Sky Breaker (Night Spinner Duology), Addie Thorley [100 books to read in a lifetime txt] 📗

the ration cavern. It’s barely ten paces across. An intruder would be a mere hand’s breadth away from me.

My muscles tense, prepared to pounce on whoever has the audacity to steal from the entire group. But I force myself to wait as I scan the darkness.

At first I see nothing, but as I gather up a handful of night and tug it back, like the blankets Ghoa hoarded when we shared a bedroll as children, an outline shimmers into focus.

I don’t recognize the thief right away; they’re on the small side, with skinny legs poking out from beneath a tattered hem and a hood pulled over their hair.

My palms prickle with starfire as I watch them sift through the sacks, snatching a bit of this and a handful of that. Taking whatever they’d like, no matter that the rest of us are starving too.

How can you be so selfish?

And even more curious, how can they see?

I sit there, coiled like a banshee viper in the cavern opening, waiting for the opportune moment to strike.

When the thief finishes raiding what little food we have, they heft the sack over their shoulder and creep closer. Closer. I snap my eyes shut as they glance down at me—just a careless guard, overtaken by sleep. But as they hop over my legs, I reach out and grab their ankle.

“Gotcha!”

A deafening scream fills the cavern as the thief falls. The sack of stolen rations hits the ground, and I howl with indignation as our precious food rolls through grimy puddles.

“How dare you!” I roar, leaping onto the thief’s squirming body. My old injuries are a dull buzz compared to my rage. I grab for their arms and try to pin them to the ground. For a second they’re so still, I think I’ve managed it. Then the ribbons of darkness heave and I tumble backward—into a whirl of pitch black, as if they pulled a rug out from beneath me.

I’m so stunned, I lose my grip entirely, and both the thief and the night wiggle free.

The intruder retrieves the mostly empty food sack and they’re already several paces ahead by the time I clamber to my feet. Which is a problem, since I am not a fast runner.

“Stop!” I bellow, sprinting as fast as I can despite the jolting pain. Panicked thoughts whirl around my brain: the Zemyans are here, using my siphoned power. Except why would they bother stealing our food? So there must be another Night Spinner among the shepherds. Except I would have known. I would have felt them sooner. We would have been playing tug-of-war with the threads of darkness all this time.

I fly into the main cavern, where sleepy-eyed shepherds spill from their tents, gaping with horror. All of them yelling at me when they should be yelling at the thief.

“They’re stealing our food!” I point at the hooded figure, who’s already halfway across the cavern, but every eye remains on me.

I try to rip the cloak of darkness off the thief, but they’re too far away and their grip is too strong. My hands are too shaky.

“If you’re not going to help, at least get out of my way!” I shout as I plow through the throng, throwing elbows and ramming shoulders.

I’m nearly to the tunnel the thief slipped down when someone dodges in front of me. “Stop this, En!” Serik looks as mortified as the rest of the group. “There’s no one here. You’re frightening everyone.”

“Just because you can’t see them, doesn’t mean no one’s here!”

Serik places his hands on my shoulders and holds me tight. “I know you’re desperate, but do you really think this is the best way—”

“This is the only way. Move!”

Still, Serik doesn’t let go. Leaving me no choice. Not only is the thief stealing our food, they’re somehow wielding the darkness. They can’t get away.

I fling the night over myself like a cloak and drive my knee into Serik’s stomach.

“I’m sorry,” I cry as he crumples. Then I dodge through the crowd much more efficiently and charge into the tunnel.

Too late.

There isn’t even a fleeting glimpse of the thief. Only dozens of tunnels branching off in a hundred different directions. Growling with frustration, I slam my good hand into the wall. That’s when I feel it: the push and pull of the darkness. Every time I tighten my grip, the thief pulls back. Connecting us like a tether.

I dart ahead again, following the pull right, then left, then right again. Where in the skies are they going? I’ll never find my way back. A second later, cold air slaps me across the face and the ceiling explodes with stars. My feet sink into the still warm sand, slowing my progress even further.

Why would they leave the caves?

Panic seizes my lungs as a third possibility enters my mind. If the thief isn’t Zemyan or one of our own, they must be from the outside. And if that’s the case, stolen food is the least of our worries. They could reveal our location to the imperial governor in Verdenet. Or sell us out to the Zemyans.

I beg my feet to move faster, but the sand is deep and my bad leg throbs. The thief races up the nearest dune, widening the gap between us. Until the tug of darkness is so faint, I can no longer feel it.

Crashing to my knees, I tilt my face heavenward and cry out to the Lady and Father, screaming at the distant, glinting stars. And that’s when I remember that darkness isn’t the only weapon at my disposal.

Don’t!

My mind dredges up images of the burning Sky Palace, but I don’t have a choice. I have to think of the safety of the group.

The thief is a Night Spinner.

I have always been the only one—other than my mentor Tuva, who died when I was thirteen. Where has this person been hiding? Why haven’t they been recruited by the Kalima? Is this a challenge of some sort?

There’s only one way to