Shifting Stories - Shatterskin - Chapters Five and Six

A Metaphysical, visionary, fantasy, adventure: Ruta moved through the woods faster than I thought possible. Beru was even quicker. She kept circling back behind me and then running ahead of Ruta, and then coming back to me. I was running faster than I had ever run before, so how she was doing that was a mystery. There was no path as far as I could see. Ruta and Beru just ran, and things moved out of their way. Or at least I thought that was what was happening. I didn’t see any movement. Instead, there was an opening wherever Ruta went, and I followed Ruta through it. After what felt like two days but was probably less than an hour, I couldn’t run anymore. I tripped over my foot and fell flat on my face again for the second time in one day. I hoped it would be the last. Ruta had kept on running, but the next time Beru circled back she found me lying on the ground trying to breathe. She clicked her fingers together, and a moment later Ruta was there. “I don’t think she can go on right now, Ruta. Let’s stay here. We’re far enough from the clearing, and we can hide here until Hannah rests. Your friend has told us how much energy it takes to come through that portal. You need to rest.” When Ruta turned his grumpy stern face to me, I burst into tears as I mumbled, “Thank you Beru, and I’m sorry, Ruta.” I caught a look pass between them, and I swear I saw Ruta’s block face soften. I was too tired to ask what friend they were talking about. When Beru placed a mound of leaves under my head and covered me with some mysterious cloth she pulled out of her pocket, I fell asleep within seconds. The last thing I heard before entering emptiness was Suzanne’s voice saying it was safe, for now. That was enough for me. Suzanne hadn’t deserted me. Read Shatterskin, the first book in The Return To Erda , and fall in love with these characters that choose friendship, goodness, and faith in each other in order to defeat evil. READ and LISTEN anywhere you buy your books and audio.