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  Finn smmed hard against stone.

  Cold ripped the air from his lungs as water thundered past him, the waterfall roaring like a living thing intent on erasing them from the world. His fingers scraped blindly until they found purchase—jagged rock biting into skin. He clung, muscles screaming, boots slipping against slick moss.

  “Katherine!” he shouted.

  He reached, caught cloth, then wrist, and hauled with everything he had. Katherine smmed against the rock beside him, coughing violently, eyes wide but alive. Before Finn could breathe relief, another weight struck him from the side.

  “Ow—HEY!” Maxi spluttered, half drowning, half clinging. Finn grabbed him by the colr and dragged him up.

  They colpsed together at the base of the waterfall, water pounding down behind them in white fury. Mist hung thick in the air, cold and damp, clinging to their hair and clothes. The jungle below stretched endlessly—trees yered upon trees, roots coiling like sleeping beasts, leaves broad enough to swallow light.

  They had fallen far. Too far.

  Maxi y ft on his back, staring at the sky hidden behind leaves. “I officially hate caves. And spiders. And water. And pnts.”

  Finn didn’t answer immediately. His chest rose and fell too fast, ears ringing. He forced himself upright and looked around. No sign of the others. No voices. Only the waterfall and the deep, humming life of the jungle.

  Chummy hovered near Katherine’s shoulder, dimmer than usual but steady.

  Maxi pushed himself up, wiping water from his face. His voice shook despite his attempt at bravery.“Bro… I really hate spiders. But I think… I think we need to go back and help Father.”

  Finn clenched his jaw. He wanted to say yes. Wanted to run uphill, scream for Durante, fight through whatever stood between them.

  But he felt it.

  Something pulling him forward.

  “Father can handle it,” Finn said quietly. “He’s strong. We… we need to find the tree.”

  He looked around—and faltered.

  Trees rose everywhere. Endless. Ancient. Impossible to tell one from another.

  Finn exhaled sharply. “Or… the turtle.”

  Maxi blinked. “We’re really trusting the turtle pn again?”

  Finn didn’t answer. He started walking.

  They moved carefully through the undergrowth, boots sinking into damp soil, the air thick with the smell of rot and flowers too sweet to be safe. Leaves brushed their arms like fingers. Somewhere above, something chirred—a sound that didn’t belong to any bird Finn knew.

  After a hundred yards, Finn stopped so abruptly Maxi walked straight into his back.

  “Ow—what—”

  “Quiet,” Finn whispered.

  He heard it.

  A soft, sliding sound.

  Not footsteps.

  Circling.

  Right. Left. Behind.

  Finn’s hand moved instinctively to the dagger at his belt.

  Birog’s dagger.

  Bck wood handle warm against his palm, dragon bone bde dark and dull—yet alive. The moment he drew it, the air around them seemed to tighten, as if the jungle itself noticed.

  Maxi swallowed and drew his own dagger, the antler handle shaking slightly in his grip. Katherine stepped back, breath shallow.

  Then the jungle moved.

  A vine snapped around Katherine’s ankle and yanked her off her feet.

  “Katherine!” Maxi shouted, diving forward, grabbing her arms. The vine tightened, dragging both of them across the ground.

  Finn sprinted—

  Too te.

  Flowers burst open around him, buds snapping apart with wet sounds. Needles shot outward like rain.

  One struck Finn’s neck.

  Fire burned through his veins.

  His vision blurred. Purple veins spiderwebbed from the wound. Finn staggered, breath hitching, the jungle tilting violently.

  More needles flew.

  He dropped to one knee.

  Get up.

  Maxi’s voice cut through the haze. Katherine screamed.

  Finn growled and forced his legs to move. He charged forward, dizziness screaming protest, dagger clenched tight.

  The jungle opened.

  Before them stood the thing controlling it all.

  A massive pnt—its body swollen and pulsing like a diseased heart. Purple flesh stretched tight, hairs writhing like feelers. At its center, a mouth split open slowly, revealing rows upon rows of jagged, pnt-like teeth slick with sap.

  It breathed.

  The vine lifted Katherine higher.

  Finn leapt, bde fshing. He severed the vine cleanly, sap pouring like blood. Katherine hit the ground and scrambled away.

  The pnt screamed.

  From its body, smaller versions tore free—writhing, snapping things that lunged at Finn from all sides.

  He rolled, sshed, stabbed—barely keeping ahead of them. One vine caught his leg; he drove the dagger through it, feeling resistance give way.

  Then—

  The mother vine wrapped around his abdomen.

  Crushed.

  Lifted.

  Finn gasped as the ground vanished beneath him. His dagger tore from his grip, embedding itself in the soil below as he was dragged upward toward the open mouth.

  “Finn!” Maxi screamed.

  Finn stretched desperately toward the bde—

  It moved.

  The dagger ripped itself free from the ground and flew back into his hand.

  Finn stared at it for half a heartbeat.

  Then the vine tightened.

  He sshed—but the vine was too thick.

  The mouth loomed closer.

  Then—

  “NOT TODAY!”

  Maxi unched himself.

  Finn’s world slowed.

  Maxi flew straight into the pnt’s open mouth, arms crossed over his chest, eyes squeezed shut.

  “NOOO—!” Finn shouted, lunging uselessly.

  The pnt convulsed.

  A violent tremor rippled through its body.

  Then—

  Bloom.

  Flowers exploded outward from its mouth. Purple. Yellow. Red. White. Dozens. Hundreds. The pnt shrieked as its body split apart, stomach bursting in a spray of sludge and petals.

  Maxi was unched out like a cannonball.

  He hit the ground hard, rolling, covered head to toe in brown sludge.

  The vine around Finn loosened. He crashed down beside them, gasping.

  Silence fell—broken only by dripping sap and Maxi’s coughing.

  Finn scrambled to Maxi’s side. “Maxi—Maxi!”

  Maxi wiped sludge from his eyes. “I think… I swallowed a seed…”

  Finn stared.

  From the ruptured pnt, shoots sprouted rapidly—the same seeds Durante had given Maxi—forcing the pnt apart from within.

  “You—” Finn ughed breathlessly. “You did it.”

  Maxi grinned weakly. “See? Totally pnned.”

  The smaller pnts lunged again.

  Finn raised his dagger—and felt it.

  He threw it.

  The bde sang through the air, severing vines, stems, roots—returning instantly to his hand.

  Again.

  Again.

  The jungle stilled.

  They slumped together, exhausted, alive.

  Maxi poked the dagger. “Okay, that’s officially unfair.”

  “I’ll let you borrow it,” Finn said quietly, “when we find the mp.”

  “Deal.”

  Far above—

  The lynx roared.

  Its true form loomed, spiders fleeing in terror as it forced them back. As the danger waned, the great beast shrank again, breathing hard.

  Durante stood at the cliff’s edge, eyes locked on the waterfall below.

  Mist rose thick and heavy.

  “Finn,” he whispered.

  And then he jump.