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“Fuck…”

“You’ve the mouth of a sailor”

“The sailor and the siren” I flash her a painful grin

Her forehead rumples before she shakes her head

I wave at the peak “Lead the way, Siren”

For a le ht be a sh I can’t tell before she turns and starts to clioes so slowly, I’

Even e’re elbow-to-elbow, she h the runoff, and she ducks her head, holding her jacket hood with one hand When we’re back up level with the plateau where I landed underneath the arch, she hefts her pack onto her back

I put a hand on it “Let me”

She snorts “Did I just tumble down the slope?”

“No, but—”

“Thank you Now proceeding”

I shakeit when struck with a bullet of pain, and follow her under the archway She starts down the slope’s back side; I stop to absorb the view I can see the village off to the northwest: a few pinpricks of light beside the dark blanket of the sea Pale pink clouds have covered up the e volcano can’t befro up into a thick blanket of fog

Thunder booear Half a second later, lightning splinters the sky, gleaaze, she looks over her shoulder I give what I hope looks like a friendly wave

I’ as we h a sea of baseball-sized stones that make our descent tricky A few tirab her, but I e to rein in the impulse She seems prickly…or maybe it’s prideful Hell, ain—yet

The rain falls harder than it has since I’ve been on the island, like so a bucket over us The water racing down the slope-side hits h to threatenblind, because the auge the angle of the slope