Taken

Chapter 17 (Part 3)

The next hour passed by slowly. Without a watch or clock to keep time, it was spent counting the seconds and minutes that passed as the chill in the air nipped at my face that remained pointed in the direction of Rowan's balcony. I didn't take my eyes off the glass double doors that he had retreated inside unless it was to make sure I was still alone. The noises coming from the stables had frightened me into thinking I had company more than once.

As I finished counting the seconds for the sixtieth minute, I clutched at the tree I was hiding behind as I rose from the ground. My legs had grown numb from sitting on the damp grass at its base. Shaking them out as prickles of sensation returned to them, I turned my head up to glance at Artemis who has been silently keeping me company.

My brows furrowed when they landed on the empty branch she had been occupying. She had been there every other time I had looked. Searching the twisting branches above, I couldn't find a glimpse of her anywhere among the leaves and darkness. My lips pressed together, hoping she was hiding in the dark rather than the first thought that jumped to my mind and had my heart racing.

Moving away from the tree, I looked around to make sure the coast was clear before darted towards the drain pipe on light feet. I couldn't waste any more time waiting if my creeping suspicions were right and Artemis had decided to go back to Silas. Who knew how long she had been gone or how far they were if my fears were true. 

Reaching the pipe, I gave one last scan around me despite nothing catching my eye on the way there. Just to be safe. Most of my paranoid glances were. I hadn't spotted anyone while waiting under the tree aside from Rowan, but, with my luck, now would be the time for someone to arrive if any. Or when I was stuck halfway up a pipe with nowhere to hide.

Swallowed, I pushed the thought aside as I pulled my gloves off and slipped them into my pocket beside Silas's coin bag. Guilt rose as my fingers brushed the material I had to secure tightly to keep the coins from making noise with my movements. It was going to add to the anger of my absence when he realized I stole- no, borrowed it. I was going to give it back when I returned with the key. If-

My jaw clenched.

No. No ifs. I'm going to get the key, give Silas his money back, let him know I'm leaving, find a lake, and then go break out Ash, I told myself with conviction. Even if I have to sacrifice my life to do so. Pain or the wave of a loaded gun wouldn't stop me this time. Not until Ash was free.

Everyone would still get what they wanted. Ash would be free, something we both want; Hilda, she would succeed in hiding the Blood Stone in the earth realm, even if it wasn't warming my still chest; and Silas... he would be free too. From me and the burden hated me for being.

The confidence the mental pep talk held was contradicted by the slight tremor in my hand as I reached up. My fingers curled over the curved metal plate bolting the pipe to the wall where there was space. Lifting my foot, I placed it on the one closest to the ground and took a deep breath before pushing off the ground to reach for the next rung and began my climb to the third floor. The cold metal had my warm fingers stinging. It wouldn't be long before the contact had them growing stiff and numb.

The thought of losing feeling in my fingers had me terrified as I climbed up to the second floor which was lined with dark windows. Falling would not only make noise that would wake someone up, but it would also hurt. A lot.

Don't look down.

The closer I got to the third floor, the more my worries shifted from heights to the uncertainty that breaking and entering came with. I was taking a gamble regarding Rowan's state of consciousness despite giving him plenty of time to drift off to sleep. If on the off chance he was awake, then nothing but the indifference he had shown me when we met earlier would save me. But I knew that the circumstances that would surround our second meeting wouldn't illicit the same reaction. I doubted he would turn a blind eye to a human that was attempting to steal from him like he had when he saved me. However, it could be easier to try and lie my way out of trouble and explain why I was climbing a three-story building to see him if he didn't catch me in the act of stealing. Which was my next greatest worry.