Page 67 of Children of Anguish and Anarchy

Body after body falls to the ground, bleeding into the earth. It’s only when the Skulls give their victory cry that I close my eyes, recalling the turquoise clouds.

“What in the skies?” Mother wheezes, coming back to life from the magic of my mind. Her confusion matches the rest of the clearing as the turquoise clouds return to me, bringing everyone back to the moment before the Skulls attacked.

All at once, the band of Skulls disappears. My hallucinations vanish into thin air. By the time my magic fades, I can hardly stand. Veins bulge against my skin. Sweat soaks through my tunic.

“That is what you are up against,” I pant. “That is the enemy you face. The Skulls are a ruthless, unified force and they serve their king with one purpose. For him, they’ve hunted our people with no remorse.”

In seeing the full face of the enemy, I sense the break in the air. My words take on new power.

The chance for real unification is here.

“This isn’t the time for us to be divided.” I walk the circle, meeting every fighter’s eye. “We cannot look at each other and see maji, soldier, and tîtán. We have to be Orïshans now, united as one. Are you with me?”

Nâo is the first to step forward. I catch her eye and we share a nod. A line of maji follow after her, and the soldiers step forward next. But the tîtáns don’t move.

They all look to Mother.

A heavy silence hangs in the air as we wait to see which way she’ll go.Despite what’s coming, she has no reason to fight by my side. But even she steps forward, bringing the tîtáns in line.

I take in our new coalition, smiling as battle plans fill my mind. There’s no time to waste.

“Let’s get to work,” I call.

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

ZÉLIE

“YÉVA TOLD US TOmeet her at the top of the mountain,” Mae’e calls down to me from the ledge above. The two of us continue our spiral ascent up Mount Gaia’s black rock, traveling up a well-worn trail. A tangle of vines reaches up from the mountain’s base. I hold on to them every time the mountain starts to shake. The city of New Gaia glitters kilometers below. Its waters gleam white in the burning sun.

It’s been a half-moon since our arrival, but crowds are still protesting outside Emperor Jörah’s palace. They call for us to be thrown out. The fear of Yéva’s prophecy hangs over our heads like a cloud.

Every time I reunite with my brother, new scars and bruises cover his skin. Tzain won’t tell me who he is fighting day in and day out, but I see the way he stares at Köa and the rest of his men. Mae’e insists her people will come around, but the longer we stay, the more their hatred rises.

At my request, Mae’e’s sent emissaries to Orïsha to recover Inan. Every day I await their word. I don’t know if he was able to unify a fighting force. I don’t even know if he and the others made it back to Lagos’s port.

Outside these shores, King Baldyr still hunts for my heart. And I don’t know when the Blood Moon will rise. I glance at the waxing silver crescent hanging in the sky, and Baldyr’s golden skull fills my mind.

I will see you again.His promise returns to me, making my stomach clench. The medallion’s veins have spread throughout my chest, digging over my rib cage and reaching the base of my neck.

I escaped the Skulls. I found the girl. Yet I feel no closer to their defeat or returning home. Time is slipping through my hands.

I have to find a way to change the tides in our war.

“We need to hurry,” Mae’e calls down when I reach a gap in the stone. “Yéva grows weary. She will not be out for long.” She opens up her palm, and the vines around the mountain come to life, knitting themselves into a ladder.

“You can tell from here?” I ask as I climb.

“I see many things.” Mae’e gestures to her sparkling eyes. “But Yéva feels all. Her connection to the Mother Root allows her to sense the entire island all at once. It was she who alerted Emperor Jörah and the Lâminas when your boat landed on our shores.”

I stop, remembering the shudder that passed through the bottoms of my feet when I stepped onto the black sands. The vineweavers were there in an instant. Yéva must have sent them there.

More questions rise as we near the mountaintop. My pulse starts to spike. I haven’t seen Yéva since that day in the town circle.

What does she want with me now?

Mae’e pulls me over the final ledge, and my feet warm across the black stone. Yéva stands in the center of the volcanic crater, staring straight into the blinding sun.

The very mountain seems to still beneath her. The shrouded faces that reach out from her emerald cloak whisper as they shift in the wind. A circle of vines slithers at her feet.

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