The smart thing to do was likely to return to the castle, to the giant stone edifice with locked doors, soft beds, and space for Dan to hide away and think. And before discovering that he was a witch, that was likely what he’d have done. But tonight—whether because of excess drinking or a short wiring in his logic—Dan stepped around Axell and strode off into the woods.
“Wait!” Axell grabbed at his shoulder, but Dan dodged him and kept on walking.
Behind him he could hear Axell tramping after him, cursing and complaining as he pushed saplings out of the way. Dan didn’t love being pursued. That, as much as an unhealthy amount of curiosity, propelled Dan even faster.
There was a noise, a distinct hissing ahead.
Suddenly, a hand covered his mouth.
Axell had caught up, one arm wrapped around Dan’s chest so the palm of his hand muffled him. The other arm came across Dan’s stomach, holding him still.
“Hush.” Axell’s whisper tickled Dan’s ear.
Dan’s body tensed as they watched a woman weave through the forest, holding an unconscious woman in her arms.
“Do you think she’s dead?” Axell asked when the two were gone, lips still against Dan’s earlobe. His arms remained wrapped around Dan, and the entire moment seemed surreal.
Dan reached up and caught Axell’s wrist. He didn’t resist as Dan tugged and removed the hand covering his mouth, but he didn’t step away either.
“What are you doing?” Dan asked, glancing over his shoulder.
“Keeping you quiet. That one is deadly,” Axell murmured.
Dan stepped out of his embrace. “Why do you say that?”
Axell nodded toward a lifeless man on the ground not six feet away. “Because of him.”
The corpse was vaguely blue, as if the person had been frozen or suffocated. The witch was wearing fairly un-witchy clothes: trousers, boots, and a sweater. And the posture was as if they had been crawling through the undergrowth to escape the woods.
Dan looked in the direction the corpse was aimed. It was the same way the dark-clad woman had gone. “Should we go after her? What if the other one is still alive and—”
“They arewitches,Daniel. What magic do we know yet? If that woman is a killer, we would be dead to follow her.” Axell tugged on Dan’s arm.
“I thought that was what you wanted,” Dan said unkindly.
“Not now. I am choosing life, a second chance, here. I want this new world. I want to explore it withyouright now.” He glanced in the direction of the black-garbed woman and her apparent victim. “To follow her? That way is not life.”
Dan swallowed hard at the thought of dying after finally being healthy. He supposed Axell was right. They shouldn’t follow the potential murderess, so he pivoted and continued in the direction the woman came from instead. He wanted to see what the hissing was—and then he’d report back to the headmaster the next day.
He headed deeper into the woods, trying to be quiet in case there were other murderous witches in the shadows. Axell followed a step behind.
Dan felt oddly proud that he was taking charge. He was making decisions, marching—or stumbling perhaps,he thought as a tree branch knocked him into Axell,but still—into possible danger. He was, in brief, trying to be a Good Guy, even if he wasn’t entirely sure how to do so. He felt confident, though, right up to the moment when they found the source of the hissing. Then, Dan was no longer so sure about his brief burst of bravado.
“It’s a fucking monster,” Dan whispered as they watched the wooden serpent shiver in the air. Purple goop dripped from its fangs. “Venomous snake monster. Do you see that thing?”
This time when Axell’s arms came around him, Dan leaned into him.
“And hatchlings,” Axell murmured, nodding toward the forest floor.
Dan followed his gaze to the half dozen or so tiny serpents twisting and rattling on the ground. “Do you think she brings sacrifices to them?”
Axell had no answer. He simply steered Dan in front of him and gently shoved. “We must leave here. You go first. I will follow.”
“If they come after us—”
“You will run.” Axell urged him onward with a firm hand on his back. “And we do not go into these woods again, ja?”
All Dan could do was nod as they sped back to the path and to the castle. He’d found out where the foul smell originated—in purple snake venom dripping from a monster.
