Chapter 25 · Untitled Chapter

"Miss Qin?"

I freeze halfway across camp, a warm rabbit hanging from my hand.

Amy's sitting up in her bedroll. Her eyes are open, but she's staring through the firelight like she can't see it.

"Amy?" I drop the rabbit and hurry over. "Hey. Look at me. Are you hurt?"

She turns her head too slowly.

Her eyes are red.

Not from smoke. Not from tiredness. Red like mine get when I'm hungry. Red like something inside her has cracked open.

"Oh, hell." I crouch in front of her. "When did this start?"

"I don't know." She presses a hand to her throat. "It hurts."

"Your throat?"

"And I'm hungry." Her face twists. "But I don't want food."

I lean closer, then stop myself. She smells wrong. Sweet and sick, like fruit left too long in the sun.

Edith.

She'd slipped into camp while I was tracking the foreman. I'd told her to leave Amy alone. Of course, she'd done the opposite.

"Miss Qin? What's wrong with me?"

"Nothing you can't survive." I keep my voice low. "Get up."

"Why?"

"We're leaving camp. Quietly."

"I want my papa."

"Not yet."

Her eyes narrow.