James rushed into his apartment and slammed the door shut. He didn’t know why he had even bothered going to work today when all he’d managed to do was stare at the screen and barely contain his anxiety! The group had escaped from the Doors thanks to Kit, but Bloom was bound to be stuck in No Man’s Land, still searching through those treacherous territories for the right exits, and the Merchants at the Doors had surely reported everything that had happened to the Third by now.
How far had Bloom managed to navigate through No Man’s Land on his own? How many of the Third’s men were out there searching for the group? And what about Kit and Zilch? The group couldn’t possibly go back for them tonight. But they couldn’t just leave them trapped in the City either!
He filled a pot with water then stood at the stove and tapped his foot as he waited for the water to boil. After a few seconds, he cast the water into the sink, tore open an energy bar, and grabbed his sleeping pills. He closed all the curtains before shoving himself under his blankets. He forced his breathing into deep inhales and controlled exhales. He had to clear his mind for now. He had to fall asleep. There was no use staying in Reality for even a second longer. He had to regroup with the others and figure out what to do. Minutes ticked by before drowsiness began to overpower him.
His eyes blinked shut then opened.
Bloom, Honey, and Lux stood next to one another, tense and silent. A few feet away, Snow stood shouting and pleading with E as she paced back and forth.
“We have to go back for Zilch, E, please!”
“I said be quiet! We’re still in No Man’s Land.”
E stopped and glanced at the dark, verdant jungle which loomed several yards away from the group. The wide stretch of dirt on which they currently stood separated the jungle from tall, dry weeds covering half of a vast field. Beyond the field, yellow hills leaned against a blue sky.
“E, please. I’m begging you,” said Snow. “They’ll catch Z. They’ll take him back to the Tower. We have to go back, E, please!”
“Shut up!” E roared.
Snow stiffened. Her wide, blank eyes stared into space for several moments.
“Are you really going to abandon Kit like this?” said Snow.
E turned toward her, her eyes glinting like blades unsheathed. James and Bloom took a few steps forward. Blood Crow appeared next to Bloom then stumbled back as E drew her dagger.
“Are you really going to abandon him? Do you really think he could have escaped?” Snow continued. “They’ll catch him, and they’ll take him to the Tower. They’ll do whatever they need to do to make him talk, and they’ll break him just like they break all the others. We need to go back tonight if you want to save him.”
“E,” James warned, walking toward her with quickening steps. “E, don’t do it!”
She hurled her dagger into Snow’s stomach. James groaned and clutched his head. All the anxiety that had built up within him throughout the day suddenly left him like air rushing out of punctured a balloon so that only his frustration and exhaustion remained. Snow exhaled softly, gathered her pale fingers around the hilt of E’s dagger, and collapsed onto the dirt.
“Shut up, and let me think!” E shouted. “If we go back now, they’ll imprison us all! We might not get another chance to escape. I … I need to think.”
Lux scrunched up his face, struggled, then blurted, “But E, she’s right! Kit and Zilch are totally screwed if we don’t go back right now.”
“Kit knows how to take care of himself,” E snapped.
Lux gave his head a slight shake then stared at her as if he’d never really seen her before. His face sank with disappointment.
“You’re really going to abandon him like this? After everything he did last night? He risked everything for us. For you! We can’t just–”
“Stop it!” she screamed.
Lux recoiled. His disappointment twisted into disgust. Phoenix appeared next to Bloom then did a double take at Snow curled up and bleeding on the ground.
“What’s going on here?” he demanded of E.
She flashed him a piercing look then resumed pacing back and forth.
“E and Snow were arguing,” Lux mumbled. “Snow wants to go back for Kit and Zilch, but E says it’ll be too dangerous.”
Phoenix stared at E as she continued stomping around. Blood Crow lifted her nose high into the air and walked over to Snow. Bloom and Honey joined her as she tended to the wound E’s dagger had made. James rubbed the inner corners of his eyes and dragged his feet over to Lux and Phoenix. Phoenix stared at E a moment longer before turning to Lux.
“E’s right,” Phoenix said. “I’ve been thinking it over all day. We should get out of No Man’s Land first. The Third’s men are sure to be crawling all over the territories already. Once we’re safe, we can think about what to do, who to rescue, and how. It’s no use arguing right now. We need to get out of here.”
“But what about Kit and Zilch?” Lux said with a pained expression.
“Kit doesn’t exactly seem weak or stupid to me,” Phoenix said. “And he’s a Jackal. He said he’d get Zilch out, so let’s see if he can. If he does, it’ll be all the better if we can get out of here now.”
Lux clicked his tongue and kicked at a few rocks embedded in the dirt. “I still think we should go back,” he muttered. “E’s just being stubborn again, and she’s abandoning Kit even though he’s bending over backward for her.”
“Don’t judge her like that. You don’t know what’s happened between them before.”
Lux continued kicking at the rocks. James let out a deep sigh and buried his face in his hands. Phoenix was right. Going back to the City right now would be tactical suicide. But James agreed with Lux about E’s behavior. E. She really could be so difficult. Rejecting Kit flat then kissing him so passionately and now flinging around daggers at a blind girl while screaming for all of No Man’s Land to hear! He was growing so tired of her unpredictable storms of emotion and double standards. She could be so calm and controlled one moment then unstable and nearly unhinged the next. Why did she have to act like this?
“Phoenix … do you … are you jealous?” said Lux.
James lifted his face from his hands.
“Jealous,” Phoenix repeated.
“Well, yeah. Kit was right, wasn’t he? You like E too? You don’t want her going back and finding him, right? I mean, I know she’s playing hard to get and everything, but you saw how they were making out.” Lux shook his head and sighed. “Sorry, man. I don’t know how else to put it. I shouldn’t have brought it up.”
“Any feelings I have for E are irrelevant. We need to survive right now. This is no time for my feelings or anyone else’s feelings to get involved. If going back right now were the best thing to do, I’d have no problem with it.”
“Yeah, sure. Okay,” Lux mumbled. Then he clicked his tongue again. “Man, you’re just making stuff up and being jealous!”
“Lux,” James groaned. “Just drop it!”
“Don’t tell me to drop it! You know it’s true. He’s just making things up because he doesn’t want to admit that Kit is right and that he doesn’t want to go back.”
“Don’t accuse me of being petty like that!” Phoenix retorted. “You’re not thinking straight, and you’re not making any sense right now, so just stop!”
“W-Well, maybe it’s about time I snapped a little! I’m sick of traveling every corner of every plane every night. Last night was so crazy, and Reality is hard as it is. Work really sucked at the shop today, you know? And if you think your sister is difficult, James, you should meet mine! Everyone is being so … so….”
Lux struggled then threw his arms over his head as if he wanted to shut out the entire world and find just one moment of peace. He scowled and flung his arms back down before walking away. Phoenix hesitated then followed him. James didn’t bother. He wasn’t in the mood to deal with any of this.
“Hey,” said Honey as she walked up to him.
“Hey. How’s Snow?”
“Good. Or at least good enough. Looks like E wasn’t aiming for anything too important. Snow is a pretty slow healer, though. Slower than me if you can believe that. I don’t think she’s had much of a chance to practice, being cooped up in the Tower every night, but anyway. You want to look after her for a while? I wanted to chat with E a little.”
“About what? You don’t agree with Snow and Lux, do you? I know E’s being difficult, but we can’t go back right now.”
“No, no. Not about going back. Just something between us girls.”
“Huh?” he said. Honey and E weren’t exactly the “girl talk” type of girls.
She eyed the look on his face then chuckled. “It’s just about her and Kit. You noticed it too, didn’t you? Even Blood Crow saw it.”
“You’re calling her by her name now?”
“Can you stay on topic? I know there are about a million other things we need to worry about right now, but I’ve had my fair share of bad boys in the past, so I know how distracting those kinds of boys can be. Blood Crow knows too, and we both agree that we can’t have E being so distracted right now.”
James’s heart tightened at the thought of Blood Crow kissing another man as E had kissed Kit. “What do you mean?” he demanded.
“I just mean … I don’t know. My tingly senses are all going off, and well, I’m really worried about E to tell you the truth, even with all the fighting and the battles and all that aside. Blood Crow is worried too, as a fellow woman and everything. She came up to me, and we talked about it back at Kit’s place, and we both agreed that something feels really off.”
E stopped pacing.
“We need to get out of No Man’s Land for now,” she told the group. “We need to escape from the Third, find the Calf, and kill it before it regains its full strength. We’ll come up with a rescue plan afterward. Phoenix, do you think Alex might have a post nearby?”
“I’ll check. There might be one in the jungle.”
“Take Bloom with you. He might be able to pick up on her scent. If you can’t find anything within a few yards, come back, and we’ll try finding a post somewhere else.”
Phoenix nodded then set out into the jungle with Bloom at his side. Lux glanced at E before following them.
“Blood Crow, Honey, go and stand guard. Look out for any search parties,” E commanded.
Blood Crow nodded and marched off to keep watch.
“Wait. E,” said Honey. “E, can I talk to you?”
James hurried over to Snow. Whatever Honey wanted to talk to E about, he did not want to be around when she said it. In her agitated state, E was bound to explode sooner or later, and he did not want to take needless shrapnel tonight.
“You okay?” he asked Snow as he helped her sit up.
She winced. Her hands sprang to her bandaged stomach.
“Yeah, I know how that feels,” he said, giving her a sympathetic pat on the shoulder as, sure enough, E snapped at Honey from behind him.
“What is wrong with her?” Snow said with an angry sob in her voice. “A dagger? Really? That was so unnecessary! Is she always so abusive a-and rude?”
James looked up at the sky. Memories of E yelling at him and stabbing him swirled together with images of her rescuing him from citizens and a falling boulder.
“She’s just trying her best,” he ended up saying.
Snow shook her head. “How can she just abandon them like this? Even if it’s not for Z, she should go back for Kit, shouldn’t she?”
He felt a twinge of pity as he saw the desperation on her face. He wondered what Snow’s day must have been like and how much her thoughts must have tortured her. He tried to imagine how he would feel right now if a member of Crew Blue were still stuck at the Doors.
“Snow,” he said, keeping his voice low and gentle. “I know you want to go back, and I’ve been thinking about it all day too. But I think E’s right. We’ll all get caught if we go back now. Everything will have been for nothing. You know that, and Zilch will know that too. He’s smart. And who knows? Kit really might get him past the moonlight. They weren’t that far from the Blue Border.”
Snow began rubbing her knuckles. James sighed.
“Let’s try talking about something else,” he said. “Try to take our minds off of things, at least while we wait for Phoenix. Focusing on the negative isn’t getting us anywhere right now.”
She continued rubbing her knuckles but did not protest.
“How … how did you and Phoenix become friends? He found you as a newborn, right? What was that like? Tell me all about your first night from the beginning,” he said, taking a stab at the first topic that came to mind.
“O-Oh! Well, we, um….”
Maybe Kit had rubbed off on him, but James thought he sensed something more than friendly feelings in the blush that darkened Snow’s pale skin. His suspecting gaze wandered from her cheeks to her eyes. Thin, black lines webbed her irises like light playing on an ocean floor. He suddenly realized that the blue of her eyes matched that of the stone box they had found in their awakening dreams. The lines, too, matched those that had been sprawled across the box’s surface.
“Well,” she said as her hands slowly relaxed, “that night was pretty awful. At least until Phoenix found me. You know how scary things are when you’re born. And eating the eye. And then I found out that I was blind. It was a lot to handle. A little too much.”
“Yeah,” he said. Being born into the Flowering had been chaotic enough even without eating the eye. He couldn’t imagine adding sudden blindness to it all. “Yeah, I bet that was pretty crazy.”
Her troubled expression softened. “I was born into a desert, or at least I think it was. I remember the ground being really dry and jagged, but I think there was some vegetation or something too because I tripped over some roots. There was this really strong smell there too. Actually, it’s that smell you can smell right now.”
“What smell?”
“That smell,” she said, as if referring to the obvious. “That lavender smell that’s coming from over there.”
He stared in the direction toward which she had turned her nose but saw nothing except for the full moon and yellow hills. A few whiffs brought only the scent of fresh air and moist earth. Maybe Snow’s vision wasn’t the only sense that had something wrong with it.
“I ended up falling through what I think was an exit. Phoenix found me right after,” she continued. “I was so lucky he found me. It could have been so bad if he hadn’t. Imagine what could have happened if one of the moulded had found me first. But I didn’t know how lucky I was in the moment. I yelled and screamed and said all sorts of mean things to him. But he was so great about it. He really saved me that night in more than one way. He was so caring and patient.”
Now he definitely knew that she had more than friendly feelings for Phoenix.
“He calmed me down. Gave me clothes. We tried walking, but I kept falling over, so he carried me all the way to the City. He taught me to create and trained me a little with weapons too. Enough to protect myself, at least. He even named me Snow.”
James smiled as she beamed.
“I see,” he said. “Any reason in particular for the name?”
“There was white dust all over me when he found me. He said it almost looked like I was covered in snow. And when I told him that I really didn’t want to be called Twelve for the rest of my life, he said, ‘How about Snow, then? I think it suits you.’ It was really sweet of him.
“When he had to leave me in the Tower, he didn’t even ask for a reward. He just asked if he could see me for free whenever he wanted to. Him and any friends he might bring along. He promised to try and visit me at least once a year and maybe bring the Runner who had helped us so that I’d have more than one visitor.
“I knew he was just saying it to cheer me up, though. I didn’t think he’d really come. You know how hard it is getting to the City, and him being a Roamer and all. But it was a really sweet gesture. Even Three was impressed with how nice and polite he was. And, well, I guess it gave me some hope and something to look forward to just in case he actually did end up coming back. And that hope got me through some difficult nights. Phoenix is a real gentleman.”
James’s stress slowly released its hold on him as he stared at the puppy-like infatuation glowing on her face.
“I’m glad he took good care of you. I think he’s a good guy too, like you said. And, uh … it’s cute how much you like him.”
He smiled again as she blushed.
“Is it … can you tell I … is it that obvious?” she whispered.
“You might want to tone it down a little if you don’t want everyone to notice,” he advised.
She began rubbing her knuckles again. “James. Phoenix doesn’t like E, right? Like Kit said? I could hear everything from inside the cart,” she whispered.
James knew she was using Korean intentionally to block as many of the others as she could from accidentally eavesdropping, but it wasn’t the fear of being overheard that made him hesitate before answering her. His honest answer was that Phoenix probably did have some sort of crush on E, but too much fear lay in Snow’s eyes for him to dash her hopes based on a mere assumption. Besides, she had enough to worry about with Zilch.
“Does it matter if he does?” he said. “I know you couldn’t see them, but E wasn’t exactly pulling away from Kit when he kissed her at the Doors. I don’t know what’s going on between them, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up winning her over in the end. I mean, they were really kissing. Like, a lot. And the way they took down those Merchants together, it wasn’t just ordinary teamwork. They’ve got chemistry, and they know it.”
Uneasiness stole into his heart as he spoke. Though E and Kit’s relationship had been shunted to the bottom of his growing list of worries, thoughts of them had flitted through his mind throughout the day. If they got back together, E wouldn’t choose to leave the crew and join Kit in the Market permanently, would she? She would still want to stay with the crew and rescue the marked and slay the moulded like she always had, wouldn’t she? His uneasiness sank into sadness as he imagined the crew traveling through different planes and battling the moulded without her. As difficult as she could be, she was still E.
He suddenly realized that E and Honey had grown quiet. He turned around to find them deep in conversation. E sat still with a far-off gaze as Honey whispered to her with alternations of slight and furious shakes of her head.
“What’s that?” Snow said, tensing suddenly.
“What’s what?”
“That sound.”
E’s head snapped up. She, James, and Honey sprang onto their feet and unsheathed their blades. Snow fumbled with the hilt of her knife. The sound of stumbling drew near. James spotted the top of Blood Crow’s head gliding toward them through the sea of weeds.
A fawn tumbled into the clearing.
“Help!” the fawn cried out. “Help! He’s going to mould with me!”
James saw the mark, red as blood, on the fawn’s back then Blood Crow’s raised spear. He launched himself forward, snatched up the fawn into his arms, and rolled across the ground as her spear flew past him.
“Let it go!” Blood Crow shouted as she drew her knife.
“It’s done nothing to you!” he yelled, shielding the wriggling fawn with his body.
“It’s going to mould!”
“It just said it’s running away from the moulded. Seriously. How long are you going keep this up? Stop being so blind!”
The appearance of E’s machete silenced them both.
“Keep. Your voices. Down,” she growled. “Blood Crow, drop your knife.”
She pursed her lips then let her blade fall to the ground. Honey sheathed her knife.
“You,” said E, pointing her machete at the fawn.
It froze in James’s grasp.
“What are you talking about? Is there a moulded citizen that’s after you?”
“Y-Yes! One of the Ancients of old,” the fawn said. Tears began dripping down from its large, black eyes. “I know I should’ve listened to Forest. I know I shouldn’t have left, but I … I….”
James shushed and cradled the fawn as it broke down into sobs.
“Where did you see it last? The citizen that’s chasing you?” E demanded.
“I-I lost him over the hills over there. But he’s coming. And he’s with others, with humans!”
The fawn’s eyes bulged as Bloom hurried out of the jungle with Phoenix and Lux.
“You! It’s you! You’re Forest’s brother!’’ the fawn cried out, straining its neck toward Bloom and wriggling again.
Bloom halted with one paw cocked and lifted.
“But that means it’s all of you! The humans said that they were searching for a group that was traveling with a blue wolf. They’re after you. They’re after all of you. We need to run!”
Snow drew a sharp breath. James recognized that look on her face. It was the same look that had gripped her whenever she’d heard enemies approaching in the Tower. After several moments of strained concentration, he heard it too. Engines were revving in the distance. He rose to his feet, still clutching the fawn, and looked toward the hills.
It was the monster. The monster the group had met on the rickety dock. The one that had chased them across No Man’s Land and up to the Blue Border. It was bounding down the hills toward them, leading several large SUVs full of Bodyguards between shifting pieces of land. James could just make out Certus sitting at the helm of one of the cars. Though the number of men riding toward them were far fewer than that of the Merchants at the Doors, the combat skills which these Bodyguards had honed through their grueling training would, he was sure, make up for their smaller number.
“Phoenix, what was the land like in there?” E barked.
“Not good. It almost got us. We definitely need a Runner, but I couldn’t find one of Alex’s posts.”
E’s eyes darted from side to side before she looked at each member of the group. Determination flickered then blazed into life within her black gaze, hardening her expression and relaxing her shoulders. Another machete appeared in her hand. She walked to the middle of the land separating the jungle from the field then faced the hills.
“We have no choice, then. We stay here, and we fight. Get ready for battle! We slay them here. We might as well send them the message now. They will not keep hunting us. Not without a fight!”
The others’ fierce expressions matched E’s as they rushed to spread out on either side of her. James didn’t join them but instead, grabbed Snow. Blind and slow at healing, she wouldn’t last a moment in battle. He slung her over his shoulder, tucked the trembling fawn under his other arm, and hurried over to the edge of the jungle. He dropped her into the cover of lush fern and shoved the fawn into her arms. He threw large sheets of stray bark over them to hide them both.
“Stay here, and don’t move,” he told them.
He aimed the spear that formed in his hand as he ran back to the group and positioned himself near Blood Crow. Adrenaline coursed through him, burning away his anxiety and fatigue. E stood at the forefront of the group, her black blades at the ready, a proud and fearsome leader, a deadly weapon in human form. James only had to glance at her once to know that he, too, was ready to fight.
The monster jumped into the weeds and began galloping toward the group. The nostrils of its flat, bat-like nose flared with each breath. Its wide grin glistened with the satisfaction of a predator that had succeeded in tracking down its prey. James and Blood Crow made to throw their spears.
“Hold fire!” E commanded.
The monster burst out of the weeds and continued running headlong toward the group. Only a few yards lay between them and the monster’s feet when the monster suddenly crouched down, leapt up, and sailed over them. It skidded around as it landed and stared at them as the dust settled, its four black eyes glittering above its widening grin. It crawled backward until it reached the perimeter of the jungle then crouched low to the ground. It clearly had no intention of allowing them to escape from their approaching enemies. The cars finished plowing through the weeds and slowed to a halt at the border of the field.
“What did I tell you, human? My nose did not fail me,” the monster rumbled.
“I apologize for doubting you,” Certus said as he stepped down from the car.
He began walking toward the group then stopped as E crossed her machetes together and walked forward. As she halted, she uncrossed her blades in a single, swift motion as if she were slicing apart an invisible opponent. He beheld her with a regard that had been absent during the group’s stay in the Tower. He must have heard what had happened at the Doors.
He snapped his fingers. The Bodyguards moved noiselessly without their bells as they poured out of the cars and spread out behind him, forming a wide semicircle that blotted the hills. Their wandering eyes betrayed their apprehension of the enormous, smiling creature crouched at the jungle’s edge. James doubted any of them had ever talked to a citizen before, never mind teamed up with one. He masked his surprise as he spotted Marcus, the old friend whom E had greeted at the outskirts of the Tower.
“Under the Third’s command, you are all hereby summoned to the Tower for interrogation!” Certus declared.
He paused as his eyes skimmed over the group. His gaze rested on Bloom, whose fur bristled as he glared back.
“Well, I see the wolf that the Merchants were all so excited about. But where’s the Twelfth? I know she’s with you too.”
“Then you’ll know all about me hacking off the heads of all those Merchants at the Doors,” E snarled. “Take one more step toward my crew, and I’ll take your head too, Certus!”
His expression hardened into the look of one who had decided to accept an unavoidable fight. A large sword appeared in his hand. E responded with a humorless smirk then scanned the Bodyguards. Several of them fidgeted as her burning eyes passed over them.
“I know you recognize me because I recognize your coward faces!” she shouted. “You may have been safe in the stands, but we’re out in the planes now! If you want to meet the same fate as all of my other opponents, then come at me and fight!”
Pride swelled within James. The Bodyguards glanced at one another. A few weapons drooped as several pairs of feet crept backward. The corner of Marcus’s mouth twitched. E spread her stance wider and lifted her machetes higher.
“Fine. If you won’t come to me,” she said, “then I’ll come to you!”
The eyes of the Bodyguards widened as she sprinted toward them. James bellowed a wordless battle cry as he charged forward with the others.
“Bring them to the Tower!” Certus shouted.
E picked up speed as the semicircle of Bodyguards folded in and rushed forth from either end.
“Spread out!” she yelled.
James and Blood Crow veered toward the group funneling in from the left and clashed their spears against their enemies’ weapons. The blows and cuts from Honey’s tomahawks and Lux’s katana halted the group spilling in from the right. The monster crouched lower, ready to spring into the fray, then froze as Bloom dashed forth and challenged it with bared fangs. It continued to grin as Bloom prowled toward it.
E sliced off a woman’s head with a speed that blurred her machete then sprayed arcs of dust as she spun across the dirt and slashed through a man’s neck. Certus led the remaining Bodyguards forward as he ran toward E with his massive sword. Phoenix flew past her to intercept him. Surprise flashed across Certus’s face as he parried the bombardment of strikes that Phoenix rained down on him with his double-bladed sword. Cold, hard focus overtook his surprise as he answered Phoenix’s strikes with blows so powerful that each swing seemed to rip apart the air before colliding with Phoenix’s blades.
E sped past the dueling men and began drawing blood and screams from the remaining Bodyguards before they could come to Certus’s aid. Though their thick, black vests protected their torsos from the full wrath of her strikes, the fear in their eyes told friend and foe alike that they could not keep their necks away from her forever.
James continued fending off the Bodyguards attempting to encircle him and Blood Crow with vicious swings and sharp stabs of his spear. Marcus scrambled from one side to another at the back of the group, a dagger lifted and ready to throw. But no matter how many opportunities appeared to throw his blade at James or Blood Crow, his dagger remained glued to his hand.
Panic flashed through James as a woman dodged his swing, slid to the side, then closed the gap between them. He cried out as she landed a crippling kick to the leg that made him buckle onto one knee. She spun away from his aim as he jabbed at her with his spear. As she lifted her blade high above her head, he gripped his spear with both hands, ready to block her blow. He shielded his face from a splash of blood instead as Blood Crow sliced off the woman’s head with her broadsword. The determination to keep fighting, to keep up with Blood Crow, to beat the odds against them, boiled the hot battle rage pumping through his veins as Blood Crow screamed, “Get up, James! Get up!”
As she continued swinging her sword, he forced himself back onto his feet and began spearing feet, arms, and legs. He cried out again as a Bodyguard’s sword pierced his thigh. He speared the arm holding the blade. As he spun and whipped his spear in a wide arc, he caught sight of Honey and Lux sprinting toward them. Several Bodyguards were pursuing the two from behind. One of the men lifted his knife then hurled the blade at Honey. The knife skimmed past her ear. The man lifted another knife and aimed carefully.
“Duck!” James screamed at her.
She dropped onto the ground. Blood Crow threw herself at his opponents, keeping them at bay with ferocious swings of her broadsword as he broke away from the fight. His determination to honor Honey’s trust fueled his strength as he dashed forward and threw his spear with all his might. Honey sprang back onto her feet and resumed sprinting as behind her, James’s spear shot through the Bodyguard’s vest, chest, then out his back. As the man fell to the ground, his comrades glanced at him. Lux made them pay for their distraction by leaping up, spinning around midair, and throwing a dagger at them. He landed on his feet again and kept running as his dagger flew into a Bodyguard’s eye. James hurled a fresh spear into a man trying to stab Blood Crow as he ran back to her. He pierced several arms with the point of his spear then rammed the butt into a man’s throat as he fought alongside her once more.
Gasps suddenly rose up from the Bodyguards surrounding E. James caught a glimpse of her as her opponents scrambled back. She held up a decapitated head for all to see as she screamed insults at the Bodyguards. With a final curse, she flung the head at a man, who squealed as it bounced off of him. The Bodyguards pursuing Honey and Lux pulled away and began running toward their comrades as they pressed in on E once again. Honey skidded to a halt.
“Come back over here, you little rats!” she shrieked. “Don’t you turn your backs on me!”
She hurled her first tomahawk with such force that James heard it chopping through the air before it landed in the back of her victim’s skull. The second slammed into a woman’s thigh and sent her face-down into the dirt. A man spun around and dashed back toward Honey. He dodged every tomahawk that she threw at him then raised his sword. Lux’s katana sang a clear, metallic note as he skidded in front of her and blocked the man’s blow. The power of the clash sent the man stumbling back. A fountain of blood spurted up from the man’s face as Lux swept up his katana again. Honey rushed forward and brought her tomahawk down onto the man’s skull before she and Lux turned and sprinted across the final stretch separating them from James and Blood Crow.
The hope of victory burned brighter within him as Blood Crow cut into a woman’s arm and Honey swung her tomahawk into a man’s groin. Lux slashed and slashed and slashed again until he cut off a Bodyguard’s hand. James speared a man through the leg then did a double take as all the Bodyguards fighting E began running toward them instead. Horror struck his hope a chilling blow as he caught sight of her. Two Bodyguards had speared her through the stomach. Though she had managed to keep standing, she had dropped her machetes to grip the shafts of the spears. A woman cut across James’s arm, opening a deep gash and forcing him to tear his attention away from E.
The Bodyguards joined to form a large circle around James, Blood Crow, Honey, and Lux and fell upon them with the ravenousness of flies descending upon carrion. Spears and swords slashed and jabbed at him from all sides. He ducked, dodged, and weaved as daggers and knives began whirling through the air toward his head and neck. Honey screamed as a knife shot into her side.
“Honey!” Lux cried out.
He lifted his katana then doubled over as a Bodyguard speared him in the stomach. Blood Crow lifted her sword against Lux’s attacker then jumped back with a cry of frustration as a man slashed at her waist. James screamed out her name as a sword pierced her leg. He slit open her assailant’s throat with his spear before stabbing others and blocking weapon after weapon, blow after blow. But no matter what he did and no matter how hard he tried, their ring of enemies continued pressing in, closing in, squeezing them all like a snake bent on strangling the last bit of breath out of its prey. Another sword cut across his arm, taking away another chunk of flesh.
E plunged into their ring of enemies.
She had healed her stomach completely. The Bodyguards who had speared her were now lying on the ground, headless. The fire burning in her eyes embraced the anarchy of battle and fueled the skill that swore to subdue all her enemies so that both chaos and control swirled together into a perfect storm within her. Her machetes glinted white beneath the sun as she sliced through limbs. Her shadow fell black upon the dismembered bodies of her victims as she leapt over them. With spinning kicks and flying knees, she began breaking necks and smashing in noses before slicing off one head after another.
The monster let out a deafening roar, making weapons pause and waver. It thrashed and stomped about as it whipped Bloom from side to side in a futile attempt to loosen his teeth from its neck. Snow lay curled up among scattered pieces of bark with the fawn held tightly against her chest. She yelped as the monster’s tail whipped over the inch of air above her head.
“James, go!” E shouted.
She charged at the Bodyguards closest to him and began carving out a narrow passage for his escape. He dodged flying weapons and threw his spear into one last Bodyguard before breaking free of the ring and sprinting toward Snow with the speed and focus he’d honed through all of Crew Blue’s rescue missions.
Someone suddenly tackled him from behind. The monster’s tail whooshed over their heads.
“No!” Marcus hissed, gripping James’s wrist as he raised his knife. “Save the Twelfth! Go!”
He flung himself backward as if James had struck him. James scrambled onto his feet, ran to Snow, and threw her over his shoulder. She hugged the fawn tightly as he fled deep into the jungle. He shouted as branches sharp as spears burst up from the ground and forced him to skid to a stop. Heavy footsteps approached in rapid thuds, pounding the ground like war drums. He dove into a hollow groove beneath the roots of an enormous tree. He clamped his hands over Snow’s and the fawn’s mouths. The footsteps slowed. Twigs and leaves rustled beneath the monster’s slithering tail. A deep growl rumbled out of its throat.
“I can smell you, little one,” it said. “And you humans too. The roots … will not save you!”
They screamed as the monster’s tail slammed into the trunk of the tree. A second blow, and the roots wrenched up, spraying them with soil. The monster leapt in front of them to block their escape. James jumped in front of Snow and pointed his spear with a cry that refused to acknowledge surrender or defeat. The monster’s black eyes suddenly widened.
“What?” it breathed.
James hurled his spear. The monster dodged with a twitch of its head then crouched low and peered at Snow. James pointed another spear.
“The Twelfth,” it growled.
James prepared himself for a vicious attack as its face screwed up with fury. Confusion and suspicion joined the adrenaline pulsing through him as the monster flung its head back and boomed out laughter instead.
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