The Poison Jungle (Wings of Fire, Book 13) by Sutherland Tui T

Author:Sutherland, Tui T. [Sutherland, Tui T.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2019-07-29T16:00:00+00:00

“I think I should be in charge,” Nettle announced as Sundew spread the map out on a tree stump in the center of the SapWing village. The rain had finally stopped, so the stump was slightly damp, but the map was drawn on a large waterproof leaf. It was also, in Sundew’s opinion, not the most helpful map she’d ever seen, but Queen Sequoia said this was all the information she had.

“Ha,” Sundew said without looking up at Nettle. “No.”

“But I’m the oldest,” Nettle hissed. “So I have the most experience in the jungle and I have been training for a mission like this my whole life and I am a natural leader.”

“Ha HA,” Sundew snorted. “Outvoted. Four to one.”

“You didn’t even ask them! They might vote for me!”

“Nope,” said Willow.

“Sorry, no,” said Cricket.

“Meboo bope!” Bumblebee chimed in enthusiastically from her sling.

“Oh, whoops, five to one,” Sundew said. “Maybe she is smarter than she looks,” she added to Cricket. She held out her palm and the dragonet whacked it delightedly.

“MANDRAKE,” Nettle demanded, swelling up with indignation. “TELL HER I SHOULD BE THE LEADER.”

“Sundew, why would you do this to me?” Mandrake asked plaintively.

“Because if she’s mad at you, maybe she’ll stop harassing me for a nanosecond,” Sundew pointed out. “Willow, what’s the farthest you’ve been on this map?”

Willow pointed to a cluster of squiggles northeast of the village. “The manchineel grove. I got too close to it once on a hunt, and my father dragged me back here and lectured me for a week about it.”

Willow’s father had turned out to be a kind-eyed pale green dragon with a lot of nervous energy. Sundew had only met him for a moment as the queen swept him into her entourage and he paused to wish Willow good luck. Sundew had noticed with a twinge of disappointment that Willow hadn’t said my girlfriend in that introduction. Of course, that probably required a slightly longer conversation, involving some confessions about sneaking off into the jungle at night.

Sundew needed to have a similar slightly longer conversation with Mandrake, but not in front of Nettle, and not when they only had a day to find the antidote and bring it back to stop Queen Wasp.

Priorities, Sundew. Focus on the mission.

Totally not just avoiding something enormously awkward, no.

“There’s not a lot of detail in this map,” Sundew observed. She wished she’d had time to restock her pouches. They felt unfortunately light for such a dangerous expedition. She rechecked her list in her mind, hoping what she did have would be useful.

“Most of us haven’t gone past the manchineels,” Willow said. “They’re scary death trees.”

“I’ve read about them, but I’ve never seen one,” Cricket said, pushing up her glasses. Her tail was doing its so-curious-I-can-hardly-stand-it twitch-dance.

“Don’t even think about it,” Sundew said. “No time for research today, Miss Brainy. We’ll go around them.” She rolled up the leaf again and glanced up at the trees. The SapWings were frantically busy, hopping from tree to tree, shouting suggestions at one another, and gathering in small worried groups to whisper before splitting up again.

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