Wake

Chapter 1

Cian

I wasn't really good at being a criminal.

I was stealthy, sure, but I'd never used the skill in any sort of way that could get me arrested. Yet, I thought, even if I was caught, I knew how to fight. Perhaps more importantly, I could run fast.

But we weren't going to get caught, because only then were we truly in trouble. I did not have time to be in trouble.

I parked the Escalade at least three blocks away from the hospital, which was a good thing for staying hidden, but a bad thing for making a getaway. Since the demon gate had been opened a few weeks before, some of San Francisco's infrastructure had crumbled. Every other streetlight, it seemed, was out, bathing the sidewalks in intervals of pale amber and deep shadow.

In the Escalade's passenger seat, Vinny squinted at the black fabric in his hands. He sighed, then held it out before him in disgust. "Cian," he began warily, "are the ski masks really necessary?"

Oil clinked against metal as the car settled into stillness. I scoffed at my brother, slipping my own mask over my face. I had made them out of our father's old winter hats, cutting out only the eyes and mouth, and considering that I wasn't crafty at all, it had been a task. I wasn't putting all my hard work to waste. "We don't need anyone seeing our faces. This is illegal, you know," I answered. I shouldered open the car door, placing one foot to the pavement. "Make sure all your hair's under it. People would remember a platinum-haired kid."

"As if they wouldn't remember your eye patch?" he hissed back. I snorted flippantly, and Vinny let out a groan in response. "This is a terrible idea. We are so screwed."

I waited until I was positive Vinny had done as I said before slipping out of the car entirely, ducking into the shadows just as a pair of headlights swung by. My breath was erratic in my chest; I hadn't been able to calm it for weeks now. Nick's ploy had left me, had left everything I'd ever known, in shambles. I was feeble, half-blind; being without wings was one thing, but this, this was practically hell.

I didn't know how long I could run before my strength ran out, but regardless, when I met the sidewalk, I moved quickly. I had no other choice. "Stay close," I ordered Vinny.

He did as I told him to, and with easy, long strides. It had been a while since he'd come back from the grave, so almost all of his strength had returned, his episodes lessening and lessening. He'd even celebrated his sixteenth birthday not too long ago, and I wished Lucie could have seen him. He was changing from the gaunt, naive freshman he'd died as, into a different version of himself. He was looking less and less like a child and more like the man I'd always hoped he would become.

While I fell behind, he was finally catching up.

Around the hospital, the lights were brighter. I strode towards the exterior walls, but Vinny sucked in a breath, tugging me back into the dark. "Are you crazy? Did you not see that doctor just come out of there? He would've seen you!"

I blinked at Vinny's stunned face, his eyes lambent, then turned and squinted back at the door. I frowned, shaking my head. "I'm...sorry. It's all foggy."

Vinny's heavy sigh cut me off. "We shouldn't be doing this, Cian, not ever, really, but definitely not now. You haven't gotten used to being—"

"To being what? Blind?" I hissed, turning back to face him. He opened his mouth to reply, but seemed to reconsider, shutting it instead. His gaze fell towards the ground. "I'm sorry, Vinny, but I don't think there is any getting used to this. That bastard took my eye from me, and unless it's miraculously healed, I'm stuck like this for the rest of my days."