Page 36 of Speak No Claim

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When words failed me, my body never did.

Chapter

Eleven

Hennessy: Someone else doesn’t have to be wrong for you to be right.

The first beat of Eva’s voice flowed through the trees, and I slid off my hoodie, instinct swiftly taking over me. My knees softened, lowering my center of gravity as my hips found the exact rhythm of the cajón, an instrument. My bare feet skimmed the earth, gliding me through the grass and dirt.

My shoulders rolled with the procession, while my rib cage followed the movement naturally. The music wasn’t something I ever counted. It was just something that lived inside me. It was all feeling, all heart and soul.

I turned beneath the moonlight, and everything else disappeared.

The fire crackled with the music, its amber light chasing the shadows over my skin as I surrendered to the rhythm and the night.

My hips drew slow circles before snapping sharply to the beat of every instrument, playing loudly in the air. My weight shifted effortlessly from one foot to the other. Every step melted together in a slow, sensual way.

I dipped low, my fingertips grazing the tops of the wild grass before I rose again with my arms over my head. My back arched with the music as though the melody itself had wrapped around my spine and pulled me upright again.

As I flipped my head back and forth, my hair slipped free. The flame of the fire immediately made it wild and curly. I smiled, finally feeling alive. Laughing into the night sky, I loved the feel of my body being one with the earth.

Every sway, every turn, every drop, my hips stripped away another emotion that involved the Graves Academy. It was buried beneath the rules. Out there, there was nothing but Mother Nature and me, and that made me feel right at home.

There were no expectations.

No university.

No rules.

No brotherhood.

With the fire to my back, the earth beneath my feet reminded me of who I was. I closed my eyes, letting the rhythm carry me faster with the cool night air kissing my heated skin.

Until the forest stopped breathing, and then my smile quickly faded. Growing up in the Peruvian Amazon, I learned this before I even learned how to walk or talk. It was instilled in us.

The sounds of the jungle were never to be feared. It was only when they disappeared, replaced by an unnatural silence, that you knew it was a warning. My body stilled on instinct. Every one of my muscles tightened, every sense I had sharpened to the point of pain.

Something changed. I just didn’t know what yet.

I remained perfectly still, not moving an inch. The music switched to another Afro-Peruvian melody, bleeding through my phone speaker. This one only held sounds, not words. The cajón grew louder, filling the silence the woods had abruptly abandoned. That was when I saw it. It moved with an eerie grace.

There in front of my eyes was a copperhead snake.

It rested under the moonlight, its copper bands blending almost perfectly into the grass. Completely still like me. My lips parted as I slowly shifted my weight, careful not to crowd it. It was maybe two, three feet away from me.

It was watching, listening, waiting…

Exactly like me.

Neither of us moved. My breathing slowed until it matched my heartbeat. We studied each other, waiting to see who would make the first move. Its head lifted, and my pulse steadied, expecting what came next.

It struck toward me, and I instantly stepped back, far enough for its fangs to hit air instead of my flesh. Then it recoiled, settling back into its protective stance.

Before I could consider what I had to do, I heard a familiar voice order in a slow, stern, steady tone from behind me…

“Move.”