I set my pack next to Jastin’s frozen form. Both hands ablaze, I scanned the trembling shadows for Vill. Crevices and rocky outcroppings offered numerous places to hide. The crystal formations were no longer beautiful. They were treacherous.
“Vill? Why don’t we talk some more?”
“So talk,” he screeched from somewhere on my left.
Good. He was still here.
“Why don’t you feed off animals?”
“Animals bland. Vill like people.”
I crept toward a cluster of crystals. “You don’t think killing people is wrong?”
“People want to kill Vill. That not wrong?” His disembodied voice had moved to my right.
“You have a point. But those people aren’t around anymore.”
“All people want to kill Vill.”
I spun around to follow his voice, just in time to see his elastic chest puffed with air. I formed a fir
