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Eden followed Thorne, careful to step only where he stepped. He had warned her after breakfast that they would be walking toward an area of the jungle that held more danger—which, given what she’d already experienced, was saying something. He’d been insistent that she stay close, step where he stepped, and not touch anything thin and green, referring to the black mamba snakes of the area, which were actually grayish brown, and whose bite was fatal.
They hiked down the sloping mountain and left the canopy of hagenia trees behind them before they journeyed into the bamboo forests. They reached the village by early evening, but Thorne remained at the edge of the woods. He would not go farther.
She saw him studying the structures with intense focus, and Eden followed his gaze. He was watc
