Page 192 of A Sanctuary from Shadow
“I was told Covenlen was a wasteland.”
No reply from the long-legged dingbat hiking over massive, mossy tree roots ahead of me.
“And I’m confused that the jungle is getting denser as we near it—not thinner.”
Still, no answer.
I glowered at Pete’s back. “You’re not thinking of giving me over to Gentian now, are you?”
As if I’d chucked a rock at his head, Pete spun around. “What?”
I winced, his expression so caustic it shamed me. “Sorry, but you’re just being so—shady—like you’re planning to sell me out the second we see Gentian.”
Pete scoffed. “Well, I’m not.” He turned right back around and forged along through the underbrush.
Well,thatmakes me feel better,I thought, sullen as I followed him, Sionna traipsing at my boots.
The next morning, I awoke hugging a ragdoll with red yarn hair and a blue sailor’s hat. I smiled at Andy’s damp face, getting Pete’s message even if he wouldn’t say it.
No matter his anger, he wouldneverbetray me.
After I’d stuffed Andy into my already bursting backpack and eaten the basically raw breakfast Pete had snared us (some creepy amphibian with a meaty backstrap I couldn’t even look at as I shoved it past my lips), the rain began. First as a drizzle, then as a shower, and in the end—a straight up deluge that made the slightest hill a waterslide. Which might’ve been fun if not for my fears of whatever lay at the bottoms of those slides: poisonous plants with no antidotes, jaguar-like cats ready to pounce on any moving body, or other parasitic fae like the Incubus with magic as deadly as cancer. I would’ve bet dangers far beyond my comprehension lurked in a fae jungle.
Sionna had her qualms as well—mainly the intermittent thunder rattling the sky, which we couldn’t see beyond the canopy. Pete carried her for sizeable portions of the day, as she kept skittering away to hide in tree trunk hollows or other creatures’ burrows. She writhed for freedom from him every time our butts hit the ferns.
Then sunsdown came upon us. The rain hadn’t abated, and Pete hadn’t slowed his pace to find shelter for the night.
“Shouldn’t we be looking for some place to make camp?” Shouting was the only way he’d hear me over the torrents sheeting upon us. I tried again to clear my vision of rain. It worked for mere seconds, but I saw Pete glance back at me.
“We should press on!” he called back. “We’re nearly there now!”
“Huh?” The Shadow Court wasnotin a jungle. Uncle Neel would’ve known that. Briar would’ve known that. “You mean we’re near a place you usually stop on the way?”
“Night’s falling!” he stated the obvious. “Muster up some flames if you want to see the path underfoot!”
IfIwant to see?Does that meanhecan see in the dark? Damn him and his predatory eyesight.
Souring at his magical fortune, I concentrated until I felt a definitezingdart into my fingertips. Then, with a snap, I made of my hand a torch. A torch that an apparent monsoon couldn’t douse. “Cool.” I marveled at my flaming fingers. My fire had never withstood water before. Was I just getting better at invoking it?
Answering that question for myself would have to wait. I splashed along to keep up with Pete because he, of course, hadn’t waited while I conjured fire with my mind.
When at last Pete stopped, he turned back to watch as I drew near. Still pleased with myself for keeping my fire burning for over an hour, I smiled at his stony mug. Sionna was at it again, worming away in his restraining arms.
“I’ll leave it to your discretion.” Pete gestured at something beyond the bubble of light my torch created around us. “You can go down first, and I’ll follow, or I can take the lead, though you’ll need to wait a brief length before you follow—afford me space enough to reach the bottom.”
“Another slide?”
“Aye. This one steeper.”
I chewed my bottom lip. “How steep?”
His pointed gaze said all I needed to know.
Huffing, I prepared myself to do something stupid. “I’ll go first. I’ll just psych myself out if I wait.”
If he knew what that meant, he gave no indication. “The downhill slope begins just by those berry bushes there.”
I walked toward the bushes, as jittery as I was the night I’d stepped through a giant tree into a strange, enchanted land. Because I had no clue what awaited me on the other side.
