Darkness in Green & Gold: A contemporary fantasy adventure (Green & Gold, book 3)

by Jo Holloway

“So what happened?” Jory sat on the edge of his bed. “And why do you look like you just sprinted?”

  “We did.” Wes took a seat beside Cara and told Jory everything, starting with the race from the intruder in the forest, and then circling back to the events of the meeting, including Cara's humiliating vomiting episode.

  “Wow. It was really that bad?”

  Cara nodded and smoothed her hair. “I've never felt so terrible about anything in my life. Still, half of me wanted to let Rhys attack her. Maybe if she hadn't been so huge.”

  “Okay, wait. What did they look like?”

  Wes rubbed his hands on his knees. “Big, tall, hairy, long arms–”

  “No freaking way. No way.” Jory jumped up from the bed. His cheeks turned red, and his hands flew in the air. “You're telling me you saw Bigfoot. I can't believe I didn't get to come! I can't believe you saw Bigfoot and I wasn't there.”

  “We don't know what we saw. It was dark, and they stayed in the shadows.”

  “It was totally Bigfoot. Wasn't it, Jenyx? Ask Jenyx. Ask him. He'll tell you.”

  Cara looked to Jenner. “Well?”

  “You humans do have many strange names for unfamiliar things,” Jenyx replied.

  She laughed. “Sorry, Jor. That wasn't really an answer.”

  “I don't care. It was definitely Bigfoot.” He sat down with a satisfied smirk and crossed his arms.

  “More importantly, did you and Liv get a chance to talk?”

  That wiped the smirk off his face.

  CHAPTER 5

  AS IT OFTEN DID WHEN her thoughts were swirling, her brain refused to sleep. Cara rose early while the rest of the dorms slept, and crept out the door with Jenner. She’d added leggings under her sweatpants and layered a long-sleeved shirt beneath her hoodie. It was cold enough for a winter jacket, but she’d be sweating soon.

  “If I sense any others nearby, I will let you know,” Jenyx said as she broke into a jog along the packed gravel path. “Do the same if you feel anything out of the ordinary.”

  “I will.” All she felt was the hesitancy from Jenyx at having her out here alone and vulnerable if one of the hostile strangers turned up. But she needed her morning runs. When there was this much to think about, it was the only way to clear her head, and she still loved the thrill of this bit of stolen alone time. They stuck to the path around campus, staying out of the trees, circling the stables, and crossing the wide meadow near the huge stone administration building that always reminded her of a castle. Her muscles warmed, and she relished the burn while sweat rose around her in a misty shroud.

  Finally, she slowed to a walk past the dining hall. Her steps faltered when she caught sight of a familiar figure sitting on top of one of the picnic tables outside the Dougie, as the students called the Douglas Fir dorm. Rhys had already noticed her and was watching her approach. He lifted a gloved hand in greeting. A cloud of breath surrounded his head, shimmering in the pink air of dawn.

  “You look like you’re smoking,” she said. More like smoking hot. She fought a little smirk from betraying her ridiculous rogue thoughts. At least the red in her cheeks from running in the cold would hide any blush.

  “Ew. No, I was watching the sunrise. Couldn’t sleep after yesterday. I didn’t know you were a morning person.”

  “Ew,” she parroted. “I’m not. I’m just a morning runner.”

  Chuckling softly, his head bowed forward and soft blond hair fell across his eyes. She hadn’t been alone with him in months. Usually there were other friends around as buffers. But this was practically a conversation, and her pulse was skipping. Jenner jumped onto the table beside him, and Rhys’s arm wrapped around her dog, scratching his ruff so Jenner’s chin stretched toward the brightening sky.

  Traitor. She gave her dog a look that was probably part jealousy. Why did Rhys have to be a dog person too? It wasn’t helpful.

  “You sure you’re not a morning person?” He pointed over her shoulder to the east.

  She turned to find rays of orange bolting from a dark-pink cloud as the first sliver of sun slid over the treetops. It was all she could do not to stare straight into it as the top of the bright circle framed jagged pines beyond the stables and the sky faded to pale blue above the low cloud. This forest, this place, the fresh air, she could almost be convinced to love mornings after all. Her content sigh brought another chuckle from behind her, and she pulled herself together. The company didn’t hurt.

  “Nah. Not impressed,” she said straight-faced. “Plus, morning people are crazy.”

  Rhys released Jenner and stood. “Oh, really? Well, I’d say I should join you for a morning run sometime—our basketball coach would probably be happy—but that would involve . . . you know . . . running. And runners are the real crazy people.” His mouth did that sweet smile it did sometimes, the one that made the world stand still in a brief second of perfection, a lot like that sunrise. It reminded her of the look he had when she saw him at Whalton manor, a place he clearly loved, or for Liv when she did something generous and kind instead of mischievous.

  She had to tell her heart to beat again.

  “Should you be out here alone?” He turned serious.

  “I’m not alone. I have Jenner, and Jenyx.”

  “It appears safe for now,” Jenyx chimed in. There was a hint of another comment in his voice, and Cara tried not to think what things he might say later about this exchange and her teenage hormones. The astute observations of an immortal companion sometimes hit an awkward note.

  “I’ll walk back with you anyway,” Rhys offered.

  Cara shrugged her acceptance while warmth bubbled inside her.

  Calm yourself. He’s just being nice.

  “My dad’s the real morning person in our family.”

  “Yeah?” She stole a sideways glance at him as they made their way toward the Cedars.

  “Liv and my mom are both night owls. They hate mornings, but I never minded them. Dad’s kind of a workaholic, so he usually heads to his office or goes to the hospital early when we’re in town. But when we used to all stay out at the manor together, he would come wake me in the mornings. We’d go to the balcony off the upstairs study to watch the sun rise over the trees.”

  “That sounds beautiful.”

  “It is. It was.”

  The tender look he’d had for a moment disappeared as they reached the door to her building. Words abandoned her, and she resisted an unexpected urge to comfort him. Whatever that was about, it wasn’t her place. Instead, she thanked him for walking her back.

  “Of course,” he said, kneeling to rub Jenner’s head. “Anything to spend more time with this guy. I should really get a dog.”

  The sudden image of him cuddling a puppy was too much. Her face was out of control, and she was going to say something stupid any second now. “You can always come walk Jenner,” she blurted.

  Why, Cara? Go inside. Now.

  “But I’m sure you have better things to do. Like, um, head to breakfast.” She shook her wrist and glanced at her watch, the only heirloom she had from her dad. As if on cue, Meygyn burst out the doors, indigo hair blowing past them on her way to the dining hall. Cara darted through the opening before she could do anything else she’d regret.

  Her thoughts swirled away to her own father and the memories they might have shared if he had lived. Instead, she was left with a hollow longing and an image of Rhys’s face when he’d told her about watching sunrises with his dad. She did her best to drown the thoughts in a long, hot shower.

  The rest of Sunday was spent in the library with Liv and the guys, studying for their exams. Since Liv had missed the end of her freshman year and then had picked up as a sophomore in November, falling back a year after her ordeal, they’d spent all semester helping her catch up. Cara and Liv continued studying in the lounge at the Cedars long after curfew, where Kaylee and Delaney joined them.

  “You’ve got this, Liv. No problem,” Cara said the next morning as they took the
ir seats for their chemistry exam—Liv’s worst subject. Cara avoided eye contact with Mrs. Johansen when she handed out the exams, remembering all the stuff they’d stolen from her lab in the fall to make the poison that saved the girl sitting beside her. Liv gave a shaky thumbs-up, and they set to work.

  Three days, six exams, and one final project later, they spilled out of their history final to end the first semester of sophomore year.

  “We should find a party or something,” Liv said.

  Cara chuckled. “Wes and I are leaving right away anyway. Try the Treehouse if you have time.”

  “Maybe. Rhys and I are heading over to the manor in a few hours, and our dad’ll be up here tonight. I’m looking forward to a crackling fire in the study.”

  “I bet.” She could picture curling up with a book in front of that fireplace in Whalton manor. It was sometimes hard to resist running down the familiar forest path to the stone mansion down the road. She missed its stark beauty. But she had no business going there, and it wouldn’t be safe at the moment, even if she didn’t care about breaking school rules by leaving the grounds.

  As if her thoughts had summoned him, Rhys emerged from the science building. Maybe he could read minds, because he immediately caught her looking and held her eyes across the courtyard. She quickly turned back around and found Wes and Jory had joined them.

  “Be careful around here the next few days, Liv. You too, Jor,” she said. They headed for the dorms and separated from the crowd. “We know they’re out here, at least one, so don’t go off into the woods. We don’t know what they want here, unless it’s more victims.”

  “Tomyx is keeping an eye out, and Ryx said he’d help too. They’ll find ways to warn them if any unfamiliar Pyx are nearby.” Wes turned to his friend. “But, yeah, be careful this weekend.”

  The bright-blond head bobbed. “We won’t take any risks.”

  “Don’t worry, guys. Rhys and I will visit the school to see friends, and we invited Jory for dinner on Friday.” Liv skipped to Cara’s side, with her cheeks pink in the wind. “Rhys will drive us back and forth in that hideous van of his so no one’s walking through the forest.”

  “Thanks, Liv. And, um, tell your brother to be careful too.” She turned her face to let the wind sting her cheeks, which were already turning pink on their own.

  “Of course.” Liv spun around, skipping backward. “You’re not the only Pyxsees in town.”

  “Shh,” Cara hissed. “Loud enough, Liv?”

  “Loud enough for what? Who’s a pixie?”

  Cara spun around to the figure coming toward them. Speaking of brothers . . . “Hey, Mak. I thought we were meeting you at the parking lot.”

  “Oh, there you are, shorty.” Wes’s brother loomed over her and patted the top of her head until she swatted his hand. “Didn’t see you down there. I’d have gone with sprite, not pixie, but whatever. Anyway, I came to check what was taking you guys so long.”

  “I am not short. And we’re not late. Be right back.” She dashed into the Cedars to grab her bag. When she returned, Jory and Liv had disappeared and the two Vanneau brothers stood waiting for her. Wes wasn’t going to catch his basketball-team-captain brother for height, but they were looking more and more alike lately. “I’m ready. We have to grab Jenner from the kennels.”

  Her mom was waiting for them by the time they arrived at the parking lot. “Do you want to drive, Cara?” Sandra asked her.

  “Nope. No thanks.”

  Driving made her jittery at the best of times, but with Mak in the car—a senior and a friend of Rhys—she’d be a bundle of nerves. Instead, she allowed Mak and his long legs to take the front seat, while she piled in the back with Wes and Jenner.

  Mak leaned between the front seats to grin at them as they pulled off the private road onto the highway. “So did Jory ask out Rhys’s little sister yet?”

  “Not yet.”

  “Speaking of Rhys—”

  Cara’s stomach gave a jolt.

  “What were you two doing with him last weekend?” Mak asked. “I saw you guys head into the forest together.”

  Cara met her mom’s eyes in the rearview mirror when they flicked up. She looked away quickly.

  “Nothing,” Wes replied.

  “I don’t know how I feel about my friend hanging out with my kid brother and his girlfriend.”

  This time, her mom’s whole head jerked up. Cara’s mouth opened and closed silently as she shook her head at her mom’s reflection. It should be obvious Mak was teasing, although he did keep believing she and Wes were dating, no matter what they said.

  “Why are you such a tool, Mak?” Wes leaned forward to punch his brother’s arm, but Cara stopped him by smacking the top of Mak’s head from behind instead.

  “Hey, no fighting in the car.”

  “Sorry, Mom. He deserved it.”

  Mak shrugged. “Yeah, I probably did. So why are you ditching the family on Friday?”

  “I’m not ditching. It’s only a few hours. It’s also none of your business, and I’m taking your car,” Wes answered.

  “No you’re not.”

  “Okay.”

  Mak’s look of triumph was only a flash before it slipped. “You’re taking it anyway, aren’t you?”

  “Yep.”

  “I’m hiding my keys.”

  “Fine.” Wes watched the trees flashing past the window while Cara’s eyes darted between the brothers.

  Mak sighed. “How long have you had a copy of my car key?”

  “Since I turned sixteen.”

  Cara nearly choked on her laugh.

  “Mom’s going to give you so much sh—oops, sorry, Mrs. R.”

  Sandra was too busy trying not to laugh to respond.

  “Three words,” Wes said. “Jory’s birthday present.”

  With that, the argument was won. Mak hung his head in defeat and turned around. “Yeah, you’re right. Mom’ll let you take it to pick up his present. Ugh, fine. But you better not scratch my car.” He looked over his shoulder again. “I’m still trying to convince Mom to let me drive it back to school after this weekend.”

  “Why? You can’t take it anywhere.”

  “Not yet, but I’ll be eighteen soon enough, and then I can leave the school on weekends and go into Tillamook or whatever.”

  “In another two months? Why not wait until then?”

  “I have my reasons.”

  Cara took her chance. Payback time. “Do those reasons include a girl, Mak? Trying to impress someone?”

  “Shut it, sprite.”

  She sat back, laughing at the guilty sideways look Mak gave her mom. Wes held out a fist for her to bump. “So who is this mystery girl?” She’d never seen Mak with a girlfriend, though he was plenty popular and always out socializing. She had no idea who he might be dating, though.

  “None of your business. And no one. Yet.” He fell silent in the front seat.

  They’d had their fun and left him alone for the rest of the ride, chatting quietly in the backseat, leaning across Jenner to whisper with Jenyx about the Pyx and the council and what it could all mean. Cara gave Wes a couple meaningful looks behind Jenner’s back. They had plans for more than birthday shopping on Friday.

  TWO DAYS LATER, CARA walked to the little park she used to cross on her way to and from her old school each day. Wes sat waiting for her in Mak’s old beater of a car. She’d told her mom she was taking the bus to meet him at the mall, but she and Wes had made different arrangements.

  She climbed into the passenger seat beside him to warm up momentarily.

  “Check these out.” She held up the custom socks. She’d already sent him a photo as soon as she’d walked in the door of her house and seen them, but the repeating image of Thomas’s furry orange face plastered all over them was way better in person, so she’d brought them along.

  Wes laughed. “Jory will think those are hilarious. You do know he’s actually going to wear them and we have to be seen with him, rig
ht?”

  “Don’t care. They’re awesome. Tomyx will choke when he sees them.”

  “I don’t think a being with no body can actually choke.”

  “Whatever. You know what I mean.”

  “I stopped by the mall and picked up the other thing already.” He reached into the backseat and pulled out a small bag to hand to her.

  She unwrapped the silver keychain and turned it over. The photo she’d taken of Jory at his baseball game was etched on the gleaming silver rectangle, looking like a metallic baseball card. The nearly invisible catch on the bottom released under the pressure of her thumb, and the metal slid apart to reveal a color image inside. The three of them had been sitting on the couch in the lounge of the Cedars when she’d asked Delaney to take the picture, and Liv dove across their laps to join in. Liv’s face beamed next to Jory’s, where he’d caught her and held her for the photo.

  “He’s gonna love it. Probably more than the car his parents will end up buying him.” She carefully slid the pieces back together until they latched and no one could tell the extra picture was there unless they knew to look for it. “Do you know if they’re going to show up to see him?”

  Wes shook his head. She had yet to meet Jory’s parents, and was pretty sure she never wanted to. She had nothing to say to people who would rather have more yacht time than come visit their son for his birthday, no matter what expensive presents they sent him. As far as she was concerned, his grandma and Wes’s mom had raised Jory much more than his own parents.

  “What’d you do yesterday?” Wes asked.

  She leaned back in the passenger seat. “Not much. Walked Jenner. Read a book. My mom and I video chatted with my uncle.”

  “Where is Josh right now? Any new stories?”

  Since her uncle was the only adult Pyxsee they knew, his stories of Pyx around the world were always fascinating. “Indonesia. They were helping relocate a couple villages from some of the low-lying islands that keep flooding. And yeah, he texted me after we hung up to say he worked with some Pyx in the area to save a couple local species too.” Her hands clenched in her lap. “It actually made me think about the guardians.”