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Says the girl who hates all tigers because of Angma.
For someone who nearly died yesterday, Ukar’s mouth has lost none of its bite. That almost makes me smile.
Before he asks why I’m in such a brooding mood, I hike up my skirt and make for the trees. “Come on, let’s get supplies before the dragon wakes up.”
* * *
Once I step inside the jungle, a wave of longing comes over me. As my heels sink into the damp earth, I’m overcome by the urge to lose myself among the trees, to disappear into this sea of green and forget that Angma is hunting my sister.
Ukar and I venture deeper into the forest. Monkeys follow in the trees, yammering at us with a variety of grunts and hisses.
“They don’t like me,” I murmur.
They don’t know you. Just move faster. They won’t go past the ravine.
I hurry, like Ukar suggests, but I’m still troubled. In Sundau’s jungle, my face frightens few. All creatures in the wild can sense their enemies, and they should know not to fear me. When we pass the ravine, and the monkeys recede, I ask my friend, “What was that all about?”
Ukar pounces on a lizard, swallowing it quickly before he answers, They say Angma is looking for a girl with a snake face.
I go very still. “Angma is here?”
No. But she’s sent a call throughout Tambu looking for you. He pauses, ambushing a ten-legged spider demon creeping out of the shadows. As he swallows, his scales flicker red before dulling to match the grainy earth. She’s offering a reward for anyone who’ll turn you in.
“What’s the reward?”
A blood bond—to live as long as she does.
Plenty would find that an ample prize. Thankfully, not the snakes. They’re cleverer and wiser than most. Too clever by far to want to live forever.
Still, I’m on edge. “Do you think what Hokzuh said about her is true? That she’s human—and that his pearl has made her what she is?”
I don’t think he was lying.
Neither do I. In all the stories, Angma began as a witch. She wished for immortality, but her spell went terribly wrong.
“In her hunger, she unwittingly devoured her own daughter,” I murmur. “In despair, she stalked the thousand islands of Tambu, seeking a way to undo her curse, but she could not. With each year that passes, she becomes more demon than human.”
If it’s true that Hokzuh’s pearl made her what she is and gave her a demon’s appearance and a demon’s hunger, then I almost feel sorry for her. Almost.
The tiger is her only form that does not age, Ukar says, but it needs to feed to remain vigorous. She relies on people like your father, desperate enough to bring new blood for her to consume.
“Like babies?” I say flatly.
She eats adults too, Ukar replies. But she prefers the young. They sustain her longer.
I know about Angma. That she takes the young only if they are brought to her. That the reason she’s been waiting for Vanna to grow up and hasn’t killed her yet is because of the daughter she once lost. The tragic, nameless girl who was mistakenly slain when her mother became possessed by a demon.
In this twisted way, Angma has honor. Sometimes I wonder if she’s still human enough to grieve. Whether that is why, for every child a parent sacrifices to her, she will grant a wish.
Well, nearly every child.
If only your father had brought me the right daughter seventeen years ago, she’d taunted me, I would have saved your dear mama. You would have grown up happy. Loved.
Mama is gone and I can’t bring her back, but I can save Vanna.
No matter what it costs, I will save Vanna.
Birds have gathered above us, speeding through the trees. I track their flight to a pond.
