Kess hesitated for a long moment, but eventually, she nodded. “I-I do … believe, that is.”

Her hand went up to the collar of her shirt, pulling it closer to her neck.

“What if I told you that we were not the first to be left here, in this same area of the jungle? I have been seeing things, hearing things. There are ghosts in these woods, and … and they speak to me.”

“You have magic?” Kess asked.

Cruze scoffed. “I don’t know that I would call it that. If I showed any true aptitude for magic, I doubt my father … well, never mind. I just get these visions, like the ghosts are showing me things.”

“That is magic,” Kess insisted. “Of the spirit.”

Cruze frowned. “What does that mean?”

“It means you can communicate with the souls of the dead.”

Cruze felt something hot and triumphant boil up in his stomach. So, it was true. He was not mad, as he had feared. And the visions were real. He had believed it, of course, done his best to convince himself rationally, but to have another confirm it …

“How do you know?” he demanded. “What do you know of it?”

Kess frowned and gave a sad shake of her head. “It is why we are here. All of us.” She pulled back the collar of the shirt she had been fiddling with, showing what was left of her nearly healed bruise. “I told you that I made a choice not to die. That choice was to use my ability to control air to save myself from a noose.” Cruze stared at the girl, dumbstruck. “I did not die when they kicked the stool from beneath my feet. So they sent me here instead.”

“Noose?” Cruze growled. “They tried to hang you? But … but you are a child.”

“As are you. And they left us both out here to die. The Lockes do not care. Anyone who is a threat to them, to their magic, or their way of life, they see as disposable.”

Cruze had trouble swallowing after that statement. His heart was beating so hard that he felt almost light-headed. Spirits pressed in close around him, so close—some of them trying to soothe, while others … others seemed to feed off his distress.

Kess continued, “That actually brings me to what I wanted to talk to you about. The others—we talked, and we have decided to leave. We’ve built a raft, and with my air magic and Jael’s water magic—”

“So she is a water witch?” Cruze interrupted.

Kess’s brow furrowed. “Yes, Jael can manipulate water. With our abilities combined, we think we can navigate the river to the coast without much danger. It is the fastest and safest way out of the jungle.”

“No,” Cruze said. “No, it is too risky.”

“No more risky than staying here.”