“That one! Quickly!” Kara snaps at Savannah, and thegirls bolt for the nearest archway before anyone else can even think about choosing it.
“Those shrews,” Cyrus grumbles. “Out of the way!” He and Gideon barge past Taron and me, aiming for an arch two down from Kara and Savannah.
Beyond the trees, I can hear Cyrus’s voice rising in protest – something about Gideon forgetting to bring a torch, and not wanting to waste one of his precious sunblade leaves on something as trivial as torchlight.
“Which one do we take?” I hear Gigi and Gunther deliberating.
I want to tell them it doesn’t matter. “The whole jungle reeks of something foul,” I whisper to Taron.
A shiver crawls down my spine as I take in the dark energy unfurling from the trees beyond the arches. It coils through the air, thick and malevolent, like smoke choking the breath from the jungle itself.
“It’s unlike anything I’ve ever sensed before,” I add when Gigi and Gunther vanish beyond their chosen arch.
“What does it feel like?” Taron asks.
“Like … a hand clenching around my heart, squeezing tighter and tighter until it stops beating.”
“That sounds terrifying. Are you all right?”
“It’s fine,” I insist, my voice tight. “I can handle it.”
My gaze lingers on the line of arches. Each blistered, jagged one. There’s no safety in any of them – each archway drips with the same cloud of negativity. Only, unlike the energy that radiates from people, it doesn’t smell of anyone emotion. None that I can pick up on, anyway. It’s odd. More disconcerting than I’m letting on.
Taron and I veer towards an unclaimed arch on the far right. The moment we cross through the arch, the energy dissipates. Simply … vanishes. The suffocating heaviness lifts from my chest, and the world feels strangely empty, hollow, without any oppressive force weighing on my mind.
I don’t trust it, and I don’t mention anything to Taron just yet. It’s better if he keeps his guard up.
We set off into a sprint, the jungle closing in around the winding path. The trees are tall and ancient, their thick roots twisting and knotting beneath our feet, causing the ground to rise and fall in uneven patches.
A dim, eerie light spills across the ground, filtering through the dense canopy overhead in fractured beams of moonlight. I nearly choke on the thick and humid air. Each breath I take leaves a gritty taste at the back of my throat.
The jungle is alive, and it pulses with sound. The trill of insects. The rustle of unseen creatures moving just beyond sight.
Shadows flicker and dance all around us, everywhere I look. There’s no breeze in the air, but the vines dangling from the trees are swaying, moving timidly as if breathed upon by some unseen force.
I follow Taron deeper into the jungle, our path narrowing as the foliage continues to press in around us. A thorny vine catches at my sleeve. Then at my leg. The fabric doesn’t tear,but a stinging sensation blooms across my skin. I ignore it. Taron’s expression is set and determined. I wouldn’t want to break his concentration by asking him to stop.
“So,” I huff, when we finally settle into a steady rhythm. “I was thinking … about what happened back there … in the shower house … and the cabin…”
“It was a mistake. It can’t happen again.”
I suck in a breath. It’s oddly painful to hear. Although of course he’s right. It can never happen again. We both know it. It’s logical. But the way he says it, so firm and final, stings more than it should.
“We should keep our focus on the tournament,” Taron says, as though he can read my mind. “Four teams, four halves of crystal stars.”
“Five halves,” I correct him.
He frowns.
“I saw Kara steal Mei and Rhius’s scroll from their cabin,” I explain.
“That means they already have a completed star,” Taron growls. “They’ll be heading straight for the temple. We need to move faster.”
Ahead, a bird screeches. The high-pitched, jarring sound untangles me from my thoughts. Something rustles in the underbrush, and Taron’s eyes flick to the side, muscles tensing as if ready for an attack.
But nothing leaps from the shadows – only the persistent hum of life teeming within the depths of the jungle.
It’s unsettling. For all the danger I know is lurking,waiting, there’s nothing. No oppressive energy, no dark whispers in the air. Just the jungle, vast and indifferent.
