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KANA
“If you’re not going to actually look at the goddamn book, then give it here,” I snapped at Jillian, after having asked her the name of yet another brightly glowing flower.
With blooms like these, they were either highly toxic or a benign copy-cat plant that might even be helpful.
“Really, Jill. The book was given to us to help,” Darnell added impatiently, though I noted his shortening of her name.
She huffed and began rifling through the pages at her own pace. “There! It’s non-toxic. Belliflora Regens. Doesn’t have any specific uses, though.”
I raised an eyebrow, my gut telling me not to believe a word she said. “You gather it, then.”
“Of course, I won’t. It’s a useless plant.”
“Then why is it here in such abundance?” Darnell pointed out, gesturing toward the overflowing hill of yellow-streaked blooms.
They shone prettily in the early morning light, but none of us had gone a step closer. I knew the ordinary, common plants of Saori Sang, but I was no horticulturist. And with a fae contributing to this labyrinth, literally anything was possible.
Aralia was full of venomous things.
Thinking of Aralia sent an odd pang of loss through me. I was angry with Rush for abandoning me, but at the same time, I missed the hell out of him. Without even really knowing why, he’d become someone I looked forward to seeing.
Of course, the orgasms didn’t hurt, but just being around him seemed to settle me.
“Not everything needs to have a purpose beyond distraction, Darnell. Surely, Merden has taught you that much,” Jillian crooned, and I narrowed my eyes at Darnell’s simmering glare.
Another mystery? I wouldn’t have cared at all if we weren’t about to be trapped together in this maze for four weeks.
The two of them stepped deeper into the corridor that had led us to this flower-filled hill, but something else caught my eye. Peering down between the shining blooms, I tracked a trail of mist winding into the small field.
Breathing deeply, I imagined myaima’s scent lingering there, laced with the sweetness of the flowers.
“Nicolas?” I whispered, searching and hoping to see a glimpse of him, watching out for me here. Some instinct made me reach out and brush my fingertips across a flower, its silky petals lifting and closing gently.
The mist circled the plant I’d touched, and I watched in wonder as the petals twirled tighter, revealing a bulbous, translucent base filled with liquid, like a living vase.
I’d seen plenty of desert plants on Earth and Haret that held water, and pitcher plants in the shifter jungles. Was this a relative of one of those?
“Kana?” Jillian’s voice rang out, as they must have realized I wasn’t following them.
“Let me see the fucking book,Jill,” I yelled back, plucking the bloom. A drop of clear dew shone on the end, like icing in a piping bag. I wasn’t about to put it in my mouth, though.
Darnell was propelling her back toward me as she pouted and threatened him with odd tortures like shaving his knuckles and slicing shallow cuts between each toe.
“Here, you look at it.She’sprobably just trying to kill us like she did Celestine,” Jillian finally said, thrusting the book at Darnell.
“I didn’t fucking kill her,” I said in exasperation. Still, Darnell had begun to read the pages again, and I could tell when he hit the intel I’d been hoping was there. I held up the bloom.
“It’s not drinkable, if that’s what you were thinking,” he sneered. “But it is a useful coagulant. A bit more care, Jillian,” he snipped as she wrestled the book back from him.
Unfortunately, I had no way to store the bloom without crushing it, but Jillian allowed Darnell to mark it on his map before snapping the book closed and flouncing off down the corridor.
“Perhaps we’ll find some leather-leaf soon,” Darnell offered, the words almost sounding like an apology as he picked one of the Belliflora Regens and held it carefully upright, following after our dumbass team leader.
I sighed and copied him. I could always drop the flower if needed, and my gut was telling me that we could use everything in this labyrinth to stay alive, or to make sure the other teams didn’t.
The morning wore on as we explored the winding corridors, trying to make a sensible map and marking a few other obviously useful plants. It was a confusing tangle of curving and crossing paths, pockmarked with clearings and hills full of plants.
We didn’t find leatherleaf or the fresh water needed to make all these flowers possible, but there were quite a few patches of common poisons like bleeding heart and belladonna, as well as some antidotes. The biggest problem was in not having any way to carry or store anything beyond our pockets.
