I thought I knew what it was—some sort of catlike creature Donn had sent to torment us.
The ground under my feet sounded different as I took the next step. Instead of the crunch of leaves, it sounded as if I had stepped on pebbles. They felt tiny under my feet. Each step was a test. I measured them, which helped me stop focusing on the creature’s proximity.
When I hit solid ground, I stopped. “We’re on a path.”
“It feels different,” Miles agreed.
It was about three feet wide, which didn’t matter as much as choosing a direction.
It must lead somewhere, right?
Joel cried out. His grip on me was tight enough to hurt. “It licked my neck.”
Whatever that thing was, it definitely liked Joel. Whether it wanted to eat him or make friends was still unclear.
“You shouldn’t have eaten all that ice cream, Joel,” Miles whispered.
“Right. That’s what it is. The ice cream.” Who knew Joel could be so sarcastic?
“Ow. Asshole.” Joel must have smacked Miles.
The creature forced us to turn right. If we didn’t, we’d be turning toward the creature, which might provoke it.
“He’s mine!” Was that the creature speaking?
Joel whimpered, then jerked as if something or someone had tried to pull him away. He screamed just before stumbling into me. We managed to hold on to each other, but it was mostly my death grip that kept the creature from taking Joel. “He must stay with me. I’ll lose him to the darkness.”
“Fuck you!” That sounded like a very modern response in a place full of so many old souls.
“Show us the way out, and you can come with us. You’ll be able to get to know him properly,” I offered. If even one beloved were lost from the living realm, the prophecy would end. No one deserved to leave the living realm and their loved ones behind before their proper time. Donn shouldn’t have taken Miles and Joel from their lives in the living realm.
“I don’t know the way.” I suspected, instead of a cat, it was a hellhound. I had met a few. At least I knew what I was dealing with. “Mate.”
“He’s touching me,” Joel whispered, his voice shaking with each word.
“He won’t hurt you. I’m almost sure of it.” It seemed Joel didn’t have a reaper after all, meaning they were protecting all beloveds, not just reaper beloveds.
“I’ll kill anyone who touches you, mate,” the creature whispered. Joel pressed against me, so he might as well have said it directly to me, too.
“Oh god.”
The creature growled but backed off. Maybe it knew Joel feared it.
“My name is Arnoc. I am a hellhound sent by Donn to harm you, but you smell good, little mate. So very good.” Well, that just solved that. Not that it was a mystery anymore.
“Can you see the path?” I hoped he could clue us in on where we were going.
“There’s nothing but forests on either side. Donn will shift everything when we get close to the door.” The creature snaked his arm between us, wrapping it around Joel’s waist.
That wasn’t what I wanted to hear. “Do you know anyone who knows the way out?”
“Tech Duinn is an island. There is no way off it, Reaper.”
There had to be a way. I couldn’t be stuck here without Elliot. That would be torture.
“What is that?” As soon as Miles asked, I saw it, too.
There was a light in the distance. It was dim, but it lit up enough of the forest for me to see just how dense the brush and trees were. It was a small thing, but even the smallest thing gave me hope when I was a prisoner of the darkness.
