“Who the hell is that?”
I started to go after her, but Joey grabbed my arm. He shook his head as he steered me towards the woods.
“Rule Number One of stardom is never chase the paparazzi, Evie. Let them come to you.”
“Yeah.” I turned to watch them go as we approached the trees. “Anyway, I’m sure it was nothing.”
“Ok. ‘Nothing’ to you is a catastrophe to normal people.” This time, my friend frowned. “Did you see something? Someone you recognized?”
“No.” I waved my hand at him to dismiss his questions. “No one. Just…let’s go. I’m ready to get this week over with.”
“Why didn’t you have me up there with you?” Arc bounded over to me with a scowl on his perfect features. “I should have been on camera!”
“I left it open.” I shrugged. “You should have joined the crowd. Besides, didn’t anyone tell you that your face can get stuck that way? Don’t do that.”
A look of pure horror flashed in his eyes before he realized I was teasing him. But instead of taking the joke as I had intended, he huffed.
“I’m leaving. You got your map. I brought you to the forest of the forgotten. I’ve fulfilled my part of the bargain.”
“That you did.” I stuck out my hand. “Thanks, Arc.”
I wasn’t surprised when he ignored my gesture. I watched him turn on his heel to stomp after the press before I whispered.
“Good riddance.”
“You can say that again.” Dominique sniffed. “I have never understood Apollo’s love for that vain creature.”
“Perhaps he loves him as we all love beautiful things.” I shrugged. “Too bad the beauty is only skin deep though. He could have been quite helpful to us.”
“Yeah. Like the kid’s drawing he gave you as a map?” Dominique fell in step with us as we crossed through the trees. “Or how he abandoned us before we actually entered the forest?”
“Well, we’re here now. No use complaining about it.”
I fell silent as we continued through the thick trees. I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were being watched. Maybe it was a rogue reporter who decided not to listen. Maybe the biologist Sift had been right when he said he felt eyes on him at all times. Either way, I hoped that whatever was watching us was as miserable as I was. Despite the early morning sun, the fog around us had yet to lift. It was dark. Dank. Cold. Lonely.
For the first time since I’d texted Cyrus the night before, I allowed myself the opportunity to think about my beloved. I would have given anything for him to be here with me instead of the woman walking behind me. He would have launched into the history of this place by now. I would have told him that he was boring me to tears. We’d get the job done and go home.
By the gods, I missed him.
“Ok.” Joey held out his arm to stop me. “Let me see that map, Evie. We need to see where we are and which direction we need to be heading in.”
“How’d you learn so much about the woods, Joey?” I handed him the map while he pulled out his phone. “I mean; I know you used to shoot guns with your dad growing up. But this whole Grizzly Adams part of you is new to me.”
“I grew up in Wyoming, Evie.” He gave me a grin. “I learned real quick how important it is to know where you are when you’re in the woods.”
“That was before GPS, right?” I gave him a look of mock seriousness when he stuck his tongue out at me. “What?”
“You’re only a few years younger than me, missy.” Joey shifted until I could see his phone. He’d pulled up an aerial shot of Hoia-Baciu. “Ok. We’re here.”
My friend pointed at the very bottom of his screen. I watched his finger trail over the trees before he stabbed it down in the center of a barren circle. “This is where we need to be. Should be a two-day hike if we don’t run into any trouble.”
“And if we do?”
“Then we deal with it.” He tucked his phone into his pocket before snapping the camera he’d used to film the intro to his bag. “We’ll use the body cameras for now. Anything big and I’ll pull Betsy back out.”
“Betsy?” I snorted. “You named your camera ‘Betsy’?”
“Yep.” He nodded. “Good, solid name for an old standby. She’s never let me down.”
“Oh, my god. Are you two going to be doing this the whole time?” Dominique groaned. “You don’t need weapons, Sibyl. You could just talk the damn monsters to death.”
“You know what, Dom?” I gave her a sugary sweet smile. “You’re just the best. I’m so glad you’re on my team.”
“Just be quiet.” She huffed at me. “I can’t hear anything other than your mouth at the moment.”
“What are you listening…”
I was interrupted by the short, sharp scream. The three of us froze into place as it faded away.
“What the hell was that?” Joey whipped around to look at me. “It sounded like a girl.”
Another scream resounded through the trees as Prometheus’ memories began to surface. I held onto the straps of my bag as I looked upward. We hadn’t gone a mile into the forest yet, but the horror of this place was already making an appearance.
“That wasn’t a girl, Joey. It was the forest. The very trees themselves are screaming.”
“Ok.” He drew out the word. “Next time the gods need you, I vote for somewhere less creepy-forest and more sunshine-resort.”
“I second that motion.” I moved around him to keep walking. “But it is what it is. Let’s keep going. The sooner we reach the clearing, the better.”
Dominique got the silence she had craved when we continued onward. The deeper we went into the forest, the more it seemed to change. The trees began to curl around each other. The vegetation grew thicker. The air heavier. By the time we reached a small creek, I was so anxious, I was shaking. Even Joey, the sportsman of our little group, seemed to have a hard time breathing.
“I call for a break.” I glanced down at my watch. “It’s after ten, which means we’ve been on this little nature trail for a good three and a half hours.”
Joey unsnapped his bag and dropped it before he bent over. He grabbed his knees before he began to gasp for air.
“Joey?” I frowned. “Are you alright?”
He shook his head. “Can’t…breathe. Burning.”
“Burning?” I dropped my own bag before I went over to him. “Where?”
My friend released the grip he had on his knees to tug at the collar of his shirt. I smacked his hand away, lowered him down to the ground, and pulled the cloth away from his skin.
“Oh, my god.” I glanced up to Dominique. “He’s burned.”
“Burned? By what?”
She bent over me to see the wound. Joey’s pale skin was the darkest shade of red I’d ever seen. He was so badly burned that blisters had started forming up the back of his neck. I shook my head in response to her question. After all, Dominique was the keeper, not me. She was supposed to know these things.
“Grab my canteen, will you? Joey, take your shirt off.”
“Evie, I never thought I’d say this to you, but there is no way in hell….”
“Just do it.” I resisted the urge to smack him across the back of his head. “I’m going to grab the first aid kit.”
Joey grumbled as he began to do what I asked. By the time I’d dug through my supplies to find the small white box, he seemed to be breathing better. The color was back in his face. Dominique had set to work, pouring water over the burn. When she saw me stand, she moved to let me take over.
“That’s no ordinary sunburn.” She glanced between us. “It looks like radiation.”
“It may be.” I agreed as I applied burn spray to Joey’s neck. “There were reports online about people coming out of here with strange markings. Burns. Believers chalk it up to UFOs. But if Tartarus is here…”
“Then it could be residual from the fires of hell below us.” Dominique finished. “Any human would be at risk of being effected by the
m.”
“Then why wasn’t I affected?” I tossed the can back in the bag and grabbed a white square bandage. “I’m a human, too.”
“No, you’re a half-breed.” My new keeper spoke the words as if I were stupid. “Apollo’s blood is enough to protect you.”
“Ladies, please.” Joey hissed when I taped the bandage in place. “Let’s not get into the nitty gritty details. I’m fine now. I feel fine.”
“Good.” I handed him his shirt. “In that case, I’m going to refill my water bottle. We’ve still got a whole afternoon of hiking to get through. I’m not going to make it without it.”
I snagged my bottle from Dominique’s hand and pointed it at her. “Stay here with Joey. I’ll be right back.”
“I thought I was your keeper. By all accounts, I have to stay by your side.”
“Just do what I ask of you.”
I huffed as I turned towards the creek. I wasn’t stupid. I knew I shouldn’t go too far. No matter how fancy Joey swore our new technology was, I wasn’t convinced that he’d be able to meet up with me in this mess of trees. So I pushed through the brush that lined the edge of the water and bent down. I said a quick thanks to Apollo that I lived in the age of portable water filters when I dunked the bottle in the creek.
I was just about to pull my hand out of the water when I heard a snarl to my left. I froze at the familiar sound. After all, I’d heard it every time Elliot had transformed himself into a wolf. A huff of breath followed the snarl and I rose to my feet to face the animal.
I was wrong. It wasn’t a single wolf. There were five of them. Each staring at me with cold yellow eyes. My first thought wasn’t of Elliot. It wasn’t about my weapon. It was about the injured man who was stupid enough to put himself in my care. I stole a glance back towards the brush where Dominique and Joey were waiting. Then, I did the only thing I could think to do.
I ran.
Chapter Eleven
At first, I could hear their paws pounding against the forest floor. I heard the leaves being crushed beneath our weight. I could feel the branches as they scratched at my face. But soon enough, the beating of my heart began to fill my ears. My body went numb from fear. All I could do was push forward. Further the distance between the animals and Joey.
“Evie? Evie, where the hell are you?”
My friend’s voice filtered through my tiny earpiece. I took a second to look behind me to see the wolves less than three feet away from me. I didn’t respond. There wasn’t time. I ran straight for a fallen tree and prayed it was low enough for me to vault over.
It was. I landed in a crouch on the other side before I pushed off once more. I heard one of the animals’ whelp behind me. Then another. But I didn’t stop to see what had happened to them. The trees had become a blur. The world sped past me as I moved as fast as I could though this cursed place. I only slowed down when the foliage became too thick for me to run through. I worked my way through them, shoving my way through two trees before the ground disappeared beneath my feet.
I released a short scream as I tumbled down the hill. I threw my arm up over my face and let my body go limp as I rolled. When I finally came to a stop, I looked up to see a wolf had leapt into the ravine after me. I shoved myself up, ignoring the sharp pain that ricocheted through my ribcage. I had two seconds to move. Two seconds to shove myself out of the way.
I forced my body to the side to watch the animal as he jerked in mid-air. He landed in a heap right beside me. I forced my head up to see Joey and Dominique standing at the top of the hole I’d fallen into. My dearest, darling cameraman was lowering the bow to his side. Joey must have noticed that I was staring at him in shock because he tilted his chin towards me with the smuggest look possible before he called down to me.
“Who got you, Baby Girl?”
Despite my attempts to catch my breath and the pain in my side, I started laughing. I fell back in the leaves as they scrambled down the hill to meet me. When they reached me, Joey extended his hand towards me with a grin.
“And you said I wouldn’t need my bow.”
I took his hand with a chuckle. “That was awesome, Joey. Too bad we didn’t get that on camera.”
“Ah, but we did.” He tapped at the wire still attached to my chest. “From your angle and mine.”
“Can I butt in here?” Dominique folded her arms over her chest as she glared at me. “What the hell were you thinking’, McRayne? Are you insane? You should have yelled out to us. You shouldn’t have gone to the water by yourself. You should…”
“Shoulda, woulda, coulda.” I pressed my arm against my throbbing side. “I don’t have to explain myself to you.”
“No. You don’t.” Her glare became an expression of pure anger. “But I would the one explaining to your darling Daddy how you got hurt under my care. And believe me when I say he is nowhere as forgiving with us as he is with you.”
Dominique’s words tampered down my aggravation a notch. Even Cyrus had told me once that Apollo’s cruelty knew no bounds when it came to those he put in charge of his loved ones. And if what the Golden One had told me was true – that he truly loved me as his child – then Dominique would be in serious trouble with our patron god if anything happened to me. I closed my eyes, took a breath, and started over.
“Ok. I was getting my water and saw the wolves. The first thing that went through my mind? Joey. He is all human, Dominique. And he was already hurt. All I could think about was getting them away from him.”
“Aw, Evie.” Joey wrapped me up in a bear hug that sent another round of pain through my chest. “You really do care!”
“Joey,” I gasped. “Please…stop. You’re killing me.”
“What?” He released me. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah.” I took a deep breath, which turned out to be a very bad idea. “Just...ow.”
“What’s wrong?” Dominique reached for my coat. “Did you hit a stick or something?”
I smacked her hand away before she could get the first button unsnapped. “Don’t touch me. I’m fine.”
“Evie…” Joey tried this time but his words faded when he caught sight of me. “Alright. Look. Let’s go get our stuff. We’ll take it slow for the rest of the day. Give you time to heal.”
“Thank you.” I turned towards the hill. “So…which one of you knows which way back to camp?”
“I do.” Joey pulled out his phone with his free hand. “Tracking app. I didn’t realize it would be this handy to have.”
“Lead the way, Grizzly.” I waved him in front of me. “My bed in L.A. is calling out to me. The sooner this is done the sooner I can get back to it.”
***
By the time we got back to our gear, I was sweating from the exertion of trying to breathe. My side was on fire. My lungs hurt. And worst of all?
Joey and Dominique kept giving me looks of concern before they would glance at each other. For the most part, I ignored them until Joey tried to strap my bag back around my chest. I couldn’t hold back my whimper as he pressed the plastic clasp together.
“Ok. That’s it.” He undid the clasp and tugged the bag free from my back. “Off with the coat, missy.”
“Joey…”
“Don’t you ‘Joey’ me.” He put his hands on his hips. “While Dominique is afraid of the big-bad Apollo, I am afraid of someone much scarier. Cyrus will have my head for his bowling ball if I let you keep going like this.”
“Cyrus doesn’t bowl.”
“Off.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “And start talking. What hurts?”
“My side.” I winced as I unbuttoned my coat. “I feel like I have needles pricking my skin.”
“Another burn?” Dominique this time. She took my coat when I handed it to her. “Or maybe you sprained something when you fell down the ravine.”
I didn’t answer as Joey lifted up my t-shirt. I heard him whistle before he pressed his fingers over the spot that hurt so bad. I bit my lip to keep from smacking my friend
as the throbbing returned. In my opinion, he took a little longer than necessary to examine me. But when he finally pulled back, my friend looked up at me.
“You’ve cracked a couple of ribs, old girl. You’re going to have to take it easy until your mystical Sibyl powers kick in.”
“No.”
I started to tug my shirt back down, but Joey stopped me. He shook his head and gestured to Dominique to hand him the first aid kit I’d abandoned earlier.
“As I was saying before you so rudely interrupted me,” Joey took the kit and pulled out a roll of bandages. “Since I know there is no way you would agree to my sensible suggestion we’re going to wrap you up. Dominique can carry your bag for you until you get better.”
“Leave the bag behind then.” Dominique huffed. “I am a fighter, not a maid.”
“Yeah. You were really impressive against the wolf pack.” Joey cut his eyes over to her. “Refresh my memory. How many did you kill again? None?”
“It is not my place to…”
Dominique started, but Joey held up a hand to stop her as he bandaged up my side.
“If you aren’t going to help us, then leave. Evie can take care of herself. So can I.”
The keeper looked between the two of us before she turned on her heel to walk back towards the water. I saw her form disappear as soon as she reached the brush. I sighed as Joey finished up.
“Good riddance.” He muttered. “I don’t like her, Evie. She’s not like Cy. She’s trouble.”
“I think so too.” I pulled my coat back on before I sat down on a rock. “But Cyrus trusts her. Apollo has faith in her abilities. I can’t just discredit that because I don’t like her.”
“Yes you can.” Joey busied himself with putting the first aid kit back together. “Evie, she just walked off the job. She refused to help you. And when we were running after you? She didn’t try to fight against the wolves. She stayed back and let me shoot them all down.”
The Daughter (The Oracle Series Book 6) Page 9