him. He kicked one wolf on the ear. It yelped and fell away, giving him an instant to find a rung with his foot and push. He launched himself up, pulling himself to the top.
Aria grabbed him, steadying his balance. They followed the wide branch to the shack. The two outfacing sides were boarded solidly. On the other two sides, every other board had been left off, giving it the look of a cage.
Aria slipped right in. He couldn’t squeeze his shoulders through so he smashed one of the boards with his foot. The wood groaned beneath him, and he couldn’t stand at his full height, but the floorboards were sturdy. For a few seconds, he and Aria looked at each other, panting for breath, as the wolves barked below them, claws ripping at the tree. Then he kicked off a layer of leaves and set his satchel down. The last of the daylight came gray and blurred through the slats, like light moving through water.