“You asked me to come here. Here I am.”
“Stop. Scaring. My. Mate.”
I let my shoulders drop and dip my chin. “Fine.”
“What do you know about humans, Mei?”
I clamp my lips into a firm line and lean away from him. “Humans are cruel.”
Three words shouldn’t say so much, but they do. They say too much. I can feel the air around me change.
“They can be,” Diablos agrees. “Humans can be very cruel, but they can be kind and giving, stubborn and capable of incredible feats when they are motivated, and they love with a passion that can warm the heart of even the most heartless creature.”
“I have not met such a beast,” I say flippantly and turn away.
“Mei,” he says, and I draw back to him. “Humans are not your enemy.”
There’s a deep tension, a promise, like a hand outstretched.
“Everything is her enemy,” Reed says.
I stiffen, irritated and irrationally hurt. “Of course, because I am a monster.”
There’s an awkward silence.
“Can you stop?” Hartley snaps. “Why did you have to say that?”
There’s a brittle silence in the clearing.
“I don’t think you understand the situation here, Human,” Canto says with perfect coldness.
“Watch it, Canto,” Diablos says in a deep growl.
“No, you have forced us together. You want to play hero? But we’re the kind of warriors who rip worlds apart, and there is no one we hate more than that Strega.”
The staggering silence has my hackles rising.
“I’m gutted, Canto.”
“Not yet, but I can make it happen for you.”
“Oh, Lirin, you make such sweet promises; too bad you always fail to keep them,” I hiss, irrationally enraged that he’s joining their hate party.
“Shut up, Strega!” Lirin snarls
I pop a hip and toss my hair. “Make me, squidy.”
“How do you know which one is talking?” Diablos asks curiously.
I stand up straight, confused. “Because they all sound different.”
“Yes, but even when they make just sounds, you know. How?”
I shrug. “I just know.”
“And you,” Diablos says. “How do you keep finding her in the trees?”
“I don’t,” Brio protests.
