“Now what, fox?” The cat demon asks, crossing his arms while I pull my dagger free from the slime. “The nd above has closed over us and we’re stuck here because of you.” Light insects cling to the walls, casting a glow. The cat’s green eyes glow, simir to the color of the now dead slime.

  “Katsuro,” the human, Chloe, hisses. “Stop being mean! It’s no one’s fault that the ground got angry and decided to swallow us.”

  Swallow us? That is one way of putting it. I snort as I flick my dagger and slide it back to its rightful pce. “This is your forest and yet you know not of the dungeon underground?” Megan pokes at the slime with her foot and shivers. She runs her hands up and down her arms as she walks over to me.

  Katsuro flushes. His cheeks turn an interesting shade of red as his green eyes turn to slits. “I just recently cimed the forest,” he mutters, but I hear it all the same.

  “So, you know nothing. Got it.” I scratch the back of my head and pick up the hide from the floor. “Going back the way we came is out of the question.” I point to the closed ceiling. My shadows could take us to the top, but there is a gold shimmer right below that tells me that forcing our way out will yield no results. “The best course of action is to make our way through this dungeon.”

  “Wait,” Megan says. “So, if you recently cimed this forest, does that mean you’re just stuck here like us?”

  Katsuro splutters. “I am not stuck here like you....” he trails off, faltering under the gre of the human woman. Her eyes are hard as she pokes him in the side. “Lay off it, female.”

  “Chloe,” she snaps. “What Katsuro means to say is, yes, we are stuck in this forest. I don’t even know how long we’ve been in here at this point.” She throws her hands up. “Frankly, I’m over it. I’m tired of wearing the same clothes every day and I want a bed. A real one.”

  “I gave you pelts to sleep on.”

  “It’s not the same,” she groans. “Megan, you understand, right?”

  Megan shrugs. “Roharu usually holds me, so I’m pretty comfortable. But... if Katsuro isn’t the mage, is the mage hidden in this dungeon?”

  “Typically, yes. If there is a dungeon, then there is usually a culprit behind it.” I run my tongue over the tips of my fangs. “I thought perhaps the forest was absorbing the dead for its own nutrients, but perhaps it was delivering sacrifices to the dungeon?” I shift the beast’s skin. Carrying this around will be troublesome. “We will continue until we find somewhere to make camp. We will forgo using this skin to trade with the vilgers.”

  “Are you going to just drop it, then?” Megan scratches her cheek.

  “No, I will make a bag out of it. A crude bag, but it will serve us better than to carry it around in this state. I do not make it a habit to explore dungeons, so I do not know what we will encounter.”

  “Traps and beasts,” the cat demon says. “Each level will have its own ecosystem and will become progressively harder the further we descend. The problem is, we do not know how far this dungeon goes.” His tail swishes back and forth. “I do not trust you, fox, but since Chloe knows your human, I will allow it for now.”

  I chuckle. “You will allow it? You are lucky I do not cut your head off.”

  “Hey!” Megan pces a hand on my chest. “Let’s not fight each other. We’re all in this mess together.” Her touch calms me. Nevertheless, I dislike the thought of teaming up with a cat. “Teamwork makes the dream work.”

  I blink. “What?” What odd things is she saying now?

  “You’ve never heard that phrase?”

  “I prefer to work alone.” I sniff. I am a shadow fox, after all. Working alone is what my kind does. “Let us go. We are wasting time standing around.” I stroll forward and beckon Megan to my side. I do not enjoy having my back to the cat, but someone needs to make a move. For all his blustering, the cat appears to be still wet behind the ears.

  “So how long have you been here?” the human asks.

  “Uh...” Megan holds up her fingers. “A couple of days, I think. Did you fall into a portal, too?”

  “I got dragged into one.”

  “Dragged?” Megan whips her head around. “By what? Was it a mage? I was running away from some dudes when I fell into the portal.”

  “I dunno know if it was a mage per se. I’ve never seen an actual one, but it had tentacles. They were slimy.”

  “Ew.” Megan shudders. “Is that heavy?” She points to the pelt.

  “No.” My eyes scan the stone walls with moss covering parts of it. I sniff. To the left, something is rotting. The copper scent of blood clings to the air. We will avoid that area and continue straight.

  “We should go left,” the cat speaks.

  “Why would we go to where the dead are?” I deadpan.

  “Because we will need food. We kill whatever killed the corpse and find a spot to make camp.”

  Megan sniffs the air and grumbles. “I can’t smell anything.”

  “Because you are human.” I stop and look to the left. The hall is much darker than the rest. The light insects are nowhere to be found. Even they are avoiding the area and that is where the cat wishes to venture? “They cannot see in the dark.”

  “So? I can make light.” He snaps his fingers, and a ball of light appears over us. It is as bright as his blonde hair. “I say we go this way.” He takes a step forward. Killing intent rolls off him in waves. I wrinkle my nose. Perhaps I should refer to him as a whelp with how eager he seeks battle.

  “We do need food,” the human speaks, tapping her fingers on her arms. “But I don’t know if rushing into something is the best course of action.”

  “Keh.” The cat snorts. His ears twitch. “Ya gonna go along with whatever that fox says over me?”

  “It’s not about that. It’s about being smart about this. You know, careful?” she stresses. “You rush into things. Like that time, you got speared by that—”

  “I got it,” he snaps. “And I’m not rushing. I’m walking.”

  Megan tugs on my shirt. I tilt my head to the side, letting her know she has my attention. “It may be worth it to see what kind of monsters are on this level. Assuming this is like the first floor.”

  I sigh, knowing I should refute this line of thinking, but denying my mate is painful. “Fine. Since the cat is so eager to fight, he can take the lead. At least you can serve as a distraction if we need to get away.” My baser instincts are screaming for me to pick Megan up, throw her over my shoulder, and rush our way through this dungeon. The faster I get her away from danger, the easier I will breathe.

  “We’re all going to die,” the human mutters.

  “Chloe,” Megan sighs. “We’re not going to die. Roharu will protect us.”

  I scowl. “Protect you, yes. Protect her? That is the cat’s job.”

  “You can’t just let my coworker die.”

  “Friend,” the human corrects. “By the time we get back to our world, I doubt we’ll have a job left.”

  Megan frowns. “That’s true... if time works the same.” She perks up. “But if time doesn’t work the same, then maybe it’ll be like nothing happened?”

  Heat fshes through my body. She is still insistent on going back to her world? I bite my tongue until my mouth fills with blood. Megan wishes to leave me? “There is no way back to your world,” I grit out, swallowing the blood.

  “You don’t know that.” Her brows bunch together. “And you said that we might find more information in the city. So, which is it?”

  I turn my head and look straight. This conversation bores me. “Stay close. The air is stale.”

  “Don’t change the subject.”

  The smell of death grows stronger. It is far too quiet. I reach for Megan and pull her closer to my side. “Be silent,” I tell her. She makes a sound in the back of her throat as though she wishes to argue with me, but wisely keeps her mouth closed. Surely, I will hear of this once we make camp. Megan is never silent for long.

  The cat holds out a hand and stalks forward. He bends down next to what looks to be the remains of a krvak. My eyebrows raise. They should only be native to the Forest of the Dead. What is one doing here? I narrow my eyes.

  “It didn’t die here,” the cat says, standing.

  “How do you know that?”

  He gnces back at the human. “There’s magic on it. Something transported it here and there are no signs of battle.”

  I hum as I gnce around. The cat is correct. There are no signs of battle here. The cut is clean and there is no pooled blood on the ground. The smell of blood is coming from what has dried on its skin. The hairs on the back of my neck rise.

  This is a warning.

  “Krvaks are not native to this area?” I ask and grit my teeth when the cat nods his head. “They come from the Forest of the Dead.”

  “Who the hell travels to that area?” The cat crosses his arms. He uses his foot to nudge the body. Underneath is a symbol. A used portal. It fres red before fading away. “Well, that answers nothing,” he mutters. “Should we keep on this path?”

  “Yes, there is no point in backtracking if we do not have to.” Megan squeezes my hand. I squeeze her hand back in reassurance. Are we being tracked? Cupcake, as Megan refers to it, has not been in contact. Either he is dead, or he does not have the information I require. I exhale. There is the possibility that he betrayed me. My mind whirls. Either way, it is not a coincidence that a krvak is here.

  Who travels to the Forest of the Dead? Me.

  “The hell is a dead forest?” The human asks.

  Megan opens her mouth, but I squeeze her hand in warning. She closes her mouth and frowns at me. I shake my head.

  “A forest where the dead rise at night. Lots of mages in that area and beasts. Humans typically avoid the area because the forest is unkind. Ya have to tread lightly there.”

  “But this forest is unkind,” she mutters. “Granted, I haven’t seen any dead people.”

  The cat shrugs. “You lose track of time in here....” he trails off. His body is tense.

  “Stay close,” I murmur to Megan, letting her hand go as I retrieve a dagger. Something hisses in the distance. The air starts to fog and even with the light above us; the area darkens. My shadows flicker, ready to lift Megan to safety if need be. I sniff.

  Decay.

  Rotting flesh.

  More warnings?

  I sniff again. No, there is something alive underneath the scent of death. My ears twitch. My muscles tighten. The hissing is louder.

  Closer.

  Whatever is approaching ccks along the stone floor like the sound of hooves. It picks up speed. A fang pokes through as my lip curls up. The other human backs up until she is in front of me. The cat pulls out a whip and cracks it. His tail is rigid.

  “Get beside Megan,” I tell the human. Protecting her is not my priority, but if something happens to her, then Megan will be upset. Having a mate is frustrating. I drop the beast’s skin and pull out another dagger. The ccking stops and six yellow eyes glow through the fog. The glint of its fangs catches the light.

  It leaps forward as the walls shake and a spark of green light ignites before the hall is engulfed.

  Shit.

  AutumnBanks

  Thanks for reading!