If he decided he didn’t want kids of his own, that was great, but there was still the fact that I’d age faster than he would and I wouldn’t live as long. And while that might not bother him now, it would bother him later, I was sure. And even if it didn’t bother him, it would bother me. I would hardly want to be a seventy-year-old woman walking down the street with her forty-something-looking beau.

  “And as to the aging thing—so what if we age at different rates?” he asked. “That doesn’t change and wouldn’t change my feelings for you.”

  Before I could say another word, he slipped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me in for one of his great, big hugs I loved so much. “You should have told me how you felt, Poppy.”

  I nodded and a tear splashed onto my hand. “I know that now.”

  “Next time something’s bothering you, just spit it out instead of holding it all inside.”

  He hugged me closer, and my head fell on his shoulder. My tears wet his jacket, but I didn’t make a sound. I carried that misery in my heart, and a few kind words wouldn’t make it go away.

  Chapter Eleven

  Each person dwelled in his or her own black thoughts. No one felt much like talking, which was evident by the silence. I completely lost track of where Roy was taking us. We might have been on the moon for all I knew or cared.

  Finn was still lost in himself, not his normally garrulous and happy personality. And I understood why—he felt betrayed, not only by me but by Marty, as well. I could only hope he would come to understand that our hands had been tied. But, maybe the fault was my own? Maybe it shouldn’t have mattered what Ophelia forced me to sign—maybe I should have just told my son the truth, no matter what.

  Regardless, we marched.

  Either Roy decided not to stop for rests or he forgot because we didn’t stop. Hunger and thirst ceased to exist. All I was aware of was the numbness in all of my extremities and the pain in my heart—for my son. Everything else vanished from my consciousness.

  The sun started to go down again when the trail flattened out. All at once, with no sign to alert us that it was coming, the path opened into a clearing by a river that tumbled over rocks and waterfalls.

  “Mom,” Finn said as he caught up with me and took my hand. I glanced down at it, surprised, and then looked at him.

  “Are you okay?” I asked.

  He nodded. “I just wanted you to know that… I forgive you.”

  I reached out, collected him into my arms, and pulled him into my body as I held onto him as tightly as I could. I couldn’t control the tears that were already falling freely and when he pulled away (no doubt to breathe again) he looked up at me with concern.

  “You don’t have to cry, Mom, it’s okay.”

  “I’m so sorry, buddy,” I said, as the tears continued to fall. “I promise I will never lie to you about anything ever again, no matter if someone forces me to sign some stupid contract.”

  He smiled. “I love you, Mom.”

  “I love you too, Finn, more than anything in the whole wide world.”

  I pulled him in for another hug and my heart sung—it seemed my surroundings were a little brighter—just as the feeling inside of me was brighter.

  “I want to go tell Marty that I forgive him too,” Finn said as he disentangled himself from me and I nodded and watched him go.

  ***

  After another few minutes, cabins, houses, and a few hand-constructed buildings came into view. What might have been a tiny mountain town appeared out of nowhere. Literally nowhere. No roads, power lines, or any other sign gave away its location.

  “Is this,” I started, but was interrupted by a dozen enormous monstrous creatures barreling down from the trees, howling and beating their chests in unison. They closed in on us from every side, surrounding us in seconds. Finn screamed and I yanked him into me, shielding him as best I could. Marty was right in front of us a moment later, holding his hands out on either side of him, protecting us as best he could.

  The creatures might have looked almost human except for their immense height and breadth, shaggy dark fur in various colors of brown, and their elongated fingers.

  Finn was shivering and crying, saying something I couldn’t understand, but I only had eyes for the monsters as I tried to decide what to do. My number one concern was for my child and if I had to, I would grab him and run.

  Each one of the hairy beasts clutched a high-powered hunting rifle. They charged our party, waving their guns and roaring so loud, I thought they’d shake the mountains. For once, Roy happened to be walking behind the rest of us and wasn’t able to interfere before two of the creatures snatched Marty off the ground.

  Before anyone could react, they hurtled him backwards and then forcefully threw him about two feet in the air. He hit the ground with a thud, his back against a tree.

  “Marty!” I yelled, but the beasts didn’t spare me a side glance. Instead, they towered over Marty after he landed on the ground, bellowing their rage. Lightning quick, Roy jumped between them, wedging himself in front of Marty as he faced the monsters’ ferocious rumbles.

  “Back off, Brandt! These are my friends!” Roy yelled at the creature, who hardly seemed capable of logical thought. “These people are here to claim sanctuary from the colony!”

  The other sasquatches stopped dead in their tracks. The biggest one scowled at Roy and then dropped his long arms. He gave another feral grunt, and as I watched him, he started to… shrink. His fur began to melt into white skin and his fingers shortened as his furry face receded into that of a human. Even though he was smaller in his human form, he was still easily over six-four.

  “Is everything okay now, Mom?” Finn asked as he pulled away from me and looked up, his cheeks tear-stained.

  “I think so,” I answered, but I didn’t release him as I started for Marty, who was still down on the ground. Finn held onto my waist, and I had to push him away slightly so I could drop down to my haunches. “Are you okay?” I asked Marty as he attempted to sit up and then, still looking dazed, glanced from Finn to me.

  “I think so,” he answered.

  “Here, try to get up, if you can.”

  He nodded and looped an arm around my shoulders as I gripped his waist on one side and Finn helped him on the other. Marty wasn’t as tall as Roy, true, but he was still well over six feet and he was heavy, so it was no easy feat to get him to his feet.

  But, once he stood before us, I breathed a sigh of relief.

  “I think… I think I’m good,” he said as he looked down at me and smiled. Then he looked at Finn. “Thanks, dude.”

  “Don’t mention it,” Finn answered with a smile and patted Marty’s slightly protruding belly. Owing to his love of all things sweet and salty, Marty had a bit of a dad-bod, minus being the dad part. Of course, over the last couple of days, he was definitely looking a bit more svelte.

  “Remind me never to get in the way of a pissed off sasquatch again,” Marty continued, shaking his head. “Cheese and rice, but that scared me so bad, now I’ve got an underbite!”

  I shook my head at him, but couldn’t help smiling all the same.

  “You had an underbite before, Marty,” Finn pointed out.

  “He’s just being silly,” I said and gave Marty a faux elbow to the ribs. “But, at least he’s okay.”

  After making sure Marty was in one piece, I turned back to face the situation, which was still unfolding. The other beasts had already transformed into people—all still armed and all… completely naked. They crowded around Roy, all talking at once. One or two clapped him on the back, but the others sliced their fingers at me, Finn, Fifi, and Marty, clearly demanding an explanation.

  And that was when Fifi’s pheromones hit them. Almost all at once, they stopped talking and started sniffing the air, turning around as their eyes focused on Fifi.

  “Roy,” she started, her tone full of worry.

  But the sasquatches weren’t like the humans had been in their mad dash to be near her. Yes, they had the same dreamy expressions on their faces, but there was also something else there—confusion.

  “I need you to do your best to control yourselves,” Roy said as he took a few steps back, to place himself in front of Fifi. “Fifi is a succubus and she’s been doused with a potion that makes her pheromones out of control.”

  None of them said anything. They just stared at her like brain-besotted zombies. But, again, they made no move to approach her. Until one of them did—he’d been standing in the back and then broke free from the others and started toward her, his pupils dilated. He was just as naked as the day he was born, and I wasn’t sure why I did it, but I reached over and covered Finn’s eyes.

  He shook me away and then looked up at me. “Mom, when they were in their Bigfoot forms, they didn’t even seem to notice her,” he said as I nodded.

  “You’re right,” I answered and then turned to Roy. “Tell them to shift!” I called out. “They didn’t pay her any attention when they were in their sasquatch forms!” I finished as I wondered why that was—maybe they’d just been so preoccupied with attacking us that they’d overlooked Fifi? Or maybe their beast nature was naturally stronger than their human sides and magic had a harder time overpowering them?

  Roy nodded and relayed the message and, one by one, they began to shift into their animal forms. Yet, they didn’t shift all the way, probably because they wanted to maintain some level of logic. Instead, they appeared taller and broader and there were patches of dark fur that cropped up along their skin.

  “Wow, they look weird,” Finn said.

  “Yeah, like dogs with mange,” Marty finished.

  “Why have you come and brought a demon with you?” Brandt demanded as he faced Roy.

  Roy raised his arms for them to quiet. “If you’d shut up long enough, I might be able to explain.”

  The guys fell silent, but they didn’t stop glaring at us over their shoulders. They made no attempt to hide their chiseled, muscular bodies, each one more stunning than the last, even with the ‘mange’, as Marty called it. Nearly all of them were as big as Roy, and some were even bigger.

  “What are you doing, man?” Brandt demanded. “You should know better than to bring outsiders here unannounced.”

  “I didn’t have time to send word,” Roy explained. “An incubus attacked one of my people and I can’t let the threat go unchallenged. He tried to kidnap her. I need to speak to Devona.” He raised an eyebrow at Brandt. “Unless you want to try to stop me from entering the colony and see how that goes.”

  Brandt’s expression blanched from angry to merely unfriendly as he stepped aside. The other guys moved out of the way in unison, leaving a clear path for Roy to lead the rest of us into the town, which he did.

  ***

  Roy’s ‘village’ for lack of a better word, looked like what you’d imagine an 1800s boomtown looked like—except for the sasquatches who populated it. No technology—no power, no phones, no TV aerials, no cars. Just guns and lots of hairy people.

  People came to their doors to watch us walk past. They were all as big as Roy or bigger—the men, anyway. The women were large as well—stocky and big-boned, standing at least five-ten. All their houses had been built in proportion to their size. Other than that, they looked as normal as… well, they were as normal as Roy, himself.

  The men who weren’t in their sasquatch forms wore overalls, jeans, or work clothes. They reminded me of lumberjacks and the women all had a similar rugged, can-do appearance. They immediately put my mind at ease with their straightforward expressions and their fearless attitudes. Several people waved and called greetings to Roy. Others whispered to each other about the motley group of strangers invading their town.

  Once Fifi’s pheromones hit them, the men (and a few women) came out of their homes and started following us. They kept a sizeable distance, but they all had that same strange expression on their faces. Thank God they weren’t anywhere near as ravenous as the humans in town had been—then we would have found ourselves facing a bad situation.

  “Um, they’re following us,” Finn pointed out to Roy, who just nodded.

  “Just keep walking and ignore them,” he said.

  Finn just nodded, and Roy led the way to an enormous log cabin at the far end of the riverbank. Hewn steps ascended to a shingled porch festooned with boots, watering cans, axes, and a broom standing in the corner.

  Roy walked right through the front door without knocking, holding it wide and ushering Fifi inside first. Once we were all in, he slammed the door shut and I decided to take my shoes off because they were covered with dirt. I deposited them by the front door, or what was left of them, anyway. It was then that I noticed my feet were cut up all over the place.

  “What are we going to do about the crowd gathering?” Marty asked Roy.

  “If this house has a shower,” I started, facing Roy. “Fifi should take one and use all the soap and shampoo she can to try to wash off as much of the Love’s Goddess potion as possible.”

  “Will that negate the effects?” Roy asked.

  I shook my head. “No, but it won’t hurt. Anything we can do to dilute it, we should.”

  “There’s a restroom at the end of the hall,” he said as he turned to face Fifi. “You heard Poppy.”

  Fifi nodded and disappeared down the hallway. Meanwhile, I turned to face the large, open-plan living room with a cast-iron oven taking up most of the kitchen. A massive fireplace of river stone covered one whole wall of the living area.

  He walked to the stairs and yelled up them, like he’d lived here all his life. “Cora! Where are you?”

  “This isn’t your house?” I whispered.

  He shook his head. “It belongs to my oldest sister and her family. You four can stay here while I go get Devona.”

  “Who’s Devona?”

  “The witch I told you about. She can advise us on what to do about Fifi.”

  “Oh, okay.”

  He nodded. “She lives deeper in the mountains, so it might take me a while before I get back. I’ll have to convince her to come and there’s no telling if she’ll agree. The sasquatch don’t exactly persecute her, but she keeps apart from us, all the same.”

  “Then she’s not a sasquatch, like you?”

  He shook his head, then cocked it to the side. “Well, she is and she isn’t. She’s half squatch and half witch. She’s what we call ‘nature-blessed’ which means she combines sasquatch power with witch magic.”

  “You call her blessed and yet she doesn’t live in this village with you?”

  He shook his head. “Half-witches tend to keep to themselves.”

  “She has no coven then?”

  He shook his head again. “Some covens take half-witches in, but they’re never treated the same as full witches and she can’t claim sanctum anywhere.” He took a deep breath. “No more questions, Poppy. I’ve gotta go.”

  Just then, a gang of kids thundered in through the front door, immediately surrounding him. “Roy! Roy’s here!”

  Three boys and a girl collided with Roy, all yelling, some singing, and all trying their best to throw their arms around him, before climbing him like a tree. Then came the bombardment of questions about what he was doing home, where he’d been, what his plans were, who we were, and a bunch of other stuff I couldn’t make out.

  He hugged each one in turn, but pretty soon, he clamped his eyes shut and shook his head. “I can’t hear a blasted thing with all this yelling. One at a time.”

  “How long are you staying?” the biggest boy blurted out.

  “Did you bring us anything?” the girl asked.

  “Will you show me how to make that slingshot you told me about?” another boy asked.

  Roy held up his hands again. “I’m not staying. I’m leaving right now and my friends are going to be staying here while I go get Devona.”

  The kids fell silent instantly. Now that they stood still, I realized they weren’t abnormally large like the adults. The boys weren’t much bigger than Finn, and the girl couldn’t have been more than ten.

  “Where’s your mom?” Roy asked them.

  “She’s over at the…..” one of the kids began, but before he could finish, the front door opened again and a beautiful, statuesque sasquatch female walked in. She had Roy’s broad shoulders and powerful build, but no one could call her manly. She looked more like an Olympian, with sweeping blonde hair and delicate features.

  Her expression lit up when she saw Roy. “Well, well, what have we here? If it isn’t my favorite baby brother.”

  They clapped each other in a bear hug. Roy laughed and waved toward us. “Cora, this is Marty Zach, Poppy Morton, and Finn Morton. And Fifi is currently using your shower.”

  “Nice to meet you all,” Cora said with a big smile as we all answered in kind.

  “Is this your first time in the colony?” one of the boys asked Finn.

  The kid’s brother punched him in the shoulder. “Don’t talk to the mundanes. You know the rules.”

  “I’m not a mundane,” Finn explained, glaring at him.

  “Oh, yeah, what can you do then?” the other boy answered.

  “Yeah, what are you?” the one beside him asked.

  “I’m a sensitive,” Finn answered. “I can see ghosts and communicate with them and I’m really good at Fortnite.”

  “What’s Fortnite?” the girl asked, as Finn’s mouth dropped open in obvious shock.

  “You’ve never heard of Fortnite?”

  “Finn, they don’t have electricity here,” I whispered.

  “Oh, right.”

  “Where are you from?” the girl asked.

  “I’m from Haven Hollow.”

  “You live in a city?” one of the younger boys responded.

  “Well, it’s sort of a city,” Finn responded. “And guess what?”

  “What?” they all answered in unison.

  “In Haven Hollow, we have all kinds of supernaturals. There’s a witch friend of my mom’s and she made my stuffed animal into a real, living pig!”