“Keep your voice down,” I muttered, hand over my mouth. “But I can’t help but agree. Am I at all like that?”

When they took a little too long to respond I swore. “Ah, damn it up the mountain.”

“No, no, no, it isn’t really like that,” Willow placed both hands on my shoulders. “You’re just stubborn in the same way, and that isn’t always a bad thing.”

Our conversation halted as Pyrite returned, holding a stack of folded blankets. “There are plenty of comfortable places in the sitting room to sleep,” he offered, smiling for the first time.

My friends left to make up the beds, allowing me to talk to him alone. Despite his gruff dismissal earlier, I sensed some untold thing below the surface. Constantly drifting eyes told me something unpleasant was always on his mind.

“If I was rude earlier, I’m sorry,” I apologized. “Can we start over?”

“I’d like that, yes,” he answered emphatically, once again looking me over with appraising eyes. “You look very much like Puma, you know? I’ve never seen anyone else with so many freckles.”

I touched my face and smiled. “Yeah, I’ve been told.”

He handed me the last of the cups and began drying the dishes I already cleaned. “This forest isn’t always like this. I hope you can visit again when times are different. If you want, I could even get you a job in the God Tree.”

I nearly dropped the dish but caught it just in time. “Oops. That’s nice but… I don’t care to go so far into the Deep Dark.”

“Is it because you’re afraid?” His voice was so gentle, it might have belonged to someone else.

I met his gaze and wondered if his bright eyes saw something deeper. “It’s not that... I quite like the life I have in Pantmawr. I like to help my moms on the farm, and I want to stay close to my friends.”

“You’re humble like Puma too. That’s a perfectly understandable reason.” He paused, knuckles white over the edge of the clean plate. “But I can still see it.”

“See what?”

“The fear,” he pointed two fingers at my face, “in your eyes. Fear can be a blessing or a crutch. Just because you don’t understand something, doesn’t mean that you should fear it.”

My mind replayed the scene again, in the meadow full of laughter, when five seconds turned into hours.

“I’m not the one who said it would be too dangerous,” I reminded him. “How can I not be afraid?”

Pyrite was distant again, lost in the gentle flame of a red candle. “It’s only natural to be afraid of the dark, but don’t forget that the darker it is, the easier it is to see the light.”

Chapter Six

Unseen

The next morning, none of the sun’s rays reached the gray trees of the Wilds. Pyrite led the four of us down the dirt path to Banyan, on black horses that blended with the environment. Sharp and I sat astride the largest, a steed called Midnight Bloom, while Pyrite rode alone on a smaller one called Nightfall.

“Your friends are rather odd,” he muttered under the hood of his thick grey cloak. He was referring to Willow and Piranha, who were scouting ahead.

“Give them enough time,” I said, trying to be cheerful. “They’ll grow on you.”

He only grunted, like he didn’t want them growing anywhere near him. There were not many people from the Jungle who visited the Wilds, and based on the conflict with Wyvern, just as few Wind people.

The horses glided through the forest. The ride was so smooth, I wrote a message to my mothers to assure them we were headed to the doctor, and that Pyrite was alive.

“Is that a golden scroll?” Under Pyrite’s hood was a tired face and unkempt hair. “Who has the other one?”

“My moms.” I showed him the message. “Is there anything you want to tell them?”

“That’s not necessary,” he muttered, turning away. I grimaced but didn’t say anything. He was almost chipper at breakfast, but once we started the journey to Banyan, his mood turned downhill fast. He didn’t explain why the Sapphire Clan was creating this level of paranoia, as if something was preventing him from speaking about it.

The trees rustled above us. Piranha fell through, landing with grace and silence. The lights produced by the tree flowers brightened their oranges scarf like a burning flame.

Pyrite pulled the horses to a stop. “Is someone up ahead?”

The wildcat pulled a thick wad of grass from their bag and fed it to Pyrite’s horse. “No, but we found some lunch.”

“Do you have some grass for us too?” joked Sharp.

Nightfall finished the treat and nuzzled Pir’s cheek. “Heh heh, good horse,” they chuckled, patting its nose. “You can eat the grass if you want, but I also managed to catch us a rabbit.”

As they removed it from their bag, it was like the air around us closed in and created an inexplicable pressure. My godfather leapt from his horse and yanked the brown hare from Piranha’s hands, causing my friend to yelp and fall backward.

“What in the deep hell do you think you’re doing?!” he spat.

Piranha’s pupils narrowed into sharp lines as they scrambled back up from the ground. This was the first time I’d ever seen them cower.

A voice rang out from above. “Hey! What the deep hell do you think you’re doing?”

Pyrite redirected his fiery gaze at Willow, who landed unfazed in front of him. The glow in the older man’s eyes was poisonous as he growled, “This is not the Jungle. Hunting here is taboo. Don’t you have an ounce of respect in your body?”

Snapping out of my shock, I jumped from my horse and grabbed Pyrite by the arm as gently as I could.

“Be calm,” I said, trying to move him back. “We didn’t know. It was a mistake!”

“Take this to heart,” he hissed, yanking his arm away. A harsh face juxtaposed the tender way he held the dead rabbit. “Humans only live in the Savage Wilds because the trees allow it. The animals don’t belong to us, and killing them has consequences. If you’d eaten this, you would have been poisoned.”

“That’s preposterous!” argued Willow. “Animals and humans live in the same ecosystem. Hunting is a necessary part of the delicate balance of life and death.”

Sharp’s armor jangled as she dismounted, and her face had remained neutral. “No, Pyrite is right, Willow. The ecosystem of this forest doesn’t follow the natural laws we’re used to. Unless you count humans, there are no predatory animals here.”

Pyrite's shoulders relaxed, but Sharp turned on him. Her youth didn’t matter, because she was bigger, stronger, and the sun engraved on her armor set indicated a mastery in Warrior martial arts. Her cold voice said, “There was no need for you to act so unkindly. We aren’t familiar with your customs. Maybe instead, tell us what we can do to make it right.”

These words dissolved most of his fury, replacing it with embarrassment. He sighed and looked at Piranha, who was nearly in tears. “I’m sorry, little cat. I see I reacted too strongly, but the poisonous animals have caused the death of too many ignorant tourists who travel through here without someone to guide them. I hope you understand.”

Piranha bowed their head. “I’m sorry for misunderstanding. The custom from the Jungle is different, you see. The power of Wildcat makes me a carnivore, mostly. People like me have a duty to be hunters and provide food for their families and friends.”

Pyrite returned the rabbit to Piranha’s gentle hands. He cleared his throat and said, “If you want to make it right, bury this rabbit under a tree. The animals are like companions of the forest, like these horses are to me. If someone were to hunt and kill one of them, I’d be very upset indeed. The trees in the Wilds provide everything a human in this world needs to survive, even for carnivores like you. From now on, you must trust them to take care of you.”

We buried the rabbit under the nearest redwood. Piranha said a few words of gratitude, before returning the dirt by hand.

Before our walk continued, Pyrite insisted we learn how to properly find food in the Wilds. We tied the horses close to the path, and he hung a seasick green light to Midnight Bloom’s saddle.