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A few more minutes pass in a blur of giddy giggles, rearranging rocks into little towers and vines into spirals. It's oddly satisfying, like organizing the world's strangest puzzle. Eventually, the high wears off, and I realize I'm sitting in the middle of a glowing mess, giggling to myself like a lunatic.

I stop and glance around. "Oh, God," I mutter, feeling heat rush to my cheeks again. "What am I doing?"

Then I hear the laughter again and look over to Eli and Rin clutching their stomachs and wiping tears from their eyes.

I scramble out of the pile, trying to regain some shred of dignity. “What the fuck, you two? Couldn’t you have stopped me?”

As I stand up, I catch myself almost drooling over the now perfectly arranged pile of glowing treasures. There's this nagging part of me that wants to dive back in, to lose myself in it all again. But no. I resist. I'm not a magpie—or, at least, I wasn't before today.

"Okay, Olivia, focus," I mutter, forcefully turning my attention away from the hoard and back to the two women still laughing at me.

“You think we didn’t try?” Rin gasps out. “Oh, I needed that laugh, though. Thank you, Liv.”

“Yes,” Eli says, still chuckling. “That was incredibly entertaining.”

“Dammit,” I mutter. “Did you pick up some seriously weird urges when your eyes changed?”

The two of them look at each other, then back to me while shaking their heads.

Of course not.

24

Kroaicho

Thewindblowsagainstmy skin as I step out of the cave, my arms close against my torso to shield myself from the onslaught of dust and grit whipping through the air. My glow is still a deep pink, and I am steadily ignoring it and what it means. The sharp rocks and twisted trees of the landscape loom in the distance, barely visible through the haze. I squint, my spikes twitching with frustration as I begin the search for more of Olivia's people—humans, fragile creatures who seem to always be in danger.

How will they be of help carrying? I realize my error now, but it was really just an excuse to get away. To try to get my pink glow under control.

I don't understand why zha can't be content with just us. We've been here, in this cave, for days. The hoard is safe, our surroundings are stable, and I've seen no sign of threat… for at least a partial day.

Yet every time I suggest zha stay put, zha refuses, always insisting on finding the others, always pushing to go beyond what is safe. Zha doesn't understand this planet the way I do. It's not just the land or the storms. There are predators, ones that hunt by nightfall—vicious creatures that even I know to avoid, I'm as much a stranger here as zha is, and despite my superior physiology, you'd think zha would be more open to taking advice.

But zha doesn't listen. Zha never does. I am better off without zha.

I know it’s a lie before my skin flares a brighter pink.

I trudge through the rough terrain, each step a reminder of how much I'd rather be back at the cave, sorting through my treasures. Instead, I'm out here, looking for other humans—people who may not even be alive anymore. I grumble under my breath, pushing through the storm, feeling the weight of the situation pressing down on me.

Time passes. I search, moving farther and farther from the cave, but I find nothing. No signs of life. No humans…

I feel the hackles on my neck rise at the realization that the gouged soil below that I am certain was once occupied by something huge.

The scattered pieces of debris down the gouged pit tell me that true enough something large once dominated the landscape, but whatever it is has long since left…

I feel my stomach drop and I don't need to look to see that my skin has begun to signal red.

Only one creature, to the best of my knowledge at least, in this world had the capacity to do something like this.

How could you forget that there's a trakeldon loose?

I frantically survey the area, and sure enough, there are a few tracks indicating the beasts presence. Thankfully none of them are recent, but I am not willing to test the demiurge any further than I already have and figure now's a good time as any to make myself scarce.

Once I've put enough distance between myself and impending death, it's only a matter of time before I feel myself calming down enough to allow my thoughts to wander to other things.

Naturally, the first thing they wind up on is Olivia.

The glow of my body dims to a soft, dull blue as confusion overrides my barely restrained fear and settles in. I don't understand why zha insists on this search. I don't understand why it matters to zha so much. If zha can't be content with just the two of us… what else is there?