Chapter 88: To Be Decided

WE SLOWLY HEADED BACK along the path to his truck, both of us wanting to prolong our time together. When I asked about the akharu and the bulging tree, he explained that akharu could camouflage their bodies by emitting a type of oil that caused people to hallucinate. Their musk tricked your mind, making you imagine things.

"Like they turn into Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie on you?" I asked, twisting my face into disgust.

Zander laughed. "Yes, they can make you see them as someone different."

"That's some seriously trippy oil. Sounds like magic."

"What we don't understand, we call magic." He shook his head with a smile. "We've studied it enough to learn how it works. Nature always has a reason for what it does. For akharu, it's a lure to draw people into a trap. But you have to be close enough to be affected."

"The problem is, you don't know you're too close until it happens." We had walked right into their trap.