I waved at a cluster of rocks and bushes lining the path up ahead. The sun was already at noon directly overhead and we hadn’t slept yet. I was exhausted. He had to be, too.
“Those rocks look like as good a place as any,” I said. “Maybe we should set up on the other side and take a nap?”
“Are you tired, Mouse?”
I’d had that short nap before we went to my brother’s place and then ultimately got attacked, but that wasn’t enough to replenish my energy.
Ace paused and looked down, his dark gaze studying my body. He cursed and walked off the path to the area behind the boulders. He gently set Nala on the mossy ground. She whimpered a little before rolling onto her side. That was actually a good sign. She hadn’t made any sounds before.
As my familiar, she should be healing as fast as me, but something happened. Ever since she was struck with a poisoned arrow, she hadn’t been the same.
Familiar-bound galeons and phaanons like myself were supposed to be unkillable, but being “unkillable” was a little misleading. There had to be ways for galeons and phaanons to die as there was a whole war between the two groups that saw horrific fatalities. And to prove that point, bonded galeons had been turning up dead.
When an immortal died, their familiar died with them. If Nala died, would I be facing my own mortality? Would I even want to survive?
Were phaanons affected the same way as galeons? After the galeons won the war, they erased all trace of the phaanons. History was written by the victors, after all, and any whispers about phaanons were dismissed as superstition or flat-out lies.
But these whispers endured.
Some people spoke of the phaanons as a diverse group of magical beings—not just immortals, but other kinds of supernaturals as well—ones who shifted into animals, ones who sustained their life on the energy of others, ones who harnessed the power of the moon to cast spells.
Some said not all the phaanons died in the war and escaped back to the land where it all started.
If any accurate information existed on my own kind and our familiars, I wouldn’t find it in Perga or Wast where the pureblood galeon King Oberon and Queen Titania ruled.
“What do you think is wrong with Nala?” I asked. “She was doing better before the fire.”
“It must be smoke inhalation. I don’t know of anything we can do for her other than what we’re currently doing. Fresh air should help clear her lungs.”
I nodded. “I’m so confused right now. I feel like we’re missing something.”
“In addition to your brother and the healer?”
I really couldn’t think about my brother right now. It made my stomach twist and my heart hurt. “Of course, I’m worried about Paul and Rye,” I said. “We still don’t know where Paul is, and Rye chose to run toward danger because he thinks his balm is going to save me. I said I’m fine. I am fine, and now he’s not only placing himself in more danger, but us as well. He might lead the hunters straight to us.”
“No one will find us.” Ace sounded so strong and sure. Not exhausted and weary like me. I wanted to believe him. I really did.
But did he not see the mess we made or the trail behind us? “We literally left a dust cloud in our wake.”
“After our break, we’ll cover our tracks.”
I sat down on the ground beside Nala and rested my head on the boulder. “That means Rye won’t be able to find us either. He should’ve stayed with us.”
“I’m not worried about him.” Ace studied me for a long moment before he bent and sat down a few feet away. He stretched his arms across his body, one at a time. “I already knew Onion was an idiot, but what I don’t understand is why you don’t need the healing balm.”
Ace didn’t like or trust Orion, but the healer hadn’t given him any reason to feel that way, nor had he done anything to deserve such a ridiculous nickname.
“Mouse?” Ace narrowed his eyes. “Why don’t you need the healing balm?”
I shrugged and shut my eyes. I hadn’t told anyone about my epiphany. “The arrow wasn’t laced.”
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not.”
“You are. Every time you lie your voice changes.”
I popped open my eyes to glare at him.
