Hagen

by Janice M. Whiteaker

  “What did you see?” Chauncey’s eyes were bright and glued to her.

  Rhea tossed Chauncey a small foil pouch. “I told you. I didn’t really see anything.”

  Chauncey leaned in closer. “What did you hear?”

  She shrugged and blew the steam rising off the small pot sitting on the wire framework of the lightweight cook stove. “It’s hard to explain.”

  Chauncey took a deep breath, blowing out the air long and hard as he narrowed his eyes at the side of Rhea’s head. “How could you not be able to explain it? I need to know what happened so I can tell my viewers. I need them to be invested in this.”

  Hagen stepped beside Rhea and sat down in Chauncey’s line of sight. The so-called internet sensation would back off if he knew what was good for him. Last night rattled Rhea more than she was willing to let on and Hagen wanted to know why.

  And how.

  Chauncey giving her the third degree would make it harder for him when he gave her the third degree. And what he wanted to know was much more important than what Chauncey thought he wanted to know.

  “Did you hear its steps? What about breathing? Could you hear it breathe?” Chauncey leaned back and wrinkled his nose. “What about the smell?”

  Hagen leaned forward. “What in the hell is this about a smell?” Hagen threw one hand out, palm up in question. “You know you’re not looking for skunk, right?”

  Chauncey sneered. “I know exactly what I’m hunting.” He paused after the last word, giving it plenty of time to stick in Hagen’s craw.

  If that little bugger thought he would ever, ever, be able to hunt what he was out here chasing, then he was very mistaken. “You need to understand, right now, that beast you are so excited to find has never been caught, never. He is the hunter, not the hunted.” Hagen caught Rhea watching him out of the corner of her eye and it spurred him on. It was important to him that she knew what the beast was.

  And what it wasn’t.

  “In all my years in these woods I have never had anyone I brought actually see a beast.” He looked at Rhea. “Or be hurt by one.”

  He understood her fear last night even if he didn’t fully know the reason for it. A close run with his uncle or Jerrik in the woods scared men twice her size more times than he could count, sending them running for their life.

  But there was no run-in. His uncle was far enough away there was no way she heard him, let alone saw him. Rhea shouldn’t have been able to tell Magni was there.

  And even though she clearly did, Rhea didn’t run. He suspected she waited, weighing her options until the decision was made for her when somehow Magni got too close for comfort. Even then she didn’t run.

  She called for him.

  Rhea wasn’t the kind of woman to make a snap judgment. She thought everything through, considered the possible outcomes, narrowed down the alternatives. When she screamed his name it was because she believed he was her best option.

  She believed he would save her.

  And he would have if he had to. Because...

  Because Rhea was different. She pulled him in. As if an invisible cord connected her to him and the harder he pulled to get away the tighter it became. Like a hooked fish, the more he fought, the tighter the line.

  And he wanted to know why.

  Chauncey flared his nostrils and leaned away. “We can talk later.” He stood up and walked to where Stewart was sitting on a fallen log, holding his own open foil pouch, talking to Heath and Andy about their plans for the day. Chauncey sent one last dirty look Hagen’s way as he spun to sit down beside Stewart.

  Maybe he didn’t need to worry about Chauncey out here as much as he thought. The kid was pretty sure of himself. Given the chance he’d probably put up quite a fight.

  Rhea finally gave him more than a sideways glance as she held out a selection of pouches. “What would you like for breakfast?”

  “How come he gets to pick what he gets?” Heath complained from his spot on the log as he stared into his own breakfast pack.

  Rhea’s eyes didn’t leave Hagen and her face stayed serious. “As far as I know he saved my life last night.” But her eyes sparkled, giving away the tease sent his way.

  Hagen plucked a pack of Cream of Wheat with raisins and pecans from her hand. “That’s right.” He ripped off the top and held it open. “Does that mean I get the hot water first too?”

  She smiled sweetly at him and carefully picked up the boiling pot of water.

  “No.”

  Rhea turned to Heath and carefully added water to his breakfast in a move that made the blood in Hagen’s veins boil hotter than the water she gave to everyone else first.

  She could tease him. That was fine. But there was a line.

  And right now Heath was that line.

  When Rhea finally turned back to him, the beast tucked deep inside was trying to claw his way to the top, not to get out, but to show his power. Show Rhea what she was really dealing with when she taunted him like this.

  Rhea didn’t even flinch when she looked at him. She simply raised her eyebrows and slowly sauntered his way, leaning down closer than she had to, before carefully pouring a serving of steaming water into his breakfast.

  She slowly smiled. “Something wrong Big?”

  She knew damn well something was wrong. He wanted to pull her down beside him and stare at Heath until it was clear where Rhea belonged and it sure as hell wasn’t next to Heath or serving him breakfast first.

  But what he wanted and what he did were always two different things.

  “No.”

  Rhea straightened. “Good.” She set the water on the stove and picked up her pouch of oatmeal. After adding the last of the water to her own breakfast, Rhea took a step toward the group on the log, as if she was about to go side up next to Heath and get all campsite cozy.

  Hagen glanced at the group of men engrossed in their conversation about the day ahead. Rhea didn’t make it more than one step before his finger hooked in the back of her pants and he pulled her back to his side.

  She looked down at him with one red eyebrow drawn up in question.

  “So you can have a nickname for me but I can’t have one for you?”

  Rhea slowly grinned. “Welcome to the world of double standards.”

  Hagen scooted over, making room on his folded sleeping bag for her to sit down beside him. But not much.

  Rhea looked at the spot then at him.

  He usually liked how careful Rhea was. The way she considered everything before deciding on the best option. Last night it made him the happiest he’d been in a long damn time.

  Right now not so much.

  He smiled at her. “I don’t bite.”

  “I’m not sure I believe that.” She hesitated a second longer but finally Rhea eased onto the bag, the curve of her full hip resting against his thigh. One he could have had a glimpse of this morning if he wanted, ending his mother’s ideas. But he didn’t.

  A deep satisfaction lodged in his gut as her body relaxed beside his. He watched as she used a plastic spoon to stir the hot water into the contents of her pouch. How something as simple as eating breakfast could be so interesting was crazy to him.

  But it was.

  The way her fingers moved, twisting the utensil, spinning it around the pouch of oatmeal. The slow way her lips parted as she carefully blew across the steaming bit resting in the bowl of her spoon. The smooth glide into and then back out of her mouth as she took that first bite.

  Hagen cleared his throat and shifted beside her, trying to find a comfortable position for his fully engorged dick.

  From watching her eat fucking oatmeal.

  “What’s a matter Big?” Rhea turned to him. Her tongue slowly swept across her lips, a move that added significant fuel to the fire. “You got ants in your pants?”

  “Looks more like a snake to me.” Chauncey smiled at him. The little punk was obviously proud of himself and his powers of observation.

  Rhea’s eyes w
idened but they didn’t move from his face, unlike everyone else’s.

  Normally he wouldn’t give a shit.

  But she didn’t even sneak a tiny peek. Not a glance under her eyelashes. Nothing.

  Maybe he was wrong. Maybe this attraction he thought they had was actually one-sided.

  Rhea slowly turned away from him, her eyes staring straight ahead, never once coming close to anywhere near his lap. She scooped in another bite of oatmeal as she looked at Chauncey and eased back against the trunk of the tree behind her.

  “Good thing I’m not afraid of snakes.”

  10

  “Why did you let me talk you into this?” Stewart held his camera to one side and swatted at a non-existent bug, dancing in a circle, ducking and dodging like he was in a ring fighting. “I can hear it buzzing around me.”

  Rhea reached into her bag and pulled out a can of bug spray. “Hold your breath.” She fogged his exposed head and neck then replaced the cap and shoved it back in her bag. “If you tell anyone I shared I will kill you.”

  “My lips are sealed.” He paused, standing still. “Did you hear something?”

  She almost laughed. “No.”

  The woods were silent, as silent as the woods got anyway, and they’d been that ways since her run-in with whatever it was two nights ago. Nothing else happened to anyone so far. Just her. Even then, all that happened was an odd energy she struggled to identify. It was enough to convince Rhea she met up with some sort of animal that was a little off for whatever reason. Maybe it was injured. Maybe it was sick. Something that made it feel different than normal.

  “You think there’s anything out in these woods?” Stewart started walking again, using the night vision camera to ease his movement through the dark.

  Rhea followed beside him, her own camera balanced on her shoulder frame. “Are you asking if I think Bigfoot’s out here?”

  “Yeah.” Stewart swung around, centering her in his lens.

  She looked straight at the camera. “No. I don’t think Bigfoot is out here.” Rhea used one finger to push his camera away. “But I’m happy to pretend like I do for money.”

  And other, more important things.

  “What will Chauncey do when we don’t find anything?” Rhea slowly panned across the forest to her left, looking for anything interesting.

  “Shit.” Stewart blew out a loud breath. “I don’t even want to think about it.”

  Oh to have the problems of Chauncey. “He might lose some YouTube followers. It would be tragic.”

  “It’s not about that Re-Re.” Stewart sounded more serious than usual. Serious enough to make her stop and look.

  His face looked almost sad in the dim bit of moonlight filtering through the treetops. “That’s part of why I thought you two might hit it off.”

  She raised an eyebrow. It was unlike her friend to be so serious about anything. Stewart was always fun and happy, dramatic sometimes, but never in a heavy sort of way. It made it easy for her to be around him.

  But now she felt something different than she ever had before from him. Sadness and pain.

  “His dad thinks he’s a waste.”

  Rhea was taken aback. “My parents don’t think I’m a waste.”

  “No but they don’t agree with what you’ve done with your life.” Stewart turned as a branch crunched to their right.

  So Stewart thought she and Chauncey would bond over issues they had with their parents? “If his dad thinks he’s so terrible why does Chauncey have unlimited funding to live his terrible life?”

  Her parents didn’t understand her or her decision to leave medical school. They certainly didn’t approve of her choice to pursue the career she did but they still loved her and called regularly. Well, occasionally.

  And they still wouldn’t give her a dime to pay for her education unless it went toward putting an MD behind her name. The idea that Chauncey’s dad would continue to fund his son was ludicrous.

  “To keep from having to deal with him.” Stewart was still looking in the direction of the tiny noise. “Did you hear that?”

  “It was just a little twig breaking. Probably a flying squirrel or something.” Rhea shook her head. “So Chauncey thinks finding a mythological creature will make his dad proud?”

  That was even crazier than a parent throwing piles of money at a kid they think is a ‘waste’.

  “Are you sure because I swear I can see something over there.” Stewart crouched down. “Look.”

  Rhea bent down and looked at his camera screen. “What is that?”

  In the distance was an odd blob on the screen. “Is it maybe a raccoon?”

  Stewart looked at her. “A raccoon” He pointed to the full length of the strange shape. “If that’s a raccoon then we have bigger problems because that thing is bigger than Big and Scary.”

  Rhea looked around the camera to see if she could make anything out without the night vision. “You can’t tell how big that is on a camera. You have no freaking point of reference.”

  But, based on how it compared to the trees around it Stewart might be right. Whatever it was could be large. And it appeared to be watching them.

  “Re-Re.” Stewart’s voice was a whisper as he stood stock still behind her. “Does it look like that thing is peeking around the tree at us?”

  It did but she wasn’t going to tell Stewart that. He’d scream bloody murder and Hagen would come crashing through the woods like he was on fire and no one would ever figure out what in the hell this thing was.

  “I’m going to try to get closer.” Rhea slowly straightened and positioned her camera.

  Stewart grabbed the back of her shirt. “You can’t leave me here.”

  She started stepping lightly. “Then I guess you have to come too.”

  “Shit.” Stewart was practically panting behind her, his heightened energy level clouding anything that might be filtering in from anyone else.

  Or anything else.

  Rhea turned to Stewart. “I need you to calm the fuck down. As long as I can feel what it is we will be fine but right now this,” she made an air circle in front of him, “is making it very difficult.”

  “If you get hurt Big and Scary is going to kill me.” Stewart’s eyes were so wide the whites stood out in the dark.

  “Even more reason to get it together.” Rhea turned back to the trees where they saw the oddity and positioned her camera on the spot where the thing was.

  Used to be anyway.

  “Crap. It’s gone.” She blew out a breath, pushing a stray clump of red wave out of her eyeball.

  “Are you sure?” Stewart was already beginning to relax behind her and the vibration of his energy was slowing down. He leaned in close beside her, looking into her camera’s screen. “I mean shooooooooooot. We missed the Bigfoot.”

  “I don’t think it was Bigfoot.” Rhea slowly panned around them, checking for any sign of what it actually was they caught on camera. “It was probably a deer or something positioned just right behind the tree.”

  “All I care is that it’s gone.” Stewart swung his camera back on her face. “How do you feel about what we just saw?”

  Rhea rolled her eyes.

  “What?” Stewart poked at her with his foot. “Chauncey said we were supposed to interview each other while we...”

  His voice trailed off.

  Rhea felt a familiar sensation prick up her spine, slowly creeping over one vertebrae at a time. “It’s behind me.”

  Stewart nodded slowly.

  “Can you see it on the camera?” She moved her lips but barely made any sound, resisting the urge to spin and look.

  “Yes.” His voice was almost imperceptible and Stewart held as still as she did, his eyes glued to the screen of his camera.

  Rhea’s lungs burned and goose bumps tightened her skin almost to the point of pain but she still didn’t move. She wanted to know what in the hell this was and the more Stewart had on camera the better, because what she was pickin
g up was confusing as hell.

  It didn’t feel completely human. It didn’t feel entirely like an animal either. The thing behind her was a muddle of the two with stronger energy than both.

  Put together.

  And like before there was something familiar. What, she had no clue, which sucked because that could be the key to figuring out what was following them through the woods.

  Rhea straightened. “Keep filming.”

  “What are you doing?” Stewart’s voice rose along with his panic. He started shaking his head. “No, no, no, no, no.”

  She held her camera and took a deep breath. “Run.”

  In one quick move she turned around and started running into the woods in the direction of where she felt the thing lurking. “Come on Stewart.”

  Keeping her camera rolling, she used it to maneuver her way between trees and through brush. The noise of their pursuit shattered through the quiet, making it sound like a stampede as she tried to stay on whatever was so interested in getting as close to her and Stewart as possible.

  It was regretting that decision. Surprise and a tiny bit of fear floated on the air, leaving a trail of emotional energy for her to follow.

  Like mystical breadcrumbs.

  Rhea tore down a slight incline, her boots scooting over the ground. Stewart was calling out behind her, his voice broken up by pants, but she wasn’t stopping until one of two things happened.

  She caught up with this thing or—

  As the forest floor leveled back out she stopped, moving her camera around and opening up more than she normally would, trying to feel for the creature. She could feel Stewart’s exhaustion and fear behind her. A multitude of small animals in the trees and scampering around the forest floor.

  And one more thing.

  Rhea dropped her camera to one side and starting walking toward a break in the trees where the moonlight illuminated a sharp angle of rock in the side of the mountain. “I thought I was allowed to come out alone.”

  Hagen stepped out from the shadows, a pair of jeans hanging low on his hips, the fly open and unbuttoned revealing more than she should want to see but much less than she actually did. A shirt hung loosely from one hand and his hair looked waved and wild. Almost as wild as his pale blue eyes.