Because a moment later, the door of the room she was hiding in flew open.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
UNDERWATER
Isla didn’t give the guards time to reach for their ice blades or wield the sloshing water held in vials across their belts.
Before they could even yell for help, she had hit them in six different places, special points Terra taught her to target.
Their muscles slackened.
One good hit each in the back of the head, and they slumped down to the floor, passed out. Not one drop of blood.
Terra would be proud.
The moment she stopped moving, she was panting. The climbing, the fighting—it had taken too much energy. She really shouldn’t be out of bed, let alone deep in another ruler’s territory.
Too late now. She was here. And things were already starting to get out of hand.
As quietly as she could, and with all the strength she could muster, she dragged them fully into the room, closed the door behind them, and ran down the hall.
Either they would wake up and call for help, someone would realize they were missing and would call for help, or someone else was about to stop her and call for help.
It was clear that the time for being a shadow had passed.
Now she just needed to get into the library. As fast as her quickly weakening legs could take her.
The next passageway was empty, but the one after that had four guards, pressed against the wall, chins up, ice swords to their chests likenutcrackers she once saw in a market. At the sound of her steps, they came to life, turning right to her.
Time to go,she thought, taking another turn instead, and hoping she was going in the right direction.
Their boots echoed loudly behind her, the sounds growing as more guards joined the pursuit. Isla ran as fast as she could, white dress curling behind her like a plume of steam. Her chest made concerning sounds with every breath. Her bones and muscles ached.
The halls were endless. Isla couldn’t help but feel she must have taken a wrong turn. She wouldn’t make it much longer.
Maybe she was getting farther away. Maybe she had become disoriented in her struggle to outrun the guards. Maybe—
Then she heard it.
The sea, louder than before, echoing like thunder. A beast shaking the walls of the castle with its firm grip.
The library had to be close.
She took off toward the sound of the sea, following its force, wincing at the pulsing of pain of her arm and her chest and her head, like the three of them were having a conversation. The farther she made it into the castle, the more the chandeliers on the ceilings shook, pale crystals clinking together. The more works of art teetered on their hooks. The Moonling curse was ruthless.
How many more cycles would it take for the castle to simply be knocked off its cliff, into the ocean’s waiting mouth? When would the sea be rewarded for its efforts by getting the entire palace and its inhabitants in one fell swoop?
Not tonight,she hoped, as she ran and ran and ran, faster than the guards, as fast as she could without collapsing.
Until she nearly crashed into a wall.
A dead end.
No more halls. No more turns. No doors.
Just a wall.
She hunched over, hands on her thighs, and began coughing, the cold in her chest crawling up her throat. Her knees wobbled.
