needed to listen.
'Are you with me, Zery? Do you hear me? Raise your hands and let me know that you do.'
I raised my hands, or tried to; something was holding them down, keeping me from complying. I jerked with all my strength and they flew up.
Thea laughed. 'Good, good. I think we can get rid of this now.'
A weight lifted off my body, the net pulling free.
I was sitting on my butt, my legs bent at the knees in front of me. She knelt beside me. The knife was in her hands, but it didn't bother me. I trusted her, wanted to hear her secrets.
'You know Padia's plan, don't you?' she asked.
I nodded. I did.
'And you don't want her to succeed, do you? Would you do anything? Sacrifice anything to stop her?'
I nodded again. She smiled and patted my hand, like a toddler who'd drunk all of her milk. She leaned close and whispered, 'That's my secret. I want to stop her too.'
Some part of my brain scoffed. I didn't believe her; I knew who she was.
Thea. . Padia. . brushed her thumb over my arm. 'What's this?' Her thumb stood out against my skin and the black ink underneath.
'Your artisan friend playing? Thinking she can outdo me with markers?' There was disbelief and disgust in her voice, but my attention was mainly focused on the art she had ridiculed-the praying mantis. . the leopard. . the meerkat. What had Mel said when she'd drawn the meerkat? What was his gift?
The tiny animal's eyes glistened; it swayed, like I had swayed. It barked, yelled at me, in Mel's voice. 'Think, Zery. Remember. Be strong.'
I blinked and looked at Thea. She wasn't watching me. She was still staring at the art my friend, my best friend, the one person I had always been able to trust, had drawn on me. . to save me.
And suddenly the fog thinned. Thinned but still there, like looking at the world through sheer fabric. The floor was hard beneath my buttocks. The air in the place was stale and smelled of old food, sweat, and septic, but all of it was dulled somehow, ever so slightly surreal.
But Thea, my enemy, I knew was within my reach. That I knew with a certainty. The thought swirled through my mind. She was close. I could loop my arms around her neck and snap it through. Or I could have, should have been able to, but my arms and legs were leaden. Without the priestess's instructions, I seemed unable to do more than breathe and swallow. And even if I could have moved, even if I could have killed her as I so longed to do, I wouldn't have Andres, didn't know who the birders were, where they were. Didn't know anything.
Mel and Jack had told me to think, to plan, to quit just reacting. This was my chance.
'I'll tell you another secret,' she murmured. I gritted my teeth to keep myself from replying.
She ran the edge of the stone knife down my throat. 'Padia isn't as strong as she thinks she is. Isn't as smart as she thinks she is. I know how she got on the council; it wasn't because she was the best. Not by a long shot.' The blade paused, poised over my artery. 'She's bossy too. I hate bossy. Do you hate bossy? Wait, you are bossy, aren't you?'
I didn't reply. None seemed required.
'But bossy won't work for her this time. Do you want to know why?'
I did.
'Because I have the knife.' She held it up; twisted it so light seemed to pulse off of it. 'She may have the child.' Thea's hand stilled. 'But I have the knife she wants and needs for the ceremony and now I have you. . a queen! That's as good as a baby, don't you think? If you were a goddess, which would you rather have? A baby who has barely lived a life, or a queen with almost one hundred years behind her?'
Her brow furrowed. She pressed the knife against my arm. 'Answer me, which?'
'A queen,' I croaked.
She smiled and leaned in again. 'You want to hear another secret?'
This time I didn't think I did, but I nodded anyway.
'Tess suggested you. It was sweet of her, wasn't it? Thinking of you. You should thank her, you really should.'
I intended to, I really did.
'It's perfect, actually. You are the person who stopped me from ending this a week ago. Because of you, I lost the child. It's only fair you take his place. . for now.'
I realized then what she meant to do. . to sacrifice me and then, later, Andres.
I curled my fingers into my palms, fought to keep from reacting.
She brushed her spider ring against my arm. I could feel the tiny hairs on the spider's legs as if he were real, could feel him crawling off of her ring and onto my arm.
I shivered.
She smiled and lowered her blade.
The spider climbed higher, until he was covering my heart.
'He's poisonous. One bite and you won't be able to move, you'll fall paralyzed to the ground. Your breathing will stop too, but that will take a while. . ' Her voice changed to a hiss. 'That would ruin my plan a second time.'
'What plan?' I asked, hoping my words wouldn't make her question if I was under her spell.
'My plans to be queen, of course. Not'-she stroked my arm-'a small-time queen like you. . Padia thought she could buy me off with that.' She blew air out her nose in disgust. 'I want what Padia wants, to rule a tribe, my tribe, a tribe I created, who follows me and only me. A tribe of logical females, who appreciate the value of keeping up, not hiding their heads in the millennia-old sand.'
The spider shuffled to the left; I could feel its eyes on me. I lowered my gaze, stared down at the monster. It was bigger now, huge. It covered my entire chest. Its fangs hung down, brushed my shirt. I couldn't take my focus off of it, was afraid if I did, the fangs would puncture not only my skin but my chest, sink into the cavity and pierce my heart and lungs.
'You see him, don't you? He's beautiful, isn't he? I could have called something else, but for you. . this seemed perfect.' She leaned close and whispered, 'One of my secrets. Padia can't do this, not like I can. The goddess hasn't blessed her like she has me. I am stronger. I deserve to rule.'
She sighed and patted my arm. 'Enough talking. I can see you're ready now. You weren't before.' The spider's eyes, eight of them. . I counted. . winked at me, or seemed to. It had no eyelids. . my mind grappled with that, blinking with no eyelids. It was impossible, as was the gigantic arachnid on my chest. But the creature was there; I could see him and feel him.
Panic shot through me. I wanted to pull away, but I couldn't. . knew if I did, I'd feel those fangs, hear them as they popped through my chest, then sank in toward my heart and lungs.
Somewhere Thea was still talking. I could barely hear her now; the spider was my entire focus, keeping it calm and happy my only concern.
'Later, we will go to the obelisk. My tribe is gathering now. Padia will be there too, with the baby. I haven't met her yet in person. Tess heard her plans before she escaped. I should thank you for that I suppose, eh? See, until you came to camp and told me Tess and the baby were missing, I didn't know. Didn't know Padia had already arrived here either. It's what put me on alert, stopped your feeble effort to kidnap me.' She laughed. 'So Padia will be at the obelisk with the baby, but we will get there first. You, unfortunately, won't be able to greet her when she does arrive. . won't technically be there then.'
She tapped the blade against my cheek. 'Smile. It's a happy day. We both get what we want. You save the child from Padia and I become queen.'
