Chapter 5

  Hunting the Hunter

  Leaving the bright modernity of the diner for the forest was gently disorienting. The second the glass door slipped shut, the scent of breakfast faded, replaced by loam, and rain. Ari stood, hands balled into fists. Turning her gaze to the sky, she watched heavy clouds roll in, dimming the daylight, and rumbling with slow thunder.

  She returned to her tent, ribbons of mist clinging to her ankles as she passed through the brush. Her sweater and a knife were all she collected before following Boreal’s tracks to the river. According to Cynthia, the hunter’s camp lay on the other side, where the forest thinned and rocky hills rose. The high-ground advantage would make it difficult to sneak up on them, but the coming storm promised cover, and so did nightfall.

  Ari found a shallow stretch of river and waded in, grimacing as her shoes and socks instantly sponged up the cold water. As she trudged across the river, a cool wind swept in, carrying a veil of rain that draped across the forest with a sigh. Ari pulled up the hood of her sweater and picked up her pace. She walked as far as she could before climbing the steep hills, searching carefully for sturdy hand and footholds before acceding even an inch. The stones held the sun’s warmth. They breathed faint puffs of mist and as raindrops pitted against them.

  Memories of hiking in the BearTooth mountains with Hamza kept Ari going as she made it to higher ground. She ran his lessons through her head and eyed the knife she carried. She knew how to use it, both to skin an animal, and poke an attacker to get them to back off. Hamza insisted on teaching her to fight from a young age despite Ashlain’s complaints, enrolling her in martial arts classes when she was just four, and even teaching her a few things himself. Ari gladly participated. It gave her something to brag about at school and it kept her healthy, but she never actually thought she’d need to use what she learned. Now she wondered if it would be enough to save her.

  The grooved print of a boot gathered water in the rocky soil. Bushes and brambles sported broken branches. Following these marks of passage, Ari was able to find the hunter’s camp by dusk. Shielded by a tall stone outcropping and the heavy boughs of thick pines, their small log cabin was well defended, and would have been easy to miss if she hadn’t known what to look for. There were only three hunters seated around the fire inside, just as Cynthia said, but they were big men, and they were armed. Ari watched them through the windows from the cover of the foliage and wondered what exactly she was thinking when she set out to find them. She couldn’t take them all on by herself. Maybe she could set the cabin on fire and take one or two out with a fireball, but they had guns, and bullets are fast. She shook her head. Stealth was the only option. She’d find Boreal and sneak away with him while they enjoyed their diner.

  The only question was where they kept their captured spirits. Glancing around, Ari spotted four large silhouettes gathered at the other side of the camp. She squinted at them. Night came early thanks to the rain, but the light from the cabin’s windows gave her enough illumination to make out the first shape. It was an armored truck with six thick wheels designed for off-roading. That meant there was another path up to the camp, one wide enough for a vehicle. A train of three carts was hitched to the truck, each loaded with a cage. Squinting harder, she could make out the barest signs of movement under the tarps that covered them. Ari breathed a silent curse. She’d have to get closer to see what was inside.

  Avoiding the bars of light cast by the cabin’s windows, Ari picked her way through the undergrowth, careful to keep an eye on the men inside. Anytime one of them faced a window, she would drop to the ground and go still. Pine needles poked at her skin and wove their way through the fabric of her jeans. She ignored the discomfort, it was worth not getting caught.

  By the time she reached the last cart in the train she was soaked and muddy. Out of view of the cabin’s windows, she got to her feet and peeked inside the cage, lifting the tarp just an inch so she wouldn’t disturb whatever lay within. Huddled together was a collection of small creatures. Some would be indistinguishable from normal forest animals, if it weren’t for the odd horn, glowing eyes, and strange markings. A few of them wore clothes, reminding Ari of the fairy tales Ashlain read to her when she was small. Tiny serpents with jewel like eyes flitted above the rest. Their incandescent wings glowed softly in the dark.

  Watching them, she wondered why they didn’t just slip between the bars of the cage and escape. Many of the creatures were small enough to do so. Was it magic holding them back or something else?

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  Guess I’ll have to save them, Ari thought. Just as she was about to turn and head to the next cart, she noticed a strange little mushroom man waddling toward her. It stopped a few inches from the bars, its large red cap tilted to the side as it peered at her with unseen eyes.

  “Uh, hi,” she said.

  The mushroom man didn’t respond.

  “I’m here to save a friend. Have you seen a glowing bear?”

  The mushroom man nodded and waved its stubby arms in the direction of the other carts. Ari couldn’t help but smile.

  “Thanks. I’ll come back for you guys.”

  She released the tarp and moved onto the next cage.

  Hopeful, she lifted the cover and whispered, “Boreal?”

  The corpion inside snapped its jaws and slammed itself against the bars. Ari yelped and fell backwards into the mud. The cage rattled violently as the corpion continued to rage. She’d only gotten a glimpse of it, but it was enough to realize this was the same monster she’d fought the day before. It was in even worse shape now. A few of its legs were missing and the broken shaft of a harpoon stuck out of its carapace. She briefly wondered if it recognized her, but dismissed the thought. It couldn’t even see.

  Under the rain and noise, Ari caught the sound of a door swinging open, and scrambled for cover. She dove behind the skirt of branches at the base of a large pine and watched. The man that came into view had sandy hair and a wicked scar tracing down his jaw and neck. He held a metal rod that looked like it was the same material as the cage’s bars. He banged it against the cage and barked at the corpion to quiet down. The beast growled and continued to rock the cart. The man pulled back the tarp and jabbed it with the rod, pressing the metal into a soft spot between plates of chitin. The rod never pierced its skin, but the corpion released a pained hiss and froze. When the man pulled back, the corpion sank to the floor of the cage, quivering with fear and rage. The man rested the rod on his shoulder and smirked before returning to the cabin.

  Ari waited until she heard the door click shut before leaving her hiding spot.

  That was close, she thought, and laid a hand over her pounding heart. She took a few deep breaths to steady herself before approaching the last of the cages. She hesitated before lifting the tarp, wondering what she’d do if Boreal wasn’t in this one either. Would she try to get the cure for the Curse and head back to her camp to see if he was there? Would she try to find the gate to Taitamar herself? Or would she return to the Waffle Hut and lead a new life as an assistant waffle weirdo? She didn’t know, but there was only one way to find out.

  Tentatively, she lifted the hem of the tarp. The glow of Boreal’s blue fur was dimmed but unmistakable. Ari felt an enormous weight lift from her shoulders and almost started crying.

  “Boreal,” she said, struggling to keep her voice at a whisper.

  One of the sleeping bear’s ears twitched. His spot-light eyes cracked open slowly, unable to focus immediately as he emerged from the torpor of deep slumber. He shook his head when he spotted her, like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

  “What are you doing? You should not be here,” he said, his voice thick.

  “I came to save you,” Ari said.

  “Too dangerous. Go. The gate is close, you can find it if you listen,” Boreal insisted.

  “I’m not leaving you. Where’s the door to this thing?” Ari said, lifting the tarp higher as she peered around the cage. The door was on the other side. A hefty looking padlock hung there, daring her to try and open it without a key. She cursed softly.

  “Do you know where the keys are?”

  “No, now go,” Boreal said.

  “I’m not leaving you. Dad said you have to protect me, so help me get you out of here,” Ari shot back.

  Boreal huffed in frustration. “I do not know where keys are.”

  “Can’t you just cut through the bars with your lazer claws or something? How’d they even catch you?” Ari asked. She reached out to grab one of the bars.

  “Don’t,” Boreal warned, but here fingers had already wrapped around the metal.

  Ari stood stock still as her entire right arm went numb. A sharp prickling, like static, rode up her arm and across the rest of her body. She couldn’t think straight. All she could focus on was the mounting discomfort. She shut her eyes against it and when she opened them again, she was lying on the ground. It took a solid minute for the feeling to start returning to her arm.

  “What the hell was that?” she asked, trying in vain to shake the numbness out of her right hand.

  “Cold iron. It is bane to magic beings. Only humans can touch it,” Boreal explained.

  But . . . I am human, Ari thought. An icy knot filled the hollow pit of her stomach. Was there even a chance to reverse the weirding curse at this point? Should she risk trying to get the cure from the hunters? She didn’t even know what the cure was. Biting her lip, she wondered what was worth more to her, her humanity or her life?

  “Are you alright?” Boreal asked. His question snapped her out of her spiraling thoughts. She swallowed, her throat dry despite the downpour, and climbed to her feet.

  “I need to find the keys and get us out of here,” she said. If she found the cure along the way to find the key, she’d take it, but if she found the key before the cure, she’d leave without it. That was her decision.

  “Be careful, the hunters have tools that can detect auras. They may already know you are here,” Boreal said.

  Don’t worry,” Ari said as she pulled out the medallion that Cynthia gave her, “I’ve got this.”

  “Huh, so that’s how you got so close.”

  The statement was followed by the sound of a gun being cocked.