Another ripple of warning touched my light.
They were coming.
Pushing my way through the opening in the glass door, I ran to the balcony railing, peering around the etched-glass partitions on either side. A line of lit windows greeted me on one side as I looked out past the wind barriers that sandwiched the balcony where I stood. On the other, a twenty foot span separated me from the next set of balconies.
Damn. I’d assumed it would be like our section of staterooms on the eighth deck, where all the balconies were attached.
I felt my breath start to come in short pants. They must know where I was, after my stunt with those humans in the corridor. Now it turned out I’d picked the wrong couple to hijack.
Gripping the railing, I swung myself up on top of it. Even in the dark, I could make out white balconies stretched below me in a long row, separated by those glass dividing walls. The balcony directly below me was ten or twelve feet down. If I hung from this one, the railing itself would only be about six or seven more feet to my toes—but there was no way to jump and not kill myself when I tried to land.
I would have to swing inward enough to land on the balcony itself.
Something pushed at my light again, bringing a fresh shot of adrenaline to my blood. Realizing the heavy sweatshirt restricted my movement, I ripped it off my arms and threw it over the rail. It flew sideways with the motion of the ship and got stuck on one of the lifeboats. It remained there, flapping in the wind.
Fuck.
Nothing I could do about it now. Before I let myself think, I climbed down to the lower rail and dropped my weight so I was hanging from my hands.
Almost immediately, this felt like a mistake.
My hand slipped, barely holding on. The other throbbed, bruised and bloodied from the fight with Ivy. I stared down between my combat boots at the railing below. If I let go right now, I’d probably hit my head and end up in the water. I would have to get some momentum...and try and remember to tuck my head. This was starting to feel like a really stupid plan, but I’d just negated all my other options.#p#分页标题#e#
Pushing off from the wall with the toes of my boots, I started to swing, lightly at first, testing my grip, then more vigorously, using my legs as a pendulum. In a few seconds, I was getting as much height as the range of motion allowed. Reaching the bottom of the arc, I let go, using my arms to propel me down and back towards the ship.
It happened fast. I remembered to tuck my head...but not my arms.
My elbows smacked the railing hard, throwing my upper body forward. My arms wouldn’t rise to shield my head. Something dark approached.
My face slammed into what felt like rock.
I lay there, unable to move. My mind repeated, like a skipped record.
I couldn’t sleep. He’d told me a hundred times I couldn’t sleep...
Even so, I think I lost some time. However much it was, as soon as it was over, I jerked where I lay, my nerves jacked up.
I opened my eyes with an effort. My legs were splayed. One arm lay bent under my chest, throbbing. When I raised my head, it seemed to unstick from the deck.
I stared at the dark stain where my cheek had been, then raised a hand to touch my face. I bit my lip to stifle a cry as I tried to move my legs. My right knee screamed, enveloped in a fire-like pain.
I could only lay there at first, feeling like a broken toy.
Creeping in like a bad smell, that urgency came at me again, and I moved my limbs gingerly, testing as I went. My cheek had already started to swell. From what I could tell, I’d been lying there closer to a minute than an hour...maybe seconds before my consciousness switch flipped back to on. My left arm felt like ligaments had been ripped out of the elbow and shoulder joints with pliers.
I forced myself to a sitting position. Then, gripping the wall, I sucked in a breath and lurched to my feet. I stood there, trying to focus my eyes, when I heard voices on the balcony above. I froze.
“Here?”
A silence. I didn’t move, didn’t breathe.
“Could she jump that far?”
I heard a faint clicking sound, carried by wind.
“She was in and out too fast to pinpoint.” The male voice paused, grunting. “Whatever she did, she hurt herself.”
“Check the deck. I don’t see evidence of a fall.”
There was another silence. I stood there, still not breathing, focusing on my body like Revik taught me so I wouldn’t inadvertently fall into the Barrier in reflex. He said it was normal for a seer to go to the Barrier when threatened. He said that sometimes the hardest thing for a seer to do was to stay out.
I pressed my back to the glass door, hoping I was out of their line of sight, when the second Rook cursed.
I heard the crackle of a radio.
“She jumped. Confirm, she jumped. Looks like she hit the lifeboat on the way down...but she might have landed there, too. Bring the boat around, have them check the water on the port side. And if anyone’s close, have them check deck...” He must have been counting. “...Four. If she made it onto the lifeboat, she would have tried to get back in there.” A pause. “No, there’s no blood. She might have bounced right into the water.”