“Thank you for saving my life,” I said after a long moment of silence.
Zin squinted in my direction. “What happened?”
“What are you talking about? I was going to ask you that very same thing. The last thing I remember is Thomas’s hands around my neck before I went unconscious. I only came to a few minutes ago. I don’t remember anything in between.”
My cousin didn’t look convinced. “Why’d you do it?”
“Go into The Forest? I was looking for Dust of the Devil so I could finish Poppy’s Vamp Vites. I’m sorry I didn’t mention it sooner—”
“No,” she said. “Why’d you bring me in to help?”
I gave a confused shake of my head. “You’re speaking gibberish. I just told you the last thing I remember is passing out.”
“There’re rumors circling The Isle right this very moment.” Zin paced around the outskirts of the room. “Rumors about me.”
I smiled. “About your heroics? You deserve them. I’ll put the rumors to rest and make them facts.”
Zin studied the ground, still not amused. I fell back on the pillow, closed my eyes, and waited for her next move. I had a creeping suspicion what those rumors might be, but I wanted her to come out and say it first.
“They say I’ll be announced as a Ranger Candidate in the next cycle,” she blurted. “The next cycle is only weeks away.”
My eyes shot open. “That’s incredible!” I surveyed her tense expression, which showed no signs of pleasure at the news. “Why the long face?”
“Do I deserve it?”
“Tell me what happened in The Forest.”
“You really don’t remember?”
I shook my head.
Zin blew out a breath. “I was with Poppy when it happened. Someone, or something...I don’t know how to describe it.” Her eyebrows knitted together in concentration as she recounted the story. “We were in the middle of a conversation and it was as if someone were tugging at my arm and telling me to run...Run fast.”
I waited patiently as she paced a few more laps around the room.
“It wasn’t a person. It wasn’t a ghost or a spirit—at least, not one that I could see. Poppy says she didn’t see or hear anything. She looked at me like I was insane to even ask about strange voices.” Zin’s gaze locked on mine. “Am I insane, or do you know what I mean?”
“How can you think you’re insane when you saved my life? Maybe it was intuition. There are plenty of explanations.”
“There aren’t,” Zin said forcefully. “There aren’t a lot of explanations. Whatever, or whoever it was, told me to run to you. I had no clue where you were, what you were doing, why you were there, but I did it anyway. I’ve never shifted into a jaguar form before but it suddenly felt so natural, as if I were putting on an old winter jacket after a summer in the closet.”
“Is it your final form?” I raised my shoulders. “I don’t know what that feels like. Maybe you can talk to another shifter.”
“I won’t know until I can shift in and out easily,” she said. “It’s impossible to know from a single instance, but from what others say, this might be it.”
“That’s not a bad final form,” I said with a small smile. “They’re beautiful creatures and very intense. Just like you.”
Zin paused, digesting the compliment before continuing. “The rumors of my Candidacy came from inside of Ranger Headquarters. Poppy told me.”
“I’ve always said you deserve to be a Ranger. Just as much as the next man.”
“That’s my issue with this whole thing.” Zin rounded on me, her finger poised on her lip in thought. Her smooth movement reminded me of the jaguar she’d become hours before, and I had a sudden flashback to a moment in The Forest. I’d swam in and out of an unconscious haze, drawn to reality by the threatening growl of the large, sleek forest cat. At the time, I hadn’t known it was Zin. As the memory replayed in my mind, I recognized the similarities as she’d leapt for Thomas, claws outstretched...
“What did you do?” Zin’s voice jerked me from the memory. “How did you call me to you? Something led me to The Forest, and I want to know what.”
I blinked away the images of Thomas, his screams as he fell off of me. “I don’t know.”
Zin narrowed her eyes at me.
I swallowed, trying to avoid the question. I didn’t know what had brought Zin to The Forest, but I did know that I’d held the stone of Angel’s Breath in my palm, and I’d wished for one final thing as I’d taken my last breath. “I didn’t call you to The Forest.”