Chapter 16
“That idiot is not going with us,” Dante demanded.
“I don’t like it either,” Logan admitted as he covered up the last of our fire. “But he’s our best bet at finding the portal. We’ve been walking in circles for a while now.”
“We have?” I asked, my jaw dropping.
Hendrik chuckled, then pinched my chin. “Did you think we found a cave exactly the same as the last one with a nice and cozy hot spring? You’re adorable, pet.”
I blushed. “Well, there were pixies in it again, right? I thought they just set up multiple traps in the forest.”
Uni squeaked in agreement. It was sound logic, and he—she’d been the one to take care of our pixie problem twice in a row.
Orion sharpened his blade with a whetstone as he crouched, his golden eyes on the mouth of the cave. “It seems those things repopulate after twenty-four hours. They’re like pests.”
Raze stepped out of the cavern to join us, ready to go.
Dante’s jaw flexed as he sheathed his dagger. That was as much of a “welcome aboard” as Raze was going to get.
It probably didn’t help that he was still naked. I’d thought maybe he might be grabbing his clothes from wherever he’d stashed them, but nope. He was still all muscles and flesh, rocking that incredible hair.
As gorgeous as he was, I didn’t feel the slightest interest in him. He wasn’t one of my Virtues, at least.
However, I sensed some sort of familiar power in him. Perhaps he would play a role in the tapestry of Calamity in the future.
“We’ll have to travel for most of the morning,” Raze said, adjusting a bag on his back, “but if we move at a steady pace, we’ll be there before midday.” He looked at all of us then turned, striding a few feet away.
Dante and I started forward. Logan caught my arm. “Hold up.”
I saw why he’d stopped me a moment later.
In a burst of color and magic, Raze shifted—and where once a man had stood, there was now a unicorn. A large, spiral horn rose from the center of his brow, precisely where that silvery mark had been on his forehead.
“Whoa,” I whispered, my head spinning. “You…”
I couldn’t breathe. Dragging in air, then forcing it out, I tried again. “You knew he was a fricking unicorn?”
“Walking around naked gave it away,” Logan murmured, his eyes rapt on the magical creature in front of us. “It’s a shifter thing.” A wild grin lit Logan’s face as he looked at me. “I wonder how fast he is.”
Raze chuffed, the sound coming from deep in his chest. I couldn’t stop the laugh from breaking free. “I think he’s daring you. Come on, Raze. Show us the way.”
The unicorn burst into action and Logan growled, shifting a moment later as he bolted to keep up.
We followed the tracks most of the way, coming across a sulking wolf as Raze pranced around him, clearly having been the victor in their little race.
Journeying with Raze paid off. We didn’t encounter a single demon-mines, but that was only a small boon.
Raze’s guidance didn’t spare us from the monstrous things that slid, crawled, and lurched from the trees around us. The longer we traveled, the more deadly the beasts became.
Raze had some sort of ability, it seemed, that let him communicate with Uni, and through Uni, to me.
There were no true words exchanged between me and my Uni-Hare—just images and feelings, but it was enough.
Several times, Raze would give me an imperious look, then disappear into the forest’s growth while we waited, baiting the trap he’d apparently set.
Once some Marked thing moved in our direction, Raze rushed in and gored his prey, his huge horn as deadly as any blade.
Other times…
“I wish that damned thing would make more noise,” Hendrik muttered. “Or just stop disappearing.”
Logan barked in agreement. We’d lost his path and our wolf had lost his scent for what felt like the millionth time.
“There he is.” I touched Hendrik’s arm even as I pointed to the unicorn’s gleaming coat ahead in the distance, just around a bend in the path.
Uni hopped to him, using that blurring speed I’d only seen a few times until today.
“We’re getting close,” Dante murmured. “Look.”
I followed his gaze to the canopy overhead and swallowed around the knot suddenly lodged in my throat. Shadows hung like clouds among the trees, sucking out all of the color from them.
A massive bird lurched from the shadows, a feral screech tearing from its throat as it extended deadly talons. Hendrik raised a hand. Magic blasted into the creature and it hit the ground, screaming its death cry.
Black streaked down its body in an ugly scar.
“Marked,” I whispered.
“Yes. There are more of them.” His lip curled in distaste. “There’s a taint to them. I feel more of it now.”
Raze stayed where he was until we caught up with him. This time, he kept his pace slow enough that we could keep up.
Milky shadows closed in all around us, blocking out the sunlight.
This didn’t feel right.
Space abruptly opened up in front of us and Raze halted. The colors that rippled over him as he shifted this time seemed muted. I wondered if the evil choking the life out of everything here affected him, too.
The unicorn shifter gave a long, slow look around before meeting my gaze. Softly, he said, “We’re here.”
“Where is here?” I asked.
Other than the shadows and stunted, blackened trees devoid of life, I couldn’t see anything. No portal to Hell, for sure.
“Calamity,” Kaito said.
We all looked at him.
He met my gaze. “This is Calamity incarnate.”