by Anna Hub
He shrugged and stepped closer. “Even with Tara around.”
I looked up at him as he gently touched at the web burn on my face. “It doesn’t hurt as badly anymore.”
“It’s going to scar,” his breath rushed over me as he whispered and goose bumps rose on my neck.
“Perfect. My hair is a disaster and now this too.”
“I like you better this way.”
“Scarred?”
“It makes you look wild,” he teased.
I held his wrists as his hands cupped my jaw, unable to respond as his lips hovered close to mine. It felt like it was just the two of us again, back in the place where we’d met.
He leaned in, his lips gentle as they moved over mine. I held onto his arms as he dragged me closer and I could have got lost in that kiss but I forced myself to take step back.
“We shouldn’t leave the others alone,” I said.
He nodded, inhaling deeply as he let me go.
I took his hand and we headed back to the campsite together. The future of the mission seemed more certain and I finally knew that Brayden was guiding me to where I needed to be.
Tara and Nick’s voices grew louder as we neared the clearing.
“How old are you?” Tara asked.
Nick glanced at us as we returned with the water bags. “I’m fifteen.”
Tara took the bag I handed to her as she spoke to Nick, “I come from a village on the other side of this Valley. There's a man named Wesley who came here when he was the same age. He’s in his fifties now.”
Nick frowned. “Why did he stay here?”
I took a seat, eager to intercept in case Tara said too much. “Wesley stayed because he knew this world had a lot to offer. We're in a very dangerous place now, but when you're in the village you'll see that life is very different there.”
“But I can go home, if I want to?”
Tara eyed me across the fire.
“There is a way to pass between both worlds, yes,” I replied. “But there’s a lot you need to know before I tell you how it works.”
Nick sat back, his gaze at the ground for a long time before he spoke again. “As long as I can definitely go back home soon.”
I nodded. "Soon."
Tara sighed. “Things are simple here but most people find it a more rewarding lifestyle in the long run.”
I stared at Tara, silently begging her not to say any more. Not everyone was like her. For some people, the Origin gave them all the happiness they wanted. They didn’t want to lose that life, and it was too soon for Nick to find out he didn’t have a choice.
“Don’t be afraid." Tara added as she lay back. "You’ll adapt.”
A cat’s head emerged over the rocks, inhaled our scent with loud sniffs. We all jumped and from the corner of my eye, I saw Nick shaking. I reached out and took his hand.
“They won’t hurt us.”
The cat backed away and disappeared from view. I waited for Nick to look up with pleading eyes once again but he didn’t.
He stared at the shadow bundled at my feet. "What is that?”
How much should I tell him? “When you stay in this world, your shadow becomes real.” I stretched it so he could see it was the shape of my body.
“Do you all have one?”
Tara kicked hers out and his eyes widened.
“Can I get one?”
“Only when you're finished in the Origin,” Tara replied.
I cringed. Tara had plenty of great qualities, but sensitivity wasn't one of them. Surprisingly, Nick didn't seem upset by what she'd said. But her eyes stared intently and I wondered if she was using her Manipulation to keep him calm.
I quickly spoke up, telling Nick stories about my shadow in the hope that I could keep Tara's harsh lessons out of the conversation.
The night passed slowly. Sounds from the forest kept us all on edge until Brayden gave in and closed his eyes. I told Nick how Brayden's Instinct would alert us to danger, and it was safe to sleep as long as he was around. Eventually, in the early hours of the morning, Nick closed his eyes and as I watched his chest rise and fall, my heart warmed at the realisation that we'd saved him.
I woke to the sound of Tara sniffing. I turned and found the firelight reflecting from tears in her eyes.
I sat up. "Are you okay?"
She smiled and blinked the tears away in an instant. "Yeah. I'm fine."
Seeing her so vulnerable broke my heart. She wasn't as tough as she pretended to be. Of course it had to be about Matt but what could I possible say that would help? "You don't have to be fine." I repeated the words Brayden had said to me.
She breathed deeply as though it helped to shove aside all sadness. "Really, Selena, I'm fine."
I nodded. "Maybe Matt's already gone back to the village."
We both knew that was unlikely. He had no idea whether Tara was safe or not, and he wouldn't leave without her.
She nodded. "Yeah, maybe." She cleared her throat and motioned to Brayden. "Well, he did it. He helped you rescue a new shadow."
I smiled. I'd been so afraid that Brayden would prevent me from rescuing new shadows, in the same way he stopped me from helping Tara with the reptile. But not all situations would be the same. Nick had been running from the danger rather than into it and his rescue had been smoother than I'd hoped.
Tara grinned with me. She seemed genuinely happy and my earlier suspicions about her motive for joining this mission, rapidly subsided. If she’d had a dark intention, it would have surfaced by now. She was tired and afraid. It was impossible to hide the truth when you were broken down to the very bones of your personality.
Matt had told me their top priority was keeping me alive. He said I'd be ready to make my own decision about them by the time we made it out of here. And he was right. I didn’t know exactly why Tara had followed me here, but I knew now that I would trust her with my life.
"Now we just need to find five more and get out of here," I said.
"And quickly. We're dangerously low on food."
I slept for a few hours but once the initial fatigue wore off, I had too much on my mind to get back to sleep. Tara and Nick were asleep but Brayden stared back at me. I moved to his side of the fire and nestled at his side. His hand curled around mine and I closed my eyes, enjoying the warmth.
"You said there were new shadows in the pit of the Valley," I began. "But you also said there were more hunters. Do you think we might be able to use the cats to our advantage?" Perhaps we could come up with some kind of strategy to play the cats against the hunters.
"There are definitely more hunters than last time we were here. Any support we can get from the cats might help to tip the balance in our favour."
How had things changed so dramatically from the last time we were here? It hadn't been that long.
"Do we need to figure out a plan?"
He kissed my shoulder. "I think they'll follow us once we travel deeper. From what we've seen so far, they're likely to help with the hunters without us trying to manipulate them."
Hopefully he was right.
Chapter Fifteen
It rained again in the morning and even without seeing Tara’s reaction, I felt miserable. The chances of finding Matt were getting slimmer.
“Are we going back to your village now?” Nick spoke quietly.
It was strange to hear him say that. I didn’t actually have a village but he didn’t know he was my bargaining tool to form an alliance there. For now, he didn’t need to know the politics of the situation.
“Not yet. We came here to rescue people and there’s a few more who need our help before we go back.”
“What about those men?” He motioned to Brayden. “Like him.”
“No. I told you, he's not like them.”
“He has the eyes.”
“That's because he shares the same heightened Instinct but he hasn't lost his human connection like the others."
Tara packed her bag. “How long have you b
een here, Nick?”
“Twelve days.”
“How many times have you visited this place? Is this the first time you’ve come here?”
“I’m not even sure anymore. I’ve been coming here for months. I usually try and find somewhere to hide until it’s over.”
“What about your family? Your life?” I interrupted, afraid of where Tara might be heading. But even asking the questions stirred raw emotion in me. “Where are you in the Origin?”
“I’ve been in hospital for a while now,” he replied.
“And you understand this place is real?” I checked his expression carefully.
“At first I thought it was a bad dream but it’s been going on for so long now, I figure it has to be real. Or I'm completely insane.”
"You're not insane," I said. “I know it’s hard but it’s important that we know how long it’s been. Three months? Five months?”
He shrugged. “Maybe seven.”
As soon as I had him safely out of the Valley, I’d tell him more about this world and hopefully I could work out roughly how long he had left before his transfer was complete.
We were about to leave our campsite behind when a voice sounded nearby. My pulse raced. I'd never heard hunters speak before. I turned; eyes trained on the forest as the trees parted and Matt stepped through. Tara squealed. She dropped her bow and jumped into his arms.
"He's a friend," I told Nick, eyes tearing at the relief of seeing Matt alive.
Tara curled her legs around his waist and kissed him desperately. Matt laughed as he broke away. "I followed your clues. The rain washed away your footprints but the broken branches and arrows led me in the right direction."
I jumped as a second person stepped into the campsite. A young woman paused as she caught sight of us. Curly blonde hair framing her face—too neat for her to have been here long. She looked a little older than Nick, but barely an adult herself.
Matt lowered Tara to her feet, his arms still circled around her waist as he spoke, “Selena, I found someone from the Origin. This is Rachel. She's twenty.”
Matt introduced each of us. Brayden didn’t smile at her the way Tara and I did, but thankfully his eyes weren't grey.
“How did you find her?” I asked Matt.
“She landed right behind me yesterday. She didn’t even try to run.” Matt grinned at her. “In fact, I think she still thinks this is a dream.”
I looked at Rachel. “This is the first time you’ve had this dream then?”
“Yes.” She frowned.
Tara turned to me. “She’s brand new.”
Rachel crossed her arms. Talking about her like she wasn't there wasn't really fair. I turned the conversation to Nick and explained how we'd found him. "There were hunters nearby, but Brayden managed to fight them off so we could rescue Nick."
Matt's eyes narrowed as he turned to Brayden. "You let Selena save him, but not Tara?”
Brayden stared back but I rushed to put myself between them. “What happened with Tara was bad. Believe me, I agree. But Brayden would have helped her if he could.”
Matt shook his head. “He knew leaving us out of the firelight would expose us to the reptile. He could have at least warned us.”
“It wasn’t a conscious choice he made.”
“He obviously made the conscious choice to save this guy.” He pointed at Nick.
“It wasn’t like that, Matt. Nick was far away from the hunters. I was able reach him without having to risk myself.”
“It’s not my job to save Tara’s life.” Brayden straightened.
“What you did was wrong.” Matt took a step around me.
I glanced back at Brayden. His eyes splintered and grabbed Matt's arm. "Calm down, Matt."
He ignored me, still glaring at Brayden. "If she'd died because of you—"
"Stop it!" I cried. I understood Matt's anger; it would have taken time before he was certain Tara was still alive. Even then, it had taken days for him to find her. "You know you can't win this, Matt."
"He should at least admit he did something wrong."
“I came here to get away from you and you followed," Brayden growled. "Anything that happens here is your own fault.”
Both Nick and Rachel were absorbing the atmosphere between the two men. I needed to stop this before it got out of control.
"Let’s focus on what we’re here for.” I wanted to appear strong and united for our new shadows, not angry and petty.
“I don’t care how many hunters you kill or how many new shadows we take home, I won’t forget what happened that day,” Matt muttered.
“And I'll never remember it,” Brayden replied.
It was a cruel thing for Brayden to say but it was only the truth. I quickly pulled Matt aside before it could go any further, telling him of our plan to rescue the final shadows with the cats help.
In a perfect world, we would have waited until we were well rested and fed, but in the Valley of the Hunters, that would never happen. The sooner we found what we came for, the sooner we could leave.
We picked fruit from the berry trees as we travelled and Matt seemed to have the best understanding of food that was edible, stopping us frequently to pull plant roots from the ground and pack them away for later.
Rachel gagged as he squashed bugs and tucked them into a leaf. “Why are you doing that?”
“They're a great source of protein." He carried on walking. "In here, we have to eat whatever we can find."
"You can't be serious?"
Matt grinned, appearing fond of her despite her attitude. "I've done worse than this for survival."
She groaned. "I don't even want to know."
She and Nick couldn't be more different. As we travelled, Rachel whinged about being tired and thirsty, but Nick barely said a word. For him, thirst and hunger weren't a survival issue. His body in the hospital would take care of that. But he'd been here long enough to really appreciate the miracle of being found. For months, he'd survived alone. It took more than just physical strength to do that.
The rain dropped off to a light drizzle and the cats followed us closely as we navigated deeper into the Valley. I hurried to catch up with Brayden so we could discuss our plan.
"How many hunters are we likely to find in there?" I asked.
He didn't reply straight away. "A lot."
I shivered as rain water ran down my spine. "And you're sure we'll find new shadows in there too?"
"I've seen them from the trees and I can smell their fear."
I frowned. "Really?"
He shrugged as though it wasn't a big deal.
"You can do that?"
"It's easier to pick up when it's closer." He looked over his shoulder. "I can smell Rachel stronger than anyone else."
I paused to look at her. She lifted her gaze and her eyes narrowed. "What?"
"Nothing." I turned back. "Well, what about me?"
"It's not the Valley and the hunters you're afraid of this time. Your worries are for the people around you." He pushed a fern out of our path. "I can't smell you over her."
It would take a while for me to wrap my head around that concept. "Okay ... anyway, the cats will definitely follow us?"
"I think so." He checked over his shoulder. Part of me expected him to turn cold again with the three new additions to our group, but he didn't seem as distant as he had been when we'd first arrived in the Valley. He was definitely getting better at controlling the Instinct.
We reached midafternoon when Brayden paused. "We're close."
"To what?" Matt asked.
"The Valley centre," I replied. "We know there are a swarm of hunters inside, but there are also new shadows stuck in there."
Rachel crossed her arms. She probably had no idea what we were talking about, but judging by her posture, she sensed the danger. I thought again of what Brayden had said about smelling her fear. She was more vulnerable than she wanted anyone to know.
"How are we going to get them out
?" Matt looked at Brayden.
My hands moved to my hips. Why was he asking Brayden the questions when he knew he wouldn't answer? "We suspect the whip cats will follow us inside. That will attract the hunters' attention and hopefully we'll be able to pull the new shadows out with ease."
"Whip cats?" Rachel straightened.
Matt held his hand out as though to make her pause. "If there's a swarm of hunters in there, we're not all going in there."
"I agree," Tara added. "We can't risk taking the new shadows in there. We need think about who's the strongest in the group."
Matt nodded. "I'm good with combat. Tara's a fast runner and she's great with a bow." He glanced at Brayden. "There's no doubt the Instinct puts him one step ahead."
Tara's gaze fell on me. "I hate to say it, Sel. But you can't run particularly fast, and you don't have experience with weapons or combat."
My cheeks reddened but I shook my head. "I might not be fast, but I know hunters and how their Instinct works better than any of you. Plus, if you're all busy with a fight, I need to be there to pull the new shadows out."
Tara chewed her lip as she shrugged. "If you say so."
Nick cleared his throat. "I can run pretty fast."
"No," we all spoke at once.
I turned. "You need to look after Rachel. It will be easier for everyone if you both stay out of harm's way."
Nick helped Rachel climb a tree then quickly followed behind her. They had our bags hanging in the branches surrounding them.
"Wait here until we come back," I said.
"Got it." Nick nodded.
We had to act quickly if we wanted to be back at the camp by nightfall. We didn't arrange what they should do if we didn't return, but Nick had been here for seven months and he'd survived this long. He'd figure it out.
Tara and Matt loaded their bows and followed Brayden deeper into the Valley.
The sun shone between the trees, flashing as we moved. Tara stared at the ground, side stepping to avoid her shadow. Dried leaves crunched around us and without turning back, I knew the whip cats were following. I could almost feel their presence now. At least if the hunters came for us, the cats would be there as a deterrent.
