“Come with me,” I said to the woman, while never taking my eyes from the beast slowly creeping toward us.
But she shook her head and pointed again at the River. Perhaps she couldn’t run? My eyes flickered back down to her backward-facing feet again.
“I’m sorry,” I said, “I can’t stay here.”
Nor could I leave the first person to help me in this world at the mercy of a wolf the size of a house. If the woman couldn’t, or wouldn’t join me, I would try to lead the beast away from her if I could. It was the least I could do after she’d pulled me from the River.
I squeezed my eyes shut, thinking of my mother, who had done this journey herself.
Of Nani telling me that the choice I made was the right one.
Of Safiyya shooting her rifle at an onslaught of soldiers, urging me to leave.
Did they manage to escape? Were they gunned down by the Citadel soldiers and labeled rebels?
Safiyya’s earlier words rang in my brain.
Her destiny is to follow her mother across the River, even though she never came back for her own daughter.
And then my mother’s words, from her letters and poems and journals—they flooded back to me too.
I’m going to cross the river, Yaseema. And I’m going to save us all.
I clutched the journal, staring down at her golden bangles adorning my arm.
Something was happening to the human world, something my mother tried to fix. Now it was up to me to be the one to mend it.
It was up to me to finish what she began.
I will always be beside you. My nani’s words buoyed me.
I locked eyes with the wolf, then picked up a stick and threw it. The creature snapped it in midair and lunged forward.
But I was ready.
I wasn’t a fighter, but I’d had enough practice dodging traps in ancient vaults to hopefully outsmart this creature. I tore off into the woods, hoping to lure it away from the old woman. I ran through lush forests and bountiful trees, the beast at my legs, its growl echoing through the forest, of the smell of my panic and fear drowned out by the fresh scent of the eucalyptus trees surrounding me.
Why hadn’t I brought a weapon with me? Even one of the rifles from the Citadel soldiers might’ve been helpful. They were heavy, but at least it would’ve been something.
I threaded through the jungle, the eucalyptus trees fading into babuls as the forest became denser. Something hit my head, and I startled, but it was just a mango hanging low from a branch.
Trees.
I was surrounded by trees. Running was not something I was skilled at, but searching after lost fae relics in the moonlight in Astola had made me a particularly good climber.
I grabbed at the branch, swinging myself up on it and climbing as fast as I could until I reached the top. The giant wolf howled below me, and jumped at the tree, but I was thankfully just out of its reach.
An outcropping of rock touched the top of the highest branch, and I reached for it, swinging myself over the top of the tree to the ledge of the boulder. My arms felt strong as I hoisted myself onto the boulder and slid my body down the flat face of it. I peeked over the top, looking down at the wolf to see if it had noticed me climb away.
It still waited at the bottom of the tree.
If I was lucky, I could climb down the other side of the rock and make a run for it before it even knew I had left the tree.
My feet found a steady foothold as I made my way down the boulder carefully, listening as the beast grunted and growled, sniffing the air and trying to catch my scent.
I had reached the bottom of the giant rock, but my feet didn’t want to jump to the ground.
My legs were frozen, my heart pounding so loud in my chest it drowned every other noise out.
