“How long until we reach it, the capital?” Megan covers her mouth and yawns. The simple green dress brings out the color of her eyes. I like it. When we reach the capital, I will buy her more clothing in that shade. The sun is peeking through the clouds and the forest is starting to come alive with sounds. Apollo stretches and then shakes his body. He lets out a sound that shakes the forest.

  Must not be a morning kelpie.

  I shrug. “A week or so. Depends on how much ground we cover today and the next day. If we can find the main path, then it should be an easy walk there. Well, there are always bandits to be delt with.” I shrug again and then hold out a hand for her. As long as we continue to head west, we should be on the right track, but getting on the main path will keep us from getting sidetracked.

  “Ugh. Bandits. Of course. There are beasts. Curses. And bandits to deal with.” Megan takes my hand and blows out a breath. “As long as we don’t fall into another dungeon, I don’t even care what jumps in front of us.”

  “Oh, don’t say that,” Chloe compins. “Now we’ll gonna fall into another dungeon and it’ll take even longer to get out of.” She throws her hands up and out as though she is waiting for something to transpire. “You know what would be wonderful, some kind of coffee? These early mornings are rough.”

  Coffee?

  A look of pure joy fshes across Megan’s face. Noted, whatever this coffee is, Megan is a fan of.

  “What is coffee?”

  “It’s a pnt that, when brewed, has caffeine in it and gives us energy. You can drink it hot or cold. I prefer hot because I like heat even when it’s summertime.” She sticks her bottom lip out. “Guess that answers the question, though. There’s no coffee in this world.”

  “Humans may know of it. Energy is not something I have ever cked,” I admit. “If not, surely there are pnts here that can mimic the effect you want.” The capital may have something simir, but I am not sure. If so, I will procure lots of this coffee for her.

  “Maybe. I could try.” She looks over at the vegetation. “But if something is poisonous, that would be bad.” Megan squeezes my hand.

  “I can taste it first if you are concerned.”

  “That’s sweet, but I don’t want to accidentally poison you.”

  “You will not.” My tolerance for poisons is higher than hers. With how fragile her body is and how easily flustered she gets; her world must ck the dangers of mine. “I will ensure that it is safe to drink before you test if it gives you this boost of energy.”

  “Alright but if you croak, don’t come back and haunt me,” she says with a ugh.

  “I’d stand over his body and tell him I told him so,” Katsuro says.

  “The cat will taste the pnts as well.”

  “Fuck that. I don’t go around eating a bunch of pnts.”

  “You should eat vegetables,” Chloe grumbles. “It’s good for you.”

  “Pfft. No thanks.” Katsuro ruffles Chloe’s hair and ughs when she hits him. “Gonna have to hit harder than that.”

  “Even the cats back at home eat pnts. Like catnip.” Chloe stops, much to my annoyance, for we have lots of ground to cover today, and pokes Katsuro in the arm. “You telling me you don’t like catnip?”

  “I’on even know what that is,” he says, taking her hand and forcing her to resume walking. “Just cause it’s got the name cat in it, don’t mean I’m gonna like it.”

  “What is this catnip?” I ask Megan. She scrunches her nose and frowns.

  “It’s a pnt that cats really, really like. Makes them go crazy. Like a drug, but for humans, it just makes us sleepy if we drink it.” She moves closer to my side. “I think it is good for a cat’s digestive system, but I’m not 100 percent sure since I don’t have any pets.”

  “Why not?”

  “... Why didn’t I have any pets? Uh... well, because I’m poor.” Megan ughs. “Having a pet means feeding it and if it gets sick, then taking it to the animal doctor. All that adds up. I had to take on a lot of loans to put myself through school and it was still hard to find work when I graduated, so I took what I could.”

  “We’re not going to have jobs when we go back,” Chloe bemoans. “Unless time is stopped on the other side, but I doubt it. Life isn’t that kind.”

  “Just live out in the wilderness,” Katsuro says with a huff. “You know how to hunt and how to set a trap.”

  “Living off the grid is a thing, but that’s really difficult,” Megan replies. “And expensive, actually. Our world is probably most simir to the capital here. You need money, coin, to survive. And it’s dangerous if you don’t have a home. Living on the street... or in the woods, opens you up to all kinds of awful things.”

  “Then stay here,” I say. “You do not have to return.”

  “With you?” Her tone is skeptical, but I do not allow it to faze me.

  “Who else?” I scoff. “Naturally, with me.” Apollo nudges me with his snout and huffs. “You as well thought that was a given.” From the corner of my eye, a spsh of yellow stands out. I let Megan’s hand go and pluck the flower from the ground. “Here.” I pce it behind her ear instead of her hair, since she still has it in braids. “That is better. You look lovely.” The red undertones bloom under her skin as she looks down. The sound of her heartbeat gives her away. She is partial to flowers.

  I still and tug her closer to me.

  “Roharu?”

  “Shh.” The forest is too quiet. My ears twitch, but I do not pick up any sounds. “Everyone stick close.” There is a natural silence that occurs when the sun sets and the night descends, but the sun is still high in the sky, and we have been walking for quite some time now. Something is not right. If it is another group of mages, then I will feed them their own hearts.

  Apollo bares his teeth and stomps his hooves at a bush. A goblin jumps out holding a spear. We are surrounded.

  Is this a joke?

  I crack my neck and make eye contact with Katsuro. Good, he is learning to keep his cool. Joke or not, it would be wise to take this threat seriously.

  “Give kelpie.” The one in front of Apollo demands. His long green nose curves downward. “We take. We eat. Give. Or else.”

  “I want you to pray,” I whisper in Megan’s ear. Her brows pinch together. “Do it for me.”

  Megan gives me a look, but nods her head. She csps her hands together and closes her eyes. I keep watch on the goblins as they become more unsettled. My shadows flicker, ready to strike if needed. For now, I wait to see if anything comes of Megan’s prayers. Perhaps commanding her to use her powers is not the correct way of training her.

  “Uh.. Fox? Are we gonna make a move or what?”

  “Keep praying, Megan. Just a little while longer.” I snap my fangs at a goblin that inches too close. It shakes and falls back.

  Pathetic. While goblins are weak, they make up for their ck of strength with their sheer numbers. Though only sending five after us is either stupid of them or there are others waiting to jump in.

  “Give humans too.” It points the spear at me.

  “Fox... oh shit!”

  A purple light strikes down, hitting only the goblins and leaving behind not even a speck of ash. Apollo lowers his head and sniffs. Megan opens her eyes and staggers back.

  “Easy. I will carry you.”

  She shakes her head. “No, I can walk. What was that?”

  “That was all you.” Despite her insistence on being able to walk, I take her in my arms anyway. Megan pouts as if it will change my mind. “You were swaying on your feet. I will carry you until we settle down for the night. There is more ground for us to cover, and I do not wish to settle here.”

  “Worried there will be more goblins?” Katsuro looks around the area, surveying for more danger.

  “There are always more. You see five, which means somewhere ten of them are lying in wait. It would be better to settle somewhere else.” I nod my head at Apollo. “They wanted him for meat. Perhaps food is scarce here.”

  “Ya know, now that you mention it, I ain’t heard much since we been here.”

  “There are always pnts to eat,” Chloe remarks.

  “Yah, no. Never go into comedy.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with a banced diet.”

  “Apollo will fish if it comes down to it,” I cut in before a full-blown argument ensues. Those two argue as quickly as they breathe. “And you may gather your grass.”

  “Not you too!” Chloe palms her face and sighs.

  “They might not need it, Chloe, since they are demons.”

  “Do humans need pnts?”

  Megan nods. “You could get away with not eating vegetables, but your body might hate you. It’s good to have a mix.” She scrunches her nose. “Well... there are vegans, and they don’t eat meat at all. It depends?”

  That answers nothing, but from what I gather, Megan is fond of these vegetables and wants them included. My list is growing rapidly by the day. Fake pnts, real pnts, coffee, and a bed like that of the inn, and of course, a bath. We travel for a few hours longer and only make for camp when the sun sets.

  “Next vilge we come across; we have got to trade for bedding. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that before,” Megan grumbles as she pulls her knees close to her chest. She sits close to the fire, watching the fish cook.

  “If there is a settlement close,” I acquiesce, though I would rather we keep pushing through. Unfortunately, we were unable to find a cave for the night, so this clearing will have to do. Katsuro and I will take shifts, as we do not require as much rest as Megan and Chloe. “If there is one close,” I repeat, “we will not listen to their sob stories of requiring aid. We will gather the supplies you wish and be on our way.”

  “Party pooper,” she sighs.

  “What?”

  “Nothing.” Megan giggles. “It’s just a saying. Don’t worry about it.”

  Sounded like an insult.

  “Come here. We will pick up from st night.” I pull out a sheet of bark and hand it to her. She stares bnkly at it for a moment and then takes it. “Do you not remember, or should I give you a refresher?”

  “Refresher. My brain wants to write the letter A and not the symbol this world has for it. Never was any good at learning a foreign nguage.”

  “Perhaps you ck the right motivation.”

  “I don’t think that’s the issue.”

  “For every symbol you get correct, I will bless you.”

  She snorts. “You? You’re going to bless me? Thought I was the saint here.”

  “We can stay in an inn tomorrow and the number of orgasms I bless you with is proportionate to how many symbols you get correct.”

  “... What if I don’t get any of them right?”

  “Then you will be in for a long night of edging.” I shrug. “Your choice.” Her scent spikes. Spicy. I want to say to hells with quizzing her and slide my cocks between her thighs.

  “Oi! Can you do that shit somewhere else?”

  I growl and flick my wrist in Katsuro’s direction. My shadows knock him back into a bush.

  “That wasn’t very nice,” Megan says, but the smile on her face gives her away. I lean to the side and lower my eyes to her lips.

  “I am not a very nice demon.”

  AutumnBanks

  Thanks for reading! I've been thinking about the second book since this one will be winding down soon-ish and was curious if you would want either a full novel of Katsuro and Chloe or just a side story of them.