“Don’t move,” Cyrus calls out softly, the concern creasing his brows illuminated by the flashlight in his hand. His eyes find mine. “It won’t attack. Just stay where you are.”

I couldn’t move even if I wanted to. I stand as still as I physically can, tensing muscles that I never knew existed before. My breath is clogged in my throat, my lungs contracting uselessly as I try my best not to hyperventilate. The snake slides another inch toward me, so close I can feel its scales brush against my shoes, and just when I think this is really it, these will be my final seconds on earth, and at least I won’t be dying alone, not with Cyrus standing there, the snake slithers away, disappearing somewhere behind the bushes in the other direction.

“Leah?” Cyrus says, raising the flashlight. “Leah, are you—”

I don’t let him finish the sentence; I rush up to him and wrap my arms tight around his body, one step short of crashing straight into him. He stiffens in surprise, but I can’t bring myself to care. I can’t even think past the relief melting through me, the warmth of his jacket and his breathing against my skin. He’s found me. He promised he’d find me and he did. The fear that’s been building in my bones is cleared away so suddenly I’m lightheaded as I latch on to Cyrus, a sob escaping my lips. After half a heartbeat of silence, he draws me in, anchoring me to him, his hand rubbing slow, gentle circles over my back, and maybe it’s because I’d been half-certain I was about to die that I feel so wonderfully, vividly alive right now.

“It’s okay,” he tells me, his voice low in my ear. “You’re safe.”

And despite reason, despite our history, I believe it. If someone were to ask, I wouldn’t be able to name anywhere safer than the arms of my childhood nemesis, in a remote bamboo forest far away from everything I’ve known. I would cling on longer, for as long as he’d let me, but as my pulse settles down, some sense returns.

I quickly drop my arms. Step back, angle my face to the left so he can’t see my expression. I don’t realize how hard I’m shivering until he unzips his jacket and wraps it around my shaking shoulders, the soft fabric falling over my body like a ghost of his embrace. It smells like him: that familiar combination of sage and sandalwood, as sweet and clean as fresh streams in spring.

“Thank you,” I whisper. “How did you even manage to find me?”