“What kind of poison do you use in your darts?” He holds out a completely normal hand.
Instead of letting him help me up, I struggle to my feet. “Mandragon berries. What’s in yours?”
He hesitates for a moment, and I don’t know if I’ve hurt his feelings. An apology rises to my lips when he says, “The venom of a golden frog. A dart is strong enough to take down a one-hundred-pound pronghorn.”
“Does it kill humans?”
“The first will paralyze a man, and a second will stop his heart.” He unties the fabric attaching his quiver to his waists and hands me the entire bundle.
As I offer him the gun, an animal roars in the distance. The girls shriek, gunshots echo across the mountainside.
“They’ll be heading this way.” He takes the gun and tucks it into a side-pocket of his pants. “Are you ready?”
I swallow hard. “Can I borrow your dagger?”
His thick brows form a deep V, but he hands me the blade and stands back.
Sending a silent apology to the Thymel siblings, I tear the fabric of my skirt and bundle my outer petticoat into a shape about the same size as a human torso. The man watches my back as I climb the tree and place it on a high branch, where I spot the perfect hiding place, a giant Eucalyptus with rainbow-colored bark a hundred feet away.
I jump down from the tree and offer him my hand. “Thanks. This way, I can protect myself without killing any of the girls.”
The man stares down at my palm, and his hand twitches toward mine. He raises his head and meets my eyes. “Maybe we’ll meet again when the revolution comes. My name is Firkin.”
I wrap my fingers around his hand and squeeze. “I’d like that a lot. Please call me Zea.”
He nods and darts away, while I scale the eucalyptus tree and settle onto a high branch. My heart pumps with anticipation, and I take a deep breath, letting the strong menthol fill my nostrils. The wound on my shoulder pounds, but the pain sharpens my resolve.
As soon as Firkin disappears into a thicket of eucalyptus trees, I load the first dart into the blowgun, throw my head back, and scream.
Pinpricks of light approach from a distance. I lie flat on the thick branch and wait.
The first girl to arrive holds a flashlight as long as her forearm, she sprints past my tree and pauses at the scraps of fabric I left on one of the white eucalyptus tree’s roots. From her blonde hair, which glows silver in the moonlight and her golden dress, it can only be Emmera. She pants like a golden retriever that guards sometimes bring to Rugosa to sniff out alcohol stills and tilts her head up.
“She’s up there.” Emmera’s voice is breathy with excitement.
My resolve falters. I expected the Nobles to hunt me, along with maybe even the Guardians and the Artisans, but another Harvester and one from my village? I clench my teeth and correct my aim. Emmera chose her side, and I will show her as much mercy as she has shown me.
“Where?” Constance rushes to the white tree.
I glance around for signs of Ingrid, but she’s not there.
Emmera points up at the branch. “That’s her gown.”
The Noble girl who sat across from me in the personnel carrier points her rifle up in the trees. Its built-in flashlight illuminates the blue of my gown. “That’s her.”
I fill my lungs with air, point the blowpipe at Constance’s arm, and exhale a sharp breath. In the blink of an eye, Constance drops the gun and falls.
Emmera jumps back and presses a hand to her chest. “What happened?”
The other noble points her rifle at the ground. “A rattlesnake?”
“What?” Emmera staggers back.
I load another dart into the blowpipe and aim at the girl with the rifle. She falls just as easily as Constance.
“Oh no.” Emmera turns in a circle and howls.
I reload and watch the other girl from my vantage point.
Emmera aims her flashlight at the ground, looking for an imaginary rattlesnake. She screams the girls’ names, but neither of them move.
I place my lips around the blowpipe and pause. There’s no doubt why she’s here. Emmera wanted to watch me die. She deserves to lie paralyzed and vulnerable to the predators that lurk on the mountainside, but I can’t bring myself to shoot at another Harvester girl.
Footsteps approach from the other direction. I peer down to find a short-haired figure wearing thick goggles, standing under my tree’s canopy with a gun pointed at my branch.
“Can’t you recognize a decoy, you idiots?” shouts Ingrid. “She’s hiding in this tree!”
Chapter 28
A spike of adrenaline pierces my heart, and I clutch at the blowpipe. Even with nighttime goggles, Ingrid shouldn’t be able to see me in the tree. The branch is thick enough to conceal my entire body. Slowing my breath, I place my palm on the bark, ready to jump in case she’s not bluffing.
“Mistress Staub?” says Emmera’s whining voice. “Zea-Mays is over here. Look”
The back of my throat burns with hatred for the girl who is determined to have me killed.
Ingrid’s footsteps crunch on dried leaves as she passes, but it’s too soon to feel relieved. I peer down the side, watching her walk backward toward Emmera with her gun pointed at where I’m hiding.
My fingers tremble over the blowgun, and my muscles tense. Ryce once explained to us that guards use heat sensors to detect illegal distilleries and gatherings of large groups. It’s one of the reasons why Red Runner cells are so small. If Ingrid is sensing my body heat, no amount of hiding will keep me safe.
“What happened to Constance and Paris?” she asks, still keeping her gun trained on my tree.
“Rattlesnakes.” Emmera’s voice shakes.
“Did you hear them rattle?” Ingrid’s voice hardens.
Emmera doesn’t answer.
“Check their bodies for bite marks. See if they’re still alive.”
“But what if the snake is—”
“Do it!” Ingrid snaps.
Emmera whimpers but remains silent.
