His eyes darted away from mine, just a flicker but I knew it for what it was. Snap was lying to me, my father was here somewhere. Just a matter of where. I let out a groan, ignoring Snap as he called after me, and ran from the Spiral to the Ender’s barracks.
My footsteps echoed in the large empty room. A sense of abandonment flickered over me, chilling me to the core. There was no one there, not a soul. To be sure, I ran through the hallways, checking bedrooms. No one. I swallowed hard. Snap said something about why wasn’t I somewhere, where did he say? Was it the gathering field?
I ran to the healers’ rooms. Empty too. My throat tightened. Had they all died? Was I too late already?
I bolted back the way I’d come, seeing something that made me stumble to a stop. In front of me, the bark under a young redwood rippled. The new growth bulged as a large worm inched its way through the material, driving deeper until the ripple was gone. The tree quivered and for a moment, I thought I heard a cry of pain.
The worms had truly invaded. And if they were here in such thick numbers, there may be no saving anyone. I touched my necklace and hoped Griffin was right, that I would be spared long enough to do something about this.
Making my way to the gathering field, I wove between the homes, looking in the windows for any sign of life.
Nothing.
A hand snaked out from between two houses and snagged me. I let out a yelp and then Coal was there, crushing me against his chest. “Be quiet and listen to me. Your father is gone and Cassava has taken over. She has a Sylph with her, the tall one. I remember you telling me about a Sylph in your dream with a scar. I’m so sorry I didn’t believe . . . .” his eyes glazed over and he stood there as if someone had turned off a switch in his head. I grabbed his face. That damn glow of pink whispered across the whites of his eyes.
“Coal, what are you doing?” I shook him and still, he just stood there. I shoved him so he slumped against the wall and slid down. Unable to snap him out of it, I forced him to sit. I may not have wanted to be with him anymore, but that didn’t mean I didn’t care about him.
In the distance, I heard the murmur of a large crowd. A steady thrumming rumbled through the ground reaching out to touch me, like a heartbeat with a stutter. I followed it, turned the corner around the last large tree and couldn’t believe what was in front of me.
Every person in our community stood in the clearing we used for large gatherings. They coughed and groaned, and their breath gurgled in their lungs, the worms eating their way out of the bodies like maggots at a buffet.
At the center of the clearing Cassava stood, her hands raised above her head, a pink dusting of light sparkling around her entire body. So there it was, the finally surety that she was controlling those in our family.
But it was the others who kept my eyes drawn to them. Like Coal, they seemed to have nothing left of life in their eyes. They were for all intents and purposes, gone. Yet I knew they lived, could see their chests rise and fall, could hear the rattling in their lungs that their breathing caused.
I dug my fingers into the tree beside me, feeling a worm shimmy under my hand. What the hell could I do? Anything?
Granite was there, standing next to Cassava. Ash, Blossom, Mal, and all the other Enders stood a few feet away. Why not Snap, why had he been left at the Spiral? He was left behind to guard something.
My father. The truth of it slammed home. My father was in the Spiral, and Snap was guarding him. Yet I couldn’t move, the sight in front of me as hypnotizing as a cobra’s deadly dance.
What was Cassava doing? That pink glow hummed like a hive of bees, pulsing around all of them. Like a heartbeat outside their bodies, driving them to move even when they were so sick most shouldn’t have been standing.
“Where are you, Larkspur?” Cassava called, and an urge to obey her slid over me. I shook it off and kept my body glued to the tree, my fingernails digging into the bark.
“Larkspuuuuuuuur,” her voice echoed over the people, my family, and they . . . repeated it back to her, a creepy groaning of my name that made me want to vomit. “Find her, bring her to me.”
Oh. Shit.
Heart in my throat, I didn’t waste time. I had to get to the Spiral. As I passed Coal, his hand snaked out and grabbed at my ankle, tripping me. He was on me in a split second, and though I knew I shouldn’t hesitate, I did. I didn’t want to hurt him.
He had no such inclinations as he jerked me by my ankle and dragged me toward Cassava and her mob. I pulled my dagger and slashed it across his arm. Blood poured from the wound, dripping onto me, the layers of muscle and flesh flapping with every step he took.
He didn’t let go and a sob ripped out of me. Terror ate at me, for me, for Coal, for my family. My spear was the only chance I would have to free myself. “Let go, Coal, I’ll cut your hand off!” I yelled at him, hoping to break through whatever spell he was under.
He didn’t answer me, and there was no hesitation in his steps.
Tears pooled in my eyes as I pulled my spear free. It would be an awkward angle, but I knew I could do it. I just didn’t want to. The sound of others drawing near was what gave me the strength to do what I must to save myself. I swung my spear hard toward Coal’s wrist. The blade cut through like the bone was a spring fiddlehead, switched in half like it was nothing. He didn’t scream, the gush of blood from his amputated hand something I knew he wouldn’t survive unless a healer got to him. His hand still clutched my ankle, as I stood and ran, a sob on my lips. I didn’t wait to see what happened, to see if he would fall down, or just keep walking. I kicked off his still warm, twitching hand and bolted.