Page 38 of Wilds of Wonder
Emory stretched out her arm, reaching into the hole for the bolt, but I held it tighter.
“Careful, little rabbit,” I said. “I will drop it.”
“Don’t call me that,” she snapped, her fingertips almost grazing the weapon.
“I’ve called you that for six years, and you just now have a problem with it?”
Her glare sharpened. “Yes, I do.”
“I’m just tired of you not taking anything seriously,” the woman, Leoni, said. “You started this whole journey so you could be a hero. Now you don’t want to be a hero. So you said you’d be a sidekick and help me. But all you’ve done is complain. And you were ready to cut and run earlier. If it hadn’t been for the avalanche, you were going to turn around and go home.”
“Of course I was!” Driscoll shouted, throwing out his arms. “This is terrible. Every single thing about it is terrible.”
Emory’s hand brushed against the bolt, and she grunted. I jerked, my hand slipping farther, legs kicking toward the rock, trying to find a groove. If I fell down this hole, I had a distinct possibility it would be my end.
“That’s my point. You don’t take anything seriously.” Leoni flung out her hand. “Not even people. You don’t form any attachments. You just flit from thing to thing. I’m just another one of those things.”
The wolf burst out around the bend of the cave, growling and rushing straight toward the trio. Driscoll screamed as the woman jumped in front of him, summoning a sword of water that she slashed at the beast.
Emory stayed where she lay half her body now inside the hole, hand reaching again for the bolt. She swiped a hand at it, and I clutched it tighter.
“You know, now is not the time to be stubborn,” she said as Leoni continued to fight the wolf and keep it at bay.
“Hurry up and grab the bolt,” Leoniyelled.
“Have you not learned your lesson about that over the years?” Emory asked.
“I think it’s the perfect time to be stubborn,” I argued, ignoring her reference to the time I’d refused to give up on a game neither of us could win, ending up injured and almost dead—if it hadn’t been for the white rabbit.
Behind Emory, whose arm was still outstretched, the wolf was backing the woman and Driscoll toward the hole.
“Let it go,” Emory yelled, not paying attention to anything but me.
“No,” I said back to her.
I wasn’t sure how this could end well for any of us, but I couldn’t let that bolt go. It was partly why it took me so long to leave on this mission. Because I knew I’d need a weapon with insurmountable power to survive all of this, to beat the odds no one else had.
The wolf licked its chops, red eyes gleaming as it prowled toward us, knowing it had caught its prey. With a cry, the short woman surged forward, right as Emory grunted, her fingers curling around the bolt. She yanked it from my grip.
“You know, I’m really hurt by what you just said about me,” Driscoll said to the woman as she slashed at the beast, letting her water sword splash to the ground as she drew the sword of steel strapped to her side. She and the beast circled each other, its backend now facing us.
“A little busy right now,” Leoni grunted out. She jabbed at the beast and pushed it back.
And right into Driscoll.
He, in turn, stumbled into Emory, losing his footing and crashing down over her. The bolt slipped from Emory’s grasp, and I watched with horror as it flew up into the air and over our heads right into the hole.
“No,” we both said at the same time.
The short woman jabbed the wolf again, and it jumped backward, toppling into Driscoll and Emory, the final force needed to push them both right over into the hole. Right into me.
I lost my grip, all of us tumbling straight into the darkness.
Chapter Twenty
EMORY
Iwas falling, and the only thing that made me feel better was knowing that the bone collector was falling too. Was it petty of me? Yes. Was it justified? Also yes. I’d never thought myself to be such a competitive person—not until I met him.
