“C’mon,” Gabriel said and started off into the jungle.
Katie followed, her eyes on Andre. The phantom motioned for her to follow him instead and waved her towards the direction she recognized as leading back to the lake. She slowed her step and pointed at Gabriel with a questioning look.
Andre’s eyes fell to her body. Katie pointed to the dagger, and Andre shook his head. She indicated the satchel next. He nodded. She frowned and pulled out the contents: food and water cubes, holding them up for him. The phantom pointed to the pouch with the food cubes.
Don’t feed the trees,Gabriel had told her when they set out.
Katie dumped a few of the cubes into her hand with another look at Andre. She drew a deep breath and tossed the cubes after Gabriel. She stopped walking as the cubes hit the ground behind him.
Nothing happened.
She sighed, wondering why she was paying attention to a dead-dead Immortal in the first place. Maybe Gabriel was right. Maybe the underworld was having some effect on her. She’d been fatigued since arriving, but she’d explained it away with the fact she’d had little sleep and an unexpected pregnancy.
She reached the place where the food cubes had landed, bending to pick them up in case she needed them later. The cubes were gone. Swiping at lively bushes, she inched forward, searching for the cubes.
The ground beneath her rumbled suddenly, and she straightened, balancing herself against a tree. Gabriel stopped ahead of her and Andre motioned her quickly away from the spot.
“What is that?” she asked as the tremors grew stronger.
“I don’t know. I don’t sense any magic,” the death-dealer said with a frown. “Do you?”
“No. Nothing.”
Andre’s motioning grew frantic, and Katie looked down. A small crack had begun to form where the food cubes fell. The crack grew fast, flying down the trail towards Gabriel. The sound of the earth tearing grew louder. The trees on either side of her expanded, quickly doubling and then quadrupling in size. Afraid of being crushed between them, Katie darted off the trail towards Andre, who ran ahead of her. She heard Gabriel shout something that was lost in the roar of the ground splitting apart.
Andre ran hard for a creature that was already dead. Katie chased him, terrified of looking back when the awful sounds seemed so close. Only when the ground stopped trembling did Andre stop. Katie doubled over, breathless.