Page 163 of Blue Arrow Island
A guttural caw sounds from above, and I don’t even have to look to know it came from one of Virginia’s ravens.
“These flowers have to get back to camp,” I say in a low tone. “No matter what, that’s the mission.”
“I’m not leaving here without all of you,” Marcus says.
Niran stands up, blood running from the hole in his arm where he pulled the arrow out. His usual playful expression is gone, replaced with a furious sneer.
“What are you guys up to?” Pax’s arrogant drawl grates on me as he walks toward us. “You’re not having fun without me, are you?”
Amira fires an arrow at him, and he veers to the side to dodge it so quickly I don’t even see the movement.
“What the fuck?” Amira mutters, nocking another arrow.
Marcus’s heat disappears from my other side. He crashes into Pax, knocking him to the ground.
Marcus gets on top of him, punching him in the face. An arrow whizzes past Marcus’s head, so close my heart nearly stops.
“Amira!” I cry.
“Got it.”
She fires, knowing where the other archer is from the trajectory of the arrow that narrowly missed Marcus. Her arrow is no sooner airborne and she lets another one loose.
A body drops to the ground from the tree line.
Pax roars, his arm muscles straining as he holds Marcus’s wrist, trying to prevent Marcus from sinking a knife into his chest.
We have to find a way to draw out anyone else who’s with Pax. I suspect Virginia is one of the Tiders hiding in the tree line.
“Amira, can you reach the ravens?” I ask.
She looks up. “I think so.”
“Take them out.”
I shield her body with mine as she takes aim, going for the lowest raven circling the clearing. It barks out a deep caw of pain when her arrow hits it in the chest. The bird is falling to the ground when an enraged Virginia flies out of the jungle, a raised spear in her hand.
Three more people follow her, and I steel myself. We’re outnumbered, but they only have spears. Amira quickly takes one of them out with her bow and arrow.
“Niran, she can’t fight hand-to-hand!” I yell.
“I’ve got her!” he says, racing to Amira’s side.
She lands another arrow in a man’s stomach, but he snarls and breaks it off, not slowing.
Virginia is coming for me. My heart races with worry. I can’t risk a glance at Marcus to see how he’s faring against Pax.
She stops about ten feet short of me, going still. I’m going for the gun holstered at my waist when another gunshot sounds. Niran just took one of the others down.
A vicious caw near my head makes me turn. It’s one of the ravens, its dark eyes wild.
I call my vines, begging them to hurry. But within a second, the raven opens its beak, and I’m looking into a cavernous, black abyss. Its black tongue is the last thing I see before it snaps my shirt into its massive beak, taking hold of me.
“No!” My gun drops from my hand as the raven takes flight, something sharp cutting into my left ankle.
Frantically, I turn my head and find a second raven has my lower leg clutched in its sharp, polished talons, the pointed hooks tearing my flesh.
“Briar!” Marcus’s roar of fury cuts through all the other sounds in the clearing.
