Equinox (Book One of the Firebird Chronicles) WATTY AWARD HIDDEN GEM WINNER 2015

Chapter Thirteen: Curfew

It was just one more thing that made me feel unfit to be a Queen. I could not run from my own crimes. I had stolen food to live, and now I stole other Angels' powers.

The realisation hit me strongly; a sense of agony in my chest that I found was guilt. I knew how hard this would be for Fabian, but I hadn't thought about stealing in this way before. I hadn't felt guilt when I stole bread from a market seller.

My eyes misted. Droplets fell from my nose, hitting the ground with a faint drop.

Maybe I should have felt guilty.

I had been raised not to question the stealing. No, I had raised myself not to question the stealing. From a young age, we had been greedy for more food. We had been told the people we stole from were rich, that they could spare the extra. But what if it had been Fabian I had stolen bread from? Would I have felt the guilt I felt now? Did it really matter what I stole from him, the fact it was stolen was enough?

I sniffled. It was almost silly to compare bread to powers, but I felt ashamed at taking Fabian's hospitality, and then his closest ally. And because I knew how much it meant to him, I knew the hurt he would be feeling. I hadn't known how much the market sellers had needed their wares. It dawned on me that perhaps all stealing caused varying degrees of betrayal.

Go, I pleaded with the wind, leave me.

But it stayed hugging me, determined not to be cast out. It was as though Fabian were there, comforting me, telling me that I had to keep moving.

And so I stood and wiped my eyes. I readjusted my weapons, and I stood a little straighter.

I was a thief that would survive. I couldn't give up yet.

And, the wind now calmed, I began a brisk jog through the woods.

Eventually, the trees faded away, and I stood at the foot of the town I had seen earlier.

I had been jogging for a while before I slowed, and slowed, until I was walking. My path had zigzagged, which I hoped would keep me hidden if any pursuers were likely to have more fitness than I did and catch up, which was mostly probable. And although the wind was calmer, I didn't dare use it to fly. I was fatigued, and I had used up all of my brave points today. I felt guilty enough when the air nuzzled my face, like a faithfully puppy, unaware that its master was a cheat.

Hours had passed, and the night grew darker. I estimated it was around early hours, between midnight and four. I struggled to make out the pretty buildings I had glimpsed from the tower because the night seemed so black. Lamps, like a trail of fireflies, lit the path all the way up the cobbled street. Their hazy orange glows cast shadows against the three-storey houses stood playfully on either side. I couldn't make out much in the dark, but it seemed a pretty place; wonderfully blue stones which reflected the starry sky up above.

As I continued to weave my way through the streets, I couldn't make out a single building alive. The night was utterly silent, and I began to worry that I stood out far too much on my own.

The streets looked all the same in the dark, and I couldn't read the maps that were posted on bulletins. I stumbled across what might have been the main square, with a large fountain turned off in the middle, the pools of water that it was made up of still and full of stars from their reflections. Conscious that I was too in the open, I turned to go down one of the intersecting streets, and stopped dead.

Bile rose up from my stomach. The image of Reia, dying, rose up before me, and the smell of burning shrine filled my nostrils. One of the creatures, as monstrous as the one I left to die, was swaying down the road, away from me.