Redcap

by Amanda Booloodian

  "Can he find them? They don't exactly show up on the GPS."

  People knew werewolves have good hearing and sense of smell, right? Maybe they didn't realize how good it actually was.

  "The goblins from earlier would have left a pretty clear trail," I said.

  "Fair enough," Henderson said. He didn't look completely convinced, but flipped on his comms. "Rider, when your clothes are dry, follow the trail from earlier and take the goblin back to his people. Don't be seen."

  Spotting a possible problem in the wording, I flipped my comms back on as well. "Yeah, Rider. Are your clothes dry? I mean, not your clothes, but Rust's clothes that were left for you to wear."

  There was a long pause before Rider came back on. "They are dry."

  "Meet up with us when you're done," Henderson said. After we turned off the comms, he looked me over. "Do you need a break? We could wait for Rider here if you want to."

  I was using only a minimal amount of power, but after such a long day, even that was pushing it. "A quick break would be good." I was loath to admit that. "There's some water and packets of coffee in the bag. I could use the boost."

  While Henderson was distracted, rummaging around in the bag, I concentrated hard and stepped away from the Path. The night grew dull and the world swayed briefly. There was a handy tree nearby, so I used it to steady myself until the world steadied itself again.

  "You okay?" Henderson asked.

  "Sure, it's just been a long day."

  "Too long," Henderson agreed. "If we hadn't found the pixie trail, I would have called it for the night."

  "At least the snow is stopping," I said.

  Logan and Rider were probably still wide-awake. Although, Logan had done an awful lot of running around. Still, I think Henderson would have had a fight on his hands if he tried to make anyone leave.

  "Thanks," I said, taking the offered water and tube of coffee.

  "You must be a die-hard coffee drinker to pack that around with you," Henderson said.

  Without cream and sugar, I wasn't fond of coffee, so I shrugged. "Something like that."

  A few minutes ticked by and Henderson looked anxious to get moving. Once my drink was made, I leveraged myself off the tree, readying myself to open the Path once again.

  "... is... rea..." A garbled message came through on the comms.

  "Come again?" Henderson said.

  "We... take... high... leas... "

  "You're out of range, Logan," Henderson said, raising his voice on the comms.

  Another message came through, almost completely indistinguishable, and then there was silence.

  "They must have reached the trucks," I said. A clump of snow fell from a branch and I brushed it off my shoulder.

  "Yeah," Henderson said, "too bad we couldn't get an update on Rust."

  I nodded sympathetically. "Well, let's find—" A sound of stone rubbing against stone made me freeze. "Did you hear that?"

  "Is it the pixie?" Henderson asked, speaking softly.

  "No, I heard that same noise earlier."

  I was concentrating so hard, trying to see or hear anything from the woods that I jumped when Henderson started speaking in a normal voice.

  "It's the pixie," he said. "Let's find it and get out of here."

  "I'm telling you, this isn't a pixie," I snapped. Something moved in the dark, and my attention became razor focused into that area.

  "I have a hard time imagining a giant scorpion, much less one in the middle of winter in the Midwest."

  "You won't have to imagine for long." Nothing stirred in the forest, so I cast my gaze around again.

  Henderson cleared his throat. "I've never actually heard of a giant scorpion."

  My mouth opened and shut, unsure of how to respond. He didn't sound accusatory, but instead uncertain.

  "Do you think I am making it up?" I asked, trying to keep the accusation out of my voice.

  "No, but the way you see things, maybe your eyes are playing tricks on you."

  I've never wanted my partners at my side so badly in my life. A flicker of movement behind Henderson caught my eye, and I stepped aside, trying to catch sight of the creature. The hairs on the back of my neck rose when I imagined this thing stalking us.

  Whatever had caused the movement, it was gone again.

  "Maybe we should head back to Rider," Henderson said.

  Forget this, I thought. Gripping the tree, I closed my eyes, and using fear as a catapult, I launched into the Path.

  When I opened my eyes, I swallowed hard. We were surrounded by the Path of the creature. It was pursuing us.

  I tried to spot the most recent Path, but they were all so fresh, it was hard to determine.

  "Come on, Agent Heidrich," Henderson said, forcing some good nature into his voice. "Let's go meet Rider."

  "Shut up," I said, keeping my voice low.

  "Excuse me?" He sounded surprised.

  "Keep your voice down," I hissed. "This thing has been circling us."

  "You're serious about this?" Henderson asked.

  "Not at all." I didn't bother trying to keep the sarcasm light, as I slowly turned in a circle, intensely alert for movement. "I'm saying it for the fun of it. Gee, isn't this fun?"

  Henderson patted his pockets distractedly. When I looked at him, a shape behind him slowly began to emerge from the night.

  "Dammit," he cursed. "It is the pixie."

  "What are you talking about?" Then I realized he was facing away from the thing.

  "The gun is gone," he said.

  "Are you freaking kidding me?" My voice came out loud and shrill, but I didn't care.

  "No, I'm saying it for fun," he snapped.

  I grabbed his arm and turned him around. The scorpion had crouched down when I yelled at Henderson, but there was no mistaking what it was. After a few silent moments, the creature’s claws twitched, and the sound of rock rubbing against rock was clear.

  Henderson started frantically patting his pockets. "I've still got the tranq gun."

  The scorpion’s tail rose up, curling itself over the body.

  He fumbled with the gun, then aimed it and fired twice. The scorpion flinched, as though expecting pain, but the darts bounced off harmlessly.

  "Dammit," he muttered as he shot the remaining darts.

  "It didn't work for me, either," I said.

  "How fast are scorpions?" he asked.

  "How should I know?"

  Henderson was breathing in sharp, short breaths. "Suggestions?"

  "We have nothing to fight it with. Climb, maybe? It worked before."

  "Right. Good thing for training, right?"

  Did we climb during training? I didn't remember climbing anything.

  Two shots cracked through the night.

  Looking up, I saw the pixie holding Henderson's gun, ready to pull the trigger again. It was yelling, either at us or at the scorpion, I had no idea. What I did know was that the gun was pointed down. The pixie should have had no idea what a gun was, but must have learned from Henderson firing the tranquilizers.

  Another bang from the gun and Henderson twitched, clutching his arm.

  "Son of a—"

  "The noise startled it," I yelled. "Find a tree." I grabbed Henderson's coat sleeve and dragged him a few steps before he started moving away on his own.

  The animal must have been part dog. As soon as we ran, it started to chase.

  "There," I said, pointing out a likely tree.

  He didn't have to be told twice. He made a pained noise as he pulled himself up on a branch. I kept going, spotting something a little lower.

  More shots fired, then the gun went silent.

  Forcing myself not to look back was difficult, but until I scaled a branch, I didn't dare turn around, which was good for me. The thing’s tail whipped up, startling a small scream from me.

  Breathing hard, I scrambled up another branch. The burst of adrenaline caused the Path to surge around me. Without thinking, I slammed the p
ower down, trying to smash the thing.

  The scorpion flattened on the ground and sunk into the snow. The power, much like the adrenaline, was short lived. Once the pressure was released, the scorpion moved. Panting, I leaned my head against the tree and watched the creature rise again.

  “You okay?” Henderson asked from his tree.

  “Yeah,” I said. “You?”

  “The damned pixie shot me.”

  “What?” It came out more of a shriek than I intended.

  “Looks like it just grazed me. Hurts like mad though. What's that thing doing?"

  "It's, uh..." I scrambled for something to say, but my mind was trying to wind down. "I dropped something on it, but I don't think it did much good."

  "What did you drop?"

  "Um... uh..." I stammered.

  The scorpion began to move again. It might have been my imagination, but it seemed a little slower. Stunned, maybe? It scuttled sideways a little and snapped its claw a few times, almost experimentally.

  "Do you have any tranquilizers left?" Henderson asked.

  "Yes, but they don't break through the skin."

  "There has to be a softer spot somewhere, like its eyes, maybe?"

  I shivered imagining shooting anything in the eye. "Maybe."

  "Or we can use a branch or something to hit it with."

  "Maybe," I said, looking around. Everything was covered in a sheet of white.

  That's when I spotted Rider. Hunting was the first word that popped into mind. Rider was intent on his prey.

  I had no doubt that Rider could hurt this thing. I closed my eyes and rested my forehead against the tree. There was doubt, however, that Rider could do it without getting killed. One snap of those claws and he was likely to lose a hand. Even worse, the tail could skewer him. If this thing's Path was any indication, it held some powerful venom.

  That's what the Path had done. It had poisoned me. Only when I was in the Path, though.

  Could that thing's venom kill itself?

  My mind felt sluggish when I tried to work that out.

  "What the hell is he doing?" Henderson snapped.

  My eyes snapped open and the world lurched. I gripped the branch and frantically looked for Rider, assuming that was what Henderson was talking about. Instead, my eyes landed on a pixie. Visible to the entire world, holding a gun at an awkward angle, and madly pulling the trigger.

  The gun had been empty for ages, but the pixie didn't seem to care. He half walked, half flew across the snow, yelling and taunting the scorpion.

  The creature was already moving fast toward the pixie.

  Without thinking, I scrambled down the tree. "Hey," I yelled at the scorpion, "leave him alone!"

  The scorpion didn't care. It had its target.

  When I lowered myself to the ground, I almost fell over. Since I was surrounded by poison, it could have been very bad. Even standing near it, I had to swallow hard and steel myself.

  Looking around, I saw that there was nothing but snow and Path around me. I balled up some snow and threw it at the animal. It twitched, but kept moving. The pixie flew up when the scorpion reached it. The animal’s claws snapped at the pixie—as it flew toward me.

  To my amazement, the pixie landed on my shoulder, screeching madly at the scorpion. It shook the gun at the creature as well. If a deadly animal the size of large dog hadn't been bearing down on us, the sight would have been amusing.

  Rider jumped out at the creature and tackled it.

  They rolled over each other in the snow. I ran forward, plunging into the toxin that surrounded me. The Path was close at hand and powerful, so I gathered it as I ran. Rider had ended up on top of the creature, but the thing’s tail was still free. It lashed out at my friend.

  Henderson yelled something, but I could only maintain focus on the stinger plunging toward Rider. Lights in my vision popped, and the world grew dimmer as I threw power between Rider and the scorpion’s tail. Much like it had earlier, the power burst out, knocking the tail back and Rider forward.

  Before the tail could recover, I used the foul Path as a spear and plunged it into the creature.

  It might have worked if I had had enough strength to make it solid.

  Cold sweat broke out from head to toe and I shivered. A wave of exhaustion hit me at the same time. If Rider hadn't been on top of this thing, holding its claws at bay, yet still seriously in danger of getting stung, I would have stopped there.

  Still holding the contaminated Path, I lashed out again. Then I reached the pair.

  I'm not sure what I had intended, as I ran toward them. If I started with a plan, it was now gone. The tail began to rise again, and I did the only thing I could think of. I fell on top of it.

  It would have been nice if I could say I had lunged forward and pinned it to the ground, but in all truthfulness, it was more of a flop and dumb luck.

  Still having the thing’s Path, a foul malignancy coursed through my body, but I didn't let go. Instead, I pulled the creature's Path, trying to weaken it as much as possible. At some point, my stomach heaved, but I dragged on that Path until the lights started popping in my vision.

  There was no chance for me to push the Path away. When my stomach lurched again, my power fled.

  It took me a few moments to realize I was face down in the snow and the scorpion wasn't moving. Rider yelled at someone, but it sounded muffled, as though it were coming through a barrier before reaching my ears.

  My head spun.

  It could have been seconds or hours later, I wasn't really sure, but someone grabbed under my arms and dragged me away. The movement made me even more unsteady, so I was thrilled when they stopped. At least my face was no longer being smothered by ice.

  The snow felt soft. There was a warm spot on my chest, and when I looked down it didn't immediately register that there was a pixie sitting on me. It wasn't until much later that I realized it had been going through my pockets.

  Logan's face swam above mine. I thought he had left, but my brain was fuzzy.

  "What happened?" he asked, his face more serious than I had seen it before.

  "Something’s wrong," I said. "I don't feel right."

  "Did it sting you?" Logan asked.

  I closed my eyes and tried to remember. Had it stung me? I guess it was possible. It was difficult to open my eyes again. "Not sure," I said, "but the Path." My eyes fell shut, and I felt content to keep them closed until Logan yelled at me.

  I didn’t catch what he said, but I opened my eyes and glared at him.

  "What about the Path?" he asked.

  "It was poison," I said.

  "What the hell does that mean?"

  The words, 'how the hell should I know' floated away before they reached my lips.

  The pixie was warm, the snow was soft, and I was exhausted. "I need to sleep." I'm not sure if I said the words or thought them, but either way, my eyes shut and I fell asleep.

  Chapter 13

  A horn blared, and I bolted upright.

  "Is she okay back there?" Logan asked, sounding tense.

  I blinked and looked around. It was dark and warm, but it took a while for me to register that we were in the truck and not in the woods.

  "How'd I get here?" I asked, rubbing my head. A fierce ache seemed to have taken hold.

  A hand wrapped itself over my forehead, and I flinched until I realized it was Rider. Even knowing it was him, I pushed his hand away.

  "Are you okay?" I asked, turning to him. "What happened?"

  "I am well," he said, "but you should lie back down.”

  "Is everyone else okay?" I asked, ignoring the suggestion.

  "Agent Henderson has been shot in the arm, but we are well," Rider said.

  "The pixie?" My brain was starting to catch back up. "And the scorpion?"

  "The pixie is home and the scorpion is dead," Rider said.

  "She sounds coherent, at least," Henderson said from the passenger seat.

  Rider's hand presse
d against my head again. "She is no longer hot."

  "I'm fine," I said, nudging his arm away again. "Just tired." After the words were out, I realized tired was an understatement.

  Logan cleared his throat. "The scorpion's poison might have worked its way through your system."

  Had the scorpion stung me?

  "Is that possible?" Henderson asked.

  Logan shrugged. "Who can say? You sure you're feeling okay back there?"

  "Yeah." I looked down at my coat and found that it had been ripped.

  "Any shortness of breath, pain, or itching?" Logan asked.

  "I'm fine." I gritted my teeth to avoid snapping. "Just worn out."

  "Well, let us know if anything changes," Logan said, losing his intensity. "Rider, keep an eye on her."

  Even from the backseat, I could tell Logan was starting to look more relaxed.

  "How's Agent Rust?" I asked. "Have we heard anything?"

  "They made it to the hospital," Henderson said. "We haven't had another update."

  "Since Cassie's back on her feet, we could head to that hospital instead of tracking down Dr. Yelton," Logan said.

  Henderson tried to look back at me casually, which was impossible to pull off in the big vehicle. "If you're sure you don't want to get back to the Farm—"

  "I don't think there's a rush now," Logan said.

  "If you're sure," Henderson said, again.

  Due to the weather, it took another thirty minutes to reach the hospital. It was a relief to get Henderson out of the vehicle. He wasn't a bad guy when all was said and done, but my head hurt, I was exhausted, and I wasn't comfortable having him around.

  Logan ran inside with him, but was back in a few minutes.

  "We're headed home, right?" I asked.

  "How are you really feeling?" Logan asked.

  I shifted in my seat. "Mostly, I'm tired," I said, wanting to stress that fact. "But my head hurts, too."

  "Want to tell us what happened out there?" Logan asked.

  "It was the Path," I said. "I don't know if that thing was poisonous, but its Path definitely was."

  "You were poisoned from the Path?" Logan asked.