Page 374 of Shadowblood Souls
“The best we can determine, something you ate must have disagreed with you that’s now out of your system,” he says in a clipped tone. “There’s no sign of illness or internal damage. You can sleep here for the night while we get your room cleaned.”
I nod my thanks and lie back down as he escorts Dominic out of the room. My thoughts keep buzzing, louder than the hum of the overhead lights.
Clancy is in danger of losing his grand dream. He’s got a lot riding on this upcoming mission.
I don’t know what we can do with that yet, but it gives us a foothold. If he’s desperate, then we have leverage.
But who the hell can I tell that to without giving any budding scheme we could form away? I can’t plan a coup and pull it off all by myself.
I roll onto my side on the thin cot mattress, closing my eyes again. The answer comes to me like a ghost rising from the grave.
Griffin. Griffin is at the middle of this mess, tangled between Clancy’s objectives and ours.
He’s just proven his loyalty to the guardians—in Clancy’s eyes, anyway.
I don’t know what the others think, but I’ve looked inside our former friend’s head. I’ve followed the reasoning in his words and the cadence of his voice.
He understands us just as well as we do each other. He’s with us.
And now he’s the only one I can turn to.
Twenty-Nine
Riva
Ihear Nadia before I see her—her dry laugh carrying from between the trees by the row of obstacle courses. I recognize it, but there’s a dull edge to it that wasn’t there before.
It’s harder to spot her than I expect. I find her standing with one of the other older teen shadowbloods and Ajax near the climbing course, dressed in black sweats and a dark gray tee that blend with the shadows between the trees.
Before I’ve even spoken to her, my heart sinks.
The three of them glance over at me as I emerge into the clearing by the first of the rope ladders. I nod to them all, my gaze holding Nadia’s.
“Hey. No neon today?”
She rubs her toned arms self-consciously. “I guess I just haven’t been feeling all that bright lately.”
Her mouth tilts into a half-smile, but I can’t find even a hint of good humor in it. If my heart was heavy before, now it feels like it’s morphed into a lump of lead.
Ajax runs his hand over the sheen of stubble on his dark scalp, but he can’t seem to think of anything to say at all. Only the third kid, the one who wasn’t part of our escape, shows any energy.
He claps his hands together. “Come on! Are we going to climb or what?”
The form of a guardian stirs farther away along the edge of the clearing, with a clearing of her throat. “This is time for training, not talking.”
I hold back a bitter snort. When have they ever given us much time to talk—to do anything other than train and bodily necessities like eat?
The guy who clapped his hands grasps the ladder, and Nadia and Ajax shuffle into line behind him automatically. The droop of Nadia’s shoulders and sluggishness of Ajax’s movements send a jabbing sensation through my gut.
I touch Nadia’s arm. “Your brightness got us through a lot. Remember that.” And Ajax’s shoulder. “You heard things the rest of us couldn’t.”
I don’t know how well my attempt at raising their spirits lands. Nadia only dips her head, and the smile Ajax shoots at me is fleeting. The energy in the clearing remains downcast.
What else can I say?
A weird sense of homesickness winds through me, missing the brief days we had our freedom. Not because I loved tramping through the jungle with not much more than crackers to eat, but because we did all help each other.
It’s not just the six Firsts who can accomplish a lot together. All of us shadowbloods make an amazing team.
