“Thanks.Send me the contract, I guess.”
Linc beamed.“I’ll print it out for you when we get back.”
Dom was still hanging on to me, and I petted his arm to get him to let me go.He did, but pushed in between Linc and me.
“Want to guess where we’re going, Little Red?”
“To wherever you wolf out?”
He threw his head back and laughed out loud.It made some bird thing or something rustle in the underbrush, which made me almost jump out of my skin.Dom still had his arm around me though, and he pulled me along.
“We can wolf out for you whenever you want.”
“There’s a river that runs through our territory,” Ell said from behind us.“It’s nice, and a good landmark too.”
I shook my head.“Nope, you’re not going to have to show me landmarks.Didn’t I promise I wouldn’t go into these woods on my own ever again?I really only did it in the first place because staying with the car seemed like a worse idea.”
Behind us, Linc sighed.“Let’s not revisit that particular decision tree.”
Ell huffed.“Agreed.I just wanted you to know where we’re going, Marcus.It’s not that far at all.”
I frowned as Dom took his arm off my shoulders to move a branch out of the way.The plants were growing so close together here that we had to move in single file.
“I didn’t hear a river.Shouldn’t I have heard it?”
“Not in this terrain,” Linc said.“Watch your step from here on out, okay?”
I was about to ask him what he was talking about, but before I could, we came to an outcropping that didn’t look all that confidence inspiring.Dom made his way down there using branches and rocks as handholds, and I followed when he held out a hand and smiled as if this was a dare.
From that point forward, we didn’t talk much.The terrain wasn’t great, and if it hadn’t been for my fancy new shoes, I would have stubbed my toes more than a few times.
I saw an intricate and sizable cobweb and a whole colony of ferns, and there were a lot of birds around.I used my impressive skills as a woodsman and shroom identifier when I spotted a fly amanita and told them about it to catch my breath.I had no idea if that was really what it was, but after walking around under the trees for twenty minutes, I was kind of noticing my nonexistent stamina.
Not long after that though, we arrived at the river.
“Wow,” I said.The place was gorgeous.
25
The river was the logical place.Not too far away, not too difficult to get to, at least not the section of it that we were taking Marcus to.Ell had suggested a picnic when Dom and Marcus were still asleep, and while I had worried about Marcus getting fed up with the short hike before we even got there, we’d made it.
And now he was actually impressed.
“This is so pretty.”He walked past Dom, who looked all kinds of pleased.
Here, the river was still slow and mostly shallow, though it already had spots where you’d sink in all the way to your waist.Pebbles lined the shore, and beyond them were grasses and flowers, a slice of meadow hidden in the woods.
Dom turned toward me while Ell followed Marcus.“Do you think he knows he’s even prettier than the river?”
I smiled and shook my head.Marcus was looking back with that sour-sweet look I was starting to love, having heard the comment.
“I don’t remember a river from the maps,” he said, walking right up to the water with Ell close by his side.
Dom and I joined them right where the water was lapping over the rocks.
“You must’ve missed it, Little Red.”Dom picked up a pebble, then tossed it into the water, where it sank with a satisfying pop.
Marcus reached up to scratch his head before remembering his stitches and flinching.“I never claimed to have memorized it.You don’t have to when you have the map on your phone.”
