Page 84 of Of Wind and Terror

Soon, she can barely speak at all.

Her furry skull is caved in, and one of her eyes has popped out of its socket. Bile scorches my throat, and my stomach twists and tightens, threatening to unload its meager contents across the ground.

Mitchia lifts the stone above her head, the move sluggish, but then drops it to the ground. Her remaining eyes shut, and her chest goes still.

Dead.

She’s dead.

She…killed herself.

What in Gaia’s name just happened?

31

KASSANDRA

Iuse my harbara to cut the males down. Apparently, its second form—otherwise known as its begula form—is a dagger. Who would’ve thought?

I very purposely keep my attention off of the dead, brutalized monster.

All three males are unconscious, so I’m unable to do more than help them to the ground and rearrange their limbs into a semi-comfortable position.

Then, I sit on a rock and wait.

Silence stretches through the Forest, made all the more ominous by the desperate thumping of my heart. Every few ticks, my traitorous gaze will stray towards Mitchia’s dead body. My brain will catch up, and I’ll quickly look away. On and on, this pattern continues.

What happened to Mitchia?

What would possess her to take her life in such a way? I’ve never seen anything so violent before. So unhinged. I feel sick to my stomach just thinking about it.

Blood splattering in all directions…

Her eyeball engorging, the veins scrambling to hold on to it as it pops free…

Her caved-in skull…

I lean over and vomit.

Only when I’m sure my stomach is empty do I sit back and grab a canteen of water out of my pack. I swirl the heavenly liquid around in my mouth before spitting it out. I don’t like to waste the water—we have no idea how long we’ll be traveling—but I don’t want the taste of bile in my mouth.

Once I’ve had my fill, I return the canteen to the pack and reposition myself so the corpse is at my back. There. Now I have no excuse to look over at it.

Unbidden, I slide my gaze towards the mark on my bicep. The beginnings of an idea take root deep in my mind.

Could the Mark of Chaos have something to do with what happened to Mitchia?

No. That’s insane. Isn’t it?

Stop thinking of her.

Stop!

But without thoughts of Mitchia to consume my attention, I’m forced to fixate on other things.

I slide my gaze towards a slumbering Treyton to the left of me and then to Blaze beside him. Aleksander is to the right of me, a few wayward pieces of webbing sticking to his hair and face.

Could they be my…?

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