Page 42

“What’s your gift?” Alex asked, holding back all the other comments that wanted to burst from her mouth.

“I can shape-shift,” Skyla said.

Alex stopped pushing her way through the leafy woodland and turned to gape at her companion. “Seriously?”

In answer, Skyla’s whole body began shimmering and, seconds later, she transformed into an exact replica of Alex.

“Seriously,” the Skyla-Alex-copy answered, mimicking Alex’s response.

“That’s justfreaky,” Alex said, staring wide-eyed at her doppelganger.

Skyla shimmered again and shifted back to her normal self. “I can’t hold other forms for too long without getting tired, but it’s worth it for the shock value sometimes.”

Alex didn’t doubt that. She certainly wouldn’t get the image out of her mind for a while, that was for sure.

“Shape-shifting would definitely be a huge help with subterfuge,” Alex admitted. She didn’t bother to mention how sucky Skyla seemed to be with the stealth aspect. “You couldliterally trick people into thinking you were anyone. That’s insane.”

“You’re insane,” Skyla snapped.

Alex jerked in shock and carefully said, “I wasn’t insulting you, Skyla. It was a compliment.”

“Oh.” Skyla twirled a strand of hair around her finger. “I knew that. People compliment me all the time, so I guess I’m just used to it.”

Alex mentally shook her head and moved forward again, intent on finding some mushrooms before her partner’s ‘specialness’ began to rub off on her.

Thankfully, they had their first fungi sighting just a few steps later, much to Alex’s relief.

After twenty minutes of following the mushrooms, Skyla broke the peaceful silence.

“Are we almost there?”

Alex grumbled under her breath, “I sure hope so.”

“What was that?” Skyla demanded.

“I said, ‘I think so’,” Alex covered. “There are more mushrooms now than there were before. That’s probably a good sign.”

It was true. At first the fungi had been sporadic at best, dusted around the forest floor so infrequently that Alex had been challenged to find a clear trail. But now that they were further along, the mushrooms practically formed a straight line to follow.

“I’m hungry,” Skyla said. “Do you think these mushrooms are edible?”

Why don’t you try one and see?Alex thought. But then she realised that if anything happened to Skyla, it would be she who had to carry her out of the forest. So, in a very firm voice, she said, “It’s probably not a good idea to eat them. They might be poisonous.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Skyla said, her disappointment clear. “Oh, look! That’s much better than mushrooms!”

Alex turned around to see what the other girl was talking about only to find Skyla walking away from her and heading over to a massive tree. Resting on a branch at eye level was a picnic basket bursting with food.

“Skyla, wait!” Alex said, knowing that the food was clearly a set-up. And an obvious one at that. She had no doubt it would be booby-trapped by Hunter.

“Stop telling me what to do,” Skyla hissed, ignoring Alex’s warning and stomping towards the branch.

“No, really, you need to listen—”

“Look,” Skyla interrupted, “I know you’re all, ‘blah, blah, let’s get this riddle nonsense over with’, but I won’t take long. And I’ll share too, since I’m so nice.”

“Skyla!” Alex yelled, trying to get the girl’s attention, but she just wasn’t willing to listen.

“Seriously, Alex,” Skyla said impatiently. “You need to get over your—AHHHH!”