Page 253 of Interion

“I was sure you were going to lose,” she mocked, climbing down from the tree. Her eyes were painted black in two finger-smudged streaks. They started at the inner corner of each eye, swept across her temples, and ended at her hairline.

“Then why did you make a deal with me?” I asked, strapping the bow and arrows onto my back.

“Because either way, Naoki and Adrian were going to beat someone up, and obviously, I didn't want to be that someone.”

Adele wore black leather and boots with thick, sturdy heels. She had a slightly unhinged expression, and her hair was full of twigs, matching her hollow, hungry eyes. I wondered what the hell she was doing wearing heels during the test.

“What an idiotic plan! What if I'd lost? You would've had to carry me around while I was injured. Didn't you think of that?”

“I did!” She shrugged, already on the ground as we resumed walking. “I would've carried you if something serious happened, but as they say in Yonser: better the donkey than the driver. My face is too beautiful to be destroyed.”

“I see you're back to being the same detestable person as before! I don't know if that's progress or regression.”

She rolled her eyes and kept walking. Then she stopped and moved to position herself behind me.

“You'd better go in front. We made a deal, so now you have to protect me and hunt for me. I'm tired of falling into traps.”

I raised an eyebrow in silent indignation, then looked her over, taking in how filthy she was and finally understanding where it came from. A faint reddish glow appeared under the collar of her jacket, which made me frown, wondering if the vials would be able to pass through her digestive system normally.

“I'm not your babysitter, Adele,” I grumbled, resuming my walk while paying attention to the ground and keeping a fast, focused pace.

“Not babysitter—I'd use the term servant! We made a deal: I carry the vials and you protect me. So keeping me safe is your job.”

“Did you actually swallow the vials?” I thought about the glow coming from her skin.

“I swallowed them,” Adele admitted proudly, her voice a bit hoarse.

“Are you crazy?! They could have cut you open alive just to get the vials! That's insane.”

“Darling, I come from the psychiatric ward—what did you expect? And no, they wouldn't cut me open. First, they can't kill or they'd be disqualified from the test; second, I would've transferred the vial's points before it got to that point.”

Her plan was valid, but still very risky.

“We need to find one more vial to hit our point total. At dawn I saw some green ones in this direction.” I pointed forward, avoiding a fire thorn branch. I thought the thorns were obvious until I heard Adele scream and clutch her hand.

“Hell of a place!” she cursed as the poisonous thorn burned her skin. “I swear I hate this forest!”

“Give it to me.” I reached for her hand, but she refused to show it. So I grabbed it anyway and spit on her palm, rubbing to relieve the burning.

“What the hell was that?” she asked, horrified, staring at my saliva on her hand.

“You cut yourself on a fire thorn. The poison burns the skin, and saliva counteracts the effect.” She looked at her completely red hand, but now showed no sign of pain. “See? It stopped burning.”

“You're disgusting,” she grunted, wiping her burned hand on her pants.

“And you're unbearable,” I shot back, resuming my walk among the trees. She stayed quiet for an unfortunately short time.

“Where are we going?”

“We're going to keep heading north. I saw green vials glowing at dawn—they were near the center, in the last part of the test.”

“Which way is north?” she asked, looking up.

“What do you mean? When we met, which direction were you heading?”

“I was going,” she answered, shrugging.

“Going where?”