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Another nod.
Lo, you’re freaking me out, talking to air. Seth brushed against my ankles.
The woman wrapped one arm around herself, the other pointing away into the trees. Seth pressed more firmly against me.
“How do I help?”
She pointed into the woods. I wasn’t really excited about going into the forest with her.
“Um, you’re going to have to give us a little bit more information. They’re not going to let me go traipsing into the Appalachians with you.”
The woman paused. I guess it wouldn’t be easy to explain if you couldn’t talk to someone and also couldn’t show them what you wanted. Her form shimmered and red blossomed over the front of her shirt. She lay down in the dirt and stared at me with blank eyes.
Oh shit.
My stomach heaved. “Were you murdered?”
She nodded from her place on the ground and pointed in the woods. Her body had to be in there. Maybe all she wanted was to be properly laid to rest. I sucked in a deep breath and stepped forward. Caden’s hand locked around my wrist.
Where are you going?
“Into the woods. She needs us. Do you feel anything dangerous?”
I don’t. Seth’s voice filled my head.
Caden glanced around and shifted into his panther form, his whiskers twitching. Just because we don’t sense something wrong doesn’t mean there’s nothing dangerous.
“Well, keep your eyes peeled and we’ll leave if we need to.” I turned back to the woman. “Show us where your body is.”
The forest took a deep breath. The ground rippled beneath my feet as the wind made the trees whisper. What the fuck? I paused at the edge of the trees, listening. Resting my fingers on the branch of the nearest tree, I focused, trying to sense if there was something wrong, but it felt like the normal forest to me. I decided to take it as a sign that I was doing what I was supposed to. A rational person would be terrified, but calm settled over me.
Caden shoved himself between my legs, forcing me to ride on his back for a quick escape, and Seth shifted into his panther form as well, following so close my leg was sandwiched between them. We walked into the woods for about twenty minutes, the two panthers getting increasingly agitated. I stroked a reassuring hand over their fur every so often.
“How much further?” I asked.
The woman turned slowly and all the hairs on my arms stood to attention. Her spirit sank into the ground at her feet and I slid off Caden despite his growl of protest.
My tongue felt heavy in my mouth. I set a palm over what had to be her tainted grave and a ripple of energy warmed me.
“Gaia, Great Mother, protect and keep your daughter. Hecate watch over her as she walks from this world into the next.” I traced my fingertips through the detritus and soil, letting my hand move of its own volition.
She was here.
She was waiting.
Nausea clawed at my insides and I braced myself against the ground, breathing slow and deep. Her translucent hand reached up through the soil and wrapped around my wrist. I jerked back, but there was no give in her grip. Panic choked me. She wasn’t hurting me, but she wasn’t letting me leave.
Find me. The soft voice of a young woman filled my head.
“I need you both to dig.”
Caden and Seth tore into the ground with their massive paws. The soil gave way. Earth and pine and decay filled my nose.
Virginia Burke. The voice in my head was soft and sounded nothing like Caden or Seth. It had to be her name. Had she told me, or had something else? I wasn’t sure it mattered.
I tugged on my arm again, but she held tightly. I set my own hand over hers. “We’re coming, Virginia.”
Seth leapt back and shook his paw. I hit something. Bone?
