ash

Epilogue

When Pabla closes her eyes she can hear the fire laughing viciously, but when she opens her eyes she can see the winged creature. It smiles at her, and Pabla can see its fangs, as sharp as its gleaming silver eyes. It is a deathly whiter-than-chalk pale, and the edges of its features seem to be crumbling slowly, the way ash crumbles.

It slowly dusts its pinstriped suit off with its pale almost-hands, and Pabla notices, with a strange curiosity, that it has never taken its eyes off her for even a moment.

Its magnificent wings are ash-coloured, each wing spanning almost the same length as its height. They beat slowly with a far-off rhythm that doesn't seem to belong to it.

"You must be Pabla," it says, its voice like ripped-linen that makes Pabla want to cry and laugh at the same time.

The End
Author's Notes