“Okay,” I say, and he tries to hide his smirk, but I don’t miss his beautiful cheeks pushing up under those onyx eyes. Zora moves to my side. Silence hangs there a moment, all eyes on Kai, as she’s the only one who hasn’t spoken.

“It is true then, we share blood,” she says before casting her gaze to the floor. “Yakanna’s spirit lives in you. I knew it. I could sense it. I…” She meets my eyes, hers tilted at the corners, heavy with something. Is that regret? “Zora is my most trusted saisa. She is the purest Yakanna the good Mother put on this earth. Keep her close. Danger awaits you out there, Jelani. There are thousands clamoring for your death.” She shoves a piece of Yakanna armor at me, the one I’d left behind. “It would be smart to have some Ghizoni gold on you. It’s not that soft metal from where you’re from. It’s an element forged by the Ancestors, who were gifted it from the gods themselves. It’s tougher than steel.”

“Thank you.”

Kai parts her lips to say something else but turns to leave instead.

“All set then,” I say. “Get some rest. We leave at dusk.”

Trying to get to sleep is a joke; my mind goes nonstop. I curl up on the thin cot with the books Bri and I went through. She’s snoring. Jhamal’s in the corner, somehow sleeping while sitting straight up. I thumb through the texts again, more to keep my hands busy than anything.

Sleep must have overtaken me because I wake with Jhamal standing over me. I nudge Bri with an elbow. She grunts.

“Let’s go.”

Outside, storm clouds rumble, rain whipping around us between strikes of lightning. I’m careful to skirt the barbed wire around the opening to the underground lair as I latch my armor on. Zora helps me situate it just right.

“We ready?” I ask, snapping the last hook on my side.

“I am,” Zora says, rising from her knees, dusting off her clothes.

“I’d wished for a better omen on the day we set out,” Jhamal says, gazing at the sky with trepidation stamped on his face.

“We don’t get to choose the days we fight,” I say. “They choose us. The only thing we can do is be ready.”

Jhamal and Zora set off first and I go behind them.

“Wait.” Bri’s brows are furrowed as she rummages through her pack, a loud buzzing sound going off inside it. She plucks out a familiar wristband lit up with an orange light.

“Take this, please. It’s been going off like nonstop since we came from underground.” She hands me her watch, and 183 missed messages from Julius pop up on its face. I glance at Jhamal up ahead before slipping it in my pocket.

CHAPTER TWELVE