It had rained so much and so often over the past few days that the river they depended on had swelled past its banks, swallowing up the rocky shelter they had claimed as their own. What had once been a calm and winding provider of sustenance became a ferocious blend of rapids and debris that rose with unexpected swiftness. Half their party had disappeared in the initial floods, never to be found—mostly the younger children who did not know how to swim, or those who had already grown too sick and weary to battle the rapids.

But she—the girl with the mark—Cruze had seen her hold out a hand and stop a wall of rushing water in its tracks, giving her the extra seconds needed to climb up into the same tree in which he was already taking refuge.

Even after they had relocated, the danger did not end. Animals had come after the floods. The rising water had displaced them too, so they were all on the run—everything from small, harmless creatures to wild boars to the large, predatory cats that stalked the jungle. It was the latter that had taken another member of their contingent.

Kess had been the one to find the body. She and the marked girl had taken to wandering off together for long periods of time, sometimes to collect firewood or other supplies, sometimes for no reason at all. Cruze had sent one of his ghosts to follow them, in part because he was curious about the other girl’s abilities and because out of everyone, he felt a certain connection to Kess.

He had had a great many visions since being stranded in the jungle, and he was learning to tell the ghosts apart, to communicate without words. In fact, he interacted far more with the invisible whispers and stirs of emotion than with the other children at the camp. When he heard Kess screaming, he feared the worst, and he yanked hard on the connection he had to the spirit watching her. Even from a distance, he received an answer, flashes of Kess, safe but distraught. He still tried not to care about the others, but that did not mean he wanted to be alone. And if that meant keeping someone alive with him, he intended for it to be the girl who was smart enough to save herself when needed.

With directions from the spirit, he had been able to find the girls quickly in the woods. When he came upon Kess in the clearing, she was vomiting against a tree, and he knew why as soon as he saw the half-eaten body of the young girl who had wandered off to use the bathroom and had never come back. Her skin had been torn open in several places, and her insides were no longer where they were supposed to be. Instead they were scattered around her in a grotesque display.