Page 72

Eli turns to whisper in my ear, “You’re on your own on the way back.” My stomach plummets.

“I’ve never heard that many curse words strung together before,” Milo says with one of his all-consuming smiles. He ties the rope to a nearby tree, and Eli guides us deeper into the woods, his arm still tight around my waist.

Kaleida and Sypher walk ahead, and Milo takes up Eli’s other side, smoking a roll and hopping about as he walks.

“You should know…” he says to Eli in a cautious tone. “They’re sending me to the teva fields almost every day now.”

“You’re still working on the new elixir?”

“No. It’s ready.”

“Then what do they have you doing in the fields?”

Milo is quiet for a long moment. “Mass production.”

Eli’s hand tightens on my arm. “I thought it was only for emergencies.”

“That was what the Centress said, but the storage huts are full and they’ve started filling the overflow storage too.” Milo hands the lit roll to Eli.

“They’re going to make the switch at Caldera Falls,” Eli says, a harsh breath leaving his lungs before inhaling the teva.

“Switch what?” I ask. The falls are Caldera’s water source and shouldn’t have anything to do with Sonnet.

“That’s the only explanation. They have more than they’ve ever stored before. I thought you’d want to know because of…” Milo leans forward and tilts his head at me, not at all discreetly.

“How strong is it?” Eli asks, letting out a puff of purple that rises into the gray sky.

“Potent.”

“How potent?”

“At least ten times stronger.” Milo hesitates. “I tried it on Sypher.”

“You drugged Sypher?”

“Only a couple times. I had to give him a ton to get it to work at the same level as it would for a Hollow.”

“What elixir, and what about the falls?” I ask. Eli’s lightness is back again, pulling me in and letting the questions roll off my tongue.

“Can’t she walk ahead of us for a bit?” Milo asks under his breath. He takes the roll back from Eli, finishing it off with a deep inhalation.

“No, she’ll run off. She doesn’t obey me at all.”

“But you had to bring her instead of leaving her locked up?” Milo mocks, obscured behind a cloud of purple.

“Yes.”

“Stop ignoring me,” I yell.

Milo twists his mouth to the side, his nose scrunching. “Maybe she shouldn’t hear this. She seems a bit fragile.”

Eli serves a quick glance in my direction. “She’s not. At all.”

“I see. You know you have to be careful with—”

“That’s not a problem.” Eli tilts his head, grabbing his ear. “I have it under control.”

“You can only control your side,” Milo says, stopping and gripping Eli’s upper arm. “If she falls, her blood’s on you. And clearly she sees—”