“Shit,” Jace says.
“What?” I ask, my eyes still on Hyatt.
“I think it wants us to follow it.”
I blink.
Blink again.
“What?”
“Shit, it’s going to lure us back to its lair and eat us.”
“I don’t think that’s how wasps hunt,” I say as I take a step forwards. Hyatt flies off, making more happy buzzing noises. Itake another step more confidently this time, but Jace grabs my arm.
“How do you know that?” he hisses.
“Because… I’m not an idiot.”
“Great. You have no idea.”
“Look. Fabia took on a wasp. Don’t you think you’re being a bit –” I blink. “Huh. I guess that’s where she learned to fight.”
“No shit. She’s amonster wrangler.”
“And you’re the head of my security, so grow some eggs, and come on.”
Muttering, he takes the lead, a set of throwing knives in each hand. “You know, if all of Arienna’s pets were kind, Fabia wouldn’t have had to learn to fight them.”
“Shhh. I’m pretty certain she said Hyatt doesn’t like loud noises,” I say as we fly after the insect.
“I’m whispering, dickface.”
“Do you know how good wasps can hear?” I don’t, but it just seems unnecessarily risky.
Jace moves silently ahead of me, for once not making some smartass comment.
In about a minute, the wasp lands on a fallen log. It purrs when we land beside it. Then it crawls into a hole in the log and disappears into the dark.
“Oh hel no,” Jace mutters.
I am thinking the same thing, but I crouch over the hole anyway.
“Don’t you dare –”
Throwing my legs over the edge, I drop down into the dark. I spread my wings out as soon as I can.
“Are you dead?” Jace asks.
“No.” The rays of the sun peek through the hole above me, as well as from both ends of the fallen log. I hover in the air for a moment as my eyes adjust to the lower level of light. Jace entersduring this time, and when he screams, I jerk back and draw a knife.
“That’s a fucking scorpion!”
“Where?” I see it as soon as I ask. Sitting –lying?– down in the middle of the log, not far from me, is a dark shape with a tail curving above it. It jerks away from us, snapping its pincers – no, itspincer. It only has one arm. And its tail is cut short. The first of Jace’s knives, which he threw as he screamed, is embedded in its nub. The second blade is in its back.
“Holy fuck,” he gasps.
“Where’s Hyatt?” I ask, looking around the log.
