Page 340 of Shadowblood Souls
I’m not anyone to criticize people for having erratic control over their powers.
I crouch down across from him. “Hopping—is that what you call it when you flash forward like you’re not even there for a second?”
He nods. “The guardians said it’s teleporting. But they were always mad I couldn’t go farther.”
Of course they would have been. Skipping a few steps isn’t going to make that much difference on a mission.
“We’re here now,” I tell him. “And we’re going to keep going. What’s your name?”
He swipes his hand across his eyes like he’s rubbing away tears before they fully formed. “George.”
When I turn around, Dominic has finished healing Devon, and Ajax has come over to help his boyfriend to his feet. Booker and Nadia are standing close together, his hand at her back, her face tight with worry.
Booker rakes his fingers through his pale hair, his expression too serious now to conjure the surfer dude impression he gave me when we first met. “What now? Can the guardians find us here?”
“I don’t know,” I admit. “So we’re moving out. But…”
My gaze travels over the jumbled assortment of supplies, and I manage a small smile. “At least we shouldn’t have to worry about going hungry. Let’s quickly dig through all of this and grab whatever’s easiest to carry and doesn’t need cooking.”
A girl whose name I haven’t caught points toward the back of the helicopter. “There are some things that look kind of like backpacks that would help for carrying stuff. I think they might be emergency parachutes, but we could tear the parachute part out.”
Celine, the scratch on her forehead sealed, lets out a tinkling laugh that doesn’t hold much real humor. “If we can even see what we’re doing in here.”
Nadia perks up, the tension falling away from her face for the first time since we ran to the helicopter. “Finally, it’s my time to shine! Literally.”
As she grins, her brown skin lights up the way she showed me before.
In the daylight of the clearing, it was hard to tell just how potent her inner light is. Now, the warm glow washes over the entire interior of the storage bay as if the overhead lights have turned on.
“Wow,” Booker says with admiration that’s obviously genuine. “You’re really something, Glowworm.”
As we all get to work digging through the boxes and crates, Dominic turns pensive. “Can you adjust how strong the light is? To make sure you don’t wear yourself out—and so it’ll be harder for anyone to spot us from above?”
“Oh, sure.” Nadia pauses, and her glow fades as if she’s pushed down a dimmer switch to halfway. “Is that good?”
Andreas shoves open the hatch and takes in the jungle beyond. “I think that’ll be safe enough. The tree cover is pretty thick, at least right around here.”
In the end, the six of us “Firsts” end up carrying most of the supplies in the limited number of makeshift backpacks. I stuff mine full of crackers, cheese, apples, carrots, and a couple of jugs of juice.
We might be relying on that to stay hydrated, since it doesn’t appear that the supplies included water, and we have no way of making sure any streams or ponds we pass are safe to drink from.
Each of the younger shadowbloods gathers a small assortment of their own, tying swaths of parachute fabric around their backs and shoulders however feels most comfortable as makeshift carry-sacks. When we’re all loaded up, I glance over our motley group again, holding tightly to the spark of hope that lit when Jacob said he’d seen a city.
“Is everyone ready to go?”
There are nods and murmurs all around. They don’t exactly sound enthusiastic, but then, I don’t think any of us would take this trek if we had the choice.
We just know it’s better than the alternative.
Nadia leads the way with her innate light, Booker sticking close to her side and Zian tramping along at her flank in case we encounter any threats. The rest of us Firsts spread out through the procession, monitoring the kids for signs of faltering.
I end up at the rear of the line, making sure no one falls behind. Andreas eases back next to me as we tramp over the uneven ground, weaving between the trees and scrambling over jutting roots.
“We won’t be able to keep this up all night,” he murmurs. “None of us has slept since yesterday.”
The stress of the escape has worn at my nerves enough that exhaustion is already nibbling at the edges of my awareness. “I know. But we should get as much distance from the crash site as we can.”
“Yeah, let’s see how they do. I think we can get away with a fairly short rest and then keep going as soon as it’s daylight. We can have a longer break the next night, if it takes that long. It’ll be better not to let Nadia drain herself too badly—and we’ll be harder to find when we won’t stand out against the darkness anyway.”
