“It’s for the best,” he said.

  I crossed my arms and glared at him. “I’m not okay with this.”

  “It’s for the best,” he repeated. With his stone-like mask set in place, he left.

  My mind warred with itself, fighting to determine the best way to deal with the situation.

  Boone and Logan had already agreed there would be no fire except for the small one for cooking, so the camp darkened quickly. They also assigned Davis and me to first watch.

  Luckily, I had pretty good night vision. As my mind grappled over a course of action, I watched Vincent talk to Rider, who looked in my direction anxiously a few times.

  “I need your bag, princess,” Renick said, stepping into my line of sight.

  “Where does it need to go?” I asked.

  “It’ll have to go with all the others.”

  I went to pick up the bag, but Renick beat me to it.

  His grin died away when he looked in my direction again.

  “What’s up, big man?” he asked.

  “Up is where the bags belong,” Rider said from behind me.

  Renick apparently didn’t know what to think of Rider yet, so he walked off.

  “Vincent sent me over,” Rider said once Renick was gone. “He does not like Renick.”

  “Oh, no. That is not happening.”

  “Vincent means well.”

  “Is that what you really think?”

  “I do.”

  “Well, I think he’s being an ass, and you can tell him I said so.”

  Rider wrung his hands. “I do not know what to do.”

  “About what?” I asked.

  “Do I really say that to Vincent?”

  The wind went out of my anger. “No, I’m just frustrated. Don’t worry about it.” I wanted to tell Rider that if Vincent wanted something done and it involved me, make Vincent do it himself, but that seemed hypocritical to have Rider deliver a message like that. “I’m going to grab dinner.”

  “We should meditate.”

  I almost said not tonight, but I thought better of it. My powers weren’t working well, and when my mind was mixed up, it seemed to be worse. The last thing I needed was to be out here and not be able to handle the blinding pain using my powers could cause. Even worse, I wasn’t always alone in the Path anymore, which was unnerving and could cause even more issues.

  “Sure,” I agreed. “Let’s find something to eat and then find a comfortable place.”

  We quickly grabbed some food, but there was very little time to eat. Where had the day gone? Rider was patiently waiting for me when I finished.

  “Over here,” Rider said, leading the way.

  He found a place slightly away from the camp, for which I was glad. Meditating with a bunch of people staring would be difficult.

  When I closed my eyes, the shattered pieced of my soul were waiting for me at the edge of my mind. At the moment, they seemed to be moving with each other, which was good. When the shards started grinding against each other was when I had problems.

  Twenty minutes later, I opened my eyes to full darkness.

  “Time for guard duty,” I said, rising to my feet.

  “We should ask Vincent to join us tomorrow night,” Rider said.

  “I’m not sure he’ll want to be included.” I looked up and spotted Vincent watching us come back into camp. “Besides, if he were there, it might make it more difficult.”

  “You do seem rather upset with him.”

  “He’s being unreasonable.”

  “He is trying to make things easier for you.”

  “Yeah, well, he’s making them harder. Never mind him for now.”

  “If that is what you want.”

  “I’m going on duty. Get some sleep.”

  I met up with Davis at the edge of camp.

  “How’s your first day going?” Davis asked.

  “Not the best,” I admitted.

  “Renick?” she asked.

  “No, Vincent’s just… being himself, which can sometimes be as annoying as Renick.”

  Davis chuckled. “You haven’t seen anything yet.”

  “How’s your first day going?”

  Davis shrugged. “Tolman is being difficult, but then, that’s the way things go sometimes. We’ll work it out.”

  “Is it the change of having new partners?”

  “That’s possible. He doesn’t deal well with other people.”

  “I know exactly what that’s like.”

  “It really is nice having another woman as a partner.” Davis beamed. “Okay, we need a plan.”

  “We’re more in your element here. I’ll take your lead.”

  We walked the perimeter together once, then went our separate ways. The first shift worked well for me. By the time I carefully woke up Rider to take over, I was out of steam and too worn out to worry anymore about Vincent. After one last reminder for Rider not to wander off, I went to bed and almost immediately fell asleep.

  The next morning, I avoided contact with Vincent, though not because of his ridiculous request. It was more an issue of not wanting to yell and to be further ticked off first thing in the morning.

  I could tell Rider felt torn. At first, I was worried that he thought I was upset with him. Instead, I learned he wanted to fix things between Vincent and me.

  We left quickly the next day and staggered out once again. Rider took the lead with Davis. Vincent and Tolman were behind us all. Imagining what stellar conversationalist they both were I knew there wouldn't be anything in the way of team bonding happening between them.

  We had only gone about a mile before Rider slowed to a stop. Logan and Boone joined Rider and Davis. Tolman and Vincent were only a short distance behind and arrived before Renick had the chance to be annoying. It wasn't long before Logan signaled. The elf had an amazing whistle that mingled with the air to create something that was seemingly natural, yet completely distinguishable as coming from him.

  When we approached, Boone and Logan had their bags off and were in deep conversation off to the side.

  "Everything okay?" I asked. Following Logan and Boone's lead, I took the opportunity to take off the backpack.

  Rider shook his head. "It is not. The village is ahead. I can tell that people have been in this area, but from the town, I only smell blood."

  Chapter Nine

  "Smell blood, huh?" Tolman said. "I don't suppose it's animal blood."

  I was surprised to hear from the almost silent man. His voice sounded gruff, probably from disuse.

  "It is human and there is a lot of it," Rider said.

  "We're going in together," Boone said, joining us.

  Davis looked a little surprised by the decision, but said nothing.

  Boone might have noticed her look, because he began to fill in details of the decision. From our time together, I knew from experience that Boone was the type to just give orders, or at least try to, and expected them to be followed. Maybe while in the gremlin world I broke his idea that everyone around him was a soldier.

  "We don't know what we're dealing with. If the nightmare did this, we don't know how or even if it’s still in the area. There are more things—worse things—that can be found this far away from civilization. People could have done this, or another animal. We stick together. Everyone stay in sight of someone else. Visual sight," he added after the slightest of pauses.

  "We'll fan out," Logan said, "but we'll want to stay close enough together to hear each other as well as see. And we'll move slow. Rifles and handguns at the ready. Until we know what we’re dealing with, it's not a time for tranqs. The supplies stay here."

  Boone pulled a net out of his bag and Logan grabbed a thick rope out of his.

  "The supplies aren't going to be safe here no matter what we do with them," Boone said. "But if we keep them in the netting and high up, they'll at least have a chance."

  Once all of our bags were stowed, we moved quietly to the village. It wasn’t the time to talk, which was good. For me, at least, wondering what we might find was filling my mind to the point that there wasn't room for conversation.

  When Rider indicated, Boone gave out hand signals, ordering us to fan out. It was only because he had taught me a few of the signals that I knew what his instructions were. Even then I didn't understand exactly what he was saying, just enough to get by.

  We spread apart and inched forward. I had my gun in hand, but hated the thought of using it. The tranq rifle slung over my shoulder would have been preferable. It always was when dealing with the Lost.

  However, Boone had mentioned the possibility of people doing this. With people, I felt safer with the gun in hand.

  The thought took me by surprise. A raging minotaur could be rampaging toward me and my first instinct would be to dart him and run like hell. Put a few attacking humans together and I would want a gun in my hand. Granted, my first instinct would still be to run like hell, but I was getting better at tamping down that urge.

  Which also might not be a good thing.

  I gritted my teeth and pushed the thoughts out of my mind. Stalking toward a blood-splattered village wasn't the best time for introspection.

  The trees began to thin and I could hear running water. A stream, maybe? It was too bad I didn't have the maps of the area memorized like Davis did.

  By the time the first hut came into view, the smell of blood became noticeable. When we stepped into the open air, the stench permeated everything.

  With a few more hand signals, we broke into smaller teams and began to walk by the first row of huts. When we stepped away from them, I was surprised to see the actual size of the village. It wasn't huge by modern standards, but it stretched out. The homes seemed to have been erected in a haphazard manner, but most faced each other and a well-worn Path between them was practically a street.

  We came together again.

  "We're going to split up and search the area," Boone said. "Look for any threat. We also need to talk to any survivors we may find."

  Together, we all moved up the road and then broke into groups, two by two, to check in and around the homes. Once the area was cleared, we went back to the road and went a few houses up to the next one that needed to be checked.

  It was methodical and something that both teams were familiar with. Once all the huts were finished, we merged again and carefully moved forward into a clearing with a long building.

  This place had been built with some thought. It was fully enclosed, whereas some of the huts had a wall missing. Strong wood seemed to make up its construction. The roof was still thatched, like most of the other dwellings.

  "This is not good," Rider said.

  He didn't have to say why. The stench of death was strong here.

  "Do you hear anything?" I asked.

  "Not here and any other smells are being masked by blood." A gruffness was in his voice that worried me.

  Rider's gaze was fixed on the building. Logan and I were the only ones who took notice of the strange tone. I watched my friend almost as much as Logan.

  There was a difference in Rider’s face. His skin looked darker and his hands were stretched out. Rider's black hair usually laid flat and smooth. Now it looked as though it was growing bushy. The most noticeable difference was his eyes. A glow was in his eyes that would have looked beautiful, except when combined with the rest of the changes.

  With all these together, Rider was scary enough that I wondered for a moment if it really was him.

  I glanced at Logan, but he looked at a loss as for what to do.

  Boone breached the building.

  Rider automatically stepped forward to follow the others in. I wasn't sure it was a good idea for Rider to be any closer to this mess, so I stepped in front of him, making sure to lower my gun first. Rider kept his weapon gripped tightly. Thankfully, his finger wasn't on the trigger, but he looked agitated.

  "Rider, why don't you come with me," I said, trying to remain all smiles while my friend had a gun pointed in my direction. Not at me, per se. But when someone is ready to storm a building, you have to expect a gun to be pointed at you if you stupidly step in front of them.

  He lowered his gun. For a moment, I was relieved, then I saw that his hands were balled into fists.

  "I sure hope you have the Path open," Logan said.

  "That might not be a good idea," I said. "It affects him when I open the Path."

  "Cassie, step away," Logan said, keeping his voice quiet and careful.

  Glancing his way, I saw that his own face had elongated and looked more angular.

  "What? No, I'm not going to step away." I looked back at Rider, frowning now. "Rider and I are friends. He's not going to do anything to a friend, are you, Rider."

  "In this case, I think the smell of blood trumps all," Logan said. "Step away. That's an order."

  "That's what?" I yelled at Logan. "No. We just need to take a step back. Rider and I are going to go check on the bags and bring back some water. Right Rider?" It was the best I could think of. We could search the village again, but I didn't know what he'd do if he ran into any other pools of blood.

  "Clear," voices called out in the building.

  "It's better that we're gone before they come out." I turned my attention directly at Rider. "My friend isn't going to let me walk out into the jungle on my own, right?" Using an extreme amount of willpower, I walked toward Rider. It looked as though he tensed for a moment, but I brushed past him and moved toward the tree line.

  I wanted to turn around to see if he was coming, but for some reason, I thought that would be a very bad idea. Rider wasn’t in his usual frame of mind. He might decide to go back into the village if I didn’t have faith in him. When I walked into the woods, I listened hard for any sounds of Rider behind me.

  There was nothing.

  But, of course, Rider moved silently in the woods. I wouldn't hear anything even if he were behind me.

  In a few more steps, I heard a twig break behind me and I smiled.

  "Feeling any better?" I asked.

  A growl behind me made me stop dead in my tracks. Shadows grew thicker around us, but it only lasted a moment. He'd made that sound before. It was a threat.

  Once my heart decided to unfreeze, I took a deep breath and moved forward, slowly. At this point, I had to make it clear to him I wasn't running, just moving forward.

  We moved silently like that for some time. It took me a while to relax my fear enough to pay attention to anything else besides Rider.

  "Shit," I said, mostly under my breath. I sighed and looked at the terrain. "I have no idea where we are."

  I turned around. Rider was standing right behind me. Close.

  Too close.

  With my heart pounding in my chest and my brain telling me to run, I looked up at Rider’s eyes, which was a long way up, especially this close.

  He wasn't even looking at me. Even better, he looked like my Rider again. Relief welled up, but I tried to play it off.

  "I don't suppose you have any idea where we are?"

  He seemed to be ignoring me, so I looked around, trying to find something familiar.

  My trek through the woods had left an obvious trail, which was good. We’d entered the village far away from where we exited, but we were traveling in the same direction.

  "Let's go this way," I said, while mentally trying to map out the forest in relation to the village.

  With Rider this close, I could sense his movement behind me, but he dropped farther back.

  "You know," I said after a while, "I think you worried Logan back there."

  "I did."

  Hearing his voice back to normal lifted some of the weight of worry that had started weighing me down.

  "Any idea what he told the others?" I asked.

  "I was not listening." He paused before adding, "I should have been listening."

  I shrugged. "Why? I wasn't."

  Rider chuckled softly.

  Even with a light laugh, I could tell he was still straining or wrestling with something.

  "Want to talk about it?" I asked.

  "About listening?"

  "That's not what I meant and you know it. If you want to talk about what happened back there, I'm listening. If you don't want to talk about it, that's okay, but I need to know when you're feeling well enough to go back." I stopped and stared up at the trees. "Although, I wouldn't mind also talking about where the hell we are."

  "We are close."

  Looking around, I saw the direction he motioned for us to go in. I'd like to say that I had been heading in the right direction, but it would be a stretch.

  At least we didn't have to go back the way we came.

  There was movement out of the corner of my eye. Even though I turned my head quickly, I didn't catch what it was.

  "Did you see that?" I asked, stopping once again.

  "I did not see anything."

  "Are there any animals close by?" I asked. "Close enough that I could see?" I added.

  Rider pointed up a tree. "I am not sure what that is. A kind of monkey, maybe?"

  "Awww, it's a sloth." If anyone else had been here, I would have been embarrassed by that, but not with Rider alongside me. "He's cute. He's also slow though—not what I thought I saw."

  It crossed my mind to ask if he smelled anything strange around, but I didn't want him to think of smells right now.

  I looked up at the sloth again before moving on.

  "There is a large snake over there," Rider said.

  When I glanced the way he pointed, I also involuntarily took a step back from that direction.

  "How large is large?" I watched for a moment until I saw a large mass move on the ground. "Nope." I sped up, trying to go wide around the creature. "Nope, not dealing with that."

  Rider chuckled, a real laugh this time.

  "Do me a favor and warn me if you see another one of those. I don't care how far away it is, I want to know about it."

  "I will do that," he said. "Right up there."

  He pointed straight ahead of us and up.

  I stumbled backwards. "Another snake?" My voice went squeaky.

  "Our bags."

  I put a hand to my chest to try to calm my racing heart. This time, I followed Rider until we stood under the bags.