12 Chapter 12

“I can’t either,” Tuxtax replied sheepishly.

“So I’ll teach you,” Em responded. “It’s not hard. If I can do it, both of you can, I promise. Let’s put out the fire and gather up Rhea’s ashes and put some distance between us and this camp. When we find a nice roomy oak, let’s settle in for the night.”

“And then you will let Tuxtax transform you into a vanth?” Rixa asked.

She nodded reluctantly. “Well, he can surely try.” 6

The last thing Tuxtax remembered feeling as he drifted off to sleep was the throbbing pulse of the wound in his wrist. Rixa had helped him cut open a vein on both his wrist and Em’s; he had smiled nervously and given unsure reassurances to Em as Rixa had bound their wounds together. Em had tangled her fingers in his; she squeezed his hand in pain as his ichor entered her bloodstream. She gave one pain-filled expletive and fell limp in his arms. He remembered pulling her form close as he, too, succumbed.