Reina sees the map clutched in my fingers and shakes her head. “A map? Everyone knows the raverous snake loves water, and we’re going to a swamp. Water will be everywhere.”
Mack is in line a few people down, and she sends me a supportive thumbs up. I can’t tell if she has the same thought I do, or is just being a good bestie, but I don’t have time to talk to her before Spreewell shoos me toward my keeper.
I find the prince waiting for me with a group of Unseelie Evermore. He lifts his eyebrows at my choice. “A flute? Are we going to kill the snake with terrible music?”
Waves of heat crash over me as I see bits of the taco filling I dumped on him still cresting his shoulders. But he hasn’t killed me yet, so that’s progress, right? Unfortunately, he now smells like a friggin’ taco, making him even more irresistible.
It takes all my willpower not to lean close and sniff him.
Eclipsa frowns at my choices. She herself holds a little cage with a gray rat inside. “What will you lure the snake with?”
I shrug. “Maybe they like tacos too.”
The prince frowns and picks at a shred of cheese on his lapel.
When all of the pairs have their weapons, we line up. The professors walk down the line, opening portals for every pair.
Spreewell stops in front of the prince and I, his dark purple cloak bright against the white snow. “Eros sanctum.”
At his words, a dark spot opens. The spot is pea-sized, at first, but quickly grows to the size of a basketball. A chair. When it’s big enough to accommodate a large person, Spreewell motions us toward the portal.
I peer through the rippling veil to the world on the other side. Trees so tall they block the sun sprout from mossy, wet earth. Beyond, waterfalls cascade over cliffs. Warm, moist air scented with pine and stagnant water wash over my cheeks.
This is really happening. No matter how normal portals seem to the Fae, I’ll never get used to them. Never.
The prince smiles at me. “After you, Princess.”
39
The second I lunge through the portal, a wet blanket of humidity slaps me in the face. My boots sink up to the top laces in green mud. Ugh. Pocketing the flute, I pull out the map and try to get my bearings as the prince appears.
His nose crinkles at the heat, and then he glowers at me as if I’m the cause of the unbearable weather. “I hate to admit it, but Reina was right. We don’t need a map. We can walk ten feet in any direction and find swamp. And where there’s water, there’s raverous snakes.”
“Hmm, yeah. About that.” I glance up from my map. “We’re not looking for a raverous snake.”
He peers at me through his dark blue lashes. “No?”
“Nope.” I have what I’m looking for so I fold the map, shove it into the back pocket of my jeans, and take off toward the cliffs in the distance. Ferns slap against my thighs, the mud squelching beneath my boots. Tiny creatures similar to sprites but smaller flutter up from the dense foliage. The hum of mosquitoes three times the normal size stirs the air.
Of course this place would have smaller sprites and bigger mosquitoes.
The prince catches up to me. “Care to share this plan of yours, Princess?”
I flash a mischievous grin. Let him see how it feels to have no idea what’s going on for a change.
I duck beneath a curtain of hanging moss and trudge straight through a shallow swamp, water sloshing around my boots. A sulfurous, muddy smell clogs my nose. Green algae and lily pads float on the surface of the brackish water.
Flashes of movement catch my eye below.
He grabs my arm, the cold from his fingers breaching the thin fabric of my sweater. A zip of electricity shoots through my flesh, like static electricity but more powerful. “You are aware there are creatures in these woods who would love to feast on a human?”
Yanking my arm away, I push forward, boots splashing loudly.
“Yes, splash,” he mutters. “Maybe they’ll hear you. Good plan.”
“Afraid, Prince?”
“Afraid, no. Why would I be? This swamp only hosts at least ninety-nine things that can kill you, yet we’re armed with a . . . flute.”