His quiet snores harmonized with the churning of the river and the slowing patter of rain falling from the branches of the trees.
A cat found us first.
Not just one—but a few of them.
Led by the grouchy black cat that I was going to start calling Chicken just to be spiteful, a small swarm of them swept from the border of the forest, sniffing us curiously. Grey, orange, white, a few tabbies. One even gently pawed at my shoulder.
Shade stiffened, only slightly. I wouldn’t have noticed if I wasn’t examining his face so intensely.
One of the cats meowed. And then they were gone for a bit.
Voices broke the silence next. Murmurs first, unclear. But then louder. Closer.
“Where are we going, Sookie? You know I don’t like being in the woods when it’s muddy.” Fiella, I noted distantly.
As well as Redd and Kizzi.
“What are you talking about? It’s just fine.” Tandor, too, apparently.
Somebody screamed. Another folk shouted.
It was chaotic, really.
Shade sighed deeply, and then he pulled himself upright. He slipped a hand under the back of my neck and sat me up with him.
Brambleby scurried off to happily greet his friends.
“Woah! Ginger!” Tandor shouted.
Somehow, he was faster even than the vampires, and he got to me first. He tucked his hands under my armpits and hoisted me to my feet.
Then, he whirled and cocked his arm back, prepared to punch the god square in the face.
“Tandor! Stop!” I said, my voice feeling weirdly strained. I darted forward and grabbed Tandor’s arm before he could swing.
He stared at me, bewildered. “What did he do to you, Ginny? I’ll pummel him!”
I yanked on him harder, lowering his arm to his side. He hardly resisted, more confused than anything. “Don’t,” I begged.
“What’s going on, Ginny? Why are you covered in mud?” Kizzi drifted beside me, reaching out to smooth the hair back from my face and then cringing when her fingers ended up filthy. She looked around for something to wipe them off with, but everything was muddy. With a shrug, she smeared them on her flowy skirt.
“Brambleby…” I started, but then trailed off. The words wouldn’t form.
Redd bent down and retrieved Bram from where he was rolling around in a mud pile with Ember. He examined him, holding the dragon as far as possible from his face to get every angle. “He looks fine to me,” the vampire stated before patting him twice on the top of the head and setting him back down.
Bram didn’t resist for a single moment. He did look fine, really. Maybe only a little bummed that he lost his moth. The near drowning hadn’t traumatized him nearly as much as it had me.
Fiella joined Kizzi by my side. She wasn’t as subtle, stepping very obviously between Shade and I and scanning me with her eyes. She shot the god a glare and a flash of her fangs before she returned her gaze to mine. “Why are you by the river? Something about Bram?”
Yes. Yes, thank the fates she was understanding. “He wouldn’t come home.”
She nodded. Her eyes were wide and understanding. “You went searching? You found him here?” She was a dragon mother herself—she knew how it went.
“Yes.” The word came out hoarse and broken. Horror still flooded my gut when I thought about it—how terrible everything could have been.
If Shade hadn’t shown up right when I needed him.
I leaned around Fiella, desperate to meet his gaze, but she stepped aside to stay in my path. Her brows furrowed. “And then what happened?”
