of work to come up with creative threats,” she sighs. “They ought to be appreciated.”
Heat prickles my neck, keeping me focused. My blood pounds, veins bursting with tiny jolts of eager energy. For the first time in gods know how long, I feel alive. Though in the back of my mind I know it’s wrong—though I know I shouldn’t love the fight—I do.
I crave this feeling more than any other.
The merchant curses and tries to take a swipe at me with her long nails. One of them is tipped with thin, elegant metal that extends from her finger like a long, embellished fingernail. She scratches it against my trousers, and though she doesn’t break through the fabric, it begins to sizzle. Whatever poison is in the tip of that metallic finger burns, and I curse as it eats its way through my pants quickly, knowing that can only mean it’ll go through my skin, next.
I drop my hand from her hair and slide the dagger across my pants, tearing off the fabric before it can melt into my leg. The merchant tries to use my distraction to throw me off balance and escape, but Vataea has her foot pressed against the merchant’s neck before she can flee. Her golden eyes are nothing short of lethal.
“I’m starting to get hungry.” Vataea’s voice is pure frost. “Try that again, and I’ll skin you alive and filet you like a fish.”
“Ooh, good one, V,” Shanty chimes in. “Make sure to remember that one. We’ll have to use it again.”
Skin pale, the merchant stills. “You’re not human.”
“How kind of you to notice,” Vataea says. Her words are as barbed and lethal as those golden eyes. “Now if you value your heart, you’ll make this easy. My friends and I have some questions for you.” She removes her foot from the merchant’s neck, and I ease off the woman’s back enough for her to gather her breath and straighten.
“I’ll take you there,” the merchant rasps, rubbing her throat. “And I’ll tell you whatever you want to know. Just hurry, please, before someone else sees us.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Humidity clings to my skin as we journey into the jungle, venturing far past the marketplace and deep into the thicket of overgrown trees and lush flora. Buzzing insects swarm us, drawn by the sweetness of our sweat, and I bat them away with a steady stream of curses as they try to get a taste of my skin.
The deeper into the jungle we journey—and the wider my distance from Bastian grows—the heavier my limbs become as my curse settles into my bones.
“How much farther?” I demand as the merchant hesitates by a misshapen trunk, inspecting its bark. Squinting my eyes, I notice a tiny zolo leaf has been crudely carved onto it. The tension in my shoulders eases. The merchant isn’t misguiding us; she’s searching. In a jungle this massive, it’s impossible to tell anything apart. Wherever we’re going, it must be well hidden.
“We’re nearly there.”
To Shanty I ask, “How’d you find this place last time?”
“I’ve never been to the base before.” A mosquito takes a swipe at her neck and she smacks it dead, grimacing at the guts on her palm. “I glamoured myself to look like one of the merchants and stole their wares.” She grins when my brow arches. “A girl’s got to work, Amora. No one got hurt who didn’t deserve it.”
There’s a pang in my chest from my missing soul magic; what I wouldn’t give to take a peek into Shanty’s soul and see what it’s like in there.
As we travel deeper into the jungle, the canopy over us thickens, clotting the sky. No sunlight sneaks through the branches, making it impossible to decipher how long we’ve been out here or how close it may be to sunset. My heart gives an anxious squeeze and I turn to the merchant. “For your sake, you’d better hurry.”
While her footsteps hasten, the woman scowls. I drag myself after her, boots struggling to keep pace through the thick damp moss and overgrown weeds that reach out to ensnare us. Vataea, after perhaps her fourth time tripping over something, snarls and stabs her blade into the weeds.
“You know they’re inanimate, right?” Shanty asks casually. “That they’re not actually trying to hurt you?”
Regardless, Vataea spits at the ground. “The land is too cluttered. At least with the sea there’s empty space. You can see where you’re going.”
I shudder as I recall the time she brought me into the sea