Chapter Forty-eight: January 7th

"All right everybody! Huddle around me, and we'll be at Penny Lee Fort in a minute! Fianna, I swear if you tell Tark anything about your fantasies, I will cook you with the roast! Got that?!"

Fianna groaned her displeasure, but I didn't care. She was lucky I was letting her join us.

"I will tell Tark the way I truly feel," she started. "He's impressed me with his strong and silent ways. That shows how he'll perform in copulation."

"I'm about to rip your head off, Fifi!" I warned. "Keep those bat cave thoughts to yourself. This isn't a stranger you're talking about!"

The reason why an Elder Trekker cowered before me escaped my pondering.

The moment we arrived at Penny Lee Fort, something was off. The forest spirits were stressed and restless. All of them flooded my thoughts with something sinister that had arrived.

"It kill! It kill!" they screamed. "Big shadow!"

I bolted in the direction they pointed, leaving the others behind. The farther I ran, the more I realized how our world had been breached by another. The trees' leaves became violet and pulsed with malevolent energy. The plane of shadows had made its presence here, but how? My heart raced as I thought of the only person that dared to trek here. Tark.

A weak groan alerted me to his location. His crimson blood coated the leaves and grass. His chest had been torn open, and I could see his heart beating. His legs were bones beneath the knee, and his arms were gone. His bloodied face seemed terrified, and it was then that I swore vengeance for him. He was in terrible pain, and I tried a spell I hadn't used since I was a child.

Tark's wounds closed over with forest nymph tissue, repairing the damaged cells. His body could be fixed, but I didn't know about his spirit. Once his body was renewed, his missing limbs were replaced with flexible vines. It seemed as if a bark-like breastplate covered his chest. He had fallen into a deep sleep the moment I had channeled the healing energies into him. He would need much rest to recover from such a harrowing ordeal.

I carried him back to the Penny Lee Fort house. The others looked on in shock, but I couldn't find it in myself to speak to them. My energies had been exhausted from the healing process, and I managed to lay Tark in his bed. I kneeled beside him and squeezed his hand to make sure he was still alive. I could feel his weak pulse, and I feared I had been too late.

I awoke to a warm hand on my shoulder. It was Mil. Her soft voice fluttered through the darkness. The crinkling of snowfall perked my ears.

"The others have settled for the night," she informed. "Golir and Rif are checking on Mayzel Fort. How is he?"

"Not good," I responded in a whisper. "His spirit is broken, and I don't know what to do."

"How did he mend yours?" she queried.

I gazed at her earnest face and sighed. "He believed in me. He's as accepting and loyal as they come. For that, he's been deeply hurt with his yearning for Mayzel's love. He won't be happy with anyone else."

"Then why would he venture so far?" Mil muttered. "None of this makes any sense."

"I think he wanted to find out what was making that ungodly aura," I responded. "Did you sense it, too? It was like staring at death adders an inch away from your face."

Mil didn't leave my gaze and pierced me with one of her own. "Are you scared?"

I glared at her, wanting to show her that I was the biggest and the baddest forest nymph and angel hybrid that ever lived. A small part of me laughed at my efforts.

"That's the Jopp I know," she winked.

"You really know how to rile a guy up," I told her. "Let's go after this shadow bastard. Well, I can't have you join me. I'll do this on my own."

"The hell you will!" Chichi blasted as she burst through the door. "We're going with you!"

I sighed as I realized how headstrong Chichi was and how Tark hadn't fallen for her.

Thorn was beside her with the same look of determination. They were willing to fight alongside me, even though I hadn't treated them as the best of the bunch.

"We're going, too," Hekin declared as he and Sketta stepped forward. "No one injures Tark like this and gets away with it."

Mayzel had the most fearsome scowl on her usually calm face. She cracked her knuckles and growled while Noforl held her shoulder.

"Will you watch him while we take care of business?" I asked Mil.

"I wish I could join you," she admitted. "Rip that bastard into a million pieces for me."

"Will do," I nodded before I kissed her soft lips.

"I'm coming, too!" Fianna blurted from the back. "I will show Tark my undying love!"

I really wanted to kick her ass. Mil noticed my furrowed brows and chuckled. "Can I kick her right in the damn split?" I mumbled. Mil kissed me with a laugh. "Can I?"

"Let her win his heart," she advised.

"No. She's flip floppity. I don't trust her."

"People can change," she urged. "Give her a chance."

"Uh, no," I quipped.

"Only Tark can refuse me!" Fianna proclaimed. "Once we avenge him, I will have him rocking for a thousand nights!"

I dragged my palm down my face and scowled. "She's gonna die first if she keeps up with this racket!"