to catch a skylark || onc2022

▅▅▅▅ 021 | MEETING ACROSS THE DIVIDE

The cold took her by surprise.

She had no idea what happened to her. The next thing she knew, she was curled up on a concrete rooftop, freezing air tickling at her bare arms and a high-pitched noise wailing in the distance.

Etta frowned. The noise sounded familiar, but she couldn't quite place it...

Abruptly, she remembered. A police siren.

She bolted upright, glancing round. Gone were the draping leaves, the mossy floor, the trickle of water through the Esranian marshes. Now, tall buildings towered around her, square lights dappling their faces. Below she could see shuttered stores, and an empty chip packet rolling in the breeze.

Etta's heart lurched.

Could it be?

Sick with trepidation, she pushed herself onto her feet. Her mind spun as she rose, still disorientated. There was the coffee shop, and the toy store, and it looked like the pizza place had closed down, but she recognised the scruffy exterior of the arcade where they'd spent their afternoons skiving off school...

Etta didn't believe it at first. It had to be a hallucination, some kind of weird spell Velantine had cast on her. It was the kind of trick she'd play, making her believe she'd made it home, only for her to pull away the glamour just when she started to believe it.

But everything seemed so real. Could Velantine really have recreated Stonebridge so accurately?

She made her way down the fire escape and onto the main street. The touch of cool concrete beneath her bare feet were a far cry from the soft touch of moss on her soles, an unfamiliar sensation. Her Esranian clothes already made her stand out, and combined with her hair tumbled loose over her shoulders in uncombed waves, and her bare feet were already getting grimy from walking on the pavement, she must have looked a state. Warmth rushed into her face, and she ducked her head, trying to avoid eye contact.

Eyes firmly on the pavement, she didn't even notice someone was following her until she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Wait. Etta?"

Etta's head shot up.

That voice, it can't be—

He stood just a few feet away from her, disbelief and anxious hope on his face

A lump lodged in her throat, and her eyes filled with tears. "Baz."

She lurched forward, and he came and wrapped her up in a tight embrace.

"Holy fucking shit," he said. "I can't believe it."

Etta clenched her fists in his shirt, holding onto him like he'd disappear if she let him go. "It's really you," she whispered, her voice thick and blurred. "I never thought..."

Finally, they pulled away. Baz couldn't keep his eyes off her, grinning from ear to ear. But then something seemed to occur to him, and the smile faded.

"But if you're here..." Baz's eyebrows knotted. "Did you see Sadie?"

"Sadie?" She'd missed her so, so much. "No, I didn't see her. Is she with you?"

Baz frowned and st

"Wait, I don't get it," Etta said. "Sadie brought me here?"

"We were gonna send Avel over, and bring you back instead," Baz said. "But then Sadie started saying all this weird stuff about Avel, like she was having second thoughts about it."