Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
MAVERICK
E mory glared at me, her white-blonde eyebrows arched.
Driscoll stood behind her and pinched his fingers together. “We were so close.”
They’d appeared out of nowhere and rammed right into me.
Snorts and squeals filled the silence, and Emory’s gaze trailed up, mine following it. The plant mouths opened wide, teeth all like sharp spindles poking from their wide mouths.
“Why does it feel like I’m constantly in danger of getting impaled?” Driscoll asked as one of the mouths dove straight toward us.
“Move!” I yelled, and we all dove from the crescendo of plants barreling for us, jaws snapping, spindly teeth puncturing the ground, black dust flying up in swaths. If we could just make it to the end of the path, we’d be safe.
Driscoll stumbled, tripping over a ridge in the ground, but managed to stay on his feet as he ran forward, while on either side of Emory and me, the plant eaters dove down, their long stalks bent, their mouths chomping, creating a barrier between us and Driscoll, their attention no longer on him .
I glared at Emory as she ran next to me, both of us ducking under the green stalks, jumping over them, avoiding the mouths plunging at us. It was like a never-ending maze, and all I could see were the thick green stalks in loops and circles and curves, some of them even getting twisted and tangled together. The plant eaters writhed, mouths greedily snapping at us.
“I told you not to come after me,” I growled at Emory as we both climbed over one of the green stalks, then landed on the other side and immediately dropped to our stomachs to wriggle under another stem. “Think you can keep up?” I asked.
Emory shot me a look. “Oh, I know I can.”
“Well, I guess we’ll find out, little rabbit.”
And just like that it felt like we were back in those familiar roles: white rabbit and bone collector. Competing. Playing another one of our games. Despite the fact that we were fighting for our lives, it felt good.
We both pushed to our feet, the long, lean stalks constricting like snakes, the maze of them so thick I couldn’t see above me, in front of me, or behind me. Had no idea where the next attack might be coming from. I wasn’t even sure we were going in the right direction anymore, the path no longer visible in this twisted green field.
Suddenly the stems parted, revealing a cavernous mouth that had sunk its teeth into the ground and gotten stuck. It pulled and pulled, its spindly teeth lodged firmly in the dirt. We both clambered over its large, misshapen head as more mouths appeared over us. I summoned my fire magic and shot it at the plants. A few of them hissed and shrank away, but the fire seemed to have very little effect. More mouths appeared, their long limbs stretching and bending to chomp at us. I’d never seen such a flexible plant before.
“You know”—Emory flicked her wrist, a sword of ice unraveling in her hand that she slashed at a plant—“I’m really angry at you.”
I shot her a look, my fire magic flaring higher in my palm, keeping the plants from biting my head off. “Same. Also, if you’re so angry with me, then why do you keep following me? Feels like you’re stalking me.”
Her mouth dropped open, and her magic faltered, ice sword crumbling right as a plant hinged open its cavernous jaw. Without thinking, I crashed into her, both of us toppling to the ground, my body sprawled on top of hers.
Driscoll stumbled into the field ahead and bent over. “Save it for the bedroom and get your asses up.”
He twisted his hands, and the plants that stood between us and that field hovered overhead, mouths open, sticky saliva dripping in long strings, all of them frozen. He was using his earth magic.
“I won’t be able to hold them for long,” he called. “They’re strong, and my magic isn’t very effective here.”
I gritted my teeth and glared at Emory, still laying underneath me. “You are a pain in my ass. You always have been.”
She smirked. “Yes, I can tell how much you hate me.” Her gaze dipped to my body as I lay over her. “Last time I checked, I’m not the one who threw myself on top of you.”
Fuck. Now that was an image. One I liked far too much. “As far as I’m concerned, you’re the one who can’t stay away from me.”
I stared down at her, her pale hair splayed out behind her, brows arched, pink lips pursed, mischief dancing in her icy eyes.
“This is really a bad time to be having whatever conversation you’re having,” Driscoll yelled, and a string of green saliva landed next to us, some of it splashing onto Emory’s face.
We slowly looked up at the plants, all of them trembling and vibrating, working against Driscoll’s magic as they fought to break free.
“We have to go,” I said.
“Well, then you’re going to have to get off of me.”
Bloody fucking fire. I stood and heaved her to her feet, and we set off.
“My magic is breaking!” Driscoll shouted.
The ground trembled under our feet as the plants began to punch through the magic. At the same time, Emory and I both summoned swords, hers of ice and mine of fire. We raised them and slashed at all the plants that dove their mouths toward us.
Almost there. We were almost there.
One of the mouths caught hold of my shirt collar, its spindly tooth puncturing right through the fabric, yanking me backward. I landed on the ground with enough force to knock the wind from my lungs. A plant twisted over me. All I could see was the endless black of its open mouth, all the pointed spindles that would stab me and slice me open. Annalee’s face flashed in my mind, tears in her eyes as she watched me walk away from her, begged me not to go.
Then another vision appeared. Emory’s face, scowling down. “You are not dying here. Not this way. Not if I can help it.”
She grabbed my suspenders and yanked me upward, then pulled me forward right as the plant dove its head straight toward the ground. It smashed into the dust with a shriek.
A thought popped in my head. A memory. Annalee telling me about plants that had mouths, of how much they loved being sung lullabies. Lullabies. It sounded ridiculous, but... at this point, what did I have to lose?
I opened my mouth and began to hum.
Emory stared at me like I’d lost it. “What are you doing?” she hissed.
The rustling slowly stopped, the plants stilling, and Emory’s eyes shifted back and forth.
“What is happening?” she asked.
So Annalee had been telling the truth about this as well. She’d told me the story of the snapping plants who could be lulled to sleep with a song. A fucking song. I hummed louder, widening my eyes at Emory. She swallowed, then rolled her eyes and hummed along with me.
The plants’ mouths slowly closed.
“Spirits below,” Emory mumbled, then kept humming until all the plants were asleep, their snores once again permeating the air.
The confusing maze cleared as the plants unentangled, straightening, heads drooping, snores filling the air.
We could stroll right out of this place.
So we did, humming the entire time, Driscoll staring at us with an open mouth as we came to a stand in the field. I wanted to take a moment to process the fact that Emory had just saved my life. I wanted to understand why it had felt so good when my hard body had hovered over her soft one.
But I couldn’t do anything of those things because right when we stepped into the grassy field, a low growl echoed around us. The white wolf had found us.