Stalk the Moon

by Jessica Lynch

  It takes me a second to find my dress crumpled up in the far corner of the tent. I shimmy it on over my head, smoothing the wrinkles out before I start hunting up my underwear. I'm just slipping into my panties when I hear rustling outside.

  Hunter? I hope so.

  I leave the cabin. Ducking my head as I try to arrange my dress again, I tell him good morning. “And, hey, have you seen my belt thingy?”

  “I imagine you left it inside.” A snort, followed by, “You’re also missing one of your arm cuffs.”

  Okay. So that’s not Hunter.

  I glance up. And there’s Alex, his nose wrinkled and his mouth twisted in a frown as he gets a good look at me.

  I don’t need a mirror to know what I look like. Any other guy and this could be my walk of shame. Hey, at least I’m dressed, even if I can’t do anything about my wild bedhead yet. I’m sure I smell like a combination of sex, Hunter, and—I grab a lock of hair and sniff—yup, I still get a hint of pig urine. There’s no way Alex doesn’t know what went on in Hunter’s cabin last night.

  Something tells me that it’s a very bad thing for Alex to see me like this. I shrug and push the nagging voice out of my head. He’s supposed to be my brother, right? It’s not like he’s going to be jealous or anything. He’ll deal.

  “Morning to you, then,” I say. “Have you seen Hunter? Do you know where he went?”

  “He was gone when I arrived. Can’t say that I’m sorry about that since I’ve come to see you.”

  Of course, he did. I should’ve known that when he said he’d see me again, it wasn’t an idle threat. I don’t have that kind of luck.

  “Why? What do you need from me now?”

  He scowls again. “Perhaps we can have this conversation when you’re fully dressed.”

  Part of me wants to tell him to bend over so I can pull the stick out of his ass. He’s acting like the idea of two consenting adults having a good time offends his sensibilities or something. Since there’s also a good chance I’d want to beat him with such a stick, I keep my opinion to myself.

  Telling him to fuck off is up there, too, but I doubt that lashing out at him will have him leaving any faster. I might as well play along. Then, when I find out what the hell he’s doing here, I can kick his butt off of Hunter’s land.

  With a shrug, I go back inside. There’s my belt, tangled up in Hunter’s blanket. The armband I didn’t even know I was missing? The silver peeks out from under the pillow. I slip it on, tie my belt loosely around my waist, and cross my fingers.

  I sigh. I was hoping that Hunter returned. Nope. Just Alex.

  You know, maybe he is my brother. He’s got the same stubborn streak as me. Not to mention the inability to take a hint that he’s not welcome.

  I raise my arms. “Better?”

  “Much. Thank you.”

  I laid the sarcasm on pretty thick there, pal. He can’t really be that oblivious. “Mm-hmm.”

  “Not the sort of welcome I was expecting.” Alex clucks his tongue. “Especially after I went to the trouble of arranging a portal for you.”

  I stop breathing. Just like that. I’m frozen in place, asking myself if he said what I think he said. Boom. I feel like my head’s about to explode. He… he found me a portal.

  No—

  He arranged one.

  “What?” How?

  He has the nerve to blow on his fingernails, buffing them against his chest. “What can I say? I like a challenge.”

  My pulse is pounding in my head. Or is that the fallout from the bombshell he dropped on me?

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Simple. Don’t you remember? When we last met, all you wanted was to get out of the Other. You didn’t want to play by the rules and wait out your story, right? My sister wants to escape the huntsman? Even better. I found you a way back. Applause isn’t necessary, but I won’t say no to a simple ‘Thank you, Alex, you’re the best’.”

  “Holy shit. I… I don’t know what to say.”

  “Easy. I just told you. Thank you, Alex—”

  “Yeah, yeah. I get it. A portal. Holy shit. Just—just give me a second, all right?”

  My brain is going in a thousand directions at once. With Alex’s portal, I could leave this place, give up the magic, give up everything, and go back to New Jersey—where I have what? A dead-end job? An empty condo that I sleep alone in most nights? All of my friends are my co-workers and I’d miss them, but none of them are close. I’d get over it.

  Maybe I hated the idea of being trapped in the Other. But this is the hand fate dealt me and I’ve put on my big girl panties and made it work. Yeah, I wanted a portal more than anything—before. Now? The only thing I want to do is find Hunter, grab him by his cloak, and drag him back to bed.

  It’s a stunning discovery that I’m okay with the idea of staying here with Hunter, so long as I can return for as long as it takes me to gather up Dudley and bring him back with me. It doesn’t have to be forever, even though it’s unmistakable that Hunter would give me forever if I asked for it. It could be until my vacation is over, or our story ends, or, well, forever. I’m not picky.

  All I know is that I want more time with Hunter.

  Speak of the devil. As if just musing over him has conjured him up, suddenly he’s back. He comes from around the west side of his cabin, takes one look at me biting my lip and Alex hovering in front of me, and storms forward, his hand reaching for his belt. Unlike me, he’s fully dressed and ready to attack.

  I can’t let that happen.

  “Hunter, no.”

  He forges on as if he hasn’t heard me.

  Gentling my voice, I call out, “Jake. Please.”

  Hunter stops dead in his tracks. His fingers twitch on the hilt of his sword before he clamps his jaw and lets go. Crossing his arms over his chest, he purposely makes his features go blank. I have no idea what he’s thinking, but at least he’s stopped charging.

  I’ll take what I can get.

  Alex’s expression turns calculating, grey eyes narrowing as he looks from me to Hunter and back. “And who, may I ask, is Jake?”

  I wave my hand. “Don’t worry about it. Inside joke.”

  “Oh? And I wouldn’t understand?”

  “No,” snarls Hunter, “you wouldn’t.”

  The sound that escapes Alex is somewhere between an exasperated sigh and an aggravated snort. He pivots away, putting space between us. It’s a retreat, I realize, but a strategic one. He may seem like nothing much gets to him, nothing really affects him. It’s all an act. He knows exactly what he’s doing.

  And that makes him very, very dangerous.

  Coming here, dangling a portal in front of me like bait on a hook? Closing in on me, making me feel like I have to make a decision now, only to back off when Hunter’s here? The snark? The calculated movements? Yeah. He knows what he’s doing.

  It friggin’ works, too.

  Hunter is so tense, he’s almost vibrating in place. He watches every step Alex takes, hardly blinking. He’s stalking his opponent with his gaze. If I let him, he’d hunt him down without mercy.

  Whoa.

  “What are you doing here, Archer?”

  “Can’t I come visit my sister without being interrogated?” Alex asks flippantly.

  “No,” Hunter snaps. “Not when I’m not at her side to protect her.”

  That comment gets under his skin. Alex’s silvery gaze flashes in sudden fury. “Artemis doesn’t need your protection.”

  “Who said anything about Artemis? My only concern is for Noelle. And I know dang well that she can take care of herself, but I wanna be there for her so she doesn’t have to.”

  Oh, Lord. Talk about knowing the right thing to say. If Alex wasn’t standing right there, Hunter would be getting lucky for that. Since it’s all I can do, I cross over to Hunter and wrap my arm around his waist. My reach goes as far as the small of his back. I rub him, soothing circles so he knows that I’m here and I’m with hi
m.

  Alex’s expression goes hard when he sees I’m wrapped up in Hunter. “Interesting. That’s a very interesting way to put it, Huntsman.” He gives me the side-eye. “Besides, Noelle knows she has nothing to fear from me.”

  I start to snap out a retort when something stops me. Artemis, probably, because I know deep down that Alex is telling the truth. He would never hurt me.

  I peer at him closely. “You really want to help me?”

  “Do I need to remind you that I’ve never lied to you?”

  Good feelings gone. I recoil as if he did try to hit me. “Low blow, pal. And right when I was starting to think you weren’t such an asshole.”

  “I’m sorry.” He actually sounds like he means it, too. “I shouldn’t have said that. You’re clearly… mm, close to Hunter. I’m not trying to break that up.” He pauses, and I can’t help but think that that might be his first lie. “I only want what’s best for you. You made it clear that you wanted a portal. I’ve arranged one for you. No one says you have to take it.”

  “A portal? You can’t just arrange one on a whim. That’s not the way it works. You should know better— hold on.” Hunter points at Alex. “You’re talking about Cassandra.”

  Alex nods.

  Hunter squeezes me tight.

  “No. Even the foolish, dang desperate folks won’t take their chances with the witch in the woods. I won’t let her do it.”

  “Can you really stop her?”

  It hits me that, once again, I’m the her they’re discussing now. Sorry. I was kind of stuck on that fact that Hunter already knew that there was an off chance that some chick named Cassandra could’ve opened a portal and sent me home days ago. Then again, he did call her a witch—and Alex didn’t deny that. I give him a pass. I’d like to thing I’m not foolish, but I was desperate—but not so desperate that I would have chosen to face off against a friggin’ witch before climbing a mountain.

  I’ve seen one too many Halloween specials to think that that would be anything but a last resort.

  Hunter looks down at me, already offering an explanation that I don’t really need. I let him talk though, because he does.

  “If I thought that it was worth it, if we had a chance, I would’ve told you about the witch. She has powers that most of us in the Other can’t even begin to understand. I’d never do anything to risk you. She’s too unpredictable—”

  Alex coughs into his fist. “Insane.”

  “—to ask her for help. I’ve heard stories about the witch, darlin’, and none of them are good. You never know what she’ll demand in payment, but you don’t go to her if you can’t afford to pay.”

  “Except I already know what she wants from her and I’ve covered the cost for my sister.”

  I turn on Alex. “What?”

  With a tiny, knowing smile, he says, “We have history.”

  “History. Hmm. That’s an understatement.”

  Alex pretends he didn’t hear Hunter’s muttering. “I already pleaded with her on your behalf. She said she’ll do it. The portal will be ready as soon as we get to her place.”

  Why didn’t he say that before?

  “So I can go? I can really go home?”

  Excitement thuds in my chest. At the same time, Hunter squeezes my shoulder so tightly, my bones scream in protest. I squeal and his grip loosens as I turn to look up at him. My excitement dies a little when I see how far Hunter’s face has fallen. No doubt about it. He’s crushed, so friggin’ crushed he isn’t even trying to hide it.

  And I realize that he doesn’t know that I plan on coming back. He thinks I’m this happy at the idea of leaving him behind. After everything that went on between us these last couple of days, it’s gotta be a blow for my big-hearted giant.

  Oops.

  I guess I have some explaining to do.

  35

  The witch in the woods lives—surprise, surprise—in a cabin in the woods. It’s not too far from Hunter’s log cabin, about a half an hour walk that seems like years when I’m forced to play the role of a referee between Hunter and Alex until Alex finally takes my suggestion and moves on ahead of us.

  Alex is giddy at the idea of being my knight in shining armor, especially since Hunter failed at finding me a portal. Hunter is stoically accepting that I want to take Alex’s offer. I spend most of the walk trying to convince him that this is a good thing. That I’m coming back. Regardless of how deep they are, I have feelings for him. I have every intention of seeing how the rest of this plays out.

  I’m not trying to leave him. I just want my cat.

  He tells me he understands, but with every step we take toward the witch’s hidden cabin, I feel the gap between us widening. By the time Alex announces that we’ve found it, it feels like Hunter and me are standing on the opposite sides of the Grand Canyon.

  A rocky stone path leads up to the cabin, an obvious attempt to make it seem more like a home than a lopsided structure that the ground threw up. Because that’s exactly what the witch’s cabin looks like.

  It’s probably three times bigger than Hunter’s home, with square windows and round windows and one, next to the taller chimney stack, that’s the shape of a triangle. Or maybe a pyramid. And there’s a taller chimney stack and a shorter chimney stack because the lopsided monstrosity has two chimney stacks.

  One blows smoke that is grey. The other is orange. And I wish that’s the weirdest part of this weirdo cabin.

  Its siding looks like its made of mud, down to the weeds growing along the edges and out of the mortar. On closer inspection, I think I’m right because there’s wet, goopy mud dripping into puddles of the stuff all around the base of the cabin. It plops even as I stare in horror.

  Oh, Lord. Is that supposed to be some kind of moat?

  “I’ll just hang back here,” Alex calls out to me. Crossing his legs, he leans against a tree on the eastern edge of the property, far away from the demon cabin. His casual pose reminds me of the way he appeared the first time I saw him. “Cass will be more likely to help you if she doesn’t see me right away.”

  His comment is enough to rip my attention away from her house.

  “I thought you told me you had history.”

  “That I did. I never told you it was good history.”

  I count to five in my head. You’d think, by now, I would’ve expected something like this. “What did you do?”

  “It wasn’t me,” he immediately denies. “Besides, why should I be held accountable for what a previous me did to the poor girl?”

  Hunter glowers at Alex. “Have you ever tried lifting her curse?”

  Curse? Why is this the first time I’m hearing anything about curses?

  Alex shakes his head royally. “Of course not. Why would I try to do something that foolish? If the other me thought she deserved it, she probably did.”

  I’m beginning to have second thoughts about this. And third thoughts.

  Maybe I shouldn’t—

  “Oh,” Alex says. “One more thing.”

  I cast my eyes up to the sky before turning to look at him accusingly. This guy is killing me. “What now?”

  “You might want to refrain from calling her Cassandra. It tends to upset her.”

  “If that’s not her name, what do I call her?”

  Alex offers me one of his Cheshire Cat grins. “I never said that wasn’t her name.”

  “You don’t have to do this, darlin’,” mutters Hunter. He leans over me, tucking his chin to his chest as he brushes his lips against my ear. “I told you. I’ve heard all sorts of stories about the witch in the woods. It ain’t worth it.”

  “Can she do what Alex says? Can she get me home?”

  Hunter’s silence is all the answer I need.

  I pat his arm. “I already explained this to you. If this works, I can get what I need from home and come back here. The mirror’s still on the other side, right? It’ll bring me back.”

  It has to.

  “What are you two w
hispering about?” The light, cheery quality to Alex’s voice has disappeared.

  Hunter braces his hands on my shoulders. He lowers his head until we’re looking each other dead in the eye. I don’t know what he sees when he looks at me, but his expression is back to being closed. He isn’t giving anything away.

  “You’re sure, darlin’? You really want to do this?”

  I nod. If only for Dud, I have to do this.

  “Then let’s go.”

  Like everyone else I’ve met in the Other, Cassandra is taller than me. If I stand on my tiptoes, my nose meets her chin. She’s a willowy black beauty, with long legs and her graceful, toned arms on display courtesy of the mossy green linen dress she’s wearing. Her eyes are big and dark, the pupils dilated a little more than normal. She looks perpetually surprised and just a little off.

  Tight black spiral curls spring from her head, resting on her shoulder like a dark cloud. When she shakes her head at the sight of us standing at her front door, her curls bounce.

  “No. No way.” Her tone is flat. She has a deeper voice than I would’ve expected, real throaty. “I changed my mind. I can’t help you. Leave me be.”

  Before I can say one word in my defense, Cassandra freezes, staring at something over my shoulder. I stiffen. For a second, I worry that she’s spied Alex hanging around and she’s pissed, but when I glance behind me, there’s nothing there.

  I do a double-take, then sigh.

  Alex.

  Where the hell did he go now?

  Hunter nudges me in the side. His eyes dart to the right. And there’s Alex, leaning around the edge of the cabin. He’s still out of Cassandra’s sight, but barely.

  Whatever she sees, she’s still staring. It’s super creepy how she can do that without blinking. Something doesn’t seem right about this. I start to have fourth—I think I’m up to fourth now—fourth thoughts.

  I mean, a portal’s got to pop eventually, right?

  I take a step back. The motion catches her attention and her head jerks in my direction

  “Fine. If that’s how it is.” As if her little spell hadn’t happened, Cassandra motions us forward. She moves away from the threshold, allowing us to go in ahead of her. “All right, then,” she sighs. “Come in.”