Caroline says she’ll lead, and Guy quickly agrees, though the rest of us are worse at veiling our surprise. The daughter who came to save her mother has shocked me more than once. Guy was right when he said she’s stronger than she appears. I’ll have to keep an eye on her. Although last night I lost myself in Guy, in the story he told me, today I remember my brother — that I’m here to save him.
That Guy is temporary.
And Cody is my family. My blood.
This morning, I’m near the back. It allows me to move slower, knowing I won’t hold anyone up besides Olivia, who’s behind me. It also allows me to think about what I’ve learned. That Santiago had a daughter and that scientists accidentally killed her. Did Santiago find out what the Pharmies did? Or did he die an old man still thinking it was an accident? Regardless, I need to find out the rest. About how all this leads to the Brimstone Bleed. I know now how the Pandoras were first created, but why a race today when this happened sixty years ago? And when am I going to tell the others about the things I’ve learned?
I look at Guy. A few more days, I decide. Just a few more questions answered before I risk the others jumping on him. It isn’t fair that I’m keeping this from them, but I tell myself it’s because I want to get the full story first. That it’ll help them more if I do.
I glance around and notice Madox is trudging along near the lion this morning. M-4 wants no part of the baby fox, but my Pandora is insistent. Overhead, RX-13 screeches and glides through the sky, wings spread open, riding the wind.
I pull my canteen off and take a long drink. The water feels incredible washing down my throat, and I pray today won’t be as hard, knowing I can drink when I need to — which is about every ten minutes.
Behind me, I hear Olivia’s stomach growl. You and me both, sister. For the last three mornings, we’ve eaten a steady diet of bitter green fruit. I’m about ready to stir-fry Madox just to get a little meat up in this joint. Madox looks up at me and whimpers, like he can read my mind. I hold my hands up in claws and act like I’m a monster. He trots ahead of the lion.
God, I’m such a jerk.
I stop when I don’t hear Olivia or her elephant trudging behind me. Turning around, I notice she’s about ten feet away, bending over at the waist. She’s going to be sick, I realize.
“Jaxon,” I say, because it seems right to tell him. “I think Olivia needs you.”
Everyone stops, and Jaxon moves toward Olivia. That’s when I see the girl reach a hand out toward the ground. She isn’t sick, I gather suddenly. She sees something in the sand.
“Olivia,” Jaxon barks, his voice cold as steel. “What are you doing?”
Guy races past me so quickly, a breeze blows across my skin. But it’s too late.
The sand beneath Olivia’s hand shimmies and a thick brown snake thunders into sight, pink tongue tasting the air. Above its eyes are two perfect horns. The sight sends a shiver down my body, but I don’t move. No one does. Not even the Pandoras. Olivia has frozen solid, her hand still outstretched toward the snake.
“Olivia,” Guy says beneath his breath. “Do not move.”
A hissing, crackling sound emanates from the snake in a crisp warning, and the girl begins to cry silently. Her arm shakes, and tears drip down her cheeks, drying before they reach her jawline.
“I want you to listen to me.” Guy is a statue of muscle and bronze in the scorching sun. I want to believe he can help her. He has to. “I’m going to tell you exactly what to do.”
“Don’t let that thing touch her, Guy,” Jaxon snarls. “Don’t you dare fuck up on this.”
“Olivia, open your eyes.” Guy’s voice is smooth as milk, but each word feels like a gamble. Like something that may startle the snake and put Olivia at risk. “That’s good,” he says. “Now, I want you to take a very small breath. Very small. And at the same time, I want you to step backward. Pull your right foot back first, then bring your left back to meet it.”
My head is pounding. My heart is thumping. I’m afraid I might scream from pure anxiety.
Olivia pulls in a small breath and steps back with her right foot.
Should she have moved so fast? Why is she moving so fast?!
The girl brings her left foot back to meet her right, and I can see her body relax just a bit. The snake watches her carefully, tongue flicking, body arching.
“That’s good,” Guys says. “Now, when I tell you to, I want you to do the same thing again. Another small breath, another step back. The rest of you, stay still. Don’t approach Olivia. That means you, Jaxon.”
Jaxon doesn’t respond, but I recognize the fear twisting the features of his face.
Olivia sucks in a short breath and steps her right foot back. Flawless.
She brings her left foot back to meet it —
And stumbles.
Her hands splay out and she falls forward. Jaxon runs toward her, and Olivia’s Pandora makes the most terrible sound through its trunk. But nothing helps.
The snake strikes.
Caroline screams, or maybe it’s Harper. My heart is pounding so loud in my ears, I can’t tell where it came from.
The next thing I know, Jaxon is carrying Olivia away and the elephant is stepping on the snake’s head. Guy withdraws his pocketknife and swiftly cuts a clean slice behind the snake’s head. When the elephant pulls its foot back, Guy kicks the head away from us and rushes toward Olivia.
“Give her to me,” Guy tells Jaxon.
“Screw you,” he says.
“Give her to me!” I’ve never heard Guy so much as raise his voice. So the sound of his shouting sends waves of hysteria rolling over me. This is serious. Oh my God, this is serious. I can’t lose someone else. Olivia can’t die.
Jaxon’s eyes are wide with uncertainty, but he hands a sobbing Olivia over. Guy drops to the ground and holds her against his chest. He looks her over before announcing, “It struck her on the hand. On her pinkie.” He sighs with despair and adds quietly, “A horned viper.” Guy searches the desert, and his eyes land on her elephant. “Olivia,” he barks. “Tell your Pandora to help you.”
Olivia stops crying for a moment, sniffs, and looks at the elephant. “EV-0,” she says, her voice shaking so much, my heart clenches. “Please help me.”
The elephant takes two steps in her direction and stops.
“EV-0, help me,” she repeats.
Her Pandora’s head drops ever so slightly.
Olivia looks at each of us and then back at her elephant. “Help me, you worthless animal! Help me! Help me, damn you! Help —”
She stops screaming and sobs into Guy’s chest. Jaxon points at Guy, tears streaming down his face. “Do something,” he says. “You do something or I’ll kill you myself.”
Guy didn’t put the snake there. He didn’t make Olivia stumble. But we depend on him. And now that something terrible has happened, we expect him to make it better.
“Take off your shirt,” Guy says, staring directly at Jaxon.
Jaxon rips his shirt off like it’s made of acid. He drops it in front of Guy.
“I need yours, too, Dink.” Caroline helps Dink — who appears even paler than he has the last two days — remove his shirt. She tosses it to Guy. He lays Olivia flat on her back in the sand, and she curls into a ball, sweating and crying without end. He takes Dink’s shirt and twists it into a long rope. “Open your mouth, Olivia.”
“What are you doing?” Jaxon says, pacing.
Guy ignores him, and Olivia opens her mouth. “Bite down on this,” he tells her.
She does, and my stomach turns as I realize what he’s planning.