Wall of Shadows

Chapter 2

 My eyes fluttered open.

 Mouse was somehow comfortably curled at my feet, though the silken blankets were pulled down to my waist as if I'd been thrashing in my sleep. I shuddered at the frigid draft seeping in through the base of the glass terrace doors. No matter how hard I tried, the nightmares wouldn't go away. The nightmares of her. I hadn't had a really good night's sleep since Rhea had died...

 I stood and groaned when my bare feet made contact with the freezing marble floor.

 After giving Mouse, the beyond lazy cat, a scratch behind his fluffy ears, I hurried into my dressing room to get changed. Grateful for the plush carpet, I pulled my robe tighter around myself against the cold. The room was awash with grays and pinks of the early morning light. Through the wall of northern facing windows, I could make out the surrounding skyline of Luminis, the High City.

 I drew the curtains as if I could shut out the world, wishing it was that simple. I just wanted to stay home, but I had plans.

 It was also almost Henosis... I bristled as I thought about the annual winter holiday, before shaking my head and focused on changing.

 It had stopped drizzling by the time I stepped outside twenty minutes later, my hair in a ponytail, feeling oddly light without the familiar weight of my daggers. Regret and anger at myself pressed in on my chest. The chances of me finding that guy were near impossible... I might as well kiss my knives goodbye.

 That didn't mean I wasn't going to try my luck and get them back.

~

 I exhaled, rather aggressively, as I stepped out of the Hive, pulling the hood of my raincoat farther down my face to keep out the water. It had been two days since I'd lost my daggers, but I still felt off-balance. I kept telling myself that today would be the last day I looked for them, but somehow I always managed to wind up back on the streets on the next.

 It was raining hard, and my boots were beginning to fill with water. I clenched my fists at my side, before unclenching them again. I shook out my fingers, straining to reach for the empty holsters at my thighs.

 There was a surprising amount of people out in the rain. Of course, it was all due to Henosis preparations.

 My feet seemed to move of their own accord, taking me down a familiar street, then onto a narrow side road. The paved street became cobbled, the rain fell lighter, and the tall factory buildings pressed together╴there was barely enough room for me to walk comfortably.

 I didn't glance up. I already knew what I would see. Crisscrossing pipes and rusted rods, spidering up the walls. At the very top, the clouds peeked through. It looked impossibly far away, making the little road seem even more narrow.

 I shuddered. (I'm a bit claustrophobic).

 After what seemed like an eternity, I spotted a giant pair of rusted, double-doors up ahead. One of the doors was open, as it always was, and I slipped inside. This old warehouse had been the best metal factory in all of Allevan... That is, until almost ten years ago, when it caught fire and the owner died inside. The Regulate said it must have been a machine malfunction that caused the fire so they shut the place down, but no one could know for certain, and no one had bothered to investigate or repair it.

 Nobody liked to go there either after what happened, so I had claimed it for myself after Rhea's death, where I could be alone with my thoughts and stare out at the city. It was convenient for the days when my own rooms felt too small, and the walls pressed in, and the clean, perfect, perfumed scent of Luminis became suffocating.