Chapter 17

“I can’t believe he just left us,” Clara said. “What a prick.”

Lilitha nodded dismally.

“What does he expect us to do?”

“Wait, I expect.”

“Out in the rain. Out in the cold. With nothing to eat. We can’t continue on without him, can we?” Clara looked at her suspiciously. “What did you say to him?”

“If you must know, I refused to go with him.”

It was a dry morning and the sun gleamed against Clara’s hair.

“I’m going with you to Mainstry, and that’s that.” Lilitha folded her arms.

Clara grunted. “Do you think he’s coming back?”

“Of course he’s coming back. Why shouldn’t he?”

“Why should he? Oh, right—~you~.”

The day was long and uneventful. Some of Clara’s anger had cooled, but they were still awkward around each other.

They scavenged around the area for whatever food they could find and drank from a nearby creek. Though they kept a sharp ear out, they heard nothing of the monsters or wild beasts or dark magic.

~You are not alone, if it makes you feel better.~

It certainly felt like they were alone.

Lilitha paced between the trees, making sure to keep Clara within view as she rubbed her stomach. She’d divested herself of her cloak hours ago.

The sun was beating hotly on her shoulders, though there was a cool wind that whisked away the sweat from the back of her neck.

“You’re still sick,” Clara observed, huddled within her cloak, her hood down.

“I suppose I must be.” She winced at a sudden, sharp pain in her lower back that kept coming and going in waves. “But from what, I don’t know.”

Night soon fell and Damon still hadn’t returned. The two girls kept close to each other’s sides like they always did.

“I’m sorry,” Lilitha whispered to her as they made to sleep on a rare dry patch of ground.

“I know,” her friend said with a sigh. “I’m sorry too.”

“You’re my best friend. My~ only~ friend. I don’t want to lose you.”

Clara grabbed her hand and smoothed her thumb over the back of it.

It was late into the night when Lilitha woke. Immediately her heart started to race. That smell—it was back. But how could it be back? Had Damon lied about leaving?

Lilitha dug her nails into the palms of her hands. She shouldn’t go. She couldn’t leave Clara, particularly after last time. But she was so hungry.

She’d eaten almost nothing of the food they’d scavenged. She couldn’t stomach it. But this... this...

She wiped her lips.

It smelled close. Much closer than last time. The smell seemed to hang over her like a cloud. And like last time, it was getting stronger and stronger by the moment.

What the hell was Damon playing at? Was he trying to ruin things between her and Clara?

~It makes sense. He wants you.~

Gritting her teeth, Lilitha eased away from her friend and followed the smell. The source wasn’t far. Not even a hundred yards away. Lilitha scanned the trees carefully.

“Damon?” she whispered.

No answer. She dropped her eyes. Another basket—or perhaps the same basket. This time sitting on a rock.

No burnt-out remains of a fire, which meant Damon had cooked it somewhere else and left it there.

But why? Why didn’t he just give it to her himself? Why leave it alone in the middle of the forest to be scavenged by animals?

She looked inside. More of that strange meat, except this time it wasn’t so neat nor nearly so cooked. In fact, it was so raw she could see blood pooling beneath it.

The smell was even more overwhelming than before.

Lilitha dropped to her knees. She reached in, then stopped herself. Something wasn’t right. ~None~ of this was right. What ~was~ this food? Wasn’t this making her sick?

Lilitha grabbed her stomach as it growled continuously. It was so empty it felt like it was eating itself.

“Goddamn it,” she gasped, wiping her mouth again.

Even during her hungriest days at home, food had never smelled so good, had never called for her so hard. She reached inside, using both hands to pick it up.

It was much bigger than the last piece. Lilitha’s heart was galloping. She shouldn’t. There was something wrong with this. There was something wrong with this meat.

There was something wrong with Damon. There was something wrong with ~her~.

But she was biting into it before she could stop herself. It tasted even better than the last time. Her body seemed to lurch toward it. Her stomach seemed to pull it down from within.

The smell suffocated her sinuses. The flavors burst into her mouth.

Lilitha ate fast. So fast that it was gone within a minute. She licked her fingers, then drained the blood from the leaf inside.

And then she simply sat, gripping her knees with her bloody fingers as she breathed. Lilitha stared in the trees, feeling so good she didn’t want to move.

Closing her eyes, she took several deep breaths. The wind was rustling through the trees. The ground was soft against her bottom. She felt neither hot nor cold—comfortable.

After a few minutes, she opened her eyes. “Damon?” she whispered again.

No answer.

~You are not alone...~

She shivered. Goosebumps puckered on her arms. She looked into the trees, imagining someone looking back at her. Getting to her feet, Lilitha hurried back to Clara.

“What’s wrong?” Clara asked her the next morning. “You look…concerned. And flushed!” She felt Lilitha’s face with the back of her hand. “Are you getting sicker?”

“Something’s wrong. Something…something’s not right with…with me. With this whole situation.” Lilitha hugged herself. “I feel… I feel…~not right~.”

“Of course there’s nothing right about this situation. We’ve just experienced something terrible. We’ve heard people die. We’ve seen their bodies. All those men…”

“It’s not that. It’s something much more than that. It’s something inside…~me~.”

Clara’s forehead furrowed. “You’re not making any sense. You haven’t been eating…”

“Yes, I have… You—you don’t know.”

“I don’t know what?”

Lilitha bit her lip. How could she tell her? How could she tell Clara her suspicions when she couldn’t even accept them herself?

~You’re different.~

Lilitha wiped her mouth with a shaking hand. She could smell the blood on her fingers. Where was Damon? What was so important that he’d left her like this?

“Do you think we should just leave?” Clara said. “Leave on our own?”

Lilitha shook her head. “We’ll get lost. Besides…the monsters.”

“I don’t know what to do for you,” Clara told her helplessly.

“There’s nothing you can do.”

She couldn’t simply just wait. He was gone for hours. He might be gone all day. The urge to move, the urge to get away, to be alone, to be with someone, to think about things…

Shaking her head, Lilitha stood. “I have to go.”

“Go where?”

“Anywhere. I just… I just need to walk. I feel agitated.” She clawed at her hair, whipping it away from the back of her sweaty neck. “I’ll be back.”

“Lilitha!” Clara called after her.

She wouldn’t go far. Her heart wouldn’t stop racing. Her palms wouldn’t stop sweating. At least the pain in her stomach was bearable. Though the pain in her backside was getting worse and worse.

She slowed to a staggering walk, grabbing at her skirts, clawing her fingers into her thighs. At a blast of pain in her bottom, she lurched through the trees and dropped to her knees with a cry.

Her head drooped; spit hung from her mouth in a long string. She really was sick. Sicker than she’d first thought. What if she was dying? Tears were leaking out of her eyes now.

She was so damn hot she could feel the sweat trickling down her spine.

“What is happening?” she whimpered.

Leaning over, she fisted her hands in the damp earth, only to pull away at the feel of something hard and cold. Lilitha cocked her head. She brushed away the muck and leaf litter—and stared.

An iron manacle. Old. Rusty. Heavy-looking. She picked it up, revealing the coppery links of a chain. She blinked. One of the prisoners’?

But then she gave it a tug and discovered it was pinned to the ground.

Cold filled her chest. Lurching to her feet, she hobbled around, revealing more chains one by one. The more she revealed, the more tightly horror clenched at her heart.

Ten, twelve, eighteen manacles, all rust-bitten and driven into the ground like the first.

She twisted on the spot, studying them all. Then she took note of her surroundings. The area was flat, wide-ranging, exposed.

The ground itself was hard and packed and devoid of vegetation, like it had been walked on many times before. The place looked unnatural, like it had been cleared by someone—or some~thing~.

Lilitha clutched at her ears. Only one thing made sense about this.

~But they’re supposed to leave us chained. At least, that’s what I’ve heard. So that…so that the monsters can get us…~

Had she just stumbled upon the monsters’ feeding ground?