Chapter 23
twenty-three
Hundreds of pale birch trees surrounded them. The interwoven canopy cast the space in sharp shadows she hadn’t noticed before, lending the appearance of dusk though it was still a few marks ‘til.
A notch on a nearby tree moved, and Orelia froze. She stared at the dark spot, realizing the black nobs weren’t notches, they were eyes. The single notch blinked, and she gasped.
Every birch in the immediate area was covered in dark, watchful eyes.
“What the fuck?” Vade mumbled, noticing them too.
“I guess it’s safe to say you’ve never been here before,” Orelia asked, her voice hiking up.
They both watched the forest as it watched them. She listened intently for sounds belonging to the vicious creatures said to occupy the forest, but only an eerie quiet greeted her. In fact, she didn’t hear anything at all. No insects. No birds. Nothing.
Her racing heart thumped in her ears. “Do you think that’s why the eagle left us alone? Maybe it didn’t want to come in here.” A strange chill slid over her skin.
“Maybe it couldn’t come in here,” Vade said. “What in the hells?” He looked at his seidr axe, but it was only the handle, nothing more than a thick stick, and the white light was nowhere to be seen. He shook his weapon like the double-headed blades would appear, frowning when they didn’t.
The sword she held onto was now only the hilt, also missing its blade and seidr light. Vade took the weapon from her, shock in his wide eyes. “Tredablo, this isn’t good. We need to get out of here. Now.”
Orelia checked the seidr dagger he’d lent her to find it missing its sharp teeth.
Vade sheathed both unresponsive weapons on his back, freed two steel knives from his belt, and set out in the direction they’d come from.
She palmed a different dagger and followed him, the two of them breaking out into a brisk jog. Thankfully, they hadn’t strayed too far into the forest, but the longer they ran without the birch trees turning back into palms, the more concerned she became.
The canopy seemed to close in, darkening the path, branches reaching for them. Thankfully, her stamina had increased, her breaths less rough as she wiped a line of sweat dripping down her temple.
Vade eventually slowed to a stop. “We should have made it out by now.” His forehead glistened, worried eyes meeting hers.
“Maybe we went the wrong way,” Orelia said, knowing it wasn’t true. They’d been jogging for minutes, far longer than it should have taken to retrace their steps. Something was wrong.
Vade frantically looked around. “No, we definitely went this way.” He took a few steps, then went preternaturally still. “Get your dagger ready.”
Orelia crouched into a fighting stance, weapon already clutched tight.
“Stay close to me. Something’s nearby,” Vade whispered. “I can feel it.” He kept both daggers at hip level, creeping through the woods on silent feet.
Orelia stayed on his heels, heart drumming as she checked behind them every few seconds.
She’d gotten better at moving lightly, and her steps were just as quiet as Vade’s.
They wove through a few trees, each step encouraging a faster beat of her pulse.
Whatever Vade said he could feel, she could feel it too.
The brimming anticipation of a kill. Whether he’d be doing the killing or something else would, she didn’t know.
A low growl sounded ahead, and they both froze. The warning came from behind a massive boulder tucked between high grasses.
Vade slowly backed away, almost running into her. As they retreated, a massive paw snuck out from behind the boulder. A steel blue wolf slunk out from its hiding spot.
The animal was clearly alive, though its body looked like it was in decay.
Milky eyes stared directly at her, belonging to a creature almost her height.
The wolf’s flesh was missing from multiple parts of its body, leaving exposed bones on its ribcage, one leg, a shoulder, and half of its face.
The bones glowed a reddish orange, but its eyes remained a lifeless white.
Blind, perhaps? she thought.
Every sharp tooth on the right side of its jaw was visible, turning a deep red when it snarled, along with the rest of its exposed skeleton.
“Back up, back up, back up!” she whispered, pulling on Vade’s shirt. “It’s pissed off.”
“No shit,” he said. When he raised his daggers, the wolf dipped its head and snapped its jaws.
Vade cursed as she pushed him behind her. “What in the hells, Orelia?”
The witch sheathed her dagger and showed her empty palms to the wolf. “It’s okay,” she said in a soothing voice. “We’re not here to hurt you.”
The creature’s red bones flickered to orange, then back to red.
Orelia dropped into a squat, lowering her head slightly, showing submission. “Get down,” she whispered.
She felt Vade move behind her, and soon after, the wolf’s skeleton turned yellow.
“See. We won’t hurt you,” she said, making sure to keep her palms exposed and her eyes on the space where the creature’s gigantic claws dug into the ground.
The wolf stuck out its snout and sniffed the air, bones oscillating between yellow and green.
She took one more step back, hoping to ease the creature’s apprehension. If the wolf was anything like her lynx back home, Orelia knew to give it time to warm up to her before approaching.
Only after its bones had stayed solid green for more than a few seconds did she slowly straighten. The wolf cocked its head, and Orelia took a cautious step forward.
“What are you doing?” Vade whisper-yelled.
She stuck out a hand to silence him.
Ghostly eyes went over her shoulder, followed by a nasty snarl that rattled the wolf’s ribs, bones going orange.
“You’re making it mad,” Orelia scorned. “Back off.”
She heard him scoff, but the heaviness of Vade’s presence faded as he put some distance between them.
Orelia took another step forward. “It’s okay.”
The wolf began to pace, never taking its focus off her. Not blind. Its bones went back and forth from yellow to green, but eventually green won out.
After a few curious steps forward and cautious steps back, the wolf approached and sniffed her hand.
A smile burst across her face. She let the strange creature lick her palm, watching its tail wag. Feeling braver than was wise, Orelia slid her other hand to the wolf’s cheek, stroking its surprisingly soft blue fur.
The wolf’s bones changed from green to pink, encouraging her to continue. When she scratched behind its ears, the pink brightened, nearly blinding her.
Orelia giggled when the wolf’s tongue flopped out of the side of its mouth. “You’re not so scary after all,” she said.
A branch behind her snapped, and the wolf’s head shot up. White eyes went over her shoulder before the animal bounded into the woods.
She whirled to see Vade had made it halfway to her. “You scared it off!”
“You were petting a wild animal! Who knew when it could have turned on you!” He lowered his daggers and blew out a breath. “Tredablo, Orelia, you could have gotten yourself eaten.”
She wiped the fur stuck to her hands on her pants. “I think you mean, ‘Thank you for diffusing the situation. I owe you my life.’”
Vade shook his head, but his shoulders relaxed. “How did you know to do that?”
“My familiar, Polly, has ears that glow a certain color depending on her mood, so I went off of that.”
“With no guarantee it meant the same for the wolf,” he chided.
“It worked, didn’t it? I was right,” she said with a proud lift of her chin.
Vade huffed. “Yeah, well, it may not work on the next creature we encounter.” He looked around. “We need to find a way out of here before the sun sets. It’ll be a dark moon tonight.”
She’d completely forgotten the end of the month had arrived.
No dark moon had ever brought anything good in her life.
Beron’s was always packed, and she’d spent every dark moon since she’d begun working for him in the brothel.
The night seemed to call to the baser instincts of all, heightening the need to be violent to the pleasure girls.
A dark moon only meant one thing in her world.
Pain. A sickening twist of her stomach had Orelia anxious to get out of the Greywood.
“Which way do we go?” she asked.
“Umm . . .this way.” She knew by the tentative point of his finger that he was just as lost as she was but followed him anyway.
They continued on, this time with her at Vade’s shoulder.
The trees continued blinking as they passed.
Watching. Waiting. Not encountering any more half-skeletal animals should have lessened her concern, but it only made her anxious, especially as the minutes dragged on and they were no closer to finding a way out.
“I know this sounds crazy,” she said in a hushed tone, “but we don’t seem to be making any progress. Everything looks the same, but I know we aren’t going in circles.”
Vade’s eyes never stopped searching the woods. “Something’s definitely off. It’s like the woods are expanding.” He huffed a laugh. “Now, that sounds crazy.”
A noise sounded up ahead.
Vade shoved Orelia behind him so forcefully she almost fell. He squatted into an attack position, and she did the same.
A faint, green light emanated from a cluster of trees where the sounds were coming from.
“Fucking assholes!” a high pitched, feminine voice squeaked out.
The two of them crept closer, daggers at the ready. They peeked around a tree to see a small creature covered in moss, leaves, and vines. One of their iridescent wings was pinned under a boulder, the other fluttering erratically. The creature shrieked when it noticed them.
“It’s all right!” Orelia offered. “Here, let me help you.”
She started, but Vade grabbed her arm. “We don’t know what that is.”
“Go away!” The tiny creature’s voice was an octave above anything Orelia had ever heard. Barely two feet tall, with skin as green as pond algae and humanlike features. She searched her memory for the species. Something that started with a ‘P’ . . .
“See? It doesn’t want our help,” Vade said.
“Let go of me. I was right about the wolf, wasn’t I?”
He held his grip.
Orelia placed her hand on top of his. “Just trust me. Please.”
After a few seconds of searching her eyes, he let her go with one of his signature I’m-not-happy-about-this-decision grunts.
Orelia slowly approached the creature she was sure started with a ‘P’.
The creature panicked, one wing fluttering wildly. “Go away! I’ll hurt you if you come closer!”
Ignoring the threat, Orelia squatted and wrapped her arms around the boulder. “I’m going to lift this up, and then you’ll be free. Promise you won’t hurt me once you’re out from under this rock?”
Earthy green eyes blinked against matching skin. “Okay,” the creature squeaked.
The second she moved the boulder, the creature shot off into the woods, flying so quickly she barely caught its movement. Soon it came back into view, landing on a tree branch nearby.
“What are you?” Orelia asked with a tilt of her head.
“A pixie. What are you?”
She placed a hand over her heart. “I’m a witch, and—”
“You owe us for helping you, pixie,” Vade interjected. “Now show us the way out of here.”
The pixie snorted and crossed her little arms.
“Sorry about him. He doesn’t have any manners. We’re lost and were wondering if you could show us the way out of here.”
The pixie stepped along the branch on bare feet the size of Orelia’s palm. “Why should I?”
The witch silenced Vade with a look before he could say something smart. For once, he kept his mouth shut.
“We don’t want any trouble. We just want to know which way to go to get out of here. I think we might have been going in circles.”
A small smile played on the pixie’s blue-green lips. “The Greywood does that. It can play tricks on you if you aren’t from here.”
“Tricks?” she asked.
“Mhm.” The pixie leapt off the branch and flew toward her, stopping a few feet away, hovering.
Her leaf-woven dress moved with her body, and her hair twisted like vines in various shades of brown.
Her wings were the most captivating. Nearly as clear as glass, softly reflecting all colors of the rainbow.
“You won’t make it out before sundown, and you don’t want to be caught out in the open in these woods at night. Especially on a dark moon.”
Oh right, that. “Where should we go then?”
The pixie smiled. “You can come with me!” She wrapped her tiny fingers around Orelia’s forefinger, pulling her along. “I’m Evie.”
“Orelia. And this is Vade.”
The pixie looked Vade over. “Put your weapons away, fae. Those aren’t welcome at the Tree.”
“How’d you know I was fae?”
“I can smell the Points in your blood.” The pixie jerked her head toward Orelia. “Same way I knew she was a witch.”
“So, you already knew what I was even though you asked?” Orelia couldn’t help but be impressed.
A coy smile grew on the pixie’s face. “Couldn’t give away all my secrets up front, could I?”
Orelia chuckled, and once Vade had sheathed his blades, Evie resumed tugging on her finger.
“What is the Tree?” Orelia asked, eager to see where they were headed.
Evie grinned. “Home.”