The area we entered was something close to a forest.
Of course, there could not actually be a forest inside a tree.
Probably.
But the deeper we moved, the harder that became to believe.
Giant branches rose from other giant branches, each one easily wide enough to be mistaken for a street. Some curved upward like hills. Others stretched overhead like bridges, layered so thickly above us that their enormous leaves blocked out most of the sun.
The branches piled together in every direction, crossing, twisting, and rising like the trunks of ancient trees.
A forest made of a forest.
That was the only way my mind could make sense of it.
It was enchanting.
It was horrifying.
And it was very, very inconvenient.
I looked down through a gap between two branches.
Bad idea.
The layers beneath us continued farther than my eyes could follow. Branch after branch, leaf after leaf, all descending into a golden-green haze that swallowed distance whole.
I could not tell how far the drop went.
I only knew that if I fell, I would have enough time to regret several life choices before hitting anything.
Probably all of them.
I stepped back from the edge.
Carlos noticed.
"Afraid of heights?"
"No."
He stared at me.
"I am afraid of falling from heights," I corrected. "Completely different fear."
Carlos looked down.
For once, he did not argue.
"That is reasonable."
I blinked.
That was not the response I expected.
Honestly, I preferred when he was annoying.
"Whatever. I think the only way we can get off this branch is that one."
I pointed to a spot just off the nest.
It was one of the main branches supporting the nest in the first place, but the curve of the branch was…
Let's just say it was not a proper slide.
"Tsk."
Carlos clicked his tongue.
"Are you sure? This slope is far too steep for us."
He turned to me and looked at my arm.
"Maybe for me it might be possible if I cling to the branch and climb down. But for you, with your shoulder, I don't think it's possible."
I stared at the branch.
Then at Carlos.
Then back at the branch.
The curve dropped from the edge of the nest and bent downward into the layers of the Western Branch below. It was thick enough to walk on eventually, but the first stretch was steep, smooth, and covered in faint golden moss.
In other words, it was a natural slide designed by someone who hated bones.
"My shoulder is fine."
Carlos looked at my arm.
My arm gave one useless throb.
I smiled.
Mysteriously.
Carlos did not look impressed.
"You almost screamed when you tried to lift your hand."
"I almost screamed mysteriously."
"That does not make it better."
"It makes it thematic."
He stared at me.
Honestly, I was starting to think Carlos did not appreciate art.
Lazy floated above the slope, his eyes following the curve of the branch as it disappeared below us.
"He is correct," Lazy said. "The descent is possible, but not with your current injury. One slip and you will fall into the lower layers."
I looked down.
Bad idea.
Again.
The branch did not simply lead downward. It curved into a mess of other branches, smaller paths, hanging vines, and open air. The layers below crossed over each other like the ribs of some sleeping giant.
If I slipped, I would either land on another branch and break several important things, or I would miss everything and continue falling until I became a cautionary stain.
Neither option appealed to me.
Knight crossed his arms.
"We need another method."
Bloody scoffed.
"Jump."
I slowly turned toward him.
"Every day, you remind me that murder was not your worst trait."
"Coward."
"Alive coward."
Sleazy smiled faintly and pointed toward the side of the nest.
"There."
I followed his gaze.
Several golden vines hung from the outer rim of the nest, wrapped tightly around bones and thick strips of bark. Some of them stretched down along the steep curve of the branch, almost like ropes.
Almost.
Which meant they were absolutely not ropes.
But in my current situation, "almost like ropes" was better than "fall and become abstract art."
Carlos noticed them too.
He walked over and grabbed one of the vines, testing it with a sharp pull.
It held.
He pulled harder.
Still held.
"The vines are strong," he said. "We can use them to lower ourselves down."
I nodded.
"Good. Great. Fantastic. I love this plan."
Carlos glanced at me.
"You hate this plan."
"With passion."
He crouched and began unwinding part of the vine from the side of the nest.
I watched him work.
His movements were quick.
Careful.
Practical.
Annoying.
I had expected Carlos Strega to be many things.
Quiet.
Suspicious.
Future vessel of a god.
Potential cause of civilization's collapse.
But I had not expected him to be good at survival knots.
That felt unfairly specific.
Carlos looped the vine around a thicker bone jutting from the nest.
The bone was curved and white, easily longer than my entire body.
I decided not to think about what creature it had belonged to.
Then I thought about it.
Then I immediately regretted thinking about it.
Carlos tugged the vine again.
"It should hold."
"Should?"
"Unless the bone snaps."
I looked at the bone.
Then at him.
"That is not comforting."
"It is the truth."
"Lie better."
Carlos ignored me and started lowering the vine down the slope.
The vine uncoiled over the edge, sliding along the golden moss until it hung down the steepest part of the branch.
Carlos looked at me.
"I'll go first."
"No."
He raised an eyebrow.
"No?"
"If you go first and the griffins come back, I am alone in a nest with an egg and a bad shoulder."
"That is true."
"I dislike that you admitted it so quickly."
He looked over the edge again.
"If you go first and fall, I may not be able to catch you."
"Also true."
"Then what do you suggest?"
I opened my mouth.
Nothing came out.
A rare event.
Sleazy leaned close to my ear.
"Tell him to go first. If he dies, the problem is technically solved."
I did not look at him.
"I hate how your mind works."
Carlos narrowed his eyes.
"What?"
"Nothing. Internal debate."
"With yourself?"
"Usually."
Carlos stared at me for a few seconds too long.
I smiled.
He did not smile back.
Lazy drifted between us.
"Carlos should go first. He has two functioning arms. He can test the vine and create footholds if necessary. Kamrik follows slowly."
Knight nodded.
"That is reasonable."
Bloody clicked his tongue.
"I still vote jump."
"Your vote has been rejected by everyone with self-preservation," I muttered.
Carlos continued staring at me.
"What are you mumbling about?"
"Pain."
"That did not sound like pain."
"You do not know my pain language."
Carlos looked like he wanted to ask more.
Thankfully, he chose survival over investigation.
For now.
He wrapped the vine around one arm, braced his feet against the branch, and began lowering himself down the slope.
The first few steps were easy.
Then the angle sharpened.
His boots slipped once against the golden moss.
My heart jumped.
Carlos caught himself against the vine and pressed one hand against the bark.
He froze.
Then continued.
Slowly.
Carefully.
Eventually, he reached a flatter section of the branch below the nest.
He looked up.
"It holds."
"Wonderful," I called down. "I was very confident."
"No, you weren't."
"Emotionally, I was elsewhere."
Carlos secured the vine around another growth in the bark.
Then he looked back up at me.
"Come down slowly. Do not use your right arm."
"Yes, doctor."
"I am serious."
"That makes one of us."
I grabbed the vine with my left hand.
Immediately, my body reminded me that having one good arm was not the same as having one strong arm.
I swallowed.
The slope looked steeper from the top.
Much steeper.
In fact, from this angle, it looked less like a slope and more like an invitation to die while embarrassed.
Knight stood beside me, expression tight.
"You can do this, young man."
"Encouraging."
Lazy floated lower.
"Keep your weight close to the branch. Move sideways. Do not look down."
I looked down.
Lazy sighed.
"I specifically said not to."
"I was verifying."
"You verified danger."
"Good to know."
I eased myself over the edge.
My boots touched the moss.
Slipped.
My entire soul tried to leave.
"Gah—!"
The vine jerked tight in my hand.
Pain shot through my shoulder from the sudden pull, even though I had tried not to use it.
I clenched my teeth so hard my jaw ached.
Below me, Carlos's voice sharpened.
"Do not rush."
"I am not rushing. I am panicking at a controlled pace!"
"That is still rushing."
"I disagree academically!"
I kept moving.
One foot.
Then the other.
Slide.
Grip.
Pain.
A wince.
Repeat.
The branch hummed faintly beneath my boots, warm with divine energy. The golden moss glowed where I stepped, then dimmed again after I moved.
Under different circumstances, I might have appreciated that.
These were not those circumstances.
Halfway down, something shrieked in the distance.
I froze.
Carlos looked up sharply.
The ghosts went silent.
For a few seconds, nothing moved except the leaves above us.
Then another distant cry answered from somewhere far away.
Not close.
Not yet.
"Move," Lazy said.
I moved.
Faster this time.
Which was a mistake.
My boot slipped again near the end.
The vine burned across my palm.
Then Carlos stepped forward and yanked me toward the flatter section of the branch.
I stumbled onto the branch and nearly collapsed.
Carlos stepped back immediately.
I sucked in several breaths.
"Good news," I said.
Carlos looked exhausted already.
"What?"
"I am never doing that again."
He huffed.
"Oh, really?"
Then he sighed and looked back up at the nest.
The egg sat above us, white-gold and silent.
"Hopefully, we do not have to."
"That sounded like a flag."
"A what?"
"Nothing."
The branch below the nest curved forward into a narrow path between two larger limbs. On one side, the bark rose like a wall. On the other, the drop opened into glowing fog and endless layers.
Behind us was the nest.
Above us, griffins.
Below us, death.
Ahead of us, a single path.
Of course.
Because why would the universe give me options?
Or maybe it was the gods.
Sleazy appeared beside the path, his smile thin.
"Well."
I already hated his tone.
"Well what?"
He gestured forward.
"Isn't that convenient?"
Knight's expression darkened.
Lazy floated ahead, examining the branch.
The path was strangely clear.
No broken limbs blocked it. No thick vines tangled across it. No unstable gaps. No obvious beast nests. The bark had grown into a natural walkway, curving deeper into the Western Branch like it wanted us to follow.
Not toward the academy.
Not back toward the transfer point.
Deeper.
My stomach tightened.
Carlos noticed my hesitation.
"What is it?"
I looked at the path.
Then at the impossible layers of branches around us.
"Nothing."
Carlos followed my gaze.
"That path seems safest."
"Yeah."
My voice came out flatter than I intended.
"That's the problem."
Carlos narrowed his eyes.
"The problem is that it is safe?"
I shook my head.
"The problem is that it is the only safe thing here."
He looked down the branch.
Then back at the nest.
"We do not have another route."
"I noticed."
"Then we take it."
I did not answer immediately.
Because he was right.
And I hated when future world-ending villains were right.
Lazy drifted back toward me.
"The path does appear unusually stable."
Knight's jaw tightened.
"You believe it is intentional."
"I believe," Sleazy said softly, "that when a trap only leaves one door open, it is rude not to admire the craftsmanship."
"Can we not admire the trap while standing inside it?" I asked.
Bloody grinned.
"I like this path."
I pinched my eyebrows.
"That is the strongest argument against taking it."
Carlos stared at me again and pointed a finger at me.
"You are doing it."
"Doing what?"
"Talking to empty space."
"I am thinking."
"You think out loud?"
"When concussed."
His eyes narrowed.
"You have a concussion?"
"No."
"You just said—"
"I say many things."
Carlos stepped closer.
I stepped away on instinct.
His gaze flicked to the movement.
Suspicion settled deeper into his face.
Great.
Perfect.
The person I was supposed to protect, study, and eventually maybe probably kill was now noticing my deeply normal habit of arguing with invisible dead versions of myself.
This trip was going wonderfully.
Carlos finally looked away with a sigh.
"We move," he said. "Slowly. We watch for signs. If the path becomes unsafe, we stop."
I nodded.
"That is reasonable."
"Can you do reasonable?"
I smirked.
"No promises."
We started walking.
The branch path curved downward, not sharply but steadily, carrying us away from the nest and into the deeper layers of the Western Branch.
Carlos had to help me at several points because of the slopes we encountered.
For the first hour, neither of us said much.
Carlos walked ahead, eyes scanning every surface before he stepped. He checked the bark for weak spots. Tested moss before placing his weight on it. Watched the canopy for movement.
I followed behind him, keeping a few meters between us at all times while trying not to look like I was in pain.
I failed.
Repeatedly.
My shoulder pulsed with every step. My ribs ached. My palm burned from the vine. My cheek stung where the splinter had cut me earlier.
Eventually, I managed to make a sling out of my uniform tie, securing my wrist while the rest of the fabric supported my arm.
It helped soften the pain.
But then there was a new problem.
I was cold.
"Brrrrr… shit, it's cold."
Bloodrend stirred faintly whenever my wounds throbbed.
Warm.
Hungry.
Helpful.
I ignored it.
The last thing I needed was my murder-cleaver waking up because I had a bad hiking experience.
More like tree climbing.
Around us, the branch-forest grew denser.
Smaller limbs twisted overhead like arches. Leaves blocked the sky until the light became dim and green-gold. Pale flowers grew in clusters along the bark, opening and closing slowly as if breathing.
Once, we passed a pool of clear liquid gathered inside a hollow in the branch.
"Oh, thank the gods. Water!"
I leaped.
Carlos stopped me before I could step near it.
"Do not touch that."
I pouted.
"I was not going to."
"You were literally leaping toward it."
"I actually leap at many things."
"It smells acidic."
I leaned closer.
He pulled me back sharply.
I looked at him with a scowl.
"Are you always this bossy?"
"Are you always this reckless?"
"Yes."
Carlos paused.
I paused.
He sighed.
"At least you are honest."
"I try not to make it a habit."
"You're an odd one, Kamrik."
We kept moving.
Eventually, the light changed.
Not night exactly.
There was no proper sunset inside the branch-forest. The canopy simply thickened until the golden glow softened into something dimmer, older, and quieter. Shadows stretched between the branches. The air cooled.
Somewhere far above, something cried out.
Carlos stopped.
"We should rest."
I blinked.
"Rest?"
"It is getting darker."
"Is it?"
He looked up.
"The light is fading."
"Or we are walking under thicker leaves."
"Either way, visibility is worse."
I hated that he was making sense again.
We found a shallow hollow in the side of a large branch where roots curved together into something like a half-shelter. It was not comfortable, but it blocked the wind and hid us from the open sky.
Carlos gathered dry strips of bark.
I helped by holding one piece and pretending that counted.
Eventually, he made a small fire using a sparkstone from his emergency pouch.
Of course he had an emergency pouch.
Of course.
The flame caught slowly, burning pale gold at the edges before settling into normal orange.
I sat with my back against the curved root wall, my injured arm resting across my lap.
Carlos sat across from me.
The fire cracked quietly between us.
For a while, neither of us spoke.
The silence was not peaceful.
It was full.
Carlos broke it first.
"Why did you follow me?"
I looked at him.
His eyes were on the fire.
Not accusing.
Yet.
"I already told you."
"Academic curiosity."
"Yes."
"That was a lie."
"Technically, it was a bad lie."
"That does not make it better."
"No, but it gives it character."
Carlos looked up.
I looked away.
The ghosts appeared around the hollow one by one.
Knight stood near the entrance, watching the dark path outside.
Lazy floated beside the fire, his gaze flicking between me and Carlos.
Bloody leaned against the root wall, arms crossed, bored and irritated.
Sleazy sat beside me, smiling faintly.
A private audience.
Wonderful.
Carlos's voice stayed quiet.
"Did they send you?"
That did something.
The ghosts all twitched and stared straight at Carlos.
My fingers twitched.
"What do you mean?"
I put up a shaky smirk.
"I'll have you know I'm not owned by anyone. I'm a free agent."
Irritation showed on his face.
"You think I'm stupid? I saw you avoiding me for the last two days."
I froze.
He noticed that.
I did not think he had been so conscious of his surroundings.
Knight's face tightened.
"Young man."
I glanced at him from the corner of my eye.
Carlos saw that too.
"And this," Carlos said, pointing at me. "What is this talking-to-yourself thing? Are you reporting back on me?"
This time, he stood up and fixed me with a vicious glare.
"Do you truly think that just because I am not awakened, it means I am not a Strega?"
He reached behind his back.
"You think I'm so pitiful that even though I went through the same training as you, I would somehow be less than you?"
What was this guy talking about?
Did he know that this whole thing was staged?
Was he already aware of the cult?
"Seer," Sleazy said softly. "Say something. Stop blanking."
Or was he talking about something else?
Then it clicked.
I put my hand up with a confused look on my face.
"Are you talking about your family?"
He glared back at me and paused his hand.
"Of course. What else would I be talking about?"
That was when I lost it.
"Hah."
Then harder.
"Hahahaha!"
Everyone in the hollow looked at me strangely.
Can you believe it?
He was talking about his family the whole time.
Granted, I did not know the situation this time, but the irony was extreme.
Knight looked mortified.
"Young man, this may not be the correct response."
Lazy sighed.
"It is rarely the correct response."
Bloody laughed immediately.
"Finally! A decent reaction."
Sleazy covered his mouth with one sleeve, his eyes curved in amusement.
"Oh, Seer. That was ugly."
Carlos lost a little fire in his eyes.
I wiped a tear from my eye.
"I'll tell you what, Carlos. I have no idea what this whole shenanigans with you and your family is."
I stopped laughing and looked him in the eyes.
His dark gaze and my silver-white stare bored into each other.
"But I'll tell you the real reason I latched onto you."
I saw his throat move as he swallowed.
I could hear the protests of the ghosts around me before they even spoke.
"Young man," Knight warned.
"Careful," Lazy said.
Bloody clicked his tongue.
Sleazy watched me without smiling.
Carlos asked quietly, "Why?"
I gave him a small smirk.
"Because you looked like you were in trouble."
"What?"
"You heard me. At that moment, when you were isolated by the griffins, I had the sudden urge to save you."
I leaned back against the root wall.
"That's all."
Carlos gritted his teeth.
"You…"
I met his dark eyes.
A good chunk of what I said was true.
At the end of the day, besides all the future and the imminent death and everything waiting deeper inside this branch, all I had seen in that moment was a scared person.
Just like me.
"Fine."
He sighed and slid back down into a seated position.
"I'll trust you for now. I don't think you're part of them."
I smiled.
"Oh? You flatter me."
"You're too honest."
My brow twitched.
"Well, maybe I am a spy. You would never know."
Carlos looked me over.
Then his eyes stopped on my sling.
Then my bruised face.
Then the arm I had almost ruined climbing down a vine.
"Yeah right. You're just as good as a spy as you are a survivor."
"That was deeply unnecessary."
"It was accurate."
"Accuracy can still be cruel."
Carlos leaned back against the curved wall of roots, but the tension in his shoulders had not completely disappeared. The firelight shifted across his face, catching the scratches along his cheek and the dirt tangled in his dark hair.
For a while, neither of us spoke.
The fire cracked quietly between us.
Then Carlos looked at me again.
"Then why did you avoid me for two days?"
There it was.
A reasonable question.
My natural enemy.
Behind him, the ghosts reacted almost immediately.
Knight's expression tightened.
Lazy slowly turned toward me.
Sleazy's smile widened.
Bloody looked delighted.
A private audience to my public execution.
Great.
I cleared my throat.
"Could you be more specific?"
Carlos stared at me.
"You sat beside me once. Then you spent the next two days sitting as far away from me as possible."
"That could have been a coincidence."
"You changed seats three times."
"Very coincidental."
"And once, when I entered the lecture hall, you stood up and left."
I pointed at him.
"That one was because I forgot something."
"What did you forget?"
"My dignity."
Carlos closed his eyes for a moment.
It looked like he was gathering patience from somewhere deep and ancient.
"Kamrik."
"Carlos."
"Answer the question."
I looked into the fire.
The easy answer was a lie.
The honest answer was impossible.
The real answer sat somewhere between trauma, prophecy, murder plans, and an extremely inconvenient amount of guilt.
So naturally, I chose the least stable option.
"I had a bad dream."
Carlos opened his eyes again.
"A dream?"
"More of a nightmare."
"That made you avoid me?"
"Not exactly."
"Then what exactly?"
I sighed and rubbed the side of my face with my left hand.
"It was one of those nightmares that follows you after you wake up. The kind that stays on your skin. I was already not sleeping properly, already injured, already dealing with…" I gestured vaguely at myself. "All of this."
Carlos's gaze moved over my sling, my bruised face, and the general tragedy that was my current existence.
"And then I saw you," I continued, "and for reasons I will not be explaining because they are embarrassing, inconvenient, and probably make me sound insane, my brain decided that being near you was a problem."
Carlos watched me quietly.
"That sounds difficult."
I did not react much.
But that answer landed.
Not because Carlos was cruel.
He was not.
That was the problem.
He was being very inconveniently normal again.
Behind him, Bloody made a disgusted sound.
"Ugh. Understanding."
Knight shot him a look.
"Silence."
Sleazy chuckled softly.
"Oh, this is precious."
Lazy merely watched me with tired interest.
Carlos did not hear any of them.
Thankfully.
Or unfortunately.
Depending on the next five seconds.
He looked toward the fire again.
"You keep doing something else too."
I already knew where this was going.
Still, I said, "Do I?"
"You look around when there is nothing there."
The ghosts went still.
"You mutter under your breath," Carlos continued. "Sometimes you respond to things nobody said. At first, I thought you were signaling someone."
That was fair.
Wrong.
But fair.
I gave him my best tired smile.
"I'm mentally impaired."
Silence.
For one single second, nobody moved.
Then Bloody burst out laughing.
Not a chuckle.
Not a snort.
A full, awful laugh that filled the hollow.
Knight stared at me in horror.
"Young man."
Lazy put a hand over his face.
"That was certainly one approach."
Sleazy covered his mouth with his sleeve, his shoulders shaking.
"Oh, Seer. Inspired."
Bloody wiped an imaginary tear from his eye.
"Finally, honesty!"
I glared at all of them.
Carlos, meanwhile, did not laugh.
His expression changed, but not into accusation.
It softened.
Just slightly.
"How long?"
I looked back at him.
"What?"
"How long has that been happening?"
The ghosts quieted.
The fire cracked.
Carlos's voice was careful now.
Not pitying.
Not mocking.
Careful.
I hated how much worse that was.
I leaned back against the root wall and looked at the fire.
"A while."
Carlos waited.
I clicked my tongue.
"Since before the academy."
That was technically true if one counted the previous future, death, regression, and being haunted by multiple versions of myself as "before the academy."
Which I did.
For legal reasons.
Carlos's gaze lowered.
"Do healers know?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because healers ask questions."
"That is their job."
"I dislike people doing their jobs near me."
Carlos gave me a flat look.
I shrugged with my good shoulder.
"Also, it is not exactly simple."
His eyes flicked toward the dark branch-forest beyond the hollow.
"Is it schizophrenia?"
The question was quiet.
Careful again.
I stared into the fire.
"Something like that."
That was the best answer I could give.
Because "dead alternate versions of myself tethered to my soul after I came back from the end of the world" did not feel like a productive diagnostic category.
Carlos nodded slowly.
"Does it get worse under stress?"
I considered the four ghosts currently sitting around our campfire and offering absolutely no useful support.
"Yes."
Lazy raised a finger.
"Technically accurate."
Bloody grinned.
"Especially when he is about to die."
Knight frowned.
"This is not a laughing matter."
"It is a little funny," Sleazy said.
"It is not."
"It is a little funny."
I ignored them.
Carlos looked back at me.
"Do you see things?"
The firelight shifted.
For a moment, all four ghosts reflected in my eyes.
Knight, worried.
Lazy, quiet.
Bloody, amused.
Sleazy, smiling like he knew every lie I was about to tell.
I looked away.
"Sometimes."
Carlos nodded slowly.
"Hear things?"
"Sometimes."
"And you are still walking around like everything is fine?"
I raised an eyebrow.
"Have you seen our current situation?"
"That is not an answer."
"It is the closest thing to one I have."
Carlos exhaled.
For once, he did not push.
He just sat there for a moment, thinking.
Then he said, "My family had a retainer once. He suffered from something similar after a failed awakening."
I looked at him.
Carlos stared into the fire.
"He heard voices. Saw figures in reflections. Sometimes he thought people were speaking to him when they were not." His fingers tightened slightly around his sleeve. "Some people treated him like he was dangerous."
The hollow became quieter.
"I was young," Carlos continued. "But I remember thinking that was unfair. He was not dangerous. He was scared."
The ghosts stopped laughing.
Even Bloody's grin faded.
Carlos looked back at me.
"So no. I am not going to mock you for that."
I did not know what to say.
Which was fine.
Because apparently, my mouth had decided to speak without permission anyway.
"That is very mature of you."
Carlos's expression flattened.
"Do not ruin the moment."
"I am trying not to."
"You are failing."
"That happens often."
For a second, something almost like a smile crossed his face.
Then it faded.
He leaned back against the root wall and looked at the fire again.
"So you avoided me because of a nightmare."
"Yes."
"And you keep looking around because of… that."
"Also yes."
"And you followed me into the griffin attack because?"
I tapped my fingers against my knee.
There it was.
The question we had already circled once.
The one I had already answered.
The one he apparently wanted to hear again.
I looked toward the fire.
"I already told you."
Carlos's gaze sharpened slightly.
"Say it again."
I exhaled through my nose.
"Because you looked like you were in trouble."
Carlos turned his head.
"That is all?"
"Is it so wrong for me to want to save a fellow man?"
He studied me for a long moment.
Not fully trusting, not fully convinced.
But less hostile than before.
That was something.
Maybe not a good something.
But something.
Carlos sighed and leaned his head back against the root wall.
"You are ridiculous."
"I prefer mysterious."
"You are not mysterious."
"I am injured. My mystery levels are low."
"That is not a real measurement."
"You do not know that."
Carlos closed his eyes.
For a second, I thought the conversation was over.
Then he said, "Thank you."
I looked at him.
"For what?"
"For grabbing me."
The hollow went quiet.
The fire cracked softly.
The ghosts looked at me.
Knight's expression softened.
Lazy watched silently.
Sleazy's smile became unreadable.
Bloody clicked his tongue and looked away like gratitude personally offended him.
Carlos still had his eyes closed, like saying the words while looking at me would physically hurt him.
Which was fair.
Gratitude was embarrassing.
I cleared my throat, suddenly very aware of how awkward I felt.
"You're welcome."
A pause.
Then I added, "For the record, I still think academic curiosity was a stronger explanation."
Carlos opened one eye.
"It was not."
"It had charm."
"It had stupidity."
"Many charming things do."
He stared at me.
I stared back.
Then, finally, Carlos laughed.
Not loudly.
Not freely.
But enough.
A small, exhausted laugh escaped him, and once it did, mine followed.
It was stupid.
We were stranded inside the Western Branch.
Griffins were somewhere above us.
The only path forward looked suspiciously like a trap.
I was injured, cold, hungry, and apparently committed to the worst cover story in history.
Carlos Strega, future vessel and possible destroyer of the world, was sitting across from me laughing like a normal person.
And for some reason, that made me laugh harder.
"Stop laughing," Carlos said, even though he was still doing it.
"You started it."
"You said academic curiosity."
"It was a good lie."
"It was awful."
"It had character."
"It had no structure."
"Now you are critiquing my lies?"
"They need improvement."
"I will take notes."
"You should."
The laughter eventually faded.
Not because anything had become less horrible.
It had not.
But because we were both too tired to keep holding everything up.
Carlos shifted closer to the fire and pulled his bag near his side.
"We should sleep in shifts."
I nodded.
"Reasonable."
"You take the first rest."
I frowned.
"Why me?"
"You are injured."
"I am also heroic."
"You are injured."
"Heroically injured."
Carlos looked at me.
I looked back.
Eventually, I sighed and leaned against the curved root wall.
"Fine. But if I die in my sleep, I am blaming you."
"If you die in your sleep, I will be very concerned about your ability to blame anyone."
"Do not underestimate me."
"I am trying very hard not to."
Knight moved to stand near the entrance of the hollow.
"I will watch as well."
Lazy floated beside him.
"As will I."
Bloody sat near the fire, arms crossed.
"If something attacks, wake me."
"You are already awake," I muttered.
"Wake me emotionally."
Sleazy settled in the shadows with a faint smile.
"Rest, Seer. Try not to dream of anything with teeth."
I closed my eyes.
"Terrible thing to say before sleep."
"You're welcome."
Across the fire, Carlos shifted into a guarded sitting position, his eyes still open, watching the dark beyond the hollow.
I should have been thinking about the path.
The egg.
The thing waiting for Carlos.
The future.
I should have been thinking about all of it.
Instead, the last thing I heard before sleep dragged me under was Carlos muttering under his breath.
"Academic curiosity."
Then he laughed once.
Quietly.
Despite myself, I smiled.
And for the first time since the griffins took us, the dark felt a little less endless.