It was like stomping the brakes while the car slid across ice toward oncoming traffic.
Resist with what? Push against what?
The gnawing outsider was like a black hole at the center of a questing galaxy of needful mouths and Green was just a pebble tossed into its gravity well.
Maybe it won’t even hurt. At least not forever.
There was a sound in that place with no sound.
A sound like the distant caw of a crow.
What had the king told him?
Desire may move us as sure as blood and bone…
He called for the memory and it surfaced from the liquid cluster of his experiences like a breaching whale.
Magic and meaning. Desire and choice.
He had made his choice, the choice to save his friends.
I made other choices.
The acorn.
He sent his awareness streaming out in all directions.
Somewhere, away from the thing clutching him, there was a green speck like a shining emerald. His beacon. His anchor. His acorn.
Yet, how could it matter? Green was just Green. The thing thatwould devour him was a timeless elemental force strong enough to threaten his entire universe.
His mind began speaking with the voices of others, those he carried with him.
The Crow King spoke.
You think it is bigger than you? There is no size where you are. Meaning, old friend. Your meaning is as strong as you choose.
Valentina spoke.
Mr. Green, you are a cryptonaturalist. If you’re quite finished with your observations, there is work to be done.
Catskill spoke.
Crush the unreal thing. You are the mountain’s kin. The mountain calls you home.
Dancer walked out of the dark, took off her hat, scratched her scalp, and looked around.
Huh. Pretty weird, bud. I’m not leaving one of my hats in this place, but I’ll keep one warm for ya.
She tossed him an empty cup.
I’m trusting you to return that.
Even without hands, he caught it. The metal was cool on his fingers. It smelled like sassafras.
He turned toward home.
As he began to slip away from the biting disk, the soundless sensation of the fawn’s scream intensified.
