Page 81 of In Your Light

But then a shiver ran down Sawyer’s spine. The kind of shiver that a decade of police work told him they weren’t alone. He scanned the trees around them, looking for the eyes he could feel on him. He couldn’t see anything, but he was certain of it. “Ciaran, we’re being watched.”

Ciaran glanced around them, his brow furrowed. “Where?” Then he looked at Pax. “More of your herd? I assure you, we are here to help. There’s no danger here.”

“No,” Pax said, chin raised and a smug smile on his face that Sawyer didn’t care for. “Not my herd.”

“The others,” Fyn said. Then he turned to the forest. “You can show yourselves. You are in good company here.”

Then a woman stepped out of the tree line. She wore a white dress of natural fibres, much like the fauns’ clothes. She had long brown wavy hair, bare feet, and a serene smile. A younger woman followed her, with darker brown hair, a small baby bump, and her eyes were fixed on Zaq.

Zaq went to her side, and Sawyer didn’t miss the way Fyn grinned at them.

“I am Bre,” the first woman said. “This is Eva, and we are female faun. We meet a cephamorph at long last.”

Holy shit.

Ciaran bowed his head. “It’s an honour.”

And then, from the other side of the clearing, two beings stepped toward them. Sawyer did a double-take, then blinked a few times to check if what he was seeing was real.

They were humanoid in shape but made of leaves, moss, and some kind of light. He recognised them from Aurin’s memory of the fertility festival. He’d called them forest sprites.

Holy shit.

Ho. Leeee. Shit.

“Hello,” the first one said.

Sawyer had no clue about their gender, or even if they had a gender. It didn’t matter either way. Their voice sounded like a wind chime, and Sawyer was transfixed.

Ciaran bowed his head again. Though his eyes were a little wide, he hid his surprise well.

Sawyer, on the other hand...

“Wow, holy shit. This is awesome.”

Fyn chuckled and clapped Sawyer on the shoulder.

The sprite gave Sawyer a smile before turning to Ciaran, Pax, and Bre. “The forest is under threat,” the sprite said. “There are very few forests such as this left. And so we must do what we can.”

“Agreed,” Ciaran said.

The second sprite spoke next. “We took to the metal beasts they left behind last night.”

The metal beasts...

“Oh, the heavy machinery?” Sawyer asked. “By the river where the old bridge was?”

The sprite nodded once. “Yes, we made mischief with the metal hearts to ensure they will not beat again.”

Sawyer grinned at them. They’d messed with the engines on the excavator and the bulldozer. “Love that for them.”

“Good,” Ciaran agreed. “Anything that slows them down is a good thing. We have news on where they intend to mine.”

Sawyer took out the papers from the backpack. He’d found the maps submitted with the environmental study, the mining permission approvals, and the submission to police for traffic controls for the immediate start of bridge construction. He unfolded them and managed to refrain from giving Pax a smug little smile before he pointed out the locations.

“The new bridge will be here,” Sawyer said. “This will give them access to this side of the river and road access to Tenebrae. The areas shaded here are where they have permission to mine. Which is way too close to where we are right now. They will build roads, and they will cut down trees indiscriminately and destroy the gorge to get those heavy machines required for concrete pylons. They will not care who or what they destroy.”

Pax shook his head, anger and fear sparked in his hazel eyes. “We cannot allow this. Any of it. They must be stopped.”