“This is not your territory!” Micah snarled.

“This land is under our surveillance and supervision,” the hunter said, before reaching into his pocket and drawing out an intercom device. “CCTV room. Assistance is required.” He spoke into it even as he drew up the glass window, locking himself inside.

A swarm of mutants came stampeding around the building toward us. Their razor beaks clacking, they launched into the air. I realized that there had been hunters running among them, gripping their leashes, now being lifted up with them. With shocking agility, the men swung themselves onto the mutants’ backs and rode them gracefully even without saddles. They drew out guns and, as they circled above us, began raining down bullets. The mutants opened their mouths and released sharp tongues of fire.

“Let’s not tempt fate,” Corrine murmured, her face scrunched up in concentration as she and the other witches kept the boundary up.

“I agree,” my grandfather said. “Vanish us outside the compound. There is nothing more to see here anyway… for now.”

Grace

We reappeared in the midst of a thick dark wood, some miles away from the compound. Aside from Micah, others in our group had been to The Woodlands before, but everyone looked lost as they gazed around, even Micah.

“I can’t believe they’ve done this,” the wolf said, growling and shaking his head.

“We probably should’ve guessed this would be their next move,” my father said. “It’s just something that the IBSI would do.”

“Micah,” Vivienne said, returning our thoughts to the task at hand. “You know Victoria’s scent, right? Can you smell her anywhere?”

He began sniffing the air. “Not yet. But we’re still close to the compound. It’s possible they were still traveling through the trees at this point. If we keep scanning this area, I’ve got to pick up on her scent at some point. Wherever that wolf man—or whatever he was—was planning to take her, I doubt he would have traveled the whole way in the treetops. I guess just until he deemed it safe to touch down. Let’s keep moving.”

Micah positioned himself at the very front of the group, my father, grandparents, Vivienne and Xavier close behind. Then walked my mother, Rose and myself, followed by Ibrahim and Corrine, then Mona and the rest of the adults, right up to Jeriad, who hung at the back. He was in his dragon form. So far, the trees around us were fairly widely spaced apart, which meant that he could still walk without crashing into trunks.

I hung back a little, leaving my mother and Rose, as I wondered where my three friends were. I moved toward Jeriad and looked up to his back. There they are. Heath was seated behind his father’s neck, while Brock and Arwen sat further down Jeriad’s spine, near his tail. The couple were making out. Again.

“You want to come up?” Heath asked me.

“Yeah,” I said, about to attempt the climb myself, before Heath dropped to the ground beside me. He lowered himself, allowing me to slide onto his back before he climbed onto his father’s neck again and seated us.

“Thanks,” I said.

He smiled. He looks so handsome when he smiles.

Wanting to distract myself from the rising temperature in my cheeks, I glanced back at Arwen and Brock. Following my gaze, Heath smirked. “Hey, Broccoli,” he called.

Refusing to part his lips from Arwen’s, Brock shoved up a middle finger at his best friend.

I giggled. Brock hated Heath calling him that almost as much as he hated the vegetable itself.

“You two should have stayed back,” Heath went on. “Seriously.”

Finally, Brock unglued his mouth from Arwen’s to murmur, “You’d be doing the same with Grace right now if you had the balls to ask her out.”

That shut Heath up. As I glanced at his face, I could’ve sworn I saw a blush creeping up his cheeks. I did not think that I had ever witnessed Heath blush. And was it just my imagination, or was he deliberately not looking at me?

He quickly regained composure, however. His eyes narrowed on Brock, casting him a hard glower, before turning back to me. His expression was dark as he muttered, “He will live to regret that comment. I assure you.”

I chuckled. We held each other’s gaze for a few moments before he glanced away again.

I couldn’t help but wonder exactly what Brock had meant by his comment. Did he think Heath liked me too, or was it just a convenient insult?

I shook the thought away. I analyzed things too much sometimes.

We became pretty quiet after that. Heath and I focused ahead, on Micah, leaving Arwen and Brock to themselves. The silence would have felt awkward had we not had such pressing matters on our minds.

Finally, Micah stopped short. “I’ve got her.”

“Thank goodness,” Vivienne said.

“I’m guessing that they touched down around here and then…” He continued moving forward. “It smells like they went this way.”

I heaved a sigh. I felt relieved that we had at least caught the start of Victoria’s trail, but I also felt daunted. Something told me that this was going to be a long, winding journey.

Victoria

After my agreement to accompany Bastien, I had been expecting him to immediately pick me up again. Instead, he took a step back. Then, sinking to the ground, he crouched over on his knees and hands. His limbs began to shake and expand until his torn clothes burst from his ballooning form. His head widened and silky black fur started sprouting from every inch of his skin. Then his teeth lengthened, becoming razor-sharp. His hands and feet balled up as his legs took shape. The transformation complete, he lifted himself up onto all fours and I was met once again with his penetrating gaze. As a wolf, his gray eyes were larger, brighter, even more intense.