Читать книгу The Unwritten Books 3-Book Bundle - James Bow - Страница 15

THE CITY OF MARBLE AND CHROME

The flames ebbed. The last piece of twisted metal toppled off the bridge and echoed from the valley below. Then the only sound other than the flames licking on the bridge was the wind whistling through the canyon. Peter stood staring at the devastation, then looked at Rosemary, all curled up and rocking. He stood silent for several minutes, waiting for her to look up. She didn’t.

Finally he reached out. “Hey.” He touched her arm.

She swatted his hand away. “Leave me alone!”

He halted, stood a moment, then reached out again. “Hey.”

She hit him harder. “I said leave me alone!”

He jerked back, then lunged forward and hauled her to her feet.

She beat at him. “Leave me alone!” Her words echoed through the canyon.

“Stop it.” He grunted as a punch caught him across the mouth. “Ow!” He grabbed her wrists and shouted in her face. “Stop it!”

His words echoed back at them for several seconds. “Stop it! Stop it. Stop. Stop ...”

She stood in his grip, breathing hard. She didn’t look at him.

“We have to keep going,” he said, his voice level, firm.

“Why?” she said bitterly.

“Because he said so,” he said. “He ...” He stumbled, cleared his throat, and took a deep breath. “You’re the hero. He ... he did what he did so ... so that you could go on.”

“What’s the use?” Her eyes glistened. “We’re no closer to finding Theo. Everything’s attacking us, and the one person who could help us the most d-, d-, d-” She spat it out. “Dies!”

“It’s —” Peter began. “We —”

“I shouldn’t have come here!” Her voice echoed again. She struggled to free herself from his grip. “I shouldn’t have brought you here! Now they’re after you too!”

Peter’s grip held firm. He looked at her levelly. “Let me guess. If this was a book, you’d have stopped reading right about now.”

She stopped struggling. She looked at him.

“Well, it’s not a book.” He let go of her wrists and clasped her shoulders. “It’s not going to go away just because you decide to stop. We’ve got to keep going.”

“You go, then,” she said, turning away. “Just leave me alone!”

“No!” he yelled, with such force that she jumped. “Not here, not now, not ever! Being alone is the worst thing in the world, and I’m not doing that to you. You didn’t drag me here; you hit me over the head trying to stop me. But I came anyway! And now we’re in this together, and we’ve got to work together if we want to get out! I’m not leaving this spot until you get that!”

Her face twisted. She shoved him away and fell against the cliff face. Sliding down, she curled up again. Her shoulders shook.

Peter touched his lip and checked for blood. The wind whistled.

Finally, Rosemary looked up. Her cheeks were wet. She took a rasping breath, and held it by biting her lip. She pressed against the rockface and levered herself up, ignoring Peter’s helping hand. She stepped to the cliff and looked down. The wreckage below was still burning.

The wind shivered the fringe of her dress.

Finally, she cleared her nose with a sniff and drew herself up. “Let’s go.” She turned away from the devastation and limped to the bridge in her bare feet. Peter followed her. The smoke from the wreckage veiled them. Peter looked down. Rosemary didn’t.

They trudged into darkness as the bridge met the tunnel. The click of scuffed stones echoed back at them. After several minutes, the light at the other end eased into view and a fresh breeze cut through the smell of damp soot.

Then their clothes changed.

Peter stumbled, then steadied himself on the tunnel wall. “Another story,” he muttered. “I hope this is the last one.”

He saw Rosemary in silhouette, in a jacket and a knee-length skirt, facing away from him. He stepped towards her. “Hey, are you —”

She turned suddenly and hugged him so hard, his breath left him.

“What was that for?” He held her.

“Promise me something?” she said, her voice muffled by his shirt front. “Stay close. Don’t let me lose you like Puck.”

“Look, you didn’t —”

“Promise me!”

He hesitated. Then he laughed. “Stay close? They’d have to pull me off you.”

They held each other a moment, then Rosemary pushed away. She walked down the tunnel faster than before.