Under the Altswood Sky (The Altswood Saga #2)

Chapter 25 - Pantomime

Chapter 25 - Pantomime

I scrubbed the tears from my face, blindly picking my way through the maze to find the second exit. I wondered if the officers would try search for me—I wondered if they would take me in if they caught me. I couldn't afford to find out.

The events of the last few minutes kept replaying over and over in my head, pushing into the front and centre every time I tried to push them down. With my every pounding footstep, I heard Gabriel shudder as if he was taking his last breath, and no matter how hard I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to shake away the memory, I would see Joshua's wicked smile right inside my eyelids.

The largest clue had been staring me right in the face this entire time.

"Look," Maire said, "I don't have a perfectly justifiable explanation. All I know is that I've seen Jules in that post office more than once now, and that's suspicious enough for me."

Jules only told us about going to the post office once. The first time, Maire had seen someone else, the other seventeen year-old boy on Bottle Island who looked startling like Jules from the back—dark-haired, tall, and tanned.

She had seen Joshua.

I screamed in frustration, kicking a nearby mirror. It shuddered under the assault, but otherwise remained unharmed, and the only remnant of my attack was the echo of my screech. As a scuffle sounded in a parallel passageway—what sounded like emergency responders calling commands to each other—I tore my hands through my hair and hurried away. It wouldn't be long until someone found me. I needed to leave, but I had no other method save climbing over the mirrors.

I skittered around the corner in a hurry as torches flashed into passageway. A glance over my shoulder told me that they had gone the other way, though I felt anything except relief.

It was hopeless, this was all hopeless. All I could do was run and screech and complain while Gabriel bled his life out on a grimy floor.

I cupped my hand around my mouth, physically holding down another scream of frustration.

Joshua had come into the Hall of Mirrors another way, and he had been certain he could leave that same way as officers came tumbling through the entrance. How was I supposed to find it?

If only I had x-ray vision, I entertained. No, echolocation. Like bats in a cave trying to find the shallow nooks and crooks.

I stopped.

I dipped my right hand down to my ankles, feeling the draft that ran low through the maze.

I couldn't use sound, but I could use the wind.

Invigorated, I splayed both hands along either side of my ankles, determining the direction of the breeze. I followed its flow, sprinting at a dead run towards the source. I didn't care about strange shadows that moved around me or intruders that appeared to rush me. Now that the killer of Bottle Island had a face, I didn't fear anything.

Except not moving fast enough and letting the killer get away.

Except Gabriel not making it out of the Hall of Mirrors alive.

I pushed the thought away when tears spilled down my cheeks again. I wouldn't think of it. I would focus on the task at hand.

I skidded to a stop, pausing to test the wind again. I had been following its strength in one direction, but now it seemed to be getting weaker. My eyes latched onto the row of mirrors in front of me. One of these. One of these long, rectangular slabs of glass had to be an exit.