Page 48 of Wilds of Wonder
Another step.
It didn’t make sense.
The snapping plants loomed over me, stalks slumped, mouths drooping down, and... soft snores filling the air. So I’d been right. They reacted to sound. As long as I stayed quiet, I could stay undetected.
I lifted my feet carefully, step after step after step, following the dusty path while threads of green twisted through the twilight sky above. Snores echoed through the space, and air puffed from the plants’ mouths, rancid and foul. The path twisted through the stalks, turning and winding, splitting into three different ways. Of course.
I slowed, studying my choices. The right and left paths led through the plants, no end in sight, whereas the path that went straight led to an end. Well, at least that was an easy decision to make. Tall blades of grass filled the field in the distance, looking far less threatening than these man-eating plants.
So close. I was so spirits-damned close. I glanced behind me at the sleeping giants just as a body collided with mine. I tumbled to the ground at the same time as I heard a voice swear.
Not just any voice. I sat up. The white fucking rabbit. The plants all stiffened, stalks going ramrod straight, their hungry mouths hinging open and ready to devour their newest victims.
She’d found me, and in that moment, I realized that maybe the cat-woman had given me a good clue, and I’d chosen wrong. I’d chosen the one path that would lead to my death after all.
Chapter Twenty-Four
MAVERICK
Emory 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, Icrashed 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.”
