Iris resisted, keeping her eyes forward instead. There was a field directly before her, tall grass bending to the sough of the wind. She could see the high road off to her left, a shadow in the moonlight, as well as Hawthorne Route, which cut through the meadow like a slithering snake.
It was a good distance away, but she was confident she could escape using the cover of the grass until she reached safety. Then she could sprint back to Tobias and Attie.
Iris scrunched her eyes shut for a second before letting herself fall over the roof’s edge.
She landed on her feet, her ankle throbbing again from the impact, but it wasn’t a long drop. Stumbling, she reached out to find her balance. Two rain barrels sat in the grass nearby, and she ducked down to hide between them, assessing her surroundings.
A minute passed. Then another. Iris made herself wait. She was worried there might be a patrol that she hadn’t noticed yet, and no sooner did the thought cross her mind than a door opened behind her. She heard boots clipping on the stone pavers, heading in her direction.
Iris kept close to the barrels, using them as a shield to avoid being spotted. She watched from the corner of her eye as a tall shadow strode past her.
Again, she waited. The soldier returned, as if he had been assigned to watch this plot of ground.
Iris counted his steps the next time he passed, to see how long she had with his back turned toward her. Then she took a hard swallow and forced herself forward. She crept through the grass as quickly as she could manage, eyes trained ahead to where she knew the route lay. She made it all of ten steps before someone spotted her.
“Halt!”
Iris instinctively froze until she remembered Roman’s voice. The last words he had said, whisper soft against her parted lips.
Run, Iris.
She broke into a sprint.
“I said HALT!”
It was too late to hide. Iris pushed herself faster, harder. The grass whisked against her legs; the night air was frigid against her damp skin. She felt like wings had unfurled from her shoulder blades, like nothing could stop her, until rapid gunfire chased her heels.
Iris tripped, her blood humming with fear.
Somehow, she managed to stay upright, dodging the shots. Bullets peppered the ground to her left, so close that she could smell the pierced loam. Panic coursed through her like a river breaking a dam.
She was almost to Hawthorne Route.
Another round of gunfire pierced the darkness, followed by shouts. Iris never looked back. When her boots hit the road, she knew she had reached the place where Tobias had once been parked. She knew, because she passed the pothole in the road, but the roadster was nowhere to be seen.
They’re gone.
Iris laid her hand over her chest, relieved. Devastated. Where do I go from here? she thought, lungs heaving as she tried to calm her heart. She needed to forge a new plan, one that had her slipping from Dacre’s soldiers, but her pace began to falter. Her thoughts scattered like broken glass.
Exhausted, she eased to a brisk walk on the road. Her surroundings felt murky until she heard the familiar roar of an engine. A beat later, two headlights cut through the night.
Tobias’s roadster sped toward her, emerging from the wispy grass on the other side of the road. Iris sprinted forward to meet him, the bright sting of the headlights washing over her face. Behind her, Dacre’s soldiers were screaming for her to halt, halt!
She didn’t stop. Their orders melted into the darkness, like stars at dawn. When Tobias swung the roadster to the side, angling the back door in her direction, Iris leapt.
She slammed into the side of the car, her knees denting the metal door. Attie reached down and grasped hold of her arms, hauling her into the cab, and before Iris could so much as wince, Tobias had floored the accelerator. Tires squealed on the road, slinging mud as bullets plinked against the bumper.
The girls remained hunched on the floorboard as another medley of gunshots snapped in the distance. But the threat soon grew fainter, and the motor beneath them faster.
“Iris?” Attie said, helping her up to the seat. “Are you hurt? Did they…？”
“I’m fine,” Iris replied in a ragged tone. “Will they pursue us?”
“I don’t know,” said Tobias, shifting the roadster to the next gear. “Best if we act like they will, though.”
Iris nodded and withdrew the wrench from her pocket, only to realize her hands were quivering. The adrenaline was dimming, leaving embers behind in her bones. She let the tool clatter to the floorboards and rubbed her palms against her sleeves, eager to feel something other than the dread that was stealing over her.