All the sickness and decay that flowed out of his ritual moments ago rushes back like a tide, flowing over and around me, until I am swimming in it. I fall to my hands and knees and vomit long past the time my stomach is empty.

The sickness fades, like mist dissipating in the warming sun, leaving the scents of rich soil and moist bark and morning glory blooms. They are good scents. Clean scents.

“Zito,” I say, crawling toward him because I cannot stand. “Zito.”

“Alodia! What happened?” He turns his face to me, but the angle is not quite right, like he’s looking at someone behind me.

I reach for his tied wrists. “Stop moving so I can untie you.”

“Alodia,” he whispers. “Just let me die.”

“We’re going back to the castle.” His bonds are soaked in blood. My fingers fumble as I work the slimy knots.

“Without my eyes, what am I? Even less of a man than I was before.”

I want to slap sense into him, but I am done hitting things today. Tears roll from my eyes. “Idiot. None of my guards are half the man you are. I can’t make it without you.”

“Alodia—”

“Shut up.” My hands are shaking hard, but I finally untie the knots that bind his hands. “You’re my best friend, Zito, and I need you.”

“You don’t need anyone,” he says, rubbing his wrists.

“I need you,” I repeat, wiping my nose on my bare arm. But such a declaration is too raw for me, no matter how true, so I add, “I can’t walk on my own. I need you to lean on. Once we get back to the castle, you can crawl off and die.” I find his spear on the ground and thrust it toward him. “So stop whining and get on your damn feet.”

I can’t tell if he’s laughing or choking, and I don’t care. He leverages himself up, then runs his hands along the length of his spear, as if getting to know it all over again.

He holds out his arm. “I can’t see the way, Alodia,” he says. “I suppose we need each other right now.”

Half a dozen inappropriate replies jump to the tip of my tongue, but I keep my mouth firmly closed. We link arms and hobble back the way we came.

Chapter 10

10

WE are nearly to the castle when something rustles through the underbrush ahead. I hear footsteps, and I’m about to yank Zito into a hollow of ferns when I also hear the creak of armor. The Perditos don’t wear armor.

“Lupita?” I whisper.