Page 49 of Wilds of Wonder
I gritted my teeth and glared at Emory, still laying underneath me. “You are a pain in my ass. You always have been.”
She smirked. “Yes, I can tell how much you hate me.” Her gaze dipped to my body as I lay over her. “Last time I checked, I’m not the one who threw myself on top of you.”
Fuck. Now that was an image. One I liked far too much. “As far as I’m concerned, you’re the one who can’t stay away from me.”
I stared down at her, her pale hair splayed out behind her, brows arched, pink lips pursed, mischief dancing in her icy eyes.
“This is really a bad time to be having whatever conversation you’re having,” Driscoll yelled, and a string of green saliva landed next to us, some of it splashing onto Emory’s face.
We slowly looked up at the plants, all of them trembling and vibrating, working against Driscoll’s magic as they fought to break free.
“We have to go,” I said.
“Well, then you’re going to have to get off of me.”
Bloody fucking fire. I stood and heaved her to her feet, and we set off.
“My magic is breaking!” Driscoll shouted.
The ground trembled under our feet as the plants began to punch through the magic. At the same time, Emory and I both summoned swords, hers of ice and mine of fire. We raised them and slashed at all the plants that dove their mouths toward us.
Almost there. We were almost there.
One of the mouths caught hold of my shirt collar, its spindly tooth puncturing right through the fabric, yanking me backward. I landed on the ground with enough force to knock the wind from my lungs. Aplant twisted over me. All I could see was the endless black of its open mouth, all the pointed spindles that would stab me and slice me open. Annalee’s face flashed in my mind, tears in her eyes as she watched me walk away from her, begged me not to go.
Then another vision appeared. Emory’s face, scowling down. “You are not dying here. Not this way. Not if I can help it.”
She grabbed my suspenders and yanked me upward, then pulled me forward right as the plant dove its head straight toward the ground. It smashed into the dust with a shriek.
A thought popped in my head. A memory. Annalee telling me about plants that had mouths, of how much they loved being sung lullabies. Lullabies. It sounded ridiculous, but... at this point, what did I have to lose?
I opened my mouth and began to hum.
Emory stared at me like I’d lost it. “What are you doing?” she hissed.
The rustling slowly stopped, the plants stilling, and Emory’s eyes shifted back and forth.
“What is happening?” she asked.
So Annalee had been telling the truth about this as well. She’d told me the story of the snapping plants who could be lulled to sleep with a song. A fucking song. I hummed louder, widening my eyes at Emory. She swallowed, then rolled her eyes and hummed along with me.
The plants’ mouths slowly closed.
“Spirits below,” Emory mumbled, then kept humming until all the plants were asleep, their snores once again permeating the air.
The confusing maze cleared as the plants unentangled, straightening, heads drooping, snores filling the air.
We could stroll right out of this place.
So we did, humming the entire time, Driscoll staring at us with an open mouth as we came to a stand in the field. I wanted to take a moment to process the fact that Emory had just saved my life. I wanted to understand why it had felt so good when my hard body had hovered over her soft one.
But I couldn’t do anything of those things because right when we stepped into the grassy field, a low growl echoed around us. The white wolf had found us.
Chapter Twenty-Five
EMORY
The white wolf sat there, a low rumble escaping its mouth as we stood in the grass. Beyond the grassy field, what looked like a maze of mushrooms shot up, all of the spotted fungus reaching taller than our heads, an odd red haze drifting from their button tops.
