teeth, and I try to wash it down with water. The heat is sweltering,
and our lips are dry from thirst. I could drink everything in our
backpack, but we still have such a long way to go. We consult the map,
and it shows there’s an opening to the Caves of Night.
A giant bird with a long, wrinkled neck and hooked beak perches on
a nearby boulder. Its dull-brown wings sag. There are naked patches
where the feathers have fallen off. It pecks at the boulder. It looks
so skinny, but right now, our food is precious. I take the piece of
bread in my hand and throw it to the bird.
It never touches the ground. The scavenger swoops in the air and
gobbles the sliver up in a single bite.
“Those things give me the creeps,” Nova says, walking ahead.
“We almost got our hides melted down by a river of souls, and a
hungry bird gives you the creeps?”
“It’s in the eyes,” he says. “Something’s not right about them. I
bet if either of us dropped dead, these birds would be tearing at our
flesh before we got cold.”
“Then we’d better not die.”
He looks back once, only to take the backpack from me. I told him
we could take turns, but he wants to act all chivalrous. I want to
point out that asking for another five hundred for the payment to Oros
wasn’t chivalrous, but I guess it’s fair. We got each other across the
river, and that’s what matters. For all we snap at each other, I can
count on him to not let me die. It’s a symbiotic relationship, like a
shark and a remora fish. Only I’m not sure which one of us is the
shark or the remora just yet.
After we walk for what feels like hours without finding the caves
that are marked on the map, I start to feel less thankful. It’s silly
to think of it as hours when our watches have stopped ticking. But we
do see the sun and crescent moon travel across the sky, starting from
opposite ends. When they reach the highest point of the sky, I decide
it marks noon. I fiddle with my watch and discover something.
“Yes!”
“You see the opening?” Nova turns around expectantly.
I shake my head. “The timer on my watch still works!”
“How does that help us?”
“We can keep track of our movements.” I pick up two round stones
and hold them apart. “Okay, so the moon and sun start on opposite ends
of the horizon, right? Like these two stones. Each time they reach
noon, they get a fraction closer together. I’m setting a timer to see
how long it takes for a full cycle.”
“You’re giving me a headache.” He turns back around and keeps
walking. “Don’t make yourself nuts, okay?”
“ Excuse me for wanting a little bit of order in my life.”
He turns around, crossing his arms over his tattooed chest. He’s
all bright eyes and smirking lips. “Where has all this order gotten
you so far?”
“Where has the lack of it gotten you ?”
Looking at his naked chest makes me forget why we’re even
fighting. It’s not for the same reasons Lula and I fight. We fight
because we’re sisters. Nova and I fight because both of us want to be
right. What’s the alternative? Oh, right-being friends. Rishi is my
best friend, but even with her, I kept a part of myself hidden. I was
Alex Mortiz, the girl that never cut class, that was always on time,
that always did her homework.
Who can I be with Nova? He gets to see a side of me that’s never
been tested, that no one has ever seen, and I’m not so sure he’s
earned that. It makes me nervous and worried and unsure. What if I
don’t like that version of myself?
“You’re pretty when you’re stubborn,” he says.
“You’re just pretty dumb.”
He feigns a shot to the heart but laughs all the same. I want to
reach out and press my finger to his dimple. When I was a kid, I
always wanted dimpled cheeks. I used to push the rubber ends of my
pencils into my cheeks for hours, hoping they’d make lasting
impressions.
“Your power is to conjure light?” I ask.
He takes a step back. “Where did that come from?”
“I’m sorry,” I say, unabashedly staring at his chest but not for
the obvious reasons. There’s something different. “It’s just the black
ink on your tattoos look like they move.”
He laughs and starts to close the space between us. He stretches
his arms behind his head and looks off to the side. “If you want to
check me out, you only have to say so.”
I groan and walk around him. “Why do I talk to you? Let’s just
find the stupid cave opening before I throw you in the river.”
“Empty threats will get you nowhere,” he says, but he takes out
the map again. He looks from the parchment to the wall of stone. He
runs a hand across his close-cropped hair. I wonder what it feels like
to touch. I bet it feels fuzzy.
“According to this map, we passed it. It was supposed to be
directly across from the golden pier.”
“Don’t forget we got dragged downriver for a while. How can we
have passed it when all of it looks the same? We are literally between
a river of souls and a hard place.”
A loose rock falls at my feet. Above us, the bird I fed before is
back, and it’s brought company. A dozen decrepit birds fly in circles
above us. Feathers fall from their molting bodies, and my skin crawls
when I think of the parakeet back home.
“That’s why you don’t feed the strays,” Nova says.
I ignore him and focus on our rocky problem. In desperation, I
start pushing my hands against the wall, hoping to find a secret
passageway. When nothing gives, I slump down to the black sand.
“Maybe we could try to climb up and over?” I suggest.
Nova takes his T-shirt from his back pocket and uses it to mop the
sweat from his face.
“It’s too smooth and vertical,” he says. “There isn’t much to grab
on to. Besides, we don’t have any rope. I don’t know about you,
Ladybird, but there are only so many times I can fall from great
heights without breaking my beautiful face.”
“Helpful,” I say.
More and more birds start to land around us, their wrinkled,
sagging necks cocking their heads to the side.
“I don’t think that’s a good sign,” Nova says, now focusing on the
birds.
I focus on the shadow that passes over us. My heart leaps when I
think it’s the eclipse. I look at the gloomy, dark sky. The moon and
sun are on opposite ends of the sky.
I tilt my head back farther still. Creatures climb down the wall,
gracefully defying gravity. Black claws dig into stone and tails wag
like whips. A low growl, followed by the yowl of a predatory feline.
Lips pull back to reveal foot-long canines. Green eyes glow against
the gray sky.
“What is that ?” I ask him, taking careful steps backward until I
collide with Nova. I swear I can hear his heart racing right through
his chest. He holds his knife with a white-knuckled fist.
“I’m going out on a limb and say it’s what you get if a
saber-toothed tiger and a snake demon had a baby.”
The giant feline advances on us. I gasp and hold out my hand to
summon a soft pulse of energy. It’s a weak, thin ripple of magic that
vanishes as quickly as it appears. I’m still recovering from my last
use of magic.
“Alex, get down!” Nova shouts.
I throw myself back on the ground. Nova’s knife hits the
saber-toothed thing straight through its forehead, burying in it down
to the blue hilt. The beast writhes, falling straight down the wall
and onto the black sand. Then, it pushes itself up. It shakes its head