Chapter 17 Isi #2
Jaxon’s gaze scanned the group, and he paused, frowning, as if trying to form his words before speaking.
“Don’t mind my brother. He’s grumpy, yeah.
Growly too. But… My parents—our parents—treated us like we didn’t exist. I would’ve died if Maddox hadn’t watched out for me.
” The look he shot his older brother contained so much love it made my heart ache.
And it made me think a little better of Maddox.
As we talked about which branches might work for sleeping and chose ones we felt fit best, the jungle came alive with hooting calls from unseen creatures, the rustle of something large moving through the undergrowth below, and the endless splatter of rain.
At least the phosphorescent moss allowed us to see where we were placing our feet, even if it made us all look ghostly.
“It’s like being in a fairy tale,” Kerralyn said, still scribbling in her journal.
“Fairy tales often end with people dying,” Maddox said.
Jaxon rolled his eyes. “Not all of them.”
“Most of the good ones do.”
Bryson spun his makeshift weapon in his hands, testing its weight. “I’ll take the first watch.”
“I’ll go second.” I looked around at the others, trying to pretend we hadn’t done this last night and that one of us… I wasn’t going to think about Fara until this was over, and I could truly mourn her. “Let’s do a full rotation.”
I set the order with Derren following me, ending with Lexie, then Maddox and Kerralyn. Jaxon last. That should cover most of the night. “Don’t leave and don’t fall asleep. Watch as long as you can.”
“Wake Bryson if it’s still dark,” I told Jaxon. “And Bryson, I’ll go after you again if needed.”
“No one wanders off,” Maddox growled. “Who knows what could’ve happened to us while she was strolling through the jungle.”
It was all I could do not to smack him. “She was looking for herbs for me.”
“Bad judgment on her part.”
A shiver tracked through me.
Maddox stared at me like he was taking my measure. His intense brown eyes held something I couldn’t read. Not quite hostility, but not acceptance either.
“Problem?” I lifted one eyebrow.
He shrugged. “Just wondering how long you’ll keep us alive.”
The words stung because they echoed my own fears. “As long as I can.”
“That’s not reassuring.”
“It’s honest.”
His stare dropped to my wounded arm and lingered a moment too long. Then he turned away as if this challenge meant nothing. Maybe he hated taking orders from me. Or maybe it was the fact that he knew he might not have done any better if he was in command.
Bryson cleared his throat. “Get some rest. Dawn will come fast.”
As everyone began settling into sleeping positions against the trunk, I realized how exposed we still were. Yes, we were high up, but things could climb. Things could fly.
Derren pulled Lexie close for warmth, her back against his chest. They murmured quietly to each other, their voices too low to hear.
Jaxon leaned against a forked branch near Kerralyn, near enough to talk but not touching, fiddling with his bracelet.
“That’s nice,” Kerralyn said, tapping it with her pencil.
“My grandmother gave it to me. She died when I was small. It was much too big back then, but it fits now.”
“It’s lovely,” she said. “She made it herself, right?”
He nodded.
Maddox perched on a lower limb, glaring up at them.
The jungle settled into the night. One by one, the others drifted to sleep, exhausted. While they were snoring, twitching, and mumbling, I ran my fingers over the herbal pouch.
Why did I want the person who’d given it to me to be him?
I’d barely drifted off when Bryson nudged me awake. Taking his stick, I climbed to a higher branch, positioning myself where I could see approaches from multiple directions. A few bees buzzed around me before drifting away.
The moon had risen, adding nicely to the visibility, outlining the jungle canopy stretching endlessly in all directions.
Watching over sleeping people gave me a strange sense of closeness.
Lexie curled against Derren like a cat, mumbling in her sleep.
Kerralyn’s head had tipped back against a tree limb, and she somehow managed to keep her journal clutched to her chest. Jaxon looked younger without the nervous tension he carried while awake.
He’d wrapped his hand around his leather bracelet.
When I felt enough time had passed, I woke Derren. He startled, then nodded, fully alert within seconds.
I returned to my original spot and tried to sleep. My mind wouldn’t stop racing from one thought to another. Every crack of a branch or splash of something smacking into water in the distance made me tense.
I dozed, stirring only enough to confirm things were quiet before sinking back into uneasy sleep.
The jungle gradually lightened around us.
Dawn filtered through the canopy in shafts of green-gold light, and the night sounds gave way to morning calls.
Birds, the chatter of insects, a high-pitched, whining buzz, and the drip of water from leaves.
At least the rain had stopped. It slickened the branches.
I drifted into a dream of Trew. This time he wasn’t glowering. His heady smile showed how amused he was by something I’d said.
My body softened, and I—
A scream split the morning air, and I bolted upright, staring around with my heart bulging against the back of my throat.
Something crashed through the branches, ripping leaves and bark, tumbling down with sharp cracks and terrible smacks until it hit the ground far below with a sickening thud.
I leaned over but couldn’t see who it was.
But I knew one thing.
Someone else was dead.