Chapter 11
11
The next morning, I woke on the floor of my room.
Bright sunlight poured in from the windows, beaming down on top of me like a spotlight, and I thought I was still dreaming. It was so warm and safe. But when I finally opened my eyes, the first thing I saw were the manacles lying beside me, unlocked. Last night crept back into my mind. I didn’t get them on in time; I had changed. And I had escaped.
I dragged myself up and looked around.
My room was a mess. The bed was stripped of all its sheets, the pillows clawed to shreds, and feathers littered the floor. The privacy screen lay on its side; my wardrobe was scattered all over the room. A fist-sized hole had been punched into the vanity mirror.
I didn’t remember doing any of this.
The balcony doors were still open, letting in a gentle breeze.
Last night came back to me in bits and pieces like a dream—the feeling of flying, the smell of fear, the taste of…I looked at my hands. They were covered in blood, sticky and dark and cold.
I scrambled to my feet and went to the bathroom to wash my hands, but there I saw the missing sheets from the bed had been stuffed into the tub, completely covered in blood. The floor, too, was smeared in it, but it looked like I had tried to clean it up in a semiconscious state. There was so much blood. Too much.
“Please tell me I didn’t hurt someone,” I whispered.
When I glanced at myself in the mirror, I half expected to see that monstrous face, but it was only me. Pale, exhausted. A scared girl.
I turned on the faucet to soak the sheets with cold water, but it only made them worse. I scrubbed at the sheets with soap, trying to get out the stains, but they weren’t worth saving. The harder I scrubbed, the worse it got. The water became a horrible shade of pink, and the air smelled like iron. I sat on the edge of the tub and stared at the mess I’d made.
I knew I had killed something and eaten it. I could feel it in me—a satiated hunger that didn’t feel like it belonged to me. It belonged to something else. And it would be hungry again.
I tried not to cry. It was getting worse. I was getting worse.
I left the sheets in the tub and scrubbed the blood off my hands before I went and tidied my room. What clothes I hadn’t torn to shreds last night in a blind rage I put back into my luggage, and the rest I threw in the tub with the ruined sheets. Everything was going to have to go. Most of the clothes Jinky had packed for me were rags now. What was left were some of my T-shirts from the human world that I wore to sleep, a few Maria Clara dresses, and a couple pairs of jean shorts. It wasn’t the wardrobe of a queen, but it would have to be enough.
I chose a T-shirt-and-shorts combination and tied my hair up into a ponytail as I rushed out the door. When I did, voices were coming from down the hall. I’d heard them before they saw me.
“—a winged monster, that’s what he said!”
“A stable boy? How do we know he’s not lying?”
“He sounded convincing enough!”
They were a pair of laundry maids, both of them carrying stacks of clean sheets and walking toward me.
My stomach dropped when I realized they were headed to my room. I put on a tight smile and stood in front of my door. “Good morning!”
The laundry maids jumped when I greeted them. They clammed up, quickly curtsying. Their eyes went round, and their faces paled. “Your Majesty! We didn’t recognize you.”
“Sorry!” I said, a little breathless. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“Not at all, Your Majesty,” the maid with her pink hair tied into a long braid said.
“Is there something we can do for you?” the maid with large, innocent eyes asked.
“Um,” I said, trying to think. “Sorry. I couldn’t help but overhear. Who saw a monster?”
The laundry maids looked at each other, shocked, but the one with the long braid said, “A stable boy. He said he’d seen a monster with claws flying around last night.”
My heart hitched, but I tried not to show it. I folded my arms over my chest and tilted my head to the side. “What kind of monster? What did it do?”
“He says it was a manananggal, but that’s unlikely. He said it killed one of the horses. Came out of the night sky, screeching like a banshee, and picked up the horse by the neck and carried it into the jungle.”
The other maid nodded, still pale.
“Did it hurt anyone or anything else?” I asked.
“No, Your Majesty,” the doe-eyed maid said. “Just the horse.”
Something like relief worked its way through me. I felt awful that I’d killed something, let alone a horse, but at least I hadn’t hurt a person. That would explain why there was so much blood in my room.
“Oh,” I said. “That sounds terrifying.”
The maids nodded.
The pink-haired maid continued. “At first no one believed him. Edgardo thought the stable boy was careless and let the horse run loose, making up an excuse so he wouldn’t get in trouble, but the guards found some parts of it in the jungle this morning…” She took a deep breath, a blush appearing on her cheeks. “I apologize. I am speaking too much. I do not mean to alarm you, Your Majesty. It’s likely a great bird of prey.”
“You should have nothing to fear,” the doe-eyed one said.
A look must have crossed my face despite my best efforts to remain calm. When I’d broken out during the night, I had eaten most of a horse without waking up. Was the monster growing stronger? I tried my best to smile. “I’m just thankful the stable boy wasn’t hurt.”
“Indeed, Your Majesty,” the pink-haired maid said.
I tried to steady my pounding heart and gestured to the sheets in their arms. “Are you bringing those to my room?” I asked.
The doe-eyed one held out her stack. “Yes. Clarissa told us you didn’t want to be disturbed, but we were coming to turn down your bed.”
“You don’t have to do that,” I said.
The girl looked confused. “You don’t want fresh sheets?”
They couldn’t see the state of my room. I had to keep them out. “Is that okay?” I asked.
They both stared at me, cheeks flushed, but neither of them could muster up the ability to speak. I don’t think they had ever been asked by a royal for their permission to do—or, rather, not do—something.
I explained, “I’d like to do my own laundry, if that’s not too much trouble. I don’t want to take your job from you, but…doing my own laundry makes me feel independent again…You know, like before I was queen.” I wanted to say “like normal,” but nothing about any of this was normal, and I decided against it.
The maids glanced at each other, but neither of them seemed bothered when I explained it that way.
“Of course, Your Majesty. As you wish.”
I was probably breaking a dozen house rules, but I didn’t care. I thanked them when they handed me the sheets and left, heading toward the other rooms. I watched them go, my throat tight, before I went back into my room to hide the evidence.
The air in the house had changed. Either I was imagining it, or there was a nervous electricity to it. Every servant I passed seemed to be talking about the same thing: a monster. But their conversations quickly shifted once they noticed me.
I kept my head low, trying to stay unnoticed, but it was difficult. Everyone knew me, and I couldn’t hide, no matter how hard I tried. People greeted me as I walked the halls of the great house, and I did my best to greet them in return, but the whole time, I was fearful that someone would scream, point at me, and call me out for what I truly was. But no one did. No one suspected that their queen was secretly turning into a monster at night and terrorizing the land. Who would ever think such a thing?
When I reached the main foyer, I heard shouts coming from the lawn, but they weren’t alarming. They almost sounded…fun. I followed the sounds of boys yelling and cheering.
In the courtyard, Qian and his men were in the middle of an intense game of sipa, which was kind of like if soccer and volleyball fell in love and had a baby: Two teams of four kicked a ball back and forth across a net, trying to get the ball to hit the ground on the other side.
They shouted to one another, leaping and kicking the ball over the net like martial artists. It was almost hypnotic watching them flying through the air. Qian drew my eye first, especially with how he smiled and clapped every time they scored a point. He’d noticed me when I arrived but hadn’t stopped playing.
Nix, Amador, and Lucas sat near a table where breakfast had been served. I was so late, I’d missed most of it. From her seat, Nix heard me coming and looked up from a plate of sliced mango. Nix’s dark eyes brightened when she noticed me, and she smiled. For once, she looked well-rested. This trip was at least doing her some favors, and I was grateful she could have a break. I, on the other hand, felt absolutely miserable. My stomach churned when I thought about eating anything.
“MJ!” Nix said. “You’re awake!”
“Yeah,” I said, trying to smile.
My eyes drifted to Lucas and Amador, who was lounging on one of the rattan deck chairs, her blue-black hair pooling across her shoulders. She wore a bikini and a large sun hat with equally large sunglasses, really bringing the concept of vacation to the vacation home. She didn’t acknowledge me, even though she knew I was there.
Lucas was standing behind her, his arms folded tightly across his chest. I couldn’t help but notice that he was dressed casually, too, in a loose tunic and linen pants, but his dagger was seemingly permanently attached to his hip. Even though we were on a retreat, he didn’t seem relaxed. I wondered if he’d also heard talk about the monster and was taking extra precautions. His gaze was firmly fixed on the sipa match, his brow furrowed.
Something pricked my heart when I saw him, but I took a deep breath and went to Nix.
“Did you sleep okay?” Nix asked, setting down her plate.
“Yeah! Really good,” I said, and Nix’s eyes narrowed slightly. I swiftly changed the subject. “Sorry I missed breakfast. I’m glad you all didn’t wait for me.”
“Of course, we want the queen to get as much beauty rest as possible,” Amador said from her spot on the deck chair. The insult was more than obvious—even Lucas scowled, but he didn’t stick up for me, either, and somehow that hurt even more.
I bit my tongue and turned my attention back to the table of food, piling a plate for myself with what was left over, even though I wasn’t hungry. The garlic rice set the hair on the back of my neck on end, so I avoided it.
“I’m glad to see Qian is enjoying himself,” I said to Nix. “Hopefully that puts him in a good mood to talk about you staying with us.”
Nix wasn’t buying the topic change. She inspected me with a critical eye that I forced myself to ignore. If I pretended like everything was fine, then maybe it would be.
“Are you okay?” she whispered.
“I’m good!” When Nix gave me a doubtful frown, I added, “I’m just feeling a little under the weather, that’s all.”
Nix was the absolute last person I should have said that to. She pinched her lips, and concern drew her brows together. “What’s going on with you?”
“Nothing!”
She snatched the plate of food out of my hand and set it back on the table, then grabbed me by the wrist and dragged me into the house. I was too tired to protest, and she led me into the salt room, closing the door behind us for privacy.
“What’s wrong?” she whispered. “Tell me.”
I wanted to tell her it was nothing, that I could handle it, but it was no use. I couldn’t keep this up forever. She would know I was lying, no matter how many times I told her I wasn’t.
I let out a strangled sigh and sat down on one of the carved salt chairs, then immediately leapt up with a yelp. The parts of my skin that had touched the salt felt like they were on fire.
Nix let out a strangled cry and rushed to me, grabbing my arm and turning it toward her. “It’s burned!” My skin was sizzling like I’d placed it on a hot iron, but with each passing second, the pain faded, and so did the welt. “How did…” She stared at my injuries for a second and then at me.
I should have known. Salt is used to ward off manananggals. The urge to cry pricked my nose.
I didn’t know where to start. The last thing I wanted was for her to run screaming away from me or not believe me. I wasn’t sure which would be worse.
But this was Nix. I had to trust her.
“I haven’t been honest with you,” I said, finally meeting her gaze. “Something’s happening to me, and I don’t know why.”
Nix’s expression morphed from frustration to confusion. She tugged my other arm toward her, and I instinctively flinched back, afraid that something bad might happen. “MJ,” she pleaded. Her grip was confident and unafraid, and she brought her hands down the lengths of my arms and wrapped her fingers around my wrists. She traced my pulse, and the concern in her brow deepened.
“Your heart rate is elevated, blood pressure up, increased levels of stress hormones in your cerebral cortex…You’re afraid.”
I clenched my jaw and let her take my vitals, but I was so afraid to tell her, my hands shook. She clasped them both in her hands and leveled her eyes with mine. “MJ, what is going on with you?”
“For the past few days…” I started, but stopped myself, like I was walking up to a cliff where I knew, once I jumped, I could never change my mind. I licked my lips and found comfort in her face. “For the past few nights, rather, I’ve been…changing.”
“Changing?”
“Yes, I’m not me. I’m something else. And I can’t stop it. They feel like nightmares, but they’re real. Every night, I turn into a monster.”
The word hung in the air between us for a heartbeat, but Nix didn’t laugh like I expected her to. She must have felt my pulse pounding beneath my skin. “What kind of monster?” she asked.
“A manananggal.”
Nix’s eyes widened, and her eyebrows shot up. Her fingers twitched like she was about to let me go, but she didn’t. “How?”
“I don’t know.” I told her about the first night it happened, how I thought it was just a nightmare, and then the second night when I attacked a couple. That I’d killed and eaten a goat instead. I told her everything, and as I spoke, her eyes only got wider. By the time I was done, I wanted to curl into a ball and hide my face. “I can’t control it.”
Nix stared at me for a long time and let out a shaky breath. “I healed that couple,” she said, dazed. “I…I’d never seen anything like what happened to them.”
“I feel awful. No one else can know.” My throat tightened, and it felt like I was drowning. Tears started to burn my eyes, and all my fears came rushing back like a tidal wave. “Please don’t tell anyone.”
Nix dropped my hands and clasped my shoulders. “I won’t! Of course not! I won’t tell anyone, MJ, I swear!”
My head dropped, and Nix wrapped her arms around me. She held me close, squeezing me tight, and I hugged her back. Relief quelled the sludge inside me for a brief moment. It felt good finally telling someone what was happening.
After a second, she pulled away and looked deep into my eyes. “How can I help you?” she asked. “What can I do?”
“I don’t know.”
“It’s been happening every night?”
“So far. I don’t know how or why, but it’s only getting worse. This morning, I woke up with more blood on my hands again. At night, I separate from my lower half and grow wings and claws, and last night, I ate a horse. I overheard the laundry maids talking about it this morning. But I don’t remember any of it.”
“I heard about that, too…So you were going to attack people? Like that couple the other night?”
“I wanted to. I mean, the manananggal wanted to…I tried to stop myself, I think. But I’m not sure how much longer I can hold it off.”
“You didn’t tell Elias?”
“No, I didn’t know how. The couple that saw me when I first changed didn’t recognize me. Neither did the stable hand last night. It’s like I’m possessed. I’m repulsed by garlic and, I guess, salt.” I looked around at the room made entirely of it and shuddered. Was this the new normal for me?
Nix, however, was in problem-solving mode. Her gaze drifted across the room, no doubt thinking about everything I’d just told her. “But what is the source of it? Do you think it’s another hex from a mambabarang?”
“I read a book in the library that said it could be a curse. Whatever it is, I just want it to stop.”
Nix’s eyelids fluttered as she took a moment to process. “That’s good, at least. We can rule stuff out.”
“Have you ever heard of anything like this?” I asked, hopeful.
She shook her head and met my eyes. “No.”
“Figured,” I said, and wiped stray tears that had fallen onto my cheeks.
“Hey,” said Nix, wiping away even more with her thumb. “That doesn’t mean we’re giving up.”
Something that felt a lot like hope sparked in my chest. “You’re not afraid of me?”
Nix screwed up her face. “Are you nuts? Why would I be afraid of you? You’re my best friend!”
That made me want to sob right on the spot. Somehow, I’d thought she’d never want to speak to me again. A fearful little voice in my head had convinced me that I wasn’t worthy of her love anymore because of what I was becoming, and yet here she stood. It was everything I could have asked for.
She shook me gently. “We can figure out a way. I’m sure there’s something we can do. There’s a pattern, so you’ll probably change again tonight, right?”
My stomach dropped at the idea. “Probably. I have these iron cuffs that might keep me from escaping, but I didn’t get them on in time last night.”
“That’s why you need my help,” Nix said. “I’ll stay with you tonight.”
“Nix, no! What if I hurt you?”
“I don’t care. You need my help. If you don’t remember what happens, I have to see it for myself. There may be more clues we’re missing. I’m not letting you go through this alone.”
“But I wanted to hurt that couple! I would have if I hadn’t stopped myself!”
“Well, lucky for me, I can get my hands on some garlic and salt to protect myself, since you seem to be vulnerable to them, and I’ll make sure you’re chained up!”
It sounded like a terrible idea. What if I broke out? What if garlic and salt weren’t enough?
“It’s too dangerous, Nix,” I said, shaking my head. “If I’d known before what I was turning into, I never would have invited anyone here. I would have banished myself, locked myself in a dungeon, and thrown away the key.”
Nix frowned at me. “Did you think I’d abandon my friend?”
“Ask me again later when you see what I turn into.”
Nix stared at me, perhaps imagining what it would look like when I transformed, but her resolve set her jaw. “You should see all the bodily fluids that I have to deal with as a healer. Nothing can surprise me.”
Her confidence actually calmed me down somewhat. I felt better knowing that she was on my side now, and I wouldn’t have to spend the remainder of the trip hiding this secret from her, but I was still dreading tonight.
“Obviously you can’t tell your brother,” I said. “Qian, Amador, not even Lucas can know what’s happening. If Qian finds out I’m a monster…” I choked on the word.
“Secret’s safe with me,” she said, crossing her finger over her chest. “But first, you need to stop calling yourself a monster.” Before I could protest, she held up her hand. “Second, we need to get all that blood out of your sheets. Fortunately for you, I know just the thing.”
Nix’s healing powers proved quite effective when cleaning up blood. She waved her hand above the tub, and the blood on the sheets and staining the water disappeared like it’d never been there. “It’s all part of being a healer,” she said. “It’s one of the first things I learned as an apprentice. The key to good medicine is cleanliness.”
The sheets looked good as new, even if they were still soaking wet, and my worry disappeared like the blood. With Nix’s help, I could at least keep the evidence of my secret under control.
When that was taken care of, Nix helped me clean the rest of my room, which was not something her healing powers could help with. She held up my ruined clothing and clicked her tongue over the state of my wardrobe while I told her everything that I’d discovered in the records room, including how there was a missing Princess Yara Liliana who had been erased from history.
“So a manananggal is seen around the same time a princess goes missing?” Nix asked. “Smells fishy to me.”
“You don’t think she could have been the manananggal, do you?” I asked. I’d been thinking about it, too, but never before could I bounce the idea off anyone else.
“It makes sense why they would want to pretend like she never existed. It would look bad if the ruler of Biringan was hunting people at night.” That much was evident.
“I have to know what happened to her. I hired Romulo to find more information about her for me.”
“Romulo? The pirate guy we met?”
“Yeah. It’s one of the only clues I have to follow.” It was easy to succumb to despair and wallow in self-pity, but I had to do my best to believe that I could fix things.
Nix crumpled up one of my Maria Clara dresses that had been torn in two and said, “It is pretty weird. Though do you really think Romulo can find anything?”
“If he can’t, no one can.”
Nix hummed, put her hands on her hips, and looked at the pile of clothes that I’d ruined. “Girl, we have got to get you a new wardrobe.”
“That’s kind of the last thing on my mind right now,” I said. “Plus, with trying to convince your brother not to drag you back to Jade Mountain, my clothes are the least of my problems.”
“You still need to keep up appearances. You’re a queen.”
“I can’t be a queen if I’m a flesh-eating monster.”
Nix harrumphed, lost in thought. Idly, she went to the broken mirror and traced her fingers over the cracks in the glass and then looked at the flowers I had dropped on the floor, the blue petals wilted and faded now. I hoped she wouldn’t ask about them. I didn’t know what she would feel if she knew they were from Qian. I wasn’t sure how I felt about it, either. Thankfully, she didn’t seem interested in them. I could see behind her eyes that her mind was already working.
“You said you start transforming during the night, right?” she asked.
“As far as I know. The book I read about manananggals didn’t have many answers.”
“Then we find our own.” She ran her tongue against her cheek, her hands on her hips.
I knew that look. “What are you thinking?” I asked.
“What if I put you to sleep? Like, a deep sleep?”
I raised an eyebrow. “Like…a coma?”
“Kind of. I know of some herbs that can help with insomnia. I read about them in The Mysterious Properties of Magical Herbs by Lady Elowina. What if I make you a potion that will knock you out? It might be strong enough to knock out the manananggal, too.”
Images of Snow White and Sleeping Beauty came to mind. Sleeping like the dead. If it was strong enough, maybe…If the manananggal was asleep, it could mean I wouldn’t have to worry about hurting anyone. “Nix,” I said, heart leaping. “You are brilliant.”
Nix’s smile was infectious.
Together, we headed out of the main house and toward the jungle. Nix mentioned that some of the herbs could be found in the mountains. Even though they were harmless on their own, they were a powerful sleeping potion when combined. But the fact that the recipe came from the book written by the mambabarang that had tried to kill me was less than comforting.
“You sure this isn’t too dangerous?” I asked.
“Ninety percent sure,” she said, picking up a wicker basket from a stack near the kitchens. “Okay, eighty-five. I’ll make an antidote just in case.”
I would take those odds. I was so exhausted, getting knocked over the head with a club sounded just as tempting. I trusted Nix, though. With her on my side, tonight wouldn’t be so bad.
We didn’t see anyone while we walked on the lawn, skirting the outer edges of the jungle, until we came upon a group of people near the front gate. There, Edgardo was speaking with some of the gardeners and other groundskeepers.
“I want all of you to be on high alert,” Edgardo said. “A curfew will be in place at sunset so as to avoid any more encounters with the creature. The last thing we want is an incident that could endanger anyone.” When he noticed me approaching, his eyes went wide, and he bowed at the waist. “Apologies, Your Majesty. I wanted to speak to you in person. We have rumors of a monster lurking near the grounds.”
“I heard,” I said. The gardeners and groundskeepers looked uneasy, and I didn’t blame them. They bowed and curtsied to me as well, but the fear never left their eyes. If I didn’t know what was happening, either, I would have been scared, too. “Please listen to Edgardo,” I told them. “For your own safety, until we can get the matter resolved, stay indoors at night. For now, I don’t think you have anything to worry about, though, not until darkness falls.”
I glanced at Nix, and she nodded reassuringly.
Edgardo looked at me quizzically but decided not to press. He dismissed the groundskeepers and turned to me and Nix. “Might I ask where you are headed today?”
“We are simply appreciating the outdoors,” Nix said. “It’s too beautiful here to stay inside.”
Edgardo seemed to take pride in that. “Ah yes. Well, be sure to be careful around the property. The mountain holds plenty of secrets, magical and mundane in nature. Might I recommend the hot spring or the waterfall? Your friend Amador was readying to take a ride.”
He held out his arm and gestured toward Amador, who was sitting proudly atop her horse with a stable boy leading it by the reins. I was about to tell Edgardo that she wasn’t my friend, but I held my tongue. “Thank you, Edgardo. If you’d be so kind, please tell the rest of the staff of the curfew. Everyone’s safety is of the utmost importance until we can get everything under control.”
“Of course, Your Majesty.” Edgardo snapped his heels together and bowed, then walked away. But before we could slip away into the jungle, Amador and the stable boy arrived. Amador dismissed the stable boy and adjusted her kid gloves.
“Having a good time?” I asked, mustering a smile.
“It’s not awful,” she said. Her eyes lingered on Nix briefly before she looked at me. “Did you hear of the monster?”
“Oh, I figured it was right in front of me.” I thought I was being exceptionally clever, but a bitterness on my tongue made the moment less sweet. I knew I was being catty, but it felt good to lash out for a bit. Amador’s frown was worth it at first. Then my satisfaction ebbed away, and the bitterness stayed in my mouth.
Amador made a snooty little snort and said, “Since you’re queen, you should handle the issue.”
I folded my arms across my chest. “I’m working on it.”
“I heard Qian and his men talking. They want to set traps, I think.”
“That’s not necessary,” I said.
“No?” Amador tilted her head. She looked again at Nix, who averted her gaze.
“We’re dealing with it,” I said.
Amador’s brow furrowed. “Are you, now? Though, if you ask me, I’m not sure what you can do, seeing as you still haven’t learned to control your power.”
Nix spoke up, surprising even me. “Come on, Amador. Ease off.”
Amador glared at Nix. “She’s supposed to lead us. How can we have faith in her skills if she can’t even negotiate with a neighboring kingdom?”
I was tired, admittedly cranky, and not in the mood for dealing with Amador, so I held my arm out, shielding Nix. “You have no idea what I’m going through,” I said to Amador. “You can sit up there and judge all you want, but it won’t change anything.”
Amador sneered. “I am a very good judge of character.”
“If using your power is so easy, why haven’t I seen you do it? Why don’t you catch the monster?”
Amador’s sneer dropped.
In my time in Biringan City, I’d seen many encantos use their magic freely and without care, especially for everyday uses like boiling water or making a bed with a snap of their fingers. For the life of me, I couldn’t remember if I’d ever seen Amador use hers. If I were more cynical, I would have believed that she used her magic to make herself more beautiful. But Amador’s hands tightened around the reins. I’d apparently struck a nerve. Her eyes darted around, maybe searching for anyone who might overhear.
“I don’t need to prove anything to you,” she said. Her eyes shone, and for the briefest moment, I felt as if I’d overstepped. It was so easy being mean to Amador because she was always mean to me, but for once, it somehow didn’t seem fair anymore. I was about to say something when Amador changed the subject.
“By the way, Qian is looking for you,” she said. Any sign of her embarrassment had vanished.
“What for?”
“Do I look like a messenger?” With that, Amador kicked her horse and took off down the path.
I scowled after her when Nix spoke up. “Just ignore her,” she said. “We’ve got plants to find.”
Finding the ingredients was the easy part; actually harvesting them was the hard part. Most of them were various flower petals and blooming vines, but they were often located high in the trees, forcing me and Nix to climb to reach them. My hands and arms were so sore and scraped up, I had to hope that this would all be worth it. Nix seemed far more optimistic than me, and I would be forever grateful.
It took a while, but by the time Nix and I had gathered all the herbs, stacked high in the wicker basket, we still had a few hours left before sundown, so there was plenty of time for Nix to prepare the potion for tonight.
Just before we made it back to the house, a yell pierced through the air.
“What was that?” I asked, eyes wide.
Nix flinched and stared at me, and we took off at a full sprint through the gate and onto the lawn. But when I bolted around the corner, blood running cold, I found Qian, General Heng, and Lucas grouped with the others from Jade Mountain in the yard at ease, under the shade of a palm tree. Farther away on the grass, a man in a green uniform stood near a pile of clay discs.
“What’s going on?” I asked. And what was Lucas doing with them?
Nix stared at the group, looking grim. “Nothing good, I imagine.”
We walked over just as Qian stepped in front of the others and hefted a bow in one hand, pulling an arrow with another. He was dressed for a day of sport, in breeches and a long shirt with the sleeves rolled up to allow for leather bracers to protect his forearms. He raised the bow and yelled, “Pull!”
The servant in the green uniform raised his arms, and a gust of wind lifted one of the clay discs up into the air so high, the disc turned into a speck.
Qian tracked the disc, following its movements through the sky. The game master moved the clay disc erratically, making it doubly hard, but Qian’s eyes were narrow, focused. He let loose. The arrow whizzed through the air, smashing the disc into bits from five hundred feet away. He was an incredible shot.
His men cheered when Qian lowered the bow, grinning with victory. Lucas stood by in silence, his arms folded firmly over his chest, his expression unreadable.
Nix leaned in close to me. “That’s Qian’s power. He can’t miss.”
My heart beat rapidly against my rib cage, and I swallowed down the nerves bubbling up my throat.
Lucas was the first to notice us. The muscles in his jaw clenched before he looked away. My lungs almost forgot to take in air. Was Lucas going to join them in hunting me?
Grinning, Qian returned to the group, striding with earned confidence, and approached Lucas. “Go on, Sir Lucas!” Qian said, thrusting the bow toward him. “Give it a try.”
Lucas held up his hand, palm out. “I’m good.”
“What, never done it before?”
Lucas shook his head. “I’m not in the business of hunting.”
“A moral stance, is it?”
Lucas squinted into the bright sky like he was checking for signs of a winged monster. “I prefer different opponents. Preferably ones who can fight back.”
Qian looked amused. “A monster isn’t a worthy adversary?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Well, if you want to protect your queen, you should get some practice in. That monster could swoop down and take a bite.” By then, Qian had noticed me, and his smile widened. “And a prettier creature graces us with her presence.”
I stepped out onto the lawn while Qian’s men broke off to drink fresh water and eat snacks. Lucas’s eyes lingered on me for the briefest moment before he cleared his throat and secured his arms behind his back. He bowed to me, as was customary, and didn’t say or do anything more. Qian, ignoring the formalities, came to me.
“You were looking for me?” I asked, attempting to sound casual. I couldn’t help but stare at the quiver full of arrows at his hip and imagine what it would feel like to be shot with one. “Amador mentioned you wanted to speak.”
“We heard rumors of a monster,” he said. “Some sort of flesh-eating, bloodsucking creature.” His eyes went to the herbs in Nix’s basket, and his brow furrowed. “Were you two in the jungle?”
“Only for a little bit. We think the monster is nocturnal,” said Nix.
Qian wiped sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand and said, “Can’t be too careful. The both of you should stay close.”
“We know,” I said. “A curfew sounds like an excellent idea while we investigate further. Wouldn’t want anyone to be harmed.”
“Of course, everyone’s safety is the top priority. Second, though, is preparedness. Do you like it?” He showed me the bow, mistaking my staring at it for interest. “It’s my favorite.”
“It’s a beautiful weapon,” I said. It was a carved wood, burned black, polished to a glossy shine. It looked deadly, even at rest.
“Would you like to try a shot?”
“Um…” My eyes flicked toward Lucas, who looked impassive. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. Heat welled up inside me for some reason. I wasn’t sure I wanted to, but I nodded. “Sure.”
Qian smiled, and my heart skipped as I saw genuine warmth there. He was excited to share. “Have you ever used one before?”
I shook my head and stepped up to the spot on the lawn where Qian had shot from. I expected him to hand the bow over, but instead, he placed it in my hand, and then he moved around me, pressing himself up against my back while he threaded an arrow from his hand into mine. His touch sent a thrill down my spine. I leaned into the sturdiness of him as he situated me into position, locking my fingers for me around the bowstring. Then he dragged his hands up my arms, and his breath was hot on my ear. “Now think of the bow like an extension of yourself. Don’t look at the arrow. Simply feel.”
I tried to maintain my composure, but his being so close felt like an electric current was surging through my skin. My gaze flicked toward Lucas, whose eyes were firmly on the ground, his jaw clenched so tightly, I wondered if he might crack a tooth. A slithering feeling of satisfaction snaked its way through my gut. I’d had to watch him and Amador for so long, so how did it feel now?
The bow was heavier than I imagined, and the leather wrap was still warm from where Qian had held it. His face hovered over my shoulder, his chest pressed up against my back. Surprisingly enough, I didn’t mind how close Qian was. It was like he’d enveloped me in his arms, shielding me from the world. He helped me pull back the string, and the bow flexed obediently. He called for the game master to fire a clay disc. “Pull!”
The disc shot into the sky, but I didn’t let loose.
“Easy,” Qian whispered in my ear, helping me track the projectile. “Just watch. Focus on the target.”
The disc hovered high over our heads, and for a moment, I imagined the disc had bat wings, bloody claws, and no legs. A manananggal. Me.
Qian mistook my momentary panic for nerves.
“Steady now,” Qian said. His hands grasped my forearms gently and lined the sight up with the clay disc as it bobbed in the air. “Don’t hesitate. Let your mind go blank. Once you’ve got it in your sights, let loose.”
I released the bowstring, and the arrow shot out, whistling like a bullet. The arrow hit the disc straight on, splitting it in half. Too easily could I imagine the arrow piercing through flesh. I even felt the pain, heard the inhuman scream wrench from my own throat, and I lowered the bow. I was numbly aware that Qian’s party was applauding me, and it took me a moment to gather myself before I turned to them and gave a cute curtsy. Qian’s eyes were bright while he clapped and beamed.
“Excellent shot,” he said. “The monster won’t stand a chance against you.”
“I would hope not.” I gave him my best smile as I returned his bow to him, but inside I felt like screaming.
I excused myself, but Qian called my name.
“Be careful, MJ,” he said. “Dangers may be lurking around every corner.”
“I can take care of myself,” I said.
“I am sure you can,” Qian said. “I look forward to our talks later.”
My stomach clenched. It was already so late. “Tomorrow, after you’ve had your fun.”
Qian smiled at me, but Lucas’s eyes remained on the ground, even when I walked past him to rejoin Nix and head back to the great house.
I didn’t want to think about the idea that if Qian or any of the others knew that I was the monster, they wouldn’t hesitate to shoot.