“Of course there’s water.” Jana rolls her eyes. “But can’t Seven take us straight to the Stone Seers? They can clean us up.”
Taras shakes his head. “If her Seer powers were to take us there, we’d already be there.”
I frown. It doesn’t feel—
I freeze, look around again.
No.
“Where’s—where’s the dog?” I turn again, looking, scan the rocks and dirt and greenery and—
I didn’t reach for him. That last glimpse of him, slinking away, blood-soaked, spears itself in my mind. It is a dagger stabbing my heart.
He’s… He’s back there. At Nbutai. With Raleigh, the Enhanced.
No.
No.
No.
My vision blurs. There’s a thumping in my ears.
“Seven, it’s okay,” Esther says, and then she’s touching my arm.
“It’s not okay! He’s—” I wail, descend into words I don’t understand. “I have to go back. Have to—”
“Sev, you can’t,” Corin says. “I don’t know how the hell you got us out of there, but you’ll walk right back into Raleigh’s arms if you return.”
“And your mind would stretch, causing irreparable damage,” Taras says.
“But my dog!” I scream, and the word dog echoes over and over until it’s all I can hear.
I abandoned him. Left him.
Left him to Raleigh.
Why didn’t I grab hold of him?
“Raleigh won’t hurt him,” Corin says. He’s staring at me, looks shocked. Elf does too—it’s the exact same expression.
Esther nods, though tears run down her face. “Raleigh brought him to New Kitembu,” she says. “He knows how much you care about him. He’ll use him as leverage, and, for that, he’ll keep him alive.”
Corin nods too. “Don’t worry.”
“Don’t worry?” I stare at him. “How can I not worry?”
“We need to get water, then find the Untamed around here, this Stone Clan,” Taras says. He looks at Corin. “Can you walk?”
Corin nods, touches his neck, then winces.
“Right,” Taras says. “Then we walk. In any case, we cannot stay still—and we cannot go back. We may have escaped Raleigh, but we do not know how close other Enhanced Ones may be. We haven’t got the gun now, have we?”
We look around, faces blank. Jana pulls the knife from her pocket—our only weapon. Corin must’ve dropped the Luger when he was being strangled. In the chaos, we didn’t pick it up.
Taras’s face is grim. “Let’s go.”
We’re in a different section, that’s all I can think as we walk to the ravine—all I allow myself to think, because if I don’t, I see Raleigh and my dog. See him killing him, even though I know Esther’s right; logically, it wouldn’t make sense for Raleigh to hurt my dog.
It’s colder here, and the air feels crisper, sharper. I try to remember the map Raleigh showed me—the one revealing the distribution of Untamed throughout the world—but my head is fuzzy. We could be in Section One. Or maybe that map’s not accurate now. Maybe the world has changed too much.
“Do you think that was safe for my baby?” Esther’s the first to speak in a long, long time. We’ve just been walking. Her eyes still hold the haunted look, and huge shadows hang beneath them. “That Seer-travel?”
I shrug, and I don’t know why I feel so offended when I know it’s a reasonable question. But I don’t know the answer.
I try to calm myself, and the images of that moonlit place push into my mind. Thinking of it makes me calmer, and I don’t understand it—nor do I try to—but I’m still somewhat calm when we stop by the edge of the ravine an hour or so later. That silver moonlit place. Has it got Seer powers in it? Did it guide me here?
Or did I guide us here using the power there, the feeling of safety, to find us a safe place with other Untamed? We really have traveled far. Very far.
“That looks steep,” Taras says as we reach what Jana tells us is the shallowest part of the gorge.
I peer over the edge of the ravine. The rocks are jagged, like they’ve been cut with a knife, and the slope itself is steep. At the bottom, sunlight winks from the water’s crinkled, ever-changing surface, but farther down the river, the water looks rougher, livelier, where water rushes down the opposite side of the gorge.
“I don’t think I can get down there,” Esther says.
Taras nods, and, suddenly, he looks much frailer as he hunches over. His body is so twisted, gnarled.
“Seven and I will collect some water,” Jana says. She looks at me, then Elf. “You too.”
I don’t know how we’re going to carry the water though. We have nothing. All the things we carefully packed at Nbutai are still there. Probably broken, damaged now.
“I’ll come too,” Corin says. His hands are shaking, and four times, he stumbled as we walked here.
I shake my head and take another look at the steep sides of the ravine. “You’re still recovering.”
For a moment, I think he’s going to argue, but something close to relief washes over his face.
“Just be careful,” he says as he pulls me close.
I breathe in his scent. Our lips brush, the most tender of kisses that wants to be something more. I feel the pounding in my heart, adrenaline. I nearly lost him. Lost him because of Raleigh.
Darkness burns inside me, and I try not to think of how Raleigh used my love for Corin, pretended to be him at New Kitembu. How we lay together that night, how his arms were around me, how I—
No. I can’t think about that now.
But shouldn’t you tell Corin about that? He needs to know what happened, how you’re feeling.
No. I push that voice away. He doesn’t. And definitely not now. I know what it would do to him.
And it was just kissing, some touching, before we slept, me in Raleigh’s arms. That was all. It was nothing compared to what Esther’s been through. I look across at Esther, wonder if I should say something. But the others are all here. I don’t think she’d want me asking if she’s okay in front of them. If she even wants me to ask at all.
I focus back on Corin. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
He nods, touches the base of his neck, winces. The blisters will take a few days to heal. “Yeah.”
I don’t want to walk away from him—but I do, I have to. I tell myself feeling like this is silly—it’s not like I’m never going to see him again. He’ll be right here. Taras is with him, and Esther, he’s not on his own.
The moment Jana, Elf, and I start climbing down the ravine, I feel its power. It’s being channeled along the riverbed, and every step toward it is like someone calling my name. My fingers buzz with it, and I barely notice how damp and slippery some of the rock is as Jana guides Elf and I, tells us where the best handholds are and where to put our feet. I don’t know how we’re going to carry any water back up.
As we near the river itself, the terrain evens out a bit, and we don’t need to use our hands as much. Jana leads us in a zig-zag pattern down through the rocks, and the energy of the river calls to me, stronger and stronger.
“Do you feel that?” I look at Elf, but he’s gazing intently at the sky as he walks—though he doesn’t stumble—so I look at Jana instead.
“The canyon runs with the tears of the Stone Goddesses,” she says. The sounds of the water is louder now, nearly swallows her words.
I frown. “Is it safe to clean our wounds with it? And to drink?”
Suddenly, I picture all the bacteria that could be thriving in it, and my skin feels dirty, like it’s alive with microscopic creatures fighting, a fight that will only get bigger when the water touches it.
Jana nods. “The Stone Clan do. The Stone Goddesses protect them. They say the river will only dry up when the Stone Goddesses are happy once more. I guess it’s a bit hard for that to happen when they’re dead and—”
“Keelie won’t stop screaming,” Elf says, his gaze still on
the sky.
Jana and I exchange glances.
A crawling sensation slips over me, and I look back at Elf. He rubs at his arms, hard, nails scratching pale lines on his skin. He shakes his head, then turns his gaze to me. A powerful gaze.
“Why won’t she stop screaming?” He covers his ears.
“You can hear her now?” I try and keep my voice soft, but I don’t know what I’m supposed to do or say.
He nods. “She’s in pain. Her death. She’s out here.”
“Here?” Jana raises her eyebrows. “Look, no offence, but you only just found out your sister could be a spirit—”
Elf turns on her with sudden energy. “She’s not just my sister. She’s me. We are of the same blood, of the same stars.” He says the words so fast they almost seem to be one syllable.
“Still,” Jana says. “You only just found out, and now you’re hearing her? There’s no screaming, Elf. It’s silent.”
I listen hard. It really is.
“Her screams are trapped, but they find me.” Elf’s eyes are haunted, and he looks at me. I flinch, feel a zap of something tingle through my body as he stares. Then he steps closer. “You look like Five.” He clears his throat, sudden, abrupt, then marches off, ahead of us. A strange sound follows.
He’s singing?
Jana leans in close to me as we hang back a little. “He’s gone mad, hasn’t he?”
I shrug.
“Who’s Five?”
“My sister.” I frown. I don’t look particularly like Five.
“Do you think he’s going to kill us at some point?” Jana asks.
“What?”
“He’s obviously loopy. Corin’s worried he’s going to turn on us.”
Her words tumble over and over as we finish the descent to the river. Jana and I take long drinks. There are a few containers by the side of the bank, so conveniently placed there like they were waiting for us, and Jana hands me two. Elf grabs his own, a strange, vibrant kind of energy radiating from him.
“To wash, you can use the water, but not wash in the river,” Jana says, stopping me just as I’m about to step into it. “The Stone Clan will have pans we can use. We wash in pairs. We should wait until then, just get rid of the worst of the dirt for now.”
We start collecting the water, and I choose a bit of the river a little way away from Jana and Elf, where the water’s swirling faster, round and round. Something about its surface reminds me of my Seer pendant, and I don’t know why. I touch the crystal, feel its steady presence, and—
I inhale sharply as I see the augmenter at my feet.
It’s propped up against a rock, clear orange liquid sparkling in the sun.
I stare at it for a moment, then turn and look behind me, expect to see Raleigh watching. His mirror eyes flashing, watching me. His smile.
He’s not there.
I turn my back on the augmenter, pointedly, as if I’m making a statement to it, and fill the water container. The whole time, my back burns, as if the augmenter’s got eyes that see into me.
I don’t want it.
I don’t need it. Not at all.
Why’s Raleigh doing this now? If anything, the augmenter makes me feel sick. After they made us all ill at New Kitembu, just the thought of swallowing one makes my stomach churn.
The augmenter laughs.
I whip my head around, stare at it. The hairs on the back of my arms rise.
No. It can’t have laughed.
It can’t.
I’m going mad?
The augmenter laughs again.
I lash out at it. One movement and then it’s in the water; the swirls carry it away as it winks at me.
My upper lip curls.
“Are you ready?” Jana calls to me.
I straighten up with my water containers, and turn back, determined not to think about it.
We hurry back, though passing the water containers between the three of us as we climb takes longer than I am comfortable with.
Corin greets us about twenty feet from where Taras and Esther are sitting on a rock. Physically, he looks a little better, but he’s frowning and his gaze locks onto mine in a way that dries my mouth.
The augmenter? He saw it?
I turn, look back—but he can’t have. The place where I was isn’t in sight from here.
“What is it?” My voice is low, and I set down the water containers. Jana and Elf do the same.
“Esther’s in pain,” Corin says. “She’s bleeding a bit.”
“The cut on her face?” Jana asks.
“No.” He doesn’t say any more.
I pull a hand through my hair—what’s left of it. Cold air wraps around my fingers. “What do we do?”
“We’re near the Stone Clan,” Jana says. “They’ll know.” But her hands shake as she wraps them together in front of her, squeezes them. “We’ve just got to get her there.”
“Can she walk?” I ask Corin.
He nods, and Elf and Jana and I follow him back to Esther and Taras. The whole way, Elf mutters something unintelligible under his breath, his face pale.
Esther smiles as we reach her, tells us not to worry. That she’s not worried. She’s shivering, and she and Taras laugh about how the Frozen Lands are much colder. Esther takes a long drink of the water. I notice how hard she clenches her hands around the container, so hard her knuckles go white. I try not to look at the red stains on her clothes.
“We need to go that way,” Jana says, pointing to the left once everyone’s finished drinking and we’ve cleaned up the others’ cuts a little, got rid of the dried blood and the worst of the dirt. We’ve got a little water left, but there’s no time to refill the containers now. Not with Esther like this. We need to find this group of Untamed.
I swallow hard, then look up at the sky. Wonder if the spirits—if Three—could help us. But they’re not there—the sky’s a clear blue—and I think of Nbutai, how Elf managed to call them, even if they weren’t humanoid. Is that one of his Seer powers? Calling the spirits? How long has he even been a Seer?
We transfer the remaining water into one container which Elf says he’ll carry. Jana says to leave the empty containers here, that the Stone Clan will send someone for them. Then she leads the way through broken foliage, scattered earth, and rocks, but we make sure our pace is set by Esther. Corin guides her along—says he isn’t in any pain, though his neck still looks angry—and Jana holds her other hand. Taras and I walk behind them, and Elf’s behind us.
We pick our way over the stony ground, heading to the left, farther away from the river. I look at a few of the more interesting plants as we walk—the plants that are now dying—but I don’t really recognize them. My father taught me the names of the flora around Nbutai, but this land is so different. Even the grasses look different.
The rocks get larger and the terrain steeper. Esther’s breathing gets heavier, more ragged.
We walk and walk.
“This is it,” Jana says at last, indicating a huge expanse of rock in front of us.
It takes my eyes a moment to adjust, to make out the dark opening in the rock-face. Looks so much like the Origin Cave with the Living Rock, but also so different.
Behind it, mountains rise up, look greener than the land here.
The air feels colder, unfriendly. When I step nearer to it, my heart thuds a little heavier; the thought of climbing into the earth and meeting loads of Seers fills me with dread. What if they’re not like Jana and Taras and Elf? What if they blame me for the Dream Land’s destruction?
What if they’re like the Zharat? They live inside the earth, too, these Stone Seers.
Being Untamed doesn’t automatically make you a good person.
I feel sick.
“Are they inside?” Taras asks.
“We’ll soon find out.” Jana steps into the cave entrance. A second later, it swallows her, and all we hear is her voice, shrill. “Amalia! Zara! It’s me, Jana.”
We follow her
. The cave is cold and dark, but my eyes adjust. There’s some natural light—small holes in the ceiling. I look around, feel my pulse quicken as a strange energy reverberates through me.
“How big is this cave?” My words bounce around us. I reach out, touch the wall. It’s rough beneath my fingers, crumbles a little. “Are there tunnels?”
I try to keep calm, but the memory of being in the Zharat den floods back. The fear of walking around. How the men would look at me.
I push it out of my mind. Really try to.
This place isn’t there. It’s not the same.
But my heart pounds, and I turn to the right, see a painting on the wall. My vision blurs, and I’m back in the Zharat mountain, staring at Waskabe, the God of Death.
Traitor, he whispers.
I flash hot, then cold.
I’ve got to get out.
I turn, crash into Corin.
“Sorry.”
Then I’m running. Running back, trip, catch my hand on the wall, steady myself, graze my fingers, feel wetness slip around them.
But I keep moving. Just got to get out. My head pounds, and it’s like everything inside me is screaming out, out, out. Screaming that will never stop. The same screaming Elf hears? No. It can’t be. He hears Keelie. This isn’t Keelie. This is me.
The moment I make it outside, I feel better. Feel the sun on my face, the warm glow. The wind wrapping around me. Nature, protecting me.
I take a deep breath, try to steady my racing heart. I walk a few paces forward, try to clear my head. Oh Gods. I panicked. That was all. Death wasn’t really in there. There were no paintings, were there?
I didn’t react like that in the Origin Cave, where there really were images on the Living Rock.
“Sev?”
I look back. Corin has emerged from the cave’s mouth.
“Are you all right?” He stops in front of me. There’s tenderness in his eyes, concern.
I nod. “I don’t want to be inside there.”
“Because of the Zharat?”
I look at the ground, kick at some shingle, watch the little stones scatter like they have lives of their own. Then I nod. “I don’t know why… It’s silly.”
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