Page 360 of Shadowblood Souls
The crack of its skull resonates through my veins with a rush of power. In that instant, I feel as if I’ve just woken up fresh for the day, not a single step taken yet.
The furry creature slumps in the middle of the path, limp and deformed.
The young shadowbloods huddle together, staring at the tiger and then at me. My stomach knotting, I glance behind me to find similar shock etched on the faces of the older teens.
They had some idea what I can do, but they’ve never seen my power on full display before.
They’ve never seen the sadistic edge it takes… or how much satisfaction I take from the torment, even if I wish I didn’t.
None of them have abilities anything like this. They couldn’t have been prepared.
Jacob sets his hand on my back and lifts his voice. “You got it just in time, Riva. That thing would have mowed all of them down if you hadn’t hit it so fast.”
His steely gaze dares anyone to complain about my methods.
“Let’s grab our things and get moving,” Andreas adds, brisk but warm. “We’ve had enough of a break.”
And we don’t want the kids spending any more time gaping at the tiger’s mutilated body than they have to.
Ajax squares his shoulders and meets my eyes. “Thank you, Riva.”
The girl who ran first nods shakily, though she’s clutching George’s arm. “Thank you.”
But as we skirt the tiger’s broken body, a gloom seems to have fallen over our group that not even the brilliance of the late-afternoon sun can beam away.
Twenty-Five
Riva
Our pathfinder—whose name she’s finally told us is Lindsay—lifts her head abruptly in the thickening darkness.
“I can feel it. The land slopes down again right up ahead. Like it keeps going that way, not a little dip.”
She’s gotten our hopes up over what was just a dip a couple of times already in the past hour. This time she sounds a lot more confident than before, though.
At the skeptical looks a couple of the younger shadowbloods shoot her through the dusk, she raises her chin. “It’s clearer than last time. And weshouldbe getting almost to the highest spot by now, right?”
Nadia smothers a yawn. “I sure hope so.”
Zian and Lindsay tramp on at the head of the pack. Andreas eases back along the line to where Jacob and I are bringing up the rear like usual.
Drey glances over the motley procession before turning to us with a low voice. “I think if we haven’t reached the top yet this time, we should make camp anyway. Everyone’s getting pretty tired.”
My mouth twists. “Yeah.”
We took another short break about an hour ago after Lindsay had to divert us from one animal track that veered off along the side of the hills to a clearer passage continuing upward. At that point, I think Dominic killed half a dozen twigs healing blisters.
My shoulders are aching under the straps of my pack. The pain is faint compared to the sharper sensation digging into my chest that has nothing to do with the exertion of the hike.
We’ve finished off all the juice, and we’re getting low on water. The sky clotted with more clouds for part of the afternoon, but they burned off before any rain fell.
At this point, I’d rather we got rained on so we could collect some of it even if we all end up drenched.
And of course there’s also the memory of the kids’ shocked stares after my scream wrenched through the tiger, hovering at the back of my mind.
Jacob frowns. “The kids will have an easier time resting if they know the goal’s in sight.”
I swallow down the worry it’s probably better I don’t voice—that our goal might not be in sight at all. That we could reach the crest of this section of hills and see nothing but more jungle.
