Page 22 (1/2)
"Silence"
"Lethis " Death plucked s must have fallen asleep in the saddle; they couldn’t support utter Unable to catch h with e of the curb
Pain seared alongoff my chin and jaw Just as it had in the barn when I’d first discovered I could bring plants to life
Ogen laughed at my fall Lark muttered, "Dumb-ass"
Drip, drip, drip
Too weak to utter, face-planted, as if the curb were my pillow With my back to the three, I watched runoff race around
"Get up," Lark said "Stop dicking around"
Hadn’t we passed a retention pond just o? One with charred trees and dead reeds all around it? My blood was probably rushing toward that pond even now
"More cannibals are co, Evie" Lark huffed with impatience "They’re hot on our trail, because you’re ‘unclean’ or so Surely we’re better than they were"
No No, you’re not At least the cannibals were loyal to their own Lark was a two-faced betrayer Because of her, my Jack andinto a wildfire, so hot I alforfro with life, new li like a victim, I smiled Because I was about to kill this trio My ar thatup behind these Arcana I’d show them unclean
There was no reason to quell the heat of battle noould give et free The cuffs arounda clan to slice the ht circle
I strained to twist ot in the way The heat of battle was like a growing thing within me I knehat the red witch would do in this situation Hatred scalding azed down at my thumb
Pitilessly
I couldn’t reach theit’d take enerate, didn’t care
With an undertone of disquiet in his voice, Death ordered, "Eed or collared--or captured
Biting the inside of er to slice halfway through e blunted the shock of what I was doing Blood spurted into the rushing water More fuel forfire
Death’s stallion sta threat Lark’s wolves growled and raised their snouts to sniff the air They’d scent nothing out of the ordinary
Death commanded, "Rise, Empress, or Fauna will send her familiars in for a bite" I heard hi
With another swipe and a stifled scream, I severed my thumb Out of the corner of my eye I watched the water sweep it away My h the cuff with ease The right cuff was no match for my claws
Freed
I was a s Finally, I was ready to rise
21
I turned to the in the wind
Death’s eyes glowed behind his hel his swords
A wall of reen towered above him like a tidal wave He craned his head up and up
I commanded the swell to break over this embankment, to swamp them all With a yell, Death flashed out his swords But he was not yet nore the pain as he slashed through ht s Before they could reachthe beasts upside down Whimpers, howls They couldn’t be killed until I took out Lark
All in good ti for me; a cypress crashed down on hiony rackedtree His yell was cut short Another tree, and another To coth, I sent poisoned thorn stalks to bind and kill him Just to be safe, I ordered roots to suck hi him down
Other plants were at work on a more insidious task
Eyes ith horror, Lark abandoned her wolves, sprinting a retreat My vines seized her, suspending her upside down as well, like the Hanging Man As she dangled and screeched, I waved for her to be brought closer, until our faces were inches apart "You’re worse than they are," Imy head at her "We trusted you"
"Wait, Evie! Please!" Her eyes were terrified As Joules’s had been
I enjoyed it just asto die extra bad"
I sensed there was little of that retention pond left, the surface replaced with a bed of writhing plants Vines and slimy water strands I wavedas she sailed directly into that squirht down to gore her She twisted and rolled, dodging it Again the vine struck She eluded it, but she was getting slower
"There is no shame in surrender," I told her, as a past Eh the battalion I’d sent his way, and noas co, readying to takeIn the randmother’s voice floated into oddess as not to be crossed When soed, she refused to let crops grow, starving the entire world Evie, there’s a viciousness in you that I must nurture
Flanked by protective thorns, I screae, and the whole world seemed to tremble
I screamed for Jack and Matthew For Finn, and even Selena I screamed for my family and friends I’d lost For this entire ruined planet