by Black, Tasha
Olivia
Olivia stood at the entry to the forest with Wayne beside her.
The late afternoon sun was already sinking, but the day had been so filled with production tasks, that they hadn’t been able to get away to scout tomorrow’s planned hike until just a few minutes ago.
Olivia had invited Wayne to accompany her on a preliminary exploration of the trail to make sure it would work for the show.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
“Absolutely,” she assured him.
They stepped out of the meadow and into the shade of the trail. Tree branches embraced each other over their heads as they were serenaded by a symphony of birdsong. Glistening drops clung to the leaves and the scent of rain-drenched soil was released with every step.
“It feels like another planet,” Olivia said softly.
“You have no idea,” Wayne laughed.
“This is really different for you, isn’t it?” Olivia asked. “Do you miss Aerie terribly?”
“I’m happy here,” Wayne told her. “Besides, this body could not survive there.”
“But you don’t have to stay in this body,” Olivia remarked. “Right?”
“When I claim you as my mate, I will be permanently locked into this form,” he said casually. “But right now I could leave it behind if I wanted to visit Aerie and see the brightness of her many suns again. But it would be a one-way trip.”
“Was it warm there?” Olivia asked.
“Almost certainly,” he said. “But I did not perceive temperature in my gaseous form the way I do now. And I had no eyes to be damaged by the intense light.”
“The adjustment must have been terrifying,” Olivia realized.
“It was strange and frightening at times,” he conceded. “But I had my brothers near to help me.”
“When you say your brothers, do you mean just Kent and Parker?” she asked.
“All of the men from Aerie consider each other to be brothers,” Wayne said slowly. “But we were migrated to these bodies in cohorts of three. So Kent and Parker and I have been close since the moment we awoke in our new forms.”
“That’s incredible,” Olivia said.
“Yes, we each have had our challenges,” he said. “But as a team we are able to work together to understand more of our new culture.”
They had reached the first set of wooden signposts. Both looked freshly painted.
The one on the right said:
2 Mile Hike - 3.2km
The one on the left read:
10 Mile Hike - 16km
“We’ll go to the right,” Olivia said. “I don’t think everyone will want to go on a ten-mile hike - especially not the cameramen.”
“I like long walks, but I agree it is best to keep it shorter for the crew,” Wayne agreed. “And ten miles is more than a long walk, isn’t it?”
“Ten miles is quite a distance,” Olivia agreed.
They continued on in silence.
She was amazed at how easy it was to relax with Wayne. There was so little peace in her busy lifestyle that silence was a luxury. She was glad they could enjoy it together.
The path wound slowly upward. Rubber tiles had been thoughtfully installed under the soil in the steepest places to help with traction.
Olivia made a mental note of it. They had all been worried about accident-prone Ruby getting hurt on this hike. But it looked like she would be okay.
In fact, she had been unusually disaster free for a while now. Maybe her luck had changed when she got married.
Wayne stopped suddenly and pointed.
They both studied the tiny green and black frog resting on a leaf.
He looked over at Olivia and smiled.
They walked on, the forest growing darker so slowly that it was almost imperceptible.
Olivia grabbed Wayne’s arm and pointed at the sloth in the tree overhead.
The creature had turned away, but it was still glorious to see its moss-stained coat.
“Hello, friend,” Wayne said to it softly. “Your fur is beautiful.”
The sloth very slowly turned back to them and blinked.
Olivia watched, amazed.
The sloth didn’t seem to be bothered by their presence. It gazed at Wayne with interest.
“Wow,” Olivia said.
Wayne smiled down at her.
“You are good with animals,” she told him.
They communed with the sloth for a few more minutes, then continued on.
Olivia was beginning to feel tired. The sky told her it was getting late.
“What’s wrong?” Wayne asked.
“I guess I’m just tired,” she admitted. “But it feels like we’ve gone more than two miles. It’s probably the elevation making me feel that way.”
“I would be proud to carry you, Olivia,” Wayne told her solemnly. “My body does not tire as quickly as yours.”
She looked over at him.
He was dead serious.
And his indefatigable body certainly looked primed for anything. He was tall and solid, looking like he could happily lift a car or run a marathon, even after the mountain they had just climbed.
“My body was created specifically to withstand anything that might be required of me on your planet,” he told her. “And for another purpose too.”
“What purpose is that?” Olivia asked.
“It is meant to attract human females,” he told her with a crooked grin.
Crap.
She could feel her cheeks burning already as she tried desperately to stop staring.
“It works,” she admitted with a sheepish grin.
“Of course it works,” he told her. “One of my brothers helped to engineer the design. I am very glad it pleases you. That is a great compliment to him.”
“It’s a compliment to you,” she said.
“I did not earn this body - it was given to me,” he said solemnly. “The only thing I can take credit for is my actions. I am learning to be a good man.”
Olivia smiled.
“You are a good man,” she told him. “That has never been in question.”
“Sometimes I find it hard to be patient,” he told her.
She thought of his commanding way of speaking and nodded.
“I was a leader on Aerie,” he explained. “But here I am like a child.”
“How could you give that up?” she asked. Her own hard-fought clout meant the world to her.
“I felt there was something else out there,” he said. “Another place I was supposed to be.”
With me.
She shook the dreams out of her head.
“You know,” she sighed. “We’ve been walking so long, there’s no way it isn’t more than two miles.”
“Maybe two miles was an estimate,” Wayne offered, forging onward.
They were walking past a small cave, hung with moss when suddenly a thousand tiny shrieks filled the air.
Olivia felt the breeze of leathery wings flapping wildly just inches from her face.
She screamed and dropped to the ground as something connected with her head and thrashed around in the hood of her lightweight raincoat.
“Easy,” Wayne murmured from above.
The creature in her hood stilled.
She felt Wayne’s gentle hands untangle it.
It squeaked once and then fluttered into the blue twilight.
“Oh my gosh,” Olivia panted, trying to pull herself together.
“Are you okay?” Wayne asked her, wrapping an arm around her.
“I’m fine,” she said, taking a deep breath. “I was just kind of freaked out. It didn’t hurt me.”
“I am glad,” he told her. “Do you want to rest for a while?”
His arms felt good around her, but they needed to get moving. Darkness was on its way.
“No, I’m okay,” she told him. “We should keep going. We have to be close.”
But she wasn’t convinced they were.
They
had been walking for well over an hour.
And they were still heading uphill.
Maybe it was time to turn back.
Or maybe they just needed to make it around one more bend.
Olivia sighed and trudged on.
14
Wayne
Wayne walked on, wishing that Olivia had allowed him to carry her.
Though he did not wish to distress her, his own sense of direction told him that they had traveled well over two miles and that they were still headed away from the direction from which they’d come.
The afternoon heat had given way to a damp chill.
And darkness was falling on them swiftly.
He was about to suggest that they head back in the direction they’d come from when he heard something in the trees just off the path.
At first he hoped it was just a small animal rustling through the undergrowth, but the sound rose into a snarl.
“What was that?” Olivia asked.
He put himself between her and the sound and gazed out into the trees.
But he didn’t see anything.
“Be still,” he told her quietly.
He listened.
For a long moment there was only the calling of the night birds and the plunk of droplets from the earlier rain as they made their way down from leaf to leaf to the forest floor.
Then there was another snarl that turned to a hideous howl.
A pair of glowing red eyes stared at Wayne from between the trees. He didn’t know what kind of beast this was, but it was big, and close.
“Be calm,” Wayne told the creature. “We mean you no harm.”
He waited for it to back down.
But those scarlet eyes remained fixed on his, unblinking.
The creature emitted another hair-raising howl, this one ending in a roar.
Wayne snatched Olivia up in his arms and sprinted down the path as the bushes beside them shook furiously.
He wondered how long he could outrun the thing in the dark woods.
It must be truly ferocious if it didn’t respond to him. Wayne had been led to believe that Earth’s animals felt no hatred - only fear and sometimes hunger caused aggression in them.
But this animal was altogether different.
Olivia clung to him silently. He could feel her heart beating, swift as a hummingbird’s wings.
His eyes strained for the vestiges of moonlight that filtered through the mist and trees.
A glimmer caught his attention - water glinting on the dark rock of a cave on the cliff face beside them.
Caves were the resting places of hungry, fearful things. Images of snakes and bears appeared in his mind.
Did they even have bears in Costa Rica?
He looked back, considering.
Moonlight reflected in the dewy foliage.
The thing was coming at them so fast it almost seemed to be flying.
He hoisted Olivia into the cave, then pulled himself up behind her.
He could hear her harsh breathing amplified in the musty space. He pulled her into his arms again, sheltering her body with his from whatever might be in this space or coming in.
She was still and silent, for which he was grateful.
He had no idea if the monster pursuing them could make it into the cave. The rock was slippery, and the opening was high.
A few minutes passed.
Wayne was shocked not to hear panting and scrabbling outside the cave.
And he didn’t see red eyes out there either.
Had it given up?
Based on their earlier experience, he doubted it.
“Wh-what was that?” Olivia whispered in his ear, her hot breath sending a shiver down his spine.
“I’m not sure,” he admitted.
“It didn’t like you,” she said, sounding surprised.
“I guess I’m not good with every animal,” he said.
But he was good with every animal. It was his gift.
Which could only mean that what they had seen out there was no animal. Maybe it was something very unnatural.
“Olivia, do you believe in the story Juan Carlos told us?” he asked.
“The cadejo?” she asked.
“Animals respond with aggression when they are frightened,” Wayne said. “Or when they are hungry. But there are better meals than us in these trees.”
“What are you saying?” Olivia asked, sounding small and frightened.
“I’m starting to think there might be something to the story of the cadejo,” he admitted.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Olivia sniffed.
She was denying his fear, but he noticed she wasn’t in a hurry to get out of his arms.
“Then what could it have been?” he asked.
“Well… there are panthers in Costa Rica,” Olivia suggested. “It could have been a panther.
“Do panthers have red eyes?” he asked her.
She was silent.
“What else?” he asked.
“I’m not really sure,” she admitted. “I don’t know what animal has eyes that look red at night. But there must be one. There’s no such thing as a cadejo.”
Outside the cave it was full darkness and rain began to lash the trees, droplets splashing just inside.
“Whatever it is, maybe it doesn’t like rain?” Olivia suggested.
“Maybe not, but I’d rather not find out,” Wayne said. “It’s too slippery to run in the dark on unfamiliar territory. The mountain is too steep.”
“So we’re sleeping here tonight?” Olivia asked.
“We don’t have any other choice,” Wayne told her.
“Fine,” she said. “But don’t think you’re getting lucky or anything. It’s creepy in here.”
He laughed, and she laughed with him.
Wayne had never felt luckier than he did when he was with her.
Suddenly the glowing eyes and torrential rain outside didn’t seem to matter so much.
And though he wished he could tell her about his gift and make her understand why he knew that the thing outside had been no wild animal, he was glad she didn’t have to suffer with the knowledge as he surely would during the long night ahead.
Please, keep the rain coming, he prayed silently to the moons of Aerie. Keep that thing away from my mate.
He would protect her to the death with a glad heart. But he would much rather get back to their friends alive.
Olivia snuggled closer, her soft cheek resting against his chest.
He stroked the tender place between her shoulder blades, hoping to bring her the sweetness of sleep.
He would keep vigil tonight. Thankfully he did not need to rest in the same amounts that Earth’s own trueborn creatures did.
Did the thing with the red eyes need rest?
As Olivia’s breath slowed and she relaxed against him, he tried to remember the myth of the cadejo.
What did it want?
Why had it come?
At some point he must have drifted off.
He awoke in the morning with a start.
The opening of the cave looked like a yellow glowing eye with a dark pupil.
Instinctively he pushed Olivia behind him and lifted his fists.
“Easy, señor,” someone said.
Olivia made a sound of sleepy protest behind him.
Wayne blinked.
The pupil focused into a man-shaped silhouette.
The yellow behind him was sunlight.
“Thank God I found you,” the man said. “When you didn’t come back last night, your friends grew very worried. You should not have taken the day-long trail so close to sunset.”
“The day-long trail?” Olivia asked.
“Sixteen kilometers is a long distance, señorita,” the man said solemnly. “Even for very experienced hikers. And you do not know the trails.”
15
Olivia
Olivia walked briskly down the dirt path toward the village.
Al
l around, the birds were singing as if to announce royalty. The trees were so green it almost hurt her eyes.
But she couldn’t help fighting a rising sense of panic.
“Hey,” Ruby said, trotting up beside her. “I brought you some coffee.”
“Thank God,” Olivia said, taking it gratefully. Even if Ruby had filled it with cream and cinnamon it was still better than no coffee.
“You okay?” Margot asked, joining them.
Olivia looked ahead, where Wayne walked, flanked by his brothers.
“I’m not sure,” she admitted.
“I guess hiding out in a cave doesn’t exactly make for a romantic evening,” Margot said sympathetically.
“It’s not that,” Olivia said. “Well, it’s not just that.”
“What is it?” Ruby asked.
Olivia took a sip of her coffee before answering.
It was black, the way she liked it, and richer than any coffee she had ever tasted.
“Good, right?” Ruby asked. “They made that right on the resort.”
“Unbelievable,” Olivia said, taking another sip.
They walked on in silence for a few minutes.
“So, I guess there are two things going on,” Olivia said at last. “The first is that what happened last night was actually pretty scary.”
“You mean the cadejo?” Ruby asked, her eyes wide.
“No, don’t be ridiculous,” Olivia said. “I meant the signs were switched. We didn’t take the long trail on purpose.”
“Didn’t you say they were freshly painted?” Margot asked. “Maybe they got switched when they were being repaired.”
“Maybe,” Olivia said. “But the people here are so fastidious. The guy even called me ‘señorita’ while pulling me out of a cave, for heaven’s sake. They would never make a mistake that could mis-route tourists.”
“Are you saying someone sabotaged you?” Margot asked.
“It sounds silly when you say it out loud, doesn’t it?” Olivia asked. “I just didn’t get much sleep, that’s all. And this business with Wayne doesn’t help.”
“Is he pushing you to become his mate?” Ruby asked.
“No, not at all,” Olivia said. “But this morning I was supposed to walk down and talk to the horse guy by myself. He insisted on coming with me, he literally said, Olivia, I’m putting my foot down.”