how long it takes for a full cycle.”

“You’re giving me a headache.” He turns back around and keeps

walking. “Don’t make yourself nuts, okay?”

“ Excuse me for wanting a little bit of order in my life.”

He turns around, crossing his arms over his tattooed chest. He’s

all bright eyes and smirking lips. “Where has all this order gotten

you so far?”

“Where has the lack of it gotten you ?”

Looking at his naked chest makes me forget why we’re even

fighting. It’s not for the same reasons Lula and I fight. We fight

because we’re sisters. Nova and I fight because both of us want to be

right. What’s the alternative? Oh, right-being friends. Rishi is my

best friend, but even with her, I kept a part of myself hidden. I was

Alex Mortiz, the girl that never cut class, that was always on time,

that always did her homework.

Who can I be with Nova? He gets to see a side of me that’s never

been tested, that no one has ever seen, and I’m not so sure he’s

earned that. It makes me nervous and worried and unsure. What if I

don’t like that version of myself?

“You’re pretty when you’re stubborn,” he says.

“You’re just pretty dumb.”

He feigns a shot to the heart but laughs all the same. I want to

reach out and press my finger to his dimple. When I was a kid, I

always wanted dimpled cheeks. I used to push the rubber ends of my

pencils into my cheeks for hours, hoping they’d make lasting

impressions.

“Your power is to conjure light?” I ask.

He takes a step back. “Where did that come from?”

“I’m sorry,” I say, unabashedly staring at his chest but not for

the obvious reasons. There’s something different. “It’s just the black

ink on your tattoos look like they move.”

He laughs and starts to close the space between us. He stretches

his arms behind his head and looks off to the side. “If you want to

check me out, you only have to say so.”

I groan and walk around him. “Why do I talk to you? Let’s just

find the stupid cave opening before I throw you in the river.”

“Empty threats will get you nowhere,” he says, but he takes out

the map again. He looks from the parchment to the wall of stone. He

runs a hand across his close-cropped hair. I wonder what it feels like

to touch. I bet it feels fuzzy.

“According to this map, we passed it. It was supposed to be

directly across from the golden pier.”

“Don’t forget we got dragged downriver for a while. How can we

have passed it when all of it looks the same? We are literally between

a river of souls and a hard place.”

A loose rock falls at my feet. Above us, the bird I fed before is

back, and it’s brought company. A dozen decrepit birds fly in circles

above us. Feathers fall from their molting bodies, and my skin crawls

when I think of the parakeet back home.

“That’s why you don’t feed the strays,” Nova says.

I ignore him and focus on our rocky problem. In desperation, I

start pushing my hands against the wall, hoping to find a secret

passageway. When nothing gives, I slump down to the black sand.

“Maybe we could try to climb up and over?” I suggest.

Nova takes his T-shirt from his back pocket and uses it to mop the

sweat from his face.

“It’s too smooth and vertical,” he says. “There isn’t much to grab

on to. Besides, we don’t have any rope. I don’t know about you,

Ladybird, but there are only so many times I can fall from great

heights without breaking my beautiful face.”

“Helpful,” I say.

More and more birds start to land around us, their wrinkled,

sagging necks cocking their heads to the side.

“I don’t think that’s a good sign,” Nova says, now focusing on the

birds.

I focus on the shadow that passes over us. My heart leaps when I

think it’s the eclipse. I look at the gloomy, dark sky. The moon and

sun are on opposite ends of the sky.

I tilt my head back farther still. Creatures climb down the wall,

gracefully defying gravity. Black claws dig into stone and tails wag

like whips. A low growl, followed by the yowl of a predatory feline.

Lips pull back to reveal foot-long canines. Green eyes glow against

the gray sky.

“What is that ?” I ask him, taking careful steps backward until I

collide with Nova. I swear I can hear his heart racing right through

his chest. He holds his knife with a white-knuckled fist.

“I’m going out on a limb and say it’s what you get if a

saber-toothed tiger and a snake demon had a baby.”

The giant feline advances on us. I gasp and hold out my hand to

summon a soft pulse of energy. It’s a weak, thin ripple of magic that

vanishes as quickly as it appears. I’m still recovering from my last

use of magic.

“Alex, get down!” Nova shouts.

I throw myself back on the ground. Nova’s knife hits the

saber-toothed thing straight through its forehead, burying in it down

to the blue hilt. The beast writhes, falling straight down the wall

and onto the black sand. Then, it pushes itself up. It shakes its head

and flings the blade from the gash. The blade tumbles in the sand,

warped into nothing but a piece of scrap.

I scramble back and pull my dagger from my ankle. I’ve never used

a knife for anything other than butterflying a chicken cutlet and then

during my Deathday. It feels foreign in my hand.

Nova raises his mace, and we stand shoulder to shoulder. We can’t

keep backing up because that’ll take us into the river. But we can’t

walk forward because there is nothing but wall and the flock of

molting birds all around us.

“I count three more cats,” Nova says.

“Cats is an understatement.”

Nova grins. “There could be more. I’ll distract them with my

light, and then you run.”

“Don’t be stupid. I’m not going anywhere without you.”

Wings flap and birds caw and the sky churns. The rock wall begins

to tremble.

Nova looks at me, and I reach for him. I can try to channel my

magic into him. We are better together, stronger. But he does it

without me. His light is a brilliant thing that erupts around us. It’s

like a flare, and it dies just as quickly.

Then, a new kind of pain rips through me. Sharp talons dig into my

shoulders. I’m pulled into the air in a hard jerk. I can hear the

rattling sound of stones tumbling against each other, and I realize,

the wall is opening up.

I scream for Nova. Veins of light swirl around his forearms,

leaving behind black burned marks. They’re not tattoos but marks from

his magic…

Nova falls face forward on the sand. The birds around us take

flight, squawking and zooming around in a wide, protective circle.

Maybe the pain is making me delirious or maybe I’m just not built for

this land, but it looks like one of them shifts in midair. Her wings

elongate to a massive wingspan, and hands with claws form at the tips.

A long neck gives form to a human head with a black beak and black

eyes. It isn’t until she’s looking at me that I realize I’m six feet

in the air.

The bird woman flies to Nova and grabs him by his shoulders. She

opens her beak and a terrible cry sends a ripple across the river.

It’s so powerful that the beasts tumble against each other. It takes

them seconds to get back up. They get low to the ground, ready to

pounce. The biggest one opens its mouths to reveal a long, red tongue.

More and more of the fowls shift into half-bird, half-women form.

They fight and slash their talons at the saber-toothed demons.

Somewhere in the back of my head, I know these bird women are