Page 45 of The Unseen Hour

“You’ve already seen the lights and the moon. I think you’ll enjoy the rest of the woods. At least I do. Many things are awful about being stuck here, but there’s plenty to explore. All sorts of plants you can use for food. Animals. Some I was able to hunt as needed, and some are quite friendly. Others, not so much, but I’ll teach you to watch for signs of their territory and avoid those places.”

“Animals?” I perked up. I missed Pellix as much as I did my brothers. Odds were, he was fine. Someone would have found him, or he would have returned to the barn for food. He didn’t tolerate others riding him easily, but he never missed a meal.

Still, the stallion’s welfare weighed on me heavily.

Orion led us back out into the woods. Within minutes, his cleverly camouflaged house had disappeared into the distance behind us, and we were walking on a trail, narrow and faint, that he must have worn over the years. It followed the ribbons of light overhead. They were once again purple and orange instead of blue and green, weaving through the sky.

I’d noted there was no pink, which was just fine with me.

“Is it a way to tell time? Warmer colors are daytime?”

“Very sharp! Took me what I’m guessing was a week here to realize that. When it’s just the moon overhead, and blues and greens make an appearance, you know it’s truly night. There is no such thing as full daytime here, though, as I’m sure you’ve already noticed. The nights are long, and as you saw upon your arrival. I follow the colors, but I’ve lost all sense of a normal routine down here. I do keep a count, though, so I know when the hour is approaching.”

“Was it difficult to adjust to that change? And where did you sleep when you first arri⁠—”

Something large and snarling leapt out of the trees toward us. I screamed, stumbling backward and throwing up my hands.

“Get behind me!” Orion yelled, placing himself between me and the creature stalking toward us. Decidedly not one of the friendly animals he’d mentioned, then.

This was a feline of some sort. It looked similar in size to the wolf that had found Pellix and me years ago, though I had no desire to get closer to be certain. Emrys had wild felines in its own wilderness, but they didn’t grow past the size of a bear cub. And I’d never been hunted by any, thank both the blasted gods.

I was certain, though, that this creature existed nowhere in Emrys. Its fur was a shimmering green, shining like fish scales.

It would have been the most beautiful creature I’d ever seen if it weren’t baring its fangs at us, hissing, and didn’t have large claws glinting in the colorful lights.

For the first time in my life I thought I might faint, no corset required.

The cat snarled, swiping at us so I got a good look at its claws, but I forced myself to hold my ground.

“What do we do?” My voice trembled as much as my limbs.

“We distract it and get ourselves away. I hunt in the woods here, but a slycat is tricky to take down. Escape is our best shot.”

Something inside me relaxed, just a hair.

Fighting? Fighting was something with which I had very little experience, unless a sharp insult counted. Sneaking and running so I didn’t get caught? Those were things at which I excelled. Distraction and a quick getaway: that was the key.

“Are you able to keep it watching you?” I whispered.

Orion tilted his head, glancing at me out of the corner of his eye.

“Are you planning to do something foolish?” he asked.

“I’m planning to help us. Now, can you keep its attention on you?”

“If you move slowly. If I hold my ground and you bolt, it will hunt you down.”

The rest of my tension fell away. I didn’t have to do this alone. I placed a hand on Orion’s shoulder.

“Good! Make it mad.”

Orion lunged forward, yelling. The cat jumped back, then snarled again.

While Orion ducked and dodged the cat’s paws, I disappeared into the trees around us, searching.

“Come on, come on! Something.”

I stumbled around the woods, wishing I knew them as well as the lands surrounding Scopshaven.