The Hollows In Our Freedom | 'Hollows' Book Ⅲ

Chapter Forty-Eight

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T h e H o l l o w s I n 
O U R F R E E D O M
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"Oh shit." I cursed, rushing over to a panicking Jace, hanging upside down. It took me only a few seconds to realise what was going on.

"Jace," I said, trying to quieten his panic. "Jace it's a hunting trap." He continued to thrash, "for animals; you weren't meant to be caught—we're fine." He wasn't listening, though.

I reached upwards and cupped his face, which made him calm slightly. His eyes met mine, although I was upside down to him.

"You're fine." I told him softly.

"I'm upside down." He responded, making me break out of my trance with his Northern Light eyes.

"Right. Yes. That." I said, pulling my hands away, suddenly cold. "I need to cut you down."

"Soon, please—I can feel the blood coming to my head." I nodded, letting go of him and whipping out a knife from my waist band. Always prepared.

Jace dangled uselessly as I decided where to cut from; we had took part in training like this at the Academy, I just needed to put the pieces together.

Finally, I did. Well, either way, he'll fall.

"Okay, Jace I want you to get onto your hands, like push them against the part of the netting where your head is." I explained, watching him fumble slightly.

"Are you serious?" He asked, when I didn't respond, he sighed. He fought against the netting, ripping his arms up from his sides. Finally, he had his palms pressed against the netting.

"Good, well done. Now I need you to bend your legs, as if you're about to start crawling." I watched as Jace struggled to comprehend this for a few moments, but he was soon in the position I had guided him through.

I warned him beforehand, but I reached up to cut the netting under his legs. Then, when I heard the netting start to tear, I yelled, "jump!"

He did, landing not so softly. In fact, he stumbled into me, and I, of course, tried to stop his fall, conscious that the floor was both wet, and hard to hit.

We both fell back, me hitting a tree trunk with him against me. With the wind knocked out of me, I could only see him, and feel the pain of the hit rushing in. But I decided that Jace was more important.

He stared down at me, breathing rapid, Northern Light eyes shaking, body trembling slightly.

Then his eyes met my lips.

I jumped out of my skin when a twig snapped behind us, almost falling away from Jace.

It was Jameson.

His eyes flitted between us—he wasn't stupid; he knew.

"Uh–breakfast is ready, Elle didn't want me to shout...just in case." Jameson, being reserved about his relationship with Sky, was quite obviously uncomfortable seeing...whatever he saw.

Jace cleared his throat, nodding as he sorted out his clothes. He soon wandered back to the camp once it was obvious that Jameson wanted to speak to me.