A Break of Day (A Shade of Vampire #7)(41)
Author: Bella Forrest

“That’s a long story, but there’s still one gate open,” I said. “A gate which will vanish in less than a few hours. If Aiden doesn’t return soon, we’re going to have to make a move. We can’t risk waiting for him.”

Sofia shuddered at the thought of leaving her father behind, but nodded, looking down at Ben who was now drifting off to sleep in her arms.

Anna’s eyes widened and she turned to Kyle. “If we’re all going to attempt an escape, I need to bring Ian here.”

“Be careful, Anna,” Kyle said. “Humans aren’t supposed to be wandering outside right now while their meeting is going on.”

Kyle wrapped his arms around Anna and kissed her before she left. Then he turned back to us and pointed to the door leading to the back of the cabin. “I suggest you stay back there for now.” He led us through into an even smaller room with a single mattress on the floor and a tall window. The window had no glass, just meshing to keep out insects. I peeked out of the window and saw a drop of possibly twenty meters down to the floor of leaves below.

Sofia sat cross-legged on the mattress and laid Ben on her lap. Kyle went back into the main room to keep an eye on the front door. Thankfully, Anna wasn’t long. We were only waiting for ten minutes before she came through the door with Ian. Like Kyle and Anna, he too was still in human form.

Once Anna had seen him into the room, she went back into the front room with Kyle. Ian bent down to give Sofia a hug, and then placed his hand on my shoulder.

“Well, Anna just filled me in. All I can say is, I’ve never been happier to see a Novak in my life.”

He took a seat next to Sofia and they began talking. I continued to pace up and down the small room, too anxious and aware of the passing time to pay attention to their words. I prayed that Ibrahim would keep his word and not destroy the gate any earlier. And I prayed the Ageless wouldn’t try to interfere.

I was beginning to drive myself mad contemplating all the things that could go wrong, so I asked a question.

“Ian, maybe you can answer this. Arron previously spoke of using humans as vessels. Just like when he was back in our realm, his form was different to his Hawk form. Was he inhabiting a human body?”

“Funny, that’s a question I asked my roommate myself soon after I arrived. See, Hawks don’t use ‘vessels’ the same way Elders do for the simple reason that Elders don’t have any physical body of their own, whereas the Hawks do. So it’s incredibly easy for an Elder to enter a vessel—they just seep in. But Hawks can’t do that. So, when they want to go to Earth and need a disguise, there are witches here who can morph them into a human’s likeness. But in order for that spell to work, they need to bring the humans to Aviary. Witches then use the human’s genetics to morph the Hawk’s appearance to be exactly like the human’s.”

“In other words, the human Arron’s looks actually belong to a real human who’s kept here in Aviary? And Hawks can be made to look like any human, male or female, so long as that human is present here in this realm for their witches to gain access to?”

“That’s basically how it works. Unlike the Elders, it’s not natural for Hawks to inhabit a human body.”

“Then what about Aiden? How is it possible for humans to turn into Hawks?” I asked.

“Again, they have witches here who can do that. But in order for a human to turn, he or she has to actually be in Aviary…”

A banging at the door suddenly interrupted Ian. Sofia looked up with eagerness in her face.

“Yes! That must be Aiden.”

She was about to get up and open the door to greet her father when a voice that was decidedly not Aiden’s began shouting in the front room. My heart leapt into my throat as I grabbed her arm and held her back.

I looked feverishly around the room. My eyes settled on the window. With one pull, I separated the mesh from the window. Then, with shaking hands, I grabbed a blanket from the bed and wrapped it around my chest to form a carrier. I took Ben from Sofia’s arms and fastened him in.

“What are you talking about?” Anna had started screaming. “Are you mad? Of course not!”

“We’ve no choice but to jump,” I whispered.

“But we’ll never survive that fall!” Ian said hoarsely.

“We have to try. I’ll go down first with Ben. I’ll better be able to help catch you two that way,” I said.

“The others!” Sofia gasped.

The door to our room began to rattle. There was time left for neither talk nor doubt. I lowered myself out of the window, and, trying to at least land on a branch, I let myself go.

Black flashed beneath me. The next thing I knew, I was hanging in the air, one arm supporting Ben, and the other clutched by a Hawk. For a second I feared that looking up would bring me face to face with Arron.

But then Aiden’s voice reassured me.

“Climb up onto my back! Hurry!”

He helped me get into a secure position on his back as I used all my strength and agility to avoid crushing Ben beneath my weight. Then he called through the window. “Sofia! Jump!”

Sofia leapt into his arms and clung to his chest. Despite our weight, Aiden’s heavy wings remained steady.

At that moment, another Hawk appeared beside us, hovering at our level outside the window. I feared again that it was Arron. I yelled but Aiden interrupted me: “It’s all right. This is Rufus. He’s a rebel and he’s with me. Ian, jump on his back now!”

“I can’t leave Anna back there!” Ian shouted.

Just as he spoke, Anna and Kyle came bursting into the room, only just managing to slam and lock the door before Arron squeezed in after them.

All three of them leapt onto Rufus and then we were all flying up toward the green leafy roof of the city.

“The Hawk carving,” I breathed into Aiden’s ear. The sudden movement had knocked all the breath out of me and Ben was now crying. “The gate is near that carving.”

Aiden nodded but said nothing. I could see that all his concentration was in hurtling forward as fast as his wings could carry us. As we were about to hit the ceiling, Aiden shouted, “I’m not going to slow down! Cover the baby and brace yourselves!”

I curved myself around Ben as we hit the roof, taking all the cuts from sharp leaves and branches against my own body. As soon as we made contact with the canopy, Aiden’s wings closed so they wouldn’t get torn, but he had already worked up enough momentum for us to shoot through the leaves and appear above the roof. I closed my eyes and hoped Sofia had done the same. Once we were under the heat of the blazing sun, I could barely open them due to the bright light.