“Are you okay?” Rynthea reaches for my hand with concern etched on her face.
“I… Yeah. I think so.” She lugs me up, and I stumble a bit. Thane presses his hand to the small of my back to keep me steady.
“Zaira?” Algar pants as he runs to meet up with us. “Thank Orvena Thane stopped your fall in time.”
“I’m okay, everyone. Really.”
“Does anything feel broken?” Thane asks, gently touching a knot on my forehead. I wince from the pressure.
“I don’t think so.” I give my arms a shake. My ribs don’t hurt. My legs seem stable. Nothing feels broken.
“You’re bleeding.” Rynthea takes off her rucksack and digs through it. She pulls out a clean white cloth and wipes my cheek with it. It stings, but I swallow the pain. Sighing, Rynthea hands the cloth to me. I wipe my cheek again, but that’s when I see it.
My heart drops to my stomach.
The sphere, now at my feet, isn’t glowing anymore.
A big crack snakes through it. Panicked, I bend down to pick it up.
“No.” I rub it four times and give the commanddrusakolike Frevella instructed. We should still have some time left. “No, come on. Please,” I plead. “We’re so close!”
I look up at Thane, who is staring at the sphere, jaw locked.
“Gods damn it.” Rynthea huffs as Algar throws his hands to the top of his head with a panicked look in his eyes.
“I—I’m so sorry!” I cry. “This is all my fault.”
“No, it’s not.” Thane closes his eyes for a split second, exhaling before opening them again. “It’s mine. I handed you the sphere. I should’ve held on to it.”
“But Ifellwith it. I heard it crack.” I swallow to clear the emotion building up in my throat. We’re too damn close to the temple for me to cry now.
“It’s fine,” Rynthea assures us, holding her hands up and eyeing each of us, as if she’s taming children. “The temple shouldn’t be too far away. We can get there, take what we need, and go back the way we came to reach the shore. We’ll be fine. Let’s not lose hope now.”
“We won’t know which way to go or what’s coming for us,” I say, voice wavering.
“I’ll hear and smell anything before it attacks.” Rynthea straightens her back, but her words don’t fill me with much hope. We don’t know what’s ahead or which parts of the jungle to avoid. Rynthea scoffs. “We’ve made it fordaysacross half of Thelanor without a magical sphere. What’s a few more steps?” She gestures to the bottom of the valley. “And we can see the temple. It can’t be that far away now. We can do this.”
No one speaks, but we don’t have to in order to read one another’s minds. Without the sphere to guide us, there is an even slimmer chance of making it through the rest of this jungle alive.
Thane clears his throat. “The minotaur is right.” Rynthea rolls her eyes at him, but he continues. “We have to press on. We’ll keep our ears up and our weapons close. We’ll take it slow. There’s still plenty of time to get what we need and make it back to the ship.”
Not if we’re attacked again, I think.
Thane takes the sphere from me and tucks it into his pocket.
“We press on,” he repeats, looking into my eyes. “For Analla.”
Hearing him say my sister’s name brings a surge in me. The doubt is still there, but for a fleeting second, I allow my fear to distract me from my ultimate goal.Saving Analla.
“Okay?” Thane places a compassionate hand on my upper arm.
Lips quivering, I nod.
When his attention lands on Algar, Algar sighs and bobs his head.
“We can do this.” Rynthea smiles with glistening eyes. “As long as we have each other’s backs and fight like warriors, we’ll make it to that damn temple. It’s all right, Zaira. Don’t beat yourself up over this.”
I smile as she gives my shoulder a firm squeeze. When she starts walking, I join at her side, swallowing my anxieties.
