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My ears were still ringing even when I left my room the following morning. I needed air. I had woken up feeling more terrible than ever. My wrists stung from where the shackles had burned me. The marks weren’t fading like they used to, so I had to cover them with a long-sleeved T-shirt.

Time was running out. If Yara’s destiny was what awaited me, I was going to turn into a manananggal in four days. Permanently.

I rushed from my room and stood in the sunlight, gasping for air that felt too thin here in the mountains, and yet it felt like it was closing in around me, trapping me. I barely noticed that anyone was awake until I heard the familiar din of the men from Jade Mountain, murmuring excitedly to themselves in the shade of nearby palm trees. Breakfast was served.

I cracked my eyes open to spot Qian among them, who by now had noticed I’d arrived. He was one of the last people I wanted to see, and I stuffed down my panic, quickly gathering myself to hide my racing heart.

“Just in time, Your Majesty,” Qian called over. “How are you feeling?”

Nix stood near him, arms folded tightly across her chest. She waited with a frown for me to answer. Obviously, she knew something was wrong.

“I’m okay, thank you,” I said. Nix’s frown deepened.

“With the wakwak disposed of, I think it’s only fitting we celebrate with a game,” Qian said. “Talking about Xiaolong with you stirred something inside me. I was hoping you’d like to join us.”

At her brother’s name, Nix’s eyebrows rose. She might not have expected Qian to share his story with me. I wasn’t sure how to feel about that. “More hunting?” I guessed.

The corner of Qian’s mouth lifted. “Not quite. Today, we’re doing a scavenger hunt.”

“Ooh!” Amador’s voice chimed loudly across the lawn, and I turned to see her fluttering over, dressed like a bird of paradise in her rainbow-colored sundress with flowers in her hair. Lucas, I noted, trailed behind her looking somewhat annoyed. His eyes met mine briefly before he occupied them on the horizon. Guilt about our secret kiss in the cave churned in my gut, but I swallowed thickly and bit my tongue.

“May we join you?” Amador asked.

“Fantastic, Duchess,” Qian said. “Make it a friendly match between kingdoms. Good sportsmanship and all. How about we split into teams of two, and whichever kingdom finds the prize first wins?”

“Sounds fun!” Amador said, glancing my way. “Will Her Majesty be joining us, too?”

My first instinct was not to play. I was worrying so much about becoming a manananggal, I could hardly think about anything else. But if I didn’t play, it wouldn’t help Nix stay in Biringan City. I needed to keep playing host, make it seem like I was a good queen, that I had everything under control. Qian needed to be assured that Nix was safe in our kingdom, that she didn’t need to go back to Jade Mountain. So, for the sake of diplomacy, I nodded. At least it would be a temporary distraction from the chaos swarming in my head.

“I’m staying here,” Lucas said.

That seemed to take Amador by surprise, because she whipped around. “Why?”

“I don’t want to play,” he said. “I’ve got work to do.”

I realized that if Romulo had dropped off the book to my room, maybe he had come through with whatever Lucas needed from him, too.

“Come on, Sir Lucas,” Qian goaded. “You can afford to take some time off.”

Lucas narrowed his eyes so slightly, it almost went unnoticed. “I’ve made up my mind. Excuse me.” He left without a glance back.

If Qian was disappointed, he didn’t show it. “That leaves Her Highness and the grand duchess,” Qian said.

“What about Nix?” I asked.

“Nix is with Jade Mountain,” said Qian. “Or is that going to be a problem?”

I bit my tongue. “She can join whichever team she likes.”

But Nix stepped away from the group. “I’m not playing, either,” she said. “I’m busy, too. I’m going back to study in the infirmary.” She gave me an apologetic look before she, too, left.

“The teams are unfair,” Amador said, her voice bordering on whining. “Jade Mountain has the advantage.”

“I think having the queen herself on your team is more than enough to even the odds,” Qian said, giving me a charming smile.

I didn’t have the energy to tell if he was flirting with me or not.

“What are we looking for, exactly?” I asked. My thoughts were cloudy, and the only thing I could think about was getting away from here.

“Rumor has it that there’s a pink azalea that grows in these jungles, a rare flower that feeds off the magical springs and smells like your one true love. Find one and bring it back here before nightfall to win…a kiss.”

His eyes danced when he said it.

True love…Yara’s words came back to me. A vow of true love could break the curse. But was it enough? Lucas had kissed me in the cave, and I was still cursed. Had that kiss not been a vow? Or did he really not love me enough for it to work?

“So if we lose, we have to kiss you?” Amador said with a sneer.

“If you win, we get to kiss you, too.”

If I had been less sleep-deprived and distracted, I might have said no, but I nodded before I could stop myself. I didn’t care about a kiss. Yara’s words still haunted me.

Qian’s smile widened.

He gave the signal, and the teams of two split off into the surrounding jungle, whooping and yelling like foxes on a hunt. I stomped off without waiting for Amador, determined to get as far away from her as possible. I didn’t care about winning the game. I just wanted to go…anywhere.

But Amador hurried after me, determined to keep up.

We broke into the jungle in a random direction, and the moment I did, my thoughts settled like a concrete block in my mind. I was running out of time, and I might not be able to appreciate the world around me. Yara had talked about never feeling the sand under her toes or the waves on her legs. I might never be able to walk on my own two legs again in a few days.

I couldn’t appreciate the beauty of the jungle anymore. I knew it was all green and lush and vibrant, but my mood had turned my world into gray. I stumbled upon a small path, instinctually followed it, and then turned abruptly off it, throwing us deeper into the trees. No matter how far I walked, I couldn’t stop thinking about Yara. I couldn’t stop thinking that what had happened to her would happen to me.

Lucas had mentioned the lady of the mountain was a ghost. Was that what Yara had become? Was she stuck in this realm, haunting it, like the stories said? Spirits couldn’t move on if they had unfinished business, so was she angry that she’d been forgotten by history? Was she trying to ask for help, or was she warning me? It still felt like I was missing something—some clue—but I didn’t know what.

All that was around us were green vines and even greener ferns. As we walked deeper into the jungle, I tried to make sure that whenever I pushed aside a branch, it would snap back and hit Amador. She’d huff and groan, and I could feel her eyes burning a hole in the back of my head.

“Are you sure you know where you’re going?” Amador asked, the sound of her crashing through the underbrush coming from behind me.

“No,” I said. “I’m intentionally trying to get us lost.”

“Well, great job!”

I bit my tongue to stop myself from snapping back, but something moved out of the corner of my eye. Long black hair, whipping through the breaks in the trees. At first, I almost thought it was my imagination. But I froze, goose bumps rising on my arms.

“Did you see that?” I asked.

“What?” Amador followed my line of sight, but whatever it was had disappeared. She scrunched up her nose, annoyed. “Whatever. Let’s turn around,” she said. “I’m tired of being bug food.”

I rubbed my arms, trying to soothe myself, but it was so creepy. I knew I hadn’t been getting a lot of sleep, and I must have been imagining things.

But then I saw it again. Farther away this time but moving just as fast. Long hair, smooth like silk. A woman. She vanished into the trees. It could only be one person.

The lady of the mountain. Yara Liliana.

I ran after her, Amador trailing behind me. She called my name, but I ignored her. I charged through the underbrush, breathing hard. If there was a way I could speak with Yara, I had to try. I had to know what happened to her.

To my right, I saw her again. I even heard her laugh, light and melodic. She had to be real.

I changed direction and hurried after her, and Yara’s name stuck in my throat. I couldn’t lose her.

Amador caught up to me, but I didn’t think she could see Yara. “What are you doing? What did you see?”

I didn’t answer. I didn’t want to be wrong. I didn’t want to feel like I was losing my mind any more than I already was.

I kept running, then spotted her again. Her arm was wrapped around a tree, her hand tracing down the bark as if she was circling it. I rushed to the other side of the tree, expecting to see her, but there was nothing but a patch of moss.

Yara was gone.

Amador crashed through the jungle, gasping and groaning. “What’s gotten into you?”

I didn’t answer. My chest felt too tight, and my eyes stung. I was chasing a ghost, and no matter how hard I tried, I’d never be able to reach her.

Suddenly, Amador gasped, and it made me jump. She pointed to our right, where I, too, saw a flash of pink behind all that green. “There!” she said.

I charged into the underbrush, and sure enough, there was an entire bush of the pink azaleas. Amador burst through the foliage next to me, leaves stuck in her hair, and a wild and hungry gleam in her eye. She was competitive, that was for sure.

Had Yara led us here? I looked around, but she was still nowhere to be seen.

Amador picked up one of the flowers and put it to her nose. I caught its smell, too—the faintest whiff of steel, the sharp tang as familiar as his palm on my cheek. It smelled just like Lucas, but in the next instant, the scent was replaced by notes of bergamot. That couldn’t be right, could it? How could a single flower smell like two different people?

“It’s perfect,” Amador sighed. “Roses and mint.”

Was that what Lucas smelled like to her? I was about to ask, but something on the forest floor stole my focus. At first, I thought it was just a root, but the line was too straight to be natural. And then I saw another. Then another, and another. All crisscrossing in perpendicular lines. Amador stepped toward them.

“Wait—” I reached out to grab her, but it was already too late.

Something snapped, and the forest floor moved. They weren’t roots but ropes. It was one of the traps Qian’s men had set up.

A net whipped up around us and took our feet from under us, dragging us into the air.