“This,” I whisper, for his ears only. “This is what I expected the first time around.”
Lucien gazes around almost longingly. “It’s peaceful in a way that actually hurts.”
I nod, a heavy breath escaping. “This could be good. We can set up camp here when we have to come back; it’s the solution we were scrounging for.”
Lucien eyes everything, soaking up every detail. “A blessing in disguise. Our hand might have been forced, but at least she’s out from under her family’s thumb now. They won’t be able to siphon power from her anymore either. Maybe that will mean she won’t have to come back as often.”
I file the idea away, knowing all of us are going to become obsessive trying to find a way to keep her in the human world for as long as possible just to be safe. Because nothing lasts forever, especially peace. They’ll start toying with the idea she sought refuge in the shadow court sooner or later, and we need to have a plan in place for when it comes to that.
“When the protection Rickon offered her wears off, we could keep her in the house so they won’t find her. Or she could glamour herself to blend in, as long as they don’t have anyone that could see through that,” Luce starts muttering to himself, tossing ideas into the void and hoping one sticks.
Whistling, I give the sign that it’s all clear, and a few minutes later, Atlas and Cambria come into view. They look over the area with the same appreciative awe we had, and it’s heartbreaking to behold on someone’s face. There’s just something about this place that calls to a part of your soul, making you never want to leave.
“Guys,” Cambria squeaks on a whisper, standing straighter and widening her stance.
I follow her line of sight off to our right, towards the dense, shadowed underbrush. Two amber eyes, with lightning streaks the same shade as the water racing through its otherwise black fur. Head bent low, it slowly stalks forward, shoulders rolling with each silent step.
“Is that a fucking panther?” Atlas hisses, voice strained.
“Magic fae panther, yep,” I retort with feigned nonchalance. “Cambria, love, does the wildlife here have any abilities beyond mauling people to death we should be aware of?”
She hesitates a second. “Yeah, usually. But I haven’t seen one of these before so not a lot of help on this one. You might want to consider using me as bait while you find a new guide, because I’m useless on anything involving the shadow court I didn’t know about.”
“We aren’t using you as bait,” Atlas growls, grabbing her arm. Before he tugs her back, I stop him.
“Don’t run, it’ll make it want to chase you. If you look like prey, it’ll treat you as such.”
Lucien, the suicidal bastard, actually takes a step closer, rising to his full imposing height. He maintains eye contact, never once showing a single blip of fear. He’s mastered the skill over his life and I’ve never been so thankful for it as I am right now. He stares the beast down, unwavering and unflinching.
It growls low in its throat, advancing anyway, rising to the challenge Luce presents. Still, he refuses to budge, doesn’t even so much as glare at the animal, just keeps his unflinching gaze locked on it. Watching. Waiting. His presence seems to grow, appearing just as much of a threat as the beast before us; unwilling to start a fight, but not about to back down from one either. It stalks close enough that all it would take is for it to swipe out a paw and it could slice right through his flesh. It circles him, assessing, and only when the panther’s attention turns to us does he act.
He barks out, the words harsh and cruel, “Eyes on me.”
The beast’s head whips back towards him, lips curled back in a snarl and starts growling, but his attention is once again focused on Lucien. There’s nothing to do beyond stand frozen in fear. Running will do no good, and climbing a tree won’t make us any safer. It’s too far back to the ring to hope it wouldn’t catch us, so confrontation is the only choice left.
I don’t know about these two, but I sincerely doubt I would win in a fight, especially without any weapons. Maybe Cambria could use her abilities to mesmerize it and slow it down while we escape, but we have no idea if it’s capable of anything magical either. For spending my entire life immersed in tales of magic and wonder, I’m feeling pretty damn useless.
And I hate it.
I want to be useful, someone that’s earned the love Cambria shows us. I don’t say deserves, because everyone deserves to have love shown to them, at least as children. Lucien has money, power. Atlas is nearly as bad of a thrill seeker as she is. What do I bring to the table though? Lucien’s standing here going toe to toe with a goddamnpantherin an attempt to keep us all safe while I just stand paralyzed, frozen in fear.
The beast pauses, tilting its head to the side as it regards him. They stay locked in that stance for several tense minutes before it sneezes, turning its back on us and starting to walk away. We wait what seems like an eternity before daring to so much as take a breath, but that just means it’s slunk off to blend into the shadows. For all we know, it circled back and is watching, just waiting for us to let our guards down so it can pounce.
“Fuck, Luce, you make a fine scare crow.” Cambria puts a hand to her chest, breathing again and grinning ear to ear. “Is anyone else a little turned on right now? Because seriously, that was pretty terrifying, but hot as hell.”
I swipe a hand down my face, looking at Lucien. “Did you have any idea that would work?”
He exhales a heavy breath. “Not in the slightest, but what was I supposed to do? Roll over and play dead?”
Atlas claps him on the shoulder before hitching his backpack strap higher on his shoulder. “Told you, angel, he scares the shit out of people; animals too, apparently. For all we know, he’s now the alpha of a pack of wild panthers.”
I snort. “Panthers are solitary creatures, they don’t have packs. And now it’s clear that the pond is part of its territory, so we might want to find somewhere else to set up camp. If we follow the river we won’t get lost, but chances are higher we’ll encounter more wildlife too.”
There are murmurs of agreement until we all just decide to slowly head back to the ring before we get completely lost and screwed. Cambria claims to be instinctively drawn to the rings, but if we were to get separated, the rest of us aren’t so lucky.
We stay in the small clearing for another couple of hours, and even though it’s well past dawn, the light hasn’t changed in the slightest. It’s hard to tell the passing of time; if it wasn’t for Atlas’ watch, we wouldn’t have any sense of it at all.
When Cambria claims to be feeling well enough, we step back through to return home, as tense as we were facing off with the beast. We have no idea if anyone will be waiting for us there or not, and we still don’t have anything to fight with if we do. First thing’s first, if we cross over unscathed, none of us are going to be unarmed again. After the protection Rickon gave Cambria wears off, even the human world won’t be safe for her anymore.
