Smoke Rising: Book III

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

We hike for miles. Up hills and over giant fallen trees. Bugs start biting at my skin, and one of the guides, Haji, raises a hand towards me and says something in his language. After that, the bugs don't bother me anymore.

We rest every few hours and when night falls, Nicholi makes a small fire and the guides begin setting up tents. I'm beginning to wish they would have just let us use a helicopter to fly where we're going. But Mateo said that they don't allow any transports—flying or otherwise—anywhere in this region to preserve the wildlife. Apparently, this jungle has almost been wiped out a hundred and fifty years ago. It was Iamani's father who healed the nutrients in the land and regrew the jungle. Part of the Big Cure the main royals were all a part of.

As I crawl in my tent, I watch Nailah go deeper into the forest, carrying nothing, not even a flashlight. In the distance I can barely make out a large, black, furry animal. She reaches her hand out to it, and the ape takes her hand. For a moment I think they're about to shake hands, but then the creature releases her, and she follows it into the jungle.

"Gorilla," Mateo says, and when I look over at him, his head is poking outside his small tent. He smiles back at Nailah as she disappears.

"She's an animal persuader," I say.

It isn't a question, but he answers anyways. "Yeah, and it's not just gorillas. She can talk to almost every animal on earth. All the royals in her family have the power."

"It's like she's their princess too. Not just the people's."

Nicholi puts out the flames with a wave of his hands and disappears into his tent—a larger version of Mateo's and mine. We exchange a look, and we crawl into our own beds for the night.

As I drift to sleep, I think of shadows and smoke. It isn't until images of children Casters appear in the darkness that I realize it isn't a dream. A young dark skinned girl with braids just like Nailah's, speaks to a large dark cat—a panther, I think. And the girls eyes mirror the cats, morphing into a reflection of the animal as if they are hypnotizing her.

When I wake, I feel like I haven't slept at all. Nicholi says something to me that I don't hear. Something that my mind is too tired to hear.

"Emery, we're packing up," he says louder, breaking through.

"I'm up," I say, sitting in the small tent and hitting my head against the top of the smooth material.

When I finally get my things packed and stuffed back into my bag, Nailah appears, slipping down from a vine from the canopy.

"You're not a morning person, are you?" She laughs at me, running her hand over my hair. It must be everywhere or something, because her girlfriend laughs next to Mateo. As I'm flooded with curiosity from Nailah's touch, Mateo looks over at me and laughs too. I roll my eyes and use the hair tie around my wrist to pull it out of my face into a bun.

"I just didn't sleep well."

Nailah smiles, elbowing me gently in the side. "Try sleeping with a bunch of animals." It's meant to be a joke, but I can't find it in me to laugh.

We start hiking north until we come to a large creek. A huge boulder sits in our path, and Nailah climbs up to the top, stretching out her arms. Mist sprinkles the air above her suddenly, and when we peer around the corner of the rock, I see an elephant spraying water into the air. It makes a noise, one that makes me smile. Nailah turns to me then, grinning, and the elephant aims its trunk at me and sprays me full force. A scream escapes the back of my throat, and she climbs on the elephants back, laughing.