Lark Ascending Read Online Free PDF

took a long, deep breath. “They’ll have to leave come morning to find something else to hunt, but for now, they’ll try to wait us out.”
    â€œMorning.” I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding. “We can last until then.” I felt Oren’s hand relaxing around mine.
    Kris swallowed audibly again and moved, the fabric of his clothes scraping against the stone. “Let’s not do that again,” he suggested, voice finding a little more strength.
    â€œI don’t understand what they’re even doing here.” I leaned back until my head rested on the stone pillar behind me. “It’s a city—they should be out in the countryside. The shadows hate it in the ruins.”
    Oren grunted agreement. Kris said nothing, but I could feel him tense, his body going rigid at my side.
    â€œKris,” I whispered, “what is it?”
    â€œIt’s—I think I know why they’re here,” he said. His voice sounded weak, sick. “The Institute doesn’t have the resources to keep prisoners, not with half the city against them.”
    A slow dread began to build somewhere inside me as part of me began to understand before the rest of me was willing to even consider what he was saying. “Then what—”
    â€œShe Adjusts them.” Kris swallowed. “Only there’s no ceremony, no farewell. It’s not voluntary anymore. Whenever they catch a rebel, Gloriette forces them through the Wall.”
    I felt the darkness spinning around me, horror robbing me of breath.
    â€œI think these shadows are—I think they’re our people.” Kris’s voice cut through the darkness. “And I think some part of them is still trying to find a way home.”

CHAPTER 4
    The night came and went, though only Nix’s internal clock alerted us that it was day again. I had dozed now and then, my consciousness dotted with strange dreams of things I’d never done and places I’d never been. I tried to shake them, but the feeling of familiarity lingered even as I stretched out my cramped limbs.
    We let Oren unbar the door with his ear pressed against it, listening for any sounds that might indicate we were still being hunted. But his prediction proved correct—sometime in the night, the shadows had moved off in search of easier prey, too hungry to wait forever.
    The light stabbed against my eyes as we shuffled out into the morning, leaving the dark basement behind. The fresh air was cold with lingering winter, but far sweeter than the fear-soaked atmosphere belowground. The Wall was just beyond the far edge of the street, bisecting a row of town-houses. Its dull gleam reflected little of the morning’s dim light, giving it a monstrous sort of immovability as it squatted in front of us.
    â€œHow’s your magic?” Oren asked, stretching his arms over his head as he came up beside me.
    â€œBetter,” I replied, and though my mouth opened as if to continue, no words came out.
    My tongue felt heavy and unresponsive. Though I’d left my more immediate fears of being chased down and attacked behind in the basement, the dawn had brought on an entirely new set. Kris had painted an unimaginable picture of my home. No matter what, I’d thought I was coming home to what I’d always known, even if it wasn’t necessarily what I longed for anymore. It’d be familiar, if nothing else. Comforting.
    But now there was no telling what I’d find on the other side of the Wall.
    Oren was used to chaos. He’d grown up in it, thrived in it. He didn’t understand why even now I still gravitated toward rules and order and certainty. I wished I could explain to him why the idea of my city, my steadfast, ever-fixed city, falling into ruin was so terrifying.
    And why the thought of letting him see me scared, after everything we’d been through, was so hard.
    I could feel Oren’s eyes on me as he