Rafa scrunched his face then held his head as if trying to recall the evening before.
“I said lots of things last night, but I don’t know what specifically you’re referring to. Care to help me out?”
“Jerry and Rahim. They said they were taking your advice, and they left this morning.”
Recognition flashed in his eyes, and then he casually scratched his head with one hand while rubbing his rather firm-looking stomach with the other.
“Hmm…are you sure it was me?”
“Oh please, Rafa. Spare me.” She rolled her eyes and folded her arms. “They said you started talking about os protetores da lua and how they’re going to find us out here, chop our heads off, and eat our hearts.”
“Okay, IknowI didn’t say all that.”
“Really? Because clearly you don’t remember a whole lot about what you did or didn’t say last night. I mean, jeez, Rafa, you reek of booze. How much did you drink?” She waved her hand in front of her nose.
“I don’t know that, either.”
“You know, it’s one thing to try to convincemeto leave, but it’s another thing to go behind my back to my crew. I tried to convince them to stay, but they were already packed and had a boat waiting to take them back to Caracaraí.”
“Why didn’t you tell them about the lidar?” he asked, turning the tables on her. “We had a deal. You were going to give the crew all the information so they could makeinformeddecisions on whether to stay.”
“Because I don’t really even know what Vautour’s found, if anything. Besides, they need to believe that we actually have a chance.”
“Don’t you think they deserve to know what we’re up against? We’re not talking about another contestant onThe Amazing Racehere.” Nowhewas the one folding his arms, which did wonders for his pecs.
“I know that. But I didn’t want to unnecessarily scare them more than they already were.”
“Scare them? We had aknifepulled on us. I think the bar for scaring the crew had already been set.”
“Right, and I told them about it. Besides, it’s been two weeks and nothing else has happened.”
“Well, you didn’t tell them about os protetores and how dangerous they are.”
“The protectors aren’t dangerous,” she retorted.
“Yes, they are. They’re murderers.”
“Murderers?!” Miri blurted out, then gave a chuckle. “Where the hell did you hear that?”
“Everyone knows it.”
“I think your sources are faulty. There’s no evidence that os protetores pose any danger to the outside world. All they do is try to throw unsuspecting explorers off the trail.”
“Interesting choice of words there,” Rafa said, narrowing his gaze. “Throwthem off the trail.”
Miri rolled her eyes. “It’s a figure of speech. I don’t mean literally. Jeez, Rafa. Sounds like you’ve been watching too many action movies.”
“Movies?” Rafa laughed in disbelief. “This is serious.”
“Well, if you’re too scared to be here, then you can go, too,” she said, turning to the side and waving her hand dismissively.
“I’m not leaving you out here.”
“I don’t need you to protect me.” She snapped her head in his direction.
Rafa pushed away from the door, taking a step closer. “It’s my job to be here.”
“Yeah? And it’s mine, too,” Miri said, squaring up to him.
