I told him to leave me and run. It still sucked to get dumped in a patch of bushes.
More people shouted, their calls growing louder. If my brother had anything to do with their training, the loud shouts were a smoke screen or an attempt to corral us toward a certain location. There were more hunters out there, stalking us silently, and they were much closer.
I pulled my legs into the bushes. The daylight was fading and though they might follow our tracks in the right direction, they might miss my tracks disappearing into my hiding place.
They might miss the snapped branches and trampled leaves.
Unlikely.
But they might.
The hunters drew closer with every heartbeat, and the sound of each step striking the ground cracked like a whip across my nerves.
I crouched lower in the dense underbrush, my body coiled tight beneath the lush green leaves. The foliage pressed close, snagging at my clothes. My pulse thundered in my ears, drowning out all else. Could they hear how hard and fast my heart raced?
Somewhere deeper in the forest, voices drifted, more distant than before. The wind stirred again, brushing cool fingers along my sweat-damp skin.
Then… nothing.
Complete, suffocating silence.
Not even the chirp of insects or the rustle of leaves dared to break it. The birds stopped singing. Only the violent pounding of my heart and the rasp of my breath clawing through my throat remained. Had I always sounded like this?
Please, let Ace’s plan work.
Please, let him come back.
But doubt slithered in. I was alone. Weaponless. Familiarless. Partnerless. Normally, this wouldn’t bother me.
I was Artemis, Guardian of the Forbidden Forest and protector of familiars. I didn’t fear. I didn’t falter. And I certainly didn’t wallow in self pity.
Or at least I didn’t used to.
My overconfidence had hidden my many faults. I saw that. And now I was a mere shadow of myself, curled beneath the branches, hoping the hunters stalking through the trees weren’t the kind that could smell fear or hear racing heartbeats.
They’d find me, eventually. I could feel it in the way I felt the forest whisper to me. They’d find me and drag me back to my traitor of a twin brother.
Maybe Paul’s honeyed lies held a sliver of truth. Perhaps he didn’t want me dead. He only wanted me broken, caged, and accused of crimes I didn’t commit.
I clenched my fists into the damp soil, the ache in my chest growing tighter. I squeezed my eyes shut. Memories from our childhood threatened to surge up and play in my mind on repeat.
No, thank you.
I didn’t need a walk down memory lane. I needed to know how my brother betrayed me so severely. How could he turn his back on me and lead this entire operation without letting on a thing?
How could he steal supplies from his own community? From me?
I squeezed my eyes shut.
A deep growl rumbled through the trees. Paws padded along the forest floor as the whisper of a large animal brushed past the bush.
“What the ph–” A man’s voice was cut off with a snarl.
Boots pounded the forest floor, quick and panicked, followed by screams that tore through the trees like thunder. Male, human. People were dying violently. The sounds melded into a grotesque symphony of terror and chaos, and each note sliced through me like a blade.
Was my brother one of the dead?
Was Ace?
