Shadows of the Night | BOOK 2 DRAFT

9

9.

Blood pounds in my ears. My feet thud against the earth like a drum. The screams stopped but my anxiety only increases as we get closer, the possibility that we could be running towards a group of hollowers both terrifying and promising. Maybe they've seen Elias. Maybe they know where he is.

But both my hope and fear dwindle away when we scramble up the cliff face and reach the mouth of the cave. Eric cradles his shoulder and curses loudly while Malik stands at the entrance, the hollower wrapped in his arms and his hand slapped over her mouth. She struggles in his hold, eyes wild and frantic, but he's too strong.

"Eric?" Cassia rushes over. "What happened?"

"It bit me! Bit me!" He scowls, moving his hand from his shoulder. His shirt is torn and blood prickles from bite marks around his bicep. "I'm going to kill it!

"Eric, calm down—"

"Don't tell me to calm down." He shoves her out of the way and starts towards Malik. "Malik, let the hollower go."

Instead, he holds her tighter and away from Eric's grasp. "Eric, think about this—"

"All I'm thinking about is the chunk of skin it took out of my arm!" He storms over. "Give it to me right now!"

Cassia grabs him. "You're being irrational, stop!

"Cassia, get out of my way or I'll kill—"

"Don't finish that sentence." Cassia roughly shoves him backwards. "Stop being an idiot. We need her."

I look at the hollower. Her breath is short and ragged, eyes wide and frightened. Against Malik's broad frame, she's tiny, feet dangling a few feet above the ground and the outline of her body dwarfed by his. She looks harmless.

"It bit me, Cassia!"

"And I'm sure she's very sorry."

"This isn't funny!" Eric huffs, murmuring something beneath his breath that makes Cassia frown. Then he looks at Malik. "Knock her out and make sure she stays that way till we reach the coast."

Malik opens his mouth to say something but I beat him to it. "Let her go," I order. He shoots me a perplexed look and Eric stares like I've grown an extra head.

"Are you insane?"

"Let her go, Malik, you're hurting her," I say. He watches me warily, but I see the way his grip loosens. "She's our only hope at finding Elias and she sure as hell won't help us if we treat her like a prisoner."

"It's a hollower," Eric spits, "we can't trust it."

"I'm not saying we have to trust her, but we don't have to treat her like an animal," I say. "That'd make us just as bad as them." I reach into my pack to retrieve the rope used on her earlier before offering it to Malik. "Let her go, Malik."

This time, he listens, his hands leaving red marks where they indented her wrists. Before she can make any sort of escape, he takes the rope from my hands and ties it around her wrists, keeping a firm hold on one end. "If she bites you, don't come complaining to me." Eric huffs angrily, picking up one of the packs and making his way into the cave.

Cassia stares after him, leaning over with a sigh and grabbing the hollower. Surprisingly, she doesn't resist, just shuffles after Cassia—not that she could get away if she tried. I sigh, running a hand through my hair and turning to Malik.

"For what it's worth, I don't agree with Eric," he says. "I just hope you're right. About her helping us, I mean."

I stare after her retreating figure and feel my heart drop to my stomach. She owes us nothing and we have nothing to offer her. If I were her, if any of us were her, we wouldn't help. So why would she?