Rebels and Realms: A Limited Edition Urban Fantasy Collection

by Heather Marie Adkins

  Taking a page from Logan's book, I scanned the area out of the corner of my eye, intent on seeing the slightest movements.

  I sighed. "So far, there's not a pixie in sight." I wasn't overly comfortable talking out loud to myself, which is exactly what it felt like I was doing, even though I knew my partners could hear every word.

  Looking around, I tried to find any signs of a struggle or anything that looked out of place. Since we were in a forest, I had no idea what that would be.

  Except when in the Path.

  My stomach squelched at the thought. Shivering, I stepped back to what might be considered my safe point and looked around. I thought about moving back even farther, but realized I hadn't asked about any other areas. The idea of being stuck in the Path, unable to push away, while standing in a Path that made me sick, didn't sound pleasant.

  Hoping to warm myself up, I drank more coffee. It was still warm, but not hot enough really to do the trick. After setting the bottle aside again, I double-checked my surroundings. I was definitely in the right spot.

  Traveling to the Path was much easier this time. Smooth, even. I marveled at the snow leaving long trails as it fell. The bleak forest came alive with bright color. I watched, momentarily distracted, as the Path of the trees stirred in the canopy, making them seem active. It was something I could spend hours watching.

  However, there was work to do. Mentally shifting gears, I took in the area surrounding me. The creature had been here hours ago. If a pixie had been attacked, wouldn't my partners have heard?

  Maybe they had and simply hadn’t recognized it for what it was. That was one thought I'd keep to myself.

  The Path of the animal was distinct. It had moved around the area for a while.

  "I can see the Path of the animal clearly. I'll stick clear of it, though." I added the latter for Rider in case it worried him. "It's about the size of a large dog or maybe even a small bear." I thought about that for a while. "We don't have bears living here, do we?" I glanced around the woods, nervously this time, before pushing the thought away. "I guess that could be a small deer as well. It looks like it stands a little taller than my waist. I can't think of anything that Rider wouldn't have come across before."

  Having a one-sided conversation meant there was no one to bounce ideas off of—and no reassurances. The words were just sucked away into the woods.

  The animal's Path took up a great deal of space, but I started to look around it and through it for signs of other Paths.

  "There were other smaller animals here, off and on, but all before this particular one came through."

  Squatting down, I looked more levelly at the Paths and began to sift through them mentally before finding exactly what I was afraid to find.

  Sometimes it sucked to be a Reader.

  I bit my lip and cleared my throat. Even that wasn't enough, so I took in a few meditative breaths before telling my partners about the pixie.

  9

  "There was a pixie here," I said, trying to stay clinical, but knew it wasn't working. "I'm not sure what it was doing. The animal appeared to walk around it several times. I can't tell if the pixie was alive when it did that, but I can tell it wasn't alive when it was dragged off."

  I'm not sure if my shaking was because of the cold or if from what I was looking at. Regardless, I didn't want to be there any longer. I closed my eyes and tried to push away the Path.

  There was a brief power struggle. It felt as though the Path wanted this to be seen. It must have been rare for a pixie—a part of the forest—to die during what had to be a vicious animal attack.

  When I managed to push the Path away, I realized I was practically sitting on the ground. Realization of how cold it was snapped me back. I had been cold the whole time, but the Path had been distracting enough to make the cold an afterthought.

  My muscles protested when I stood back up. A light layer of snow covered everything, including me. I stared in the direction where the animal had disappeared. Off to one side, leaves rustled as something on the ground went over them. I watched the area I assumed the noise had come from.

  "I don't think I can get anything else from this," I said, watching the still forest intently. "Not without following the animal that did this."

  "Which I assume you're not going to do alone," Logan said.

  I jumped and tried to turn to the voice at the same time. A bad combination which landed me butt-down in the snow.

  "You startled me," I snapped. "Bells. You're getting bells."

  Logan grinned.

  "And no," I added in a more level tone. "I wasn't going to follow whatever did this. Not alone, anyway."

  "You look chilled to the bone."

  I got up and dusted off the snow. "Which is exactly how I feel. We should get moving and follow this thing. I'll warm up as we go."

  "You're going to be spending the next hour or so by the fire," Logan said.

  "What?" The thought of a toasty fire was nice, but I didn't want to sit on the sidelines while everyone else ran through the woods.

  "And we're not tracking this thing yet. The pixies come first."

  "But it took—"

  "We can't help that one, but if there are others out here, we're going to do our best for them."

  "Do you think it’s going after others?" I asked.

  "If it was hungry, it would probably head in the opposite direction. Henderson and I will chat, but I think we'll take that into consideration as we search."

  I nodded glumly and looked in the direction I thought the animal had disappeared. With the Path closed, and my lack of direction sense, I wasn't certain it was the right place.

  "Come on," Logan said. "Let's get you thawed out."

  "Did Rider find Henderson and his team?" I asked, following Logan.

  "Yeah. Rider's filling the team in on what we've found so far. He also called Hank, which is good."

  Working with another team had me a little worried, especially since it seemed I would be the first to be benched. "Did he tell them I got sick?"

  "I missed that part," Logan said.

  "At least Rider didn't tell them," I said. "Back there when I checked the Path the first time, I tripped and fell full into the animal's Path. Luckily, I was outside the actual scene when I got sick."

  "Any ideas what's causing it?"

  "An allergy, maybe? I'm not really sure. I can't imagine how a Path could make me sick. Even an allergy wouldn't make sense."

  "Be careful when you're reading," Logan said. "I don't think Henderson's team needs to know you can go deep enough into the Path that it can affect you that much."

  "Thanks," I said. "Will the snow make it easier to spot the pixies?"

  "I doubt it. I'm not sure they leave footsteps in the snow when they walk over it. They may prefer to stay in the trees."

  For some reason, his words made me look down. I had to assure myself that my partner did indeed leave prints in the snow. Somehow, they managed not to be as deep as mine, but they were there all the same.

  "Unfortunately," Logan continued, "the snow will make it harder to notice the traps."

  "What traps?" I asked. “Surely the pixies aren't—"

  "No, but the goblins are," Logan said. "Pits, snares—basic things."

  "That sounds... dangerous," I said.

  "It's not that bad. We won't be in those areas, at least for now, and the pixies won't fall for them. If we get stuck in one, they won't be fatal."

  There was a lot of damage something could do without being fatal, but I kept my mouth shut about the traps. "Anything I need to know about Henderson and his team?"

  "They're good agents. We'll avoid specifics about our abilities when we can, though. No need for details to show up in the files."

  It wasn't a surprise to hear him say that. Logan always sounded like he was against the agency knowing more about the Lost—or anyone's abilities—than strictly necessary.

  "How are they going to track the pixies?" I asked.
<
br />   "They have some gadgets to pass around," Logan said. "We're about there. You’ll have two hours by the fire. Take advantage of them. Rest up while you can, because we're going to need you later."

  Voices of other agents became distinguishable, and it wasn't long before two men came into sight. Rider was missing.

  "Agent Seale, Agent Heidrich, good to see you," Henderson said. "It's nice to be working with you, but I wish our circumstances were different."

  "It's good to see you," I said, trying to remember if I knew anything at all about him. I had seen him around the office, at least.

  "And I think you've met Agent Franklin. Agent Wolfe gave us the details you've gathered so far. He's grabbing wood with Agent Rust."

  Did I know Agent Franklin? The name wasn't familiar, but I was sure I had seen him before.

  I edged closer to the fire. It was small now, but I was hoping that a large stack of wood was on the way.

  "We have comms units, so we can keep in touch," Henderson said. "We'll have two teams active at all times. This is our base of operations for the time being. A phone will remain with whoever is here, and they can relay any findings back to Hank."

  He handed me a phone, which I pocketed, keeping my hand wrapped around it, despite the fact that there were no pixies in the immediate vicinity. At least none that we knew about.

  "In two hours," Henderson continued, "Rust will replace Heidrich, and we'll continue to rotate from there."

  Rider came and dropped a large armful of sticks, some of them big enough to be branches.

  Henderson gestured to Rider's haul. "We can gather more wood between shifts as needed. While we're minding the base camp, you can grab anything close by, but make sure to keep the fire in sight. If we're out here for long, we're going to want to make sure that the fire is going. I don't want anyone leaving here with frostbite. Seale, I'd like to confer with you before we get started."

  Logan nodded amiably and stepped aside with Henderson. I wandered over to the stack of wood and grabbed a few pieces to stick into the flames.

  "I can get that for you," Franklin said, taking the wood from my hands. "We'll get the fire going so you won't have to worry about it."

  I bit back the first remark that came to mind. While I would probably would have been hard pressed to start a fire, I was pretty certain that I could keep one going.

  "Thanks," I said, trying not to sound stiff. "I'm sure it’ll be fine."

  When Henderson returned, he passed me a comms unit. A few moments later, Rust came into view. He was carrying significantly less wood than Rider had, but I was happy for any sticks they brought me.

  "We'll hear you if you need anything," Logan said under his breath while messing with a piece of electronic equipment.

  Since he didn't say it where others could hear, I assumed he meant without the comms.

  "We'll be back for you in two hours," Logan added in a normal tone.

  "Good luck," I said.

  It wasn't long before they all disappeared, going straight to the spot where the pixie had died.

  The ground around the fire was wet from melted snow, so there was no chance I was going to sit on that. Instead, I dragged over a large piece of wood that Rider had left and sat there to warm myself.

  It was strange to be on my own. No one said anything into the comms, and their voices were fading fast in the falling snow.

  My limbs started to thaw as I soaked in the heat. I hadn't realized how cold I really was until reintroduced to the warmth. Every now and again, I added some wood. After what Franklin had said, there was no way I was going to let the fire dwindle. Once I had warmed myself, front and back, there was nothing left for me to do but wait.

  "Let Hank know we'll be splitting up where the victim died," Henderson said. "Logan and Rider will be traveling parallel to the goblins, and the rest of us will be traveling perpendicular as we start our search."

  I had to take off a glove to turn on the comms unit. "Got it," I said. "Calling now."

  At least it was something for me to do. I flipped the comms off and dialed the phone before putting my glove back on.

  "Hank here," Hank said.

  "Hey," I said. "We're checking in."

  "Good to hear from you," Hank said. "How's it going out there?"

  I passed on Henderson's message.

  "Good to know. So, the pixies took your phones?" There was a hint of laughter in Hank's voice, but I ignored it.

  "And the truck keys," I added. "Logan said there are some back at the truck, though."

  "Always a good plan when dealing with pixies," Hank said. "You were getting new phones anyway. I'll make sure they're set up and ready for you. The roads are starting to get messy, but they're only calling for another inch or so of snow."

  "I'm not sure about the office, but I know at home we're expecting a lot more than that," I said.

  "Was that yesterday? Things change fast with the weather," Hank said.

  I allowed myself a little smirk on Gran's behalf. "Gran said it will be up to my knees by morning."

  "Well, damn. Even the trucks might be stuck in something like that," Hank said.

  "I'm sure that they're working on the roads," I said.

  "Not where you all are at," Hank said.

  I had forgotten about the gravel roads. "I guess other teams may have the same problem."

  "I'll send word around. How much snow do you have there?"

  I walked a little away from the fire and stuck a gloved finger through the snow. "Maybe an inch or so?" I hadn't meant it to sound like a question, but I seriously sucked at measuring things.

  "Even if you have nothing to relay, I want an update every hour," Hank said.

  "I'll pass the word along," I said.

  "I have everyone logged. Be careful out there. And stay warm."

  After passing on Hank's message, I settled back at the fireside, even daring to pull my gloves off for a few minutes. Keeping the fire fueled while watching the minutes tick by kept me amused for the short term. After a while with nothing to do, though, I went ahead and scoured the nearby area for more sticks and twigs. The snow was making it difficult to find them, but I managed to add at least a little bit to our stack of wood.

  It was a little over the two hour mark when Henderson said they were on their way back.

  The wait was endless. I drank a little coffee, put hand-warmers into my shoes and gloves to ward off the cold, and then paced around until I heard Henderson.

  "Okay," Henderson said, "we have ten minutes and we head out again. Rust and Heidrich can gather some wood before we leave again. I'll call Hank."

  "Sure," I said. I had been hoping to go straight back out, but I knew they needed to take advantage of the fire as much as I had. Wandering around away from the team meant that I didn't have to make small talk. Rust and I fanned out and gathered all the wood we could and brought it back.

  When we returned, Henderson and Franklin were pulling on their gloves.

  "If Agent Heidrich wants to stay here," Franklin said, "I'm sure Agent Rust wouldn't mind going out again."

  I frowned at Agent Franklin. "I think we should stick with the rotation."

  "That's right," Henderson said. "Rust will stay. Let's move out." He let Logan and Rider know through the comms.

  10

  If Agent Franklin was trying to be nice, it really wasn't working. In fact, it was downright ticking me off.

  Henderson led the way. Once the fire was out of sight, he held up a device and started playing with the dials.

  I thought about keeping my mouth shut, but I hadn't worked with another team before and the silence wasn't comfortable.

  "What equipment are you using?" I asked.

  "Thermal," Henderson said. "Franklin also has GPS. That's going to help us pick up where we left off."

  "Interesting." Thermal was a type of tracking I hadn't thought of with Rider. It made sense that pixies could be found that way.

  "The snow might also give
us an advantage," Henderson said. "Keep an eye out for any tracks that you don't recognize."

  Tracks that I don't recognize? That pretty much meant anything but our tracks, though I wasn't about to admit that out loud. Instead, I kept my eyes on the ground for indentations in the freshly fallen snow.

  "We left off here," Franklin said from the rear.

  "Let's take a look," Henderson said. "What we're doing," he said for my benefit, "is checking the area in basic grid formations."

  While Henderson and Franklin looked over the gadget Franklin was holding, I figured it was time for me to get to work as well. Closing my eyes, I tentatively stretched out my mind and tried to jump into the Path.

  The reluctance of using my gifts with another team was causing an issue. With the unsteadiness of my power, it made me anxious to use it in front of outsiders. At the same time, it was my job. Focusing and removing all hesitancy from my mind, I plunged into the raging storm of the Path.

  I sucked in an unsteady breath as the vivid color raced by.

  "We're moving to the west, and then back south again," Henderson said.

  I was afraid to say anything, so I mutely followed behind while trying to dam up the flow of energy. Once a great deal of power was pressured back, I started to take a deeper look at the more docile stream.

  Trying to avoid looking at Henderson was a fruitless endeavor since he was directly in front of me. Henderson's Path was focused. There was some worry and nervousness swirled together, but the purple and vivid blue were dominant, since his concentration was directed on helping the pixies. There was an intense core of dark gray, but most people held something like that deep inside — something that they wanted to remain hidden from the world.

  Thankfully, Franklin was behind me. I'm not sure anything I could see would help with the agitation I felt toward him.

  The forest was plainer. There hadn't been a lot of animals around. Thankfully, no Path resembled the one that me sick earlier. These were small things, some a bit bulkier-looking than squirrels, but not much larger.