Page 36 of Black Mamba

I’m… alone.

I think… I hope.

But then there’s a shift in the reflection. I stiffen before bolting to my room. When I peer around the corner, I don’t see what caused the movement. If there is a culprit, they’re out of my sight.

It’s okay. No one can get me while I’m locked inside… The glass is too thick to break.

If someone is lurking outside my ship—if he’s lurking outside my ship—I want to know. I want to know if he’s done with me or not. It could just be Greg or Levy.

I creep forward.

The meadow, now partially trampled from recent activity, emerges. Lukys and the other black and gray naga, Ixi, are on the far side near the hills. I pause a short distance behind the glass so they don’t notice me. Thankfully, they’re mostly turned away and paying attention to something on the ground. I squint, trying to see what it is.

I hitch.

The other naga that tried to take me…

He’s… dead?

Lukys and Ixi circle the body, their mouths moving as they talk. Eventually, Lukys stops at one side and Ixi pauses on the other. In tandem they reach down, and with Lukys grabbing the dead naga’s arms and Ixi grasping his tail, they lift the body off the ground.

Lukys glances my way as they carry the corpse away.

I take a quick step back but not before his eyes narrow on me—and not before I witness the grief in his expression. Fleeing into my ship where he can’t see me, I grab the side of the bar to steady myself when my vision grows dizzy.

They mourn and care for their dead too. Of course they do.

Suddenly overcome with my own grief and the toll of the last few days, tears well in my eyes and I stumble to my room.

Curling up on the bed and wishing more than anything that I had my blanket, I cry myself to sleep.

NINETEEN

REST AND RECOVERY

Elena

It seems like an eternity goes by before I manage to do more than take care of my basic needs. Dreams and nightmares overwhelm my terrible rest as my body gradually mends. My shoulder, aching with pain, keeps me restless, but the few books that remain in my room counteract it and distract me. If I’m not sleeping or reading, I’m moaning from nausea and exhaustion. I give into it like I gave into the alcohol.

I’ll take the pain over the grief.

“Elena! Are you there?” Thud. Thud. Thud.

Groaning from my pillowed cocoon in my room, I put down my book and sit upright.

“It’s been three days and neither Greg nor I have seen or heard from you! Elena!”

Rising, I cross my room with more confidence today than I’ve had in previous days. No one’s been waiting outside my window the few times I’ve left my room, I haven’t seen either naga since they took the body away, and nothing has tried to break in.

Maybe they’re gone. Really gone. But as soon as I think it, I know it’s not true. Lukys isn’t gone. His home is just up the mountain.

As I head to the front of the ship, I spot Levy in his gray jacket to the dome’s right. His hair is slicked back like its wet and his now-tanned skin has a pink bloom across his cheeks. He’s even scruffier than before and he’s alone.

“Hi,” I say loud enough for him to hear. “Where’s Greg?”

“Hey, it’s good to see you,” he shouts. “Greg is at the river, bathing. You look like you’re doing well. Your forehead doesn’t look so swollen anymore. How have you been?”

I cross my arms. “Is that safe? And I’ve been better—much better.”