Discovering that Onyx still lived all this time and dealing with the conflicting emotions that came with that whole fucked-up situation didn’t help. But I knew I needed to calm down before facing off with a Celestial beast.
Ten minutes later, we found ourselves near the farm buildings. There weren’t many animals about, but I wasn’t too surprised. There were cows, however, which did surprise me. Didn’t expect such a normal animal to be in Arcadia. I stared at them as I adjusted the bag of food and water strapped across my front.
“Well,” Onyx said, “I shouldn’t be surprised to see such a boring and normal animal, but after fighting a fucking Endarkened griffin, I totally am. Plus, how feral do you think the humans back home would go if they saw the lot of them roaming free like this?”
I chuckled, shaking my head at him as I searched the area for themassive bear described by Talitha. I sighed, feeling antsy as it felt like precious moments were slipping away from us.
“I know what we could do?—”
I held up a hand, silencing him. The crunching of leaves and snapping of twigs sounded from the trees behind the stone stable. Large footfalls shook the ground as it neared closer and closer to us. The vibrations got stronger, making the earth unsteady beneath us. A large shadow shifted over Onyx and me, despite the sun not having moved from its spot in the sky.
Together, we looked up. And up some more, finding an extraordinarily large brown bear with red eyes and shiny black horns emerging from the woods, taking branches down with it in its path.
“Talitha said she would be big, but I wasn’t expecting that,”I said in awe as I craned my neck back to gaze up at the beast.
“I remember you saying something similar once…” The quip slipped from his lips as he squinted up at the ceraber.
I glanced at him from the side, biting my bottom lip. Given everything that had happened, I was unprepared for the old memory his remark sparked. But I couldn’t let him off on it.
I cleared my throat and directed my attention back to the large creature ahead of us in an effort to recover from the flush rising up my neck.“At least I didn’t have performance anxiety.”
“You—” Onyx fumbled. “You weren’t supposed to remember that.”
“Oh, but I do. So, let’s get ready to ride the beast.”He’d started this, but I would finish it, because there was no way I could let him know he still got under my skin.
“Seriously. Could you not be so smug about that?” Onyx grumbled and turned back to look up at the bear approaching us.
“So, who’s gonna be top and who’s gonna be bottom on this ride?”
“For the love of the gods, Cotton, could you just…not…right now?” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “This is serious. Neither of us has any training in riding wild animals.”
“Well, I may not, but you certainly do, if I remember correctly.”
“Dude.”
“Okay, I’ll stop now. But you make it too easy.”
Onyx snorted. “You’re easy.”
“Don’t be a child.”
“Says the man making sex jokes like a teenage boy.”
A roar erupted from the ceraber, the wind coming from its maws knocking our hair back.
Once it stopped, I cleared my throat, sobering from the petulant moment I’d just had. Leave it to Onyx to bring out the most childish parts of me.
“Uhm, hi,” Onyx started, speaking to the beast before us. “We were sent?—”
The ceraber roared once more in our faces, silencing Onyx.
We looked at each other apprehensively, unsure of Talitha’s suggestion to befriend this beast. She didn’t seem so friendly. But I figured I’d give communicating with her a try.
I closed my eyes, clearing my mind. If I could connect with Valik, a being from gods knew where, and withstand his power, then surely I could with the ceraber. After all, I was a Kinetic. That meant I had descended from the Celestials at some point in my lineage, even if there might’ve been some Druid mixed in there, as well.
I searched for the cord connecting to the spot between her eyes, and once I found it, I latched on.
“I’m sorry to intrude on you,”I began uncertainly. This was such a new thing for me, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt.
