I cross my legs, remembering the raw power that flowed through me. It was almost electric and unlike anything I’ve ever felt. I was more deeply connected to the plants, trees, and vines on this island than I’ve ever been.
Fight for us.
“There’s a little pond about a quarter of a mile away,” Pax says softly when he reaches us.
“You didn’t drink from it, did you?” I ask sharply.
“No, but?—”
“No one drink the water in here,” I say. “It could have leptospirosis. We could get histoplasmosis just from the air in here. We need to stay as close as we can to the cave entrance.”
I think McClain might have been affected by histoplasmosis, a fungal lung infection, in addition to cancer. We’ll never know for sure.
We aren’t very deep into the cave, but we all move closer to the entrance anyway. The cover of flowering vines over the entrance doesn’t allow any light to penetrate.
“We need to be careful about talking,” Nova whispers.
“What are we going to do?” I ask, my eyelids heavy. “Do we have a plan?”
Pax crouches down beside me and puts a hand on my shoulder, his expression solemn. “We’re the plan. When you’re rested enough, we’re going to use your vines and my snakes to clear out the rest of Ingrid’s people.”
Clear out. It’s a nice way of sayingmake them into human pulp. Which I’ll do without regret.
Ingrid’s fuck-around phase was whatever she did to Marcus. Now she’s going to find out.
“I don’t know if I can differentiate, though,” I say. “If we go back to camp, I don’t know how to control who the vines attack when there are that many people. I don’t want to hurt our people.”
“I’ll show you how. Don’t be afraid of your power.”
I meet his eyes, wishing I felt the certainty I see reflected there. “I couldn’t even see what I was doing.”
“You saw it through them. Snakes have eyes, so I can see like you and I do when I’m fully connected because it’s through their eyes; but your vision when you’re fully connected is just different.”
I drop my brows, realization setting in. “How many anacondas are on this island?”
The corners of his lips quirk with a smile. “A lot.”
He’s had the power to destroy all of us this entire time. When he had Theron take Ellison, he was just flexing his muscle, establishing himself as a leader. Virginia couldn’t have taken all of us out with her ravens, but Pax’s snakes are terrifyingly fast and deadly when he wants them to be.
“Get some sleep,” he says. “Fully connecting depletes you. When you’re rested, we’ll come up with a plan.”
Amira is smaller than I am, but she still wraps her arms around me in a protective embrace.
“You need to sleep, too,” Pax tells her.
“I don’t think I can. I’m all set on nightmares for the rest of my life.”
The snake. I can’t imagine the terror she must have felt.
“I’ve got something to help,” Ellison says. “In my bag.”
“Take it,” Pax says. “I’ll keep watch. I don’t need sleep with my aromium on.”
I don’t need any of whatever Ellison has. I curl up on the cave floor, sleep already calling me.
Everything is fuzzy since I’m so exhausted. I’m glad Pax is here because I need someone else who knows what it’s like to do what I did earlier—‘fully connect,’ as he called it.
I still desperately want Marcus, though. Right now, I’d settle for the memory-erased one, as long as he didn’t speak. I want to be back on that tiny cot in our room with him holding me so close I can feel his heartbeat.
