“Are Jacinta and Delio back yet?” Flor asked, breaking the silence.
“No,” Javi said, voice soft. “Even with Sofia’s maps, it will still be a few more days before they’re due back.”
The two had left on a reconnaissance to see what they could learn about what was happening back in Suvi.
A dozen or so of them had made it safely out of city after the prison break, thanks to Chalia, but they still had almost no supplies, no way to contact their allies in the city, and more than half of them were still recovering from their physical injuries. They were only a broken fragment of the resistance. Which was nothing to say about the emotional toll the past blink had taken.
Even now, as Sofia watched Javi out of the corner of her eye, she could see the rage and grief simmering beneath the surface. He’d lost the sparkle in his eyes, his smiles turned hollow.
“We don’t even know if they’ll be able to get into the city,” Sofia said, keeping her body stiff even as Flor gave a small huff.
“The fact that they aren’t back yet is a good sign,” Javi said. “They’ll come back with news.”
“Or they were killed the moment they got a mile away from the wall.”
“Sofia,” Flor snapped, and she knew it had nothing to do with her moving.
“Sorry,” she muttered. Javi squeezed her hand.
“I’m done,” Flor said, patting Sofia on the hip. “But move carefully.”
She followed the order, allowing Flor to help her sit up without tearing the fresh stitches.
“So how long until I can fight?” Sofia asked, turning slowly to the side. The stitches pulled tight, bringing Sofia’s awareness to her back and her body in a way that made her itch with discomfort.
“Don’t even think about it,” Flor said, stopping her with a hand on her shoulder. “We wait for Jacinta and Delio and then we plan. Until then, you don’t fight or hunt or move too fast until I give you the go-ahead.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Sofia said, smirking. She grabbed for her shirt, pulling it back on carefully. It was torn across the back, but they’d sewed and tied it together where they could. All of them were still wearing the clothes they’d escaped in, but there wasn’t much they could do about it right now.
“Can you fly?”Chalia chimed in, and Sofia knew she’d been listening the entire time. She wasn’t completely sure how it worked, but the dragon was able to hear the conversations Sofia had with the others through her mind. Though she didn’t seem to be able to do it with the others—eavesdropping at least.
“If I don’t ask, then she can’t say no,”Sofia said through their link, smiling until she noticed Flor’s narrowed eyes. “What?” she said aloud.
“I’m not even going to ask,” Flor said, walking the few steps over tothe cenote’s lake and washing her hands in the icy water. It was strange seeing her friend standing there, at the edge of the lake, when Sofia could still remember Fox bathing just a few feet from where she stood, his tattooed back on full display, muscles taut and?—
Something between pain and desire throbbed through Sofia, and she averted her eyes. She didn’t need to explain to her friends how she was still thinking abouthim. Javi had been kind enough to not question her about the kiss Fox and she had shared before they’d flown out of the city, but she knew he and Flor had talked behind her back. She could see it in the way they looked at each other if she let anything about Fox slip. He was a distraction that none of them needed, least of all her.
“What’s for dinner today? Rabbit, deer, goat?” Flor asked, as she came back, goosebumps prickling her skin.
“Rabbit, but Bela found some piyata and greens on her hike yesterday, so we have a feast for tonight.”
“Humans are coming!”Chalia’s voice cut in, sending a small spike of pain through Sofia’s head, as if the dragon’s anxiety were a physical thing.
“Someone’s nearby. Chalia smells them,” Sofia said, turning toward the stairs to the surface. One of the first things they’d done once they’d settled into the cenote was fully fix the staircase, carving out new steps where the old ones had crumbled. Even so, the way was precarious, and Sofia had to slow down to not fall.
“Is it Jacinta and Delio?” Flor said, following on her heels.
“I don’t know!”
Sofia focused on not tripping until she stepped onto the forest floor, stone stairs giving way to soft soil. She wasn’t sure if it was purposeful on Chalia’s part, but it had rained almost every day in their little section of the forest since they’d gotten here. The plants shined with the remnants of the last rain in the dappled sunlight, like gems spread across the forest. Even in the short time they’d been there, the undergrowth was thriving with the rain, the green more vibrant than Sofia had ever seen.
The moment she was level with the forest, Chalia was there,slinking through the trees from the small clearing she’d been curled in just west of the cenote.
“They’re almost here,”Chalia said, pointing her nose to the south.“I smelled them when the wind shifted.”
Sofia nodded, exchanging a look with Flor as they separated. Her arm scraped against the bark of a tree as she pressed herself against the trunk beneath a large fern. Across the way, Flor had disappeared.
“Chalia, hide just in case.”
