It’s #BookQW and our heroine has no ‘wait’ for surprises!
From Chapter Six:
Rail tracks led past the building, tracks the steam loader operated on. Mr. Yates’ business must be there, at a second platform. Annmar squeezed the seal. She was eager to get this next transport arranged, so followed a path of paving stones behind the station into shadows. The rails ran in the old roadway, closed in on either side by rock outcrops. The stones canted eerily. A frigid breeze swept down from the overarching trees. This place prickled the hairs on the back of her neck, like passages from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
She stopped and drew in her shawl. The gorge’s curving walls seemed to converge, like a perspective drawing with no end in sight. Strangely, she felt this convergence was real, that the dark end ahead would be so narrow she wouldn’t be able to turn and escape it.
Polly’s stories have caught hold of me. She was being ridiculous. But in the dimming light, her determination ebbed toward turning around—
Brrrroo. The rumbling—or was it a growl?—echoed off the walls, surrounding her. Could it be a wolf? Waiting on a ledge, ready to spring? Annmar darted searching looks across the cliffs and stumbled. Flinging out a hand, she scraped stone and felt the paper in her hand slip—
She clenched the packet, and though her shoulder jammed into the rocks, she didn’t lose her Proof seal. Warmth spread across her palm. Mercy, I’m bleeding. Her glove must be tattered, ruined. If only she could see.
Then she could see. The rock canyon around her lightened, as if the sun had come from behind a cloud. Under her feet, a wide platform proceeded along the railbed to an open area steps ahead.
Annmar glanced at her hand. The glove wasn’t ripped, or bloodstained. But it was blue.
~~~
Last day! Through July 29, The Luminated Threads boxset is 40% off on Kobo with the promo code JULYSALE. Buy it here!
Read more about the series here.
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