Exclusive Excerpt from Repeat Offence
by Jackie Keswick
The First Life
Fallen
I woke to darkness and silence, face down on a surface that was neither hot nor cold, neither hard nor soft. It was smooth, and flat, and yielded by a small amount as I planted my hands and pushed myself carefully upright.
My knees and back protested when I shifted, as if I’d lain motionless for far too long. I moved my head from side to side, arched and straightened my spine to loosen tight muscles. Then, kneeling in the dark, I swept my outstretched arms up and to the sides, trying to find edges, objects… anything that could tell me where I was. My questing hands passed through empty air, unimpeded except for an unfamiliar weight that dragged on my shoulders.
I ran my hands up my thighs, across my hips and chest. My skin felt cool and dry under my palms, and when I reached to touch my back, I encountered a row of long, silky feathers starting beside my spine and extending in an arching sweep beyond the reach of my fingertips.
I was naked.
In the dark.
With wings on my back.
None of it made sense.
When I’d woken after my battlefield death, I’d been clothed—in unfamiliar garb, admittedly—but I hadn’t been naked. Now those clothes were gone along with everything else I remembered.
Where was the hall where we’d woken?
Where was the Judge?
Most importantly, where was Hiro?
And why, of all things, did I have wings?
“Hiro?” I called for him, louder with each repetition until I screamed his name, but the darkness had no echo. It had no answers, either. I could have been the only one alive, and there would have been no way for me to know.
I pushed to my feet and took step after step with my arms stretched in front of me, moving slow and unsteady like a blind man. The wings dragged along the floor with a soft rustle, no use in the lightless space. My prison appeared without bounds. Whichever direction I moved in, I found neither walls nor doors.
If this was to be our punishment…
You will spend your lives on opposite sides of the veil, taking turns living and watching.
Jack Horwood. Vigilante, hacker, security specialist. Partner to Gareth Flynn. Adoptive father to their two teenage boys. Happily juggling long days and short nights.
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