“That makes no sense.”
“I don’t know for sure, but I think it’s the blind tribe. They’re rumored to stalk these woods for food. And we might just be on the menu,” he says instead of explaining the light.
“Lovely,” I state dryly. “At least they’re blind. I’m assuming they can hear every word we’re saying, though.”
“They actually see things in signatures. Hell’s belly, as you’ve noticed, is very fucking hot. They see cooler signatures instead of heat signatures,” he goes on. “And they don’t exactly speak English. They speak the language of the damned.”
“Is comoara tr?d?toare a damned language phrase?” I ask idly, looking out on the very neon blue forest, and wondering where this blind tribe is hiding.
“No, that’s Romanian,” Ezekiel states as though it should be obvious.
“Why do you think it’s them?” I ask quietly. “The blind tribe, I mean.”
“Because I’ve seen glimpse of a couple of humanoid figures since the lights came on, and the only humanoid figures down here would be competitors or tribesmen. We’ve managed to avoid the other tribes. They prefer to feed on the monsters and stray from any interlopers. But the blind tribe—”
“Are savage, hungry, fearless, cannibalistic barbarians in the mood for some flesh. Got it. I take it they’re immune to black ice?” I interject.
He nods, his eyes still on the land in front of him. “Another reason I’m certain it’s not the other competitors. They’ve been in the storm for the past hour at least.”
“Just fucking great,” Kai says around a yawn, drawing my attention back to him.
Gage and Jude are already awake, and Gage is stretching, looking well-rested.
Jude avoids my eyes.
“How’d you sleep, Death Punch?” I drawl, grinning like the cat who ate the canary.
He doesn’t even look at me before speaking directly to Ezekiel. “If the blind tribe is waiting on us to leave this cave, we’re going to have to fight our way out of this.”
I start to move to the doorway, but Ezekiel tugs me back.
“Save your strength. You have to be able to hold your invisible form. I think shielding yourself from Lucifer in the open is draining you faster. There’s no telling how much power that requires.”
I look at him like he’s crazy.
“I’m not shielding myself. I don’t even know how to do that.”
“Most of your power runs on survival instincts. You’re only starting to gain some control,” Gage says, moving closer as he props up and peers out as well.
“In other words, if Lucifer seeing you makes you feel threatened,” Jude says, moving just to the rim where the black rain misses his foot by mere centimeters. “The light surrounds you every time you feel his eyes on you when you turn whole. The light never shines under coverage from his watch.”
Good to know. I guess.
“So if you’re naked, the rain won’t hurt you, right?” I ask, suddenly very intrigued by how distracting this fight will be with a lot of swinging equipment.
A small grins curves at my lips, and Kai arches an unimpressed eyebrow at me as he moves around to be diagonal from me.
Clearing my throat and wiping away the juvenile grin, I pretend to have some class.
“That’s the theory,” Ezekiel says absently.
“The theory? You spouted facts about it.”
“We knew it would freeze us to the core if it penetrated the skin,” he goes on conversationally. “It’s liquid when it connects, and if the surface is not hot enough to keep it liquid, it immediately freezes everything, spreading outward. It evaporates immediately into the ground, and turns into glowing blue residue on the plant life. Your temperature has to continuously rise to battle it, but it cools you if it’s able to attach. Double-edged sword.”
“The clothing provided a cooler layer that it attached to and grew strength, chilling the surface of our skin enough for the ice to find a weak spot to attach to,” Gage adds.
“We assumed our skin would run too hot for the temperatures, and Kai was shirtless. His pants got wet, but didn’t touch skin before he stripped out of them. However, the black ice ran off his body, never freezing on contact. Unlike it did when Jude was drenched and it attached to his middle in numerous spots. Or when my arm was infected under my drenched sleeve,” Ezekiel goes on.
“My boxers fucked me,” Gage says. “The theory is that none of our skin can get infected if there’s no barrier to help chill it before it penetrates the skin.”
“Not an agony I’m in any sort of hurry to revisit,” Jude inserts dryly, taking a wary step back. “Someone else can play guinea pig.”
They keep talking about how hot hell’s belly is, but the heat isn’t quite so intrusive to me. I suppose that would just sound like obnoxious bragging right now, so I keep it to myself.
“I’m going to go out there and see if I can determine how many we’re dealing with,” I tell them, stepping behind Jude.
He covers as much of me as possible, understanding what I’m doing without me having to explain.
“What am I looking for?” I ask as I change forms, hoping the phantom version of me is hidden from their cooler-temp seeking eyes.
“I have no idea. I only saw humanoid shadows just as the forest started illuminating. Since then, I haven’t been able to spot them. The books we read had no description of them other than what I’ve already told you,” Ezekiel tells me.
“We might have learned more about hell’s belly if we had ever foreseen a visit here,” Kai drawls.
“Save your energy. We can fight this time,” Jude says quietly to me.
“Well, don’t any of you go trying to die, and I’ll let you be men. But the second I see you not pulling your own, I’ll totally emasculate you. Again,” I state as I pass through him and start stalking into the woods.
“Her fearlessly wicked tongue is what surprises me the most,” I hear Jude huff under his breath.
“You have no idea how wicked my tongue can be,” I assure him, putting my sassy Devil costume back on as I strut a little in my red heels.
A few snorts follow that.
“Guess her hearing is better than we realized,” Ezekiel muses.
“Finding out new things about me is what gives me all those bonus mystery points,” I call out as I move farther and farther into the neon woods, even as the rain continues to pour through me.
I’m not worried about being too loud, considering these blind guys can’t actually hear me so long as I’m in this form.
I’m expecting to find ten or so tribesmen as I continue to move on.
Yet I’m starting to wonder if Ezekiel is just being paranoid, because I can’t even see the cave anymore, despite the heavily illuminated forest.
Sighing, I turn around, and halt.
I finally spot one guy slinking through, and an eerie sensation slithers over me.