Defy the Sun (Beware the Night #2) - Jessika Fleck Page 0,101

were a sort of symbol.

Not unlike the Lunalette.

“This war isn’t going to end unless we’re forced to come together.” He’d motioned toward one of his maps. The one zoomed in over the northwest tip of the island. The one with beaches and rocks. The Crag. A dormant volcano. The same dormant volcano where the Sindaco’s weapon is buried right underneath. The weapon now surrounded by mines.

I grab my atlatl, slip on my boots without bothering to lace them, and run out of my cave.

“Dorian!” I shout down the hallway, but don’t take time to stop. “The Crag!” I yell, as if he’s going to understand.

He must not hear me or he’s not in his room, and I don’t have time to go back, shake him awake or hunt him down.

I’ll have to do this alone.

* * *

THE SINDACO’S NOT with the weapon. All is as we left it hours earlier: dark, the weapon as dormant as this volcano, pile of land mines stacked on one side.

But wait—

I lower my lantern toward the stack. There’s definitely more now, a series of wires linking them that I’m sure wasn’t there earlier. I follow the wiring along the floor and up the wall where there’s a hole.

I step closer.

More mines are tucked up into the ceiling, another wire coming out from the crudely carved cavern.

That wire leads to another hole, more mines, and so on all around the cave. This cavern is literally set to blow.

I move toward the mines and wires on the floor, wonder if there’s some way to easily disconnect them. I pull out my blade, kneel down, but don’t even know where to begin.

Could cutting one set off any of the others?

I’ve got to find help.

I head back to the main cave where most everyone should still be gathered. I’m hoping to find Dorian—that he’ll somehow know about the wires or know of someone who might.

I sprint as fast as I can.

Up, down, around, I’m not even sure how I find my way so fast, but I do and I’m entering the main cave and what I stumble upon isn’t at all what I expect.

Yes, most of the Night is still gathered.

But the Sindaco’s beat me to it.

They’re sitting before the leader of the Night who remarkably seems back to himself.

That is, until I hear what he’s saying.

He’s holding up a certain children’s book.

“She made it all up! And now she’s trying to take you down with her.” He spots me in the back of the room. Points right at me so all eyes are instantly set in my direction. “There was never a Lunalette—Veda Adeline, you are a traitor and a liar!” he shouts.

But no one moves.

“Arrest her!” the Sindaco yells.

Still nothing.

There’s a bit of mumbling … Whispers here and there …

Dorian climbs up onto a chair. “The truth is, the Sindaco is Veda’s father.”

“More lies!” he shouts.

I climb up onto a chair. Speak as loudly as I can. “He used the story from that book to make up the Lunalette prophecy.” I look out over a hundred confused faces. “So, yes, he’s right, there was never a Lunalette, and I’m certainly not the savior you all thought you’d been waiting for.” I glare at the Sindaco. “But it was his lie, not mine. He’s been wanting this war and revenge on Raevald since the day my mother was killed. Creating the Lunalette was a way to gain support. Rally you all behind him. I’m so sorry.” My voice breaks. “I wanted to be your Lunalette, but I’m not. It’s just a story.”

“No!” someone shouts. I can’t find them in the crowd.

And another: “You may not be Lunalette, but you are our savior!”

“Here, here!” Xavier shouts, his voice booming throughout the cavern.

Imi and Bronwyn, others join in with, “Here, here!” and “Huzzah!”

As my eyes fill with emotion and my chest swells, I pull myself back to the reason I sounded the alarm. The Sindaco and his weapon. The volcano.

When I find the Sindaco, his eyes have gone red in a way I’ve never seen before. Not in his eyes, but definitely in Raevald’s. He’s staring daggers at me but also looking through me. The man has stepped down off the platform and, eyes set on me, marches directly for where I stand.

Dorian sees this.

He steps down from his own chair.

I’m about to shout out in warning when the Sindaco breaks into a full-out run straight for me, pushing bodies out of his way as he plows through the