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I sighed, this whole situation turning into a complete shit show. On top of that, I had no idea how to solve it. “I’m over here, just hold on, stay there, I’m—I’m in need of some privacy.”
I was going to kill Amica for having to use that excuse.
“Rhia, where are you going?” I heard him laughing.
Stars have mercy.
I stood up from my crouch and peeked over Jasmine. “Bennett, I’m already at the horses! I said, ‘hold on a minute.’”
He looked over his shoulder in my direction and the beautiful smile on his face dropped in an instant. He snapped his head back in the opposite direction and then back towards me.
It looked like he was talking to himself.
His tone turned serious. “Is anyone with you?”
“No,” I lied quickly.
He read my face like a book, knowing I had lied, but he kept his voice calm and said, “Rhia, I need you to listen carefully. Grab my bag off of Equis and bring it to me.”
Amica whispered at me, still crouched, “Don’t listen to him! He’s just going to betray you.”
I whispered back as inconspicuously as I could, “Bennett won’t betray me.” Right?“This will be the perfect chance to distract him while you run.”
“No!” She growled. I turned my head to face her, my eyes widening with shock at the tone of her voice.
Bennett must have seen the shock on my face. “I need you to bring me the bag now,” he said urgently, his navy eyes pleading.
I began to crouch back down. “I’ll be right—”
I gasped and jumped back as the once deep honey eyes Amica bore were now pitch black. Her features were distorted, and she screamed at me, her mouth now lined with rows of razor sharp teeth.
This was not Amica. How could I have been so naive? I was talking with an Inferus this whole time. I jumped and turned on my heels as fast as I could, knowing I was powerless against it unless I had some form of fire. It leapt at me, its nails now claws. Before I could even get a head start, its fingers wrapped around my ankles, causing me to fall into the sand. The impact of the fall accidentally made me bite my lip, hard, causing blood to drip down my chin. I flipped over and slashed my dagger in front of me, aiming right for the jugular. The blade went right through it as if it was simply made of air, doing absolutely nothing to harm the creature.
“What?” I gasped. I knew I needed fire to kill the creature, but I hadn’t realized I couldn’t even harm it any way else. I was entirely screwed as I attempted to back up on my hands and feet.
“Nowhere to run now,” it hissed, a serpent-like tongue slithering out of its mouth. “Should’ve come with me when you had the chance.”
I took that opportunity to run as fast as I could towards Bennett. If I couldn’t harm it, my only option was to outrun it.
I found Bennett in a state of distress, looking like he was also running from something, but I didn’t see anything.
His eyes found mine. “My bag!” he yelled desperately. “There are matches in my bag!”
I turned around, back towards the horses, the creature right on my heels. The sand below me slowed me down as I sprinted, my calves on fire from the force of me pushing them. I was a few steps from Equis and reached my hand out to quickly to pull the bag from his saddle. I kept my grip firm around the leather strap and a bit of my heart broke as I heard a horse whine from behind and knew that Equis must have been hurt, but I couldn’t do anything now. I needed to somehow get these matches lit without getting myself killed first.
I kept running, this time in the direction of Bennett, my lungs on fire as I opened the flap of the bag and fiddled around in the opening, searching for the matches Bennett claimed were in there. I began to get frustrated as I kept digging around without any luck.
My fingertip felt a small piece of wood and I smiled in relief. I pulled the match out and dropped his bag on the ground so I could lose the extra weight. I knew a small match wasn’t going to do much, so I eyed the trees in search of a dead branch I could break off from the trunk.
“Bennett, I have the match!” I yelled. “Try making your way towards me so I can light this, and we can take them both down at once.”
I didn’t know where he was and just hoped he could hear me as my eyes found a thin enough branch for me to snap. I ran towards it, snapping it from the trunk and holding it under my arm, thorns digging into my sides. My hands shook slightly as I fumbled with the match, trying to remember what Miles taught me about how to strike a match with just my finger. I took the match, striking it against the rough tip of my fingernail, and it immediately caught a flame. I grabbed the branch from under my arms, praying to the stars that I wouldn’t drop it as I was still running for my life, the small flame threatening to go out from my speed.
I hovered the branch above the flame and the dried wood began to catch ablaze.
“Yes!” I stopped abruptly, twisting my body to shine the flame on the creature. The Amica look-alike’s true form showed with the light of the flame. A black leathered creature, with an arched spine and bat-like ears. Its claws and teeth were as sharp as any dagger. It wailed in pain as the flame singed its skin and its sight became blind to the flame. I watched as it disintegrated away, gulping in deep breaths of air in relief.
Bennett came running in my direction, wild panic in his eyes. “Throw me the branch!” he yelled.
