“Itwasweird.” Charlie’s expression fell, and he reached out to grab my elbows. “I’m proud of you for telling them. I knew it was hard.”
“It was, but keeping it a secret was harder,” I replied. “Now I’m one step closer to recovering.”
Charlie frowned. “When are we going to talk to Marcus and Kallie about the whole war thing?”
“Let’s just wait until tomorrow.” I shrugged. “Who knows how long their parents will keep them.”
Charlie and I tried to relax the rest of the evening, then went looking for our friends the next morning. It was Sunday, so everyone was sleeping in, and the prison was pretty deserted.
We found Marcus and Kallie sitting on the bleachers in the empty prison yard. My stomach dropped when I realized that Kallie was curled up against Marcus, who had his arm around her.
Kallie wascrying. Shit. What had happened? She never cried.
“Kallie!” I called out. She spotted us out of the corner of her eye and turned into Marcus’ chest.
“What’s going on?” I sat on the other side of her, and Charlie took a seat beside Marcus.
“Is it about your brother?” Charlie asked.
“Kind of, but I don’t want to talk about it.” Kallie sniffed.
“Is he okay?” I asked.
“He’s fine. It’s just… too much to understand.” She hung her head.
Whatever they had told her must’ve shattered her world. Marcus said nothing, but he knew. His eyes were dark. He failed to elaborate as Kallie continued to squeeze his middle.
“Is there anything we can do?” Charlie asked.
“I just need some time to process.” Kallie pulled away from Marcus and wiped at her eyes. “I’ll tell you guys when I’m ready, I promise.”
“Okay,” I said. “We’re here to help if you need us.”
“I know.” Kallie sniffed. She took a short sigh and said, “But we should talk about end-of-the-world stuff. My dad said things in Malovia are getting bad. It’s a terrible time. They’re still in the process of transitioning the crown from my parents to my brother and his mate. Kaz has got to deal with all this, and he hasn’t even been on the throne a year.”
“Ava’s parents said the Hawkei chieftains are getting ready for war, too,” Charlie said quietly.
At the base of the benches, Oberi sniffed a patch of large brown mushrooms. He licked his lips, which were drooling.
“Oberi, don’t eat that,” I scolded.
I didn’t have breakfast,Oberi complained.I’m hungry.
I rolled my eyes. Oberi leaned down to lap the mushrooms up, taking down a giant one in a second.
Marcus shivered against the cold and rubbed his hands together. “Do you guys really think there’s gonna be another war?”
An expanding tightness entered my chest— like I was having trouble breathing. I rubbed my throat as I added, “History is bound to repeat itself—”
“Oberi!” Charlie shouted as a coughing sound filled the air, and I looked down. Terror flooded my limbs as I watched Oberi stagger back and forth, gasping for breath.
The tightness in my chest suddenly became clear. That wasn’tme, it was Oberi!
“Oh, ancestors!” Charlie and I both scrambled off the bench at the same time. We fell to our knees on the muddy ground. Oberi hacked as foam spittled at his mouth and dripped onto the ground. I watched his tongue turn blue as it lolled out of his mouth, the light slowly draining from his eyes.
“The mushrooms were poisonous!” I screamed.
“He’s suffocating! Ava, we need a potion!” Charlie shouted.
