Ahead of her, Zera was already soaring. She circled in the air, lower than Kreya—she’d lost altitude and was losing more. Angling herself downward, Kreya aimed toward her as the crawler was swallowed by the mist.
She heard it crash, echoing up from the valley. From the area where it hit, she heard cries and shrieks as it scared the birds and animals and, yes, deadly monsters in the region... which gave her an idea. A terrible idea, but still an idea.
“We can travel through the mist!” she called to Zera.
“Are you crazy?”
“It will hide our approach to the wall!”
“Yeah, because we’ll be toodeadto approach anything!”
Must Zeraalwaysargue?It wasn’t as if they had many choices. Up and down were their only options, and she knew they didn’t have enough talismans for up. “It’s that or scale the cliff by hand,” Kreya called to her. “Your choice!”
“I want an option C!”
“Aim for the crash site!” At least it would be momentarily predator-free. With luck, they’d be able to retrieve more of their supplies. And maybe, just maybe, the crawler would still be functional.
Certain it was the better of two bad choices, Kreya spread her arms as she glided down toward the murky whiteness. It enveloped her gradually, erasing the mountains and the sky, until she was swaddled in the misty fog. She heard the sounds of birds, the calls of monkeys, and the roar of the river monsters, but all felt muffled and distant.
And then all of a sudden, the ground was there, racing toward her. Flinging her arms and legs out, she tried to slow, and she crashed into a thick mat of greenery. Branches cracked beneath her, but the leaves cradled her. Air whooshed out of her as she hit.
Ow,she thought.
Regaining her breath, she took stock. She hadn’t felt anything snap, thankfully. She’d be bruised, but she wasn’t broken. Sitting up, she looked around and saw murky greenness. She did not see the crashed crawler.
Damn it, we missed.
She judged they were south of the crash site. Or else the crawler could have bounced or rolled. They had to find it. Fast. And they had to find each other. And not find any monsters—that would be nice too.
Within the valley, the trees were thick, their branches weaving together, their trunks wreathed in vines, and the vegetation between them was hip-deep with ferns and bushes. She stood, pursed her lips, and whistled three times.
She heard an answering three-note whistle back.
Wading through the ferns, Kreya headed in the direction of the whistle. Ahead, she heard the roaring whoosh of water from the river that ran between the mountains. Zera better not have landed in it.
Kreya spotted her through the trees: Zera’s coat and hairwere vibrant against the relentless green. She was standing motionless, her back toward Kreya, looking at . . .
Closer, Kreya saw what had caused her friend to freeze.
The stone fish dominated the river. Easily twice the size of the crawler, it looked and acted as a boulder, shaping the river around it. Betraying its camouflage, its venomous spines poked out of the churning water, and its black glassy eyes were trained on the shore, watching for movement. She’d never seen one in person before and wished she could still say that.
“Stealth,” Kreya whispered.
Moving slower, Zera withdrew a talisman from her pocket and whispered to it. She passed one to Kreya. Together, they backed away from the river and the deadly fish monster.
It shifted, and water sloshed onto the muddy shore.
Kreya and Zera froze.
She wondered how good its eyesight was. Did it hunt based on sight? Smell? Luck? Its glassy eyes swept over the thick greenery.
Instinctively, she closed her eyes, as if that would keep it from seeing her.
Wind brushed her cheeks, and the stench of fish filled her nostrils. Kreya opened her eyes, and the stone fish had shifted out of the water. On bulbous legs, it prowled the shore only a few yards from where they stood in the greenery.
Her heart thudded against her rib cage so hard that she felt as if she were rattling. The fish stench invaded her skull, making her head throb, her eyes water, and her vision swim. This close, she could see the viscous fluid that coated its body.
She felt pressure in her palm—Zera had given her a talisman.Speed,Kreya guessed. With as small a movement as possible, she shook her head. Here, the forest was woven too tightly, with vines, ferns, and underbrush. She couldn’t guarantee those first essential steps, even with the best talisman. The stone fish was too close. All it would take was one brush against its venomous scales.
