“Spirits, Malakai,” she gasped. “The answers are right here!”
“What answers?” I asked.
Tightening her knees against Luna’s sides, she looked pointedly at me. “Are you up for a fast ride back?”
Chapter Seventeen
Ophelia
“He’s eatensix apples in three minutes!”
I gaped at Jezebel as she held yet another ruby red fruit out to Zanox, which the khrysaor hastily chomped down—core and all.
“He takes after his mother,” my sister cooed, scratching the beast beneath the chin. He nudged her palm, sniffing for more snacks.
Dynaxtar drank lazily from the stream running through the ring of sky-reaching trees and draping vines. Critters jumped about in the high, woven canopy, but fronds cover the path, keeping this tiny clearing isolated from those on foot.
“Shouldn’t we find something more substantial to feed them?” I asked as I ran my hand through Sapphire’s mane and she released a low whinny. “You know, they’re rather large. Surely they can’t survive on fruit alone.”
The emergence of Sapphire as a pegasus altered more than her appearance. She was ravenous most days. As the thought trickled through my head, my hand stilled on my horse, and she huffed in complaint.
Well, revealing she’s secretly a mythological creature didn’t change her attitude.
“They can fend for themselves,” Jezebel answered, tugging me from the thought. “They are rather large, you know.”
I rolled my eyes. “Youareobservant. Come on, we should get back so you and Erista can finish packing and head out.”
We’d docked a few hours ago, and while the others got settled for our one-night stay at the inn, Jezebel and I set out to find Sapphire and the khrysaor hidden in this jungle-shrouded clearing. They were incredibly smart, so when we told them the town Ezalia had arranged for us to stay in, the creatures knew to find shelter and await our boat.
Zanox and Dynaxtar would get to fly again tonight, and hopefully I could get Sapphire to stretch her wings if we found somewhere private enough.
We took our time doting on the three animals until their coats shone and their supply of apples ran low. Malakai said he’d grab more at the market tonight before we waded deeper into Starsearcher Territory.
As we left, I pressed one last kiss to my pegasus’ nose. Then, we ensured the fronds covered the gaps between the towering trunks and set back down the short walk to the inn. Trees stretched to the sky, the branches high and sweeping, not a maze around the paths as many cypher forests were.
“It’s so dark,” Jez complained. “Why didn’t we bring a lantern?”
“Here,” I said, calling up a strand of Angellight. The gold flared to life, and the magic spiraled up above us. But instead of hovering, it cracked and sparked like a wild creature.
“Why is it doing that?” Jezebel asked. In the shimmering light, her tawny eyes were wide, recollections of our recent flight in the outposts and our colliding magic flashing between us.
“I don’t know,” I gritted out as the light tugged at me from within, pulling up toward something I couldn’t see. “Keep walking.”
I didn’t tell her that it felt wrong. That I couldn’t tell what Angel emblem I was siphoning light from or that it seemed to be searching for something. My breath quickened as we picked up our pace, and I fought to hold control on that malicious strand of magic—it pulled and pulled, stretching?—
“Ophelia!” Jez shrieked at the same moment the golden tendril of light whipped into one of the towering trees.
It collided with the canopy with a riotous boom, a squawk ringing through the leaves, and a sensation like a thousand burnings wings fluttered through my body.
“Pull it back!” Jez screamed, gripping my hand.
“I’m trying!” I coiled that burst of gold light that felt so different than my Angel emblem threads back into the vacant heart of my Spirit, wrestled it until it was buried deep down. Until finally, Jez and I were left standing in the still, darkened jungle, nothing but our panting breaths filling the air.
I squeezed my sister’s clammy hand as our hearts calmed. She startled at the touch, saying, “That was?—”
But I never heard what she thought it was, because her words were drowned out by crying squawks.
And in the highest canopy of the jungle, a fire flared to life. It roared up in the branches, spreading out like a pair of wide wings. Then?—
