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When the portal is maybe fifty yards away, we break into a sprint. I’m so happy to be done with this place that I actually crack a smile. I’ll take anything over freezing my butt off.
We’re nearly there when Mack halts. “Do you hear that?”
I pause to listen as the hairs on the back of my neck lift. “Is that a . . .?”
“Growl,” Mack finishes, slowly turning toward the low, vibrating sound.
As soon as I do the same, the air flees my lungs. The snow leopard crouches a truck’s length away, a distance it can easily cover in one leap. Pale green feline eyes slide from Mack to me, as if trying to decide who’s the easiest prey.
Even frozen with fear, I can see that the creature is breathtakingly gorgeous, a mix of black spots, plush tan fur, and cream markings.
It’s also twice the size of a normal snow leopard in the human world.
“It’s as big as a frickin elephant,” Mack whispers.
“A carnivorous elephant with claws and fangs,” I amend, holding its stare. The second we blink or look away, it’s going to pounce.
Mack slowly pulls the prod from her waist. “Back up slowly toward the portal.”
“Wait. Don’t turn it on yet.” Calming my thoughts, I gently reach out to the cat with my mind. Willing it to hear me. To relax.
Don’t hurt us. My thoughts carry over the snow to the animal. Let us go. You’ve eaten enough. Let every human that passes your territory live.
I can feel the creature’s disdain. Why would it listen to me? A mortal?
Because I’m not just a mortal, I send over the snow. I’m the Summer Court Princess.
Mack and I both jump as the snow leopard lets loose a frustrated roar that turns into a yowl.
“Why isn’t it attacking?” she squeaks.
“I think it’s full. Now we should go.”
The leopard sits on its haunches and watches, only pouting a little as we near the portal.
“I still don’t understand,” Mack is saying. “It should have killed us. They eat like six goats and deer a day.”
I shrug, pointing to the portal’s orange rim. Leaves drift from the entrance and blow around us. “Fall Court territories.”
A small shape rushes from the portal and across the snow, its stench immediate and nauseating. The cat-sized, moss green creature is covered in warts, and it wields a small, spiked club.
“Moss goblin.” Mack wrinkles her nose as we watch the angry little beast run straight toward the leopard, too busy pounding its dumb stick to notice until—
Ew.
The leopard finishes with its unexpected meal, licks its maw, and gives me a look that says, You didn’t say I couldn’t eat goblins.
“Moss goblins only live in two ancient forests inside the Fall Court,” Mack explains, reminding me how big and beautiful her brain is. “One is a beautiful place with winding rivers and dire wolves. The other is a decaying wood infested with every manner of troll and orc.”
My shoulders sag. “Then of course it’s the gross forest with the trolls and orcs. The other would be too easy.”
A part of me is thankful, though. I can kill an orc or a troll without batting an eye. They’re cruel, greedy creatures that use up the land until it’s ruined beyond repair. But hurting an animal, especially a wolf . . . I’m just not made for that sort of thing.
Shaking the thought from my mind, I reach into my magical pouch and conjure a disgusting vial of green troll musk—to hide our scent—and a wrist-mounted crossbow that comes with a sleeve of iron-tipped bolts.
To murder orcs and trolls with, obviously.
Mack chooses a sword and a magical torch that lights on command. Along with being greedy and stupid, orcs and trolls are supposed to be scared of fire.
