Page 15 of The Witch & the Tiger

“We don’t know. We are just gathering information,” Z’Hana said. “And everything must be considered. So your friend, an enchanter, wanted to show you this place. He had been there at least once before and knew how to get there. You also mentioned that the day was foggy. Perhaps it was sea fog from the coast leaking through.”

Sea fog. That thought had occurred to Martin as well, which was why, every time the woods filled with a foggy miasma, he went exploring, trying to find that strange doorway into that other place.

“What was the date?”

“It was a Saturday in June. The third, I think?”

“Good to know.” The professors continued to extract the information, jotting it down on Umber’s phone before he saved it as a file and sent it as an email attachment. “You can add to it if you remember anything else. You can share with the water student, too. If, for any reason, we must go to that place again, a water witch or warlock would be fairly useful. We can look into acquiring one as well if we figure out how to access it.”

He smiled then, looking tired. “Please don’t think poorly of Willow, by the way,” she added.” She wanted to help, and when we thought you might be under an enchantment, we needed to verify it because it seems we have neglected to help you in the way we should have. Some enchantments are dangerous if left on for too long.”

“Is… is mine dangerous?” He again felt that vicious impulse to keep looking, to find that cave, to find his lost friend and bring his body home.

At this, Z’Hana sighed. “It depends on how dangerous the thing is that you are compelled to seek and if you notice compulsive behaviors like random late-night wanderings that might leave you to die of exposure, for example.”

Late-night wanderings.

He had… definitely done some of that. Usually in tiger form, though.

“Try to remember to update people with what you’re doing. When you feel you want to do anything, message someone. That can also help distract you from the compulsion. In time, the enchantment can fade. Keep us up to date as well. If you discover this place before we do, message us. Do not go there alone, do you understand?” Her dark eyes shone like black holes. “If you go alone, there is every chance you’ll die.”

“I’ll try not to,” he said, though a few beads of sweat did start forming on his brow. There were a few times when he thought he would go straight in if he found it. But he didn’t know at the time that something more than grief was driving him.

He left the teachers with far more questions than answers. That was the nature of this type of enchantment. Every question seemed to lead to even more. He still didn’t quite know what to make of Willow spiking his drink, either.

However, spiking his drink did lead to all of this, to being believed on a more official level, which was nice, he supposed. But the thought of people literally gathering behind his back to conspire against him, even if they had good intentions, was annoying.

The road back home was tranquil, full of fallen leaves from the last of the trees scattered on the ground. It had rained recently, so the leaves didn’t crunch underfoot. They looked trodden into the mud, wet lumps of yellow, orange, and brown.

It was a beautiful place to grow up. It was a fantastical place, with the magic blooming around the edges of the path and creeping into some of the plants. He’d walked this path hundreds of times as a child, going back and forth from the academy. There were places he’d loped through as a tiger, racing against other tiger shifters from his clan, all the way up to the mountains.

He hadn’t noticed the beauty lately. Something had soured in him, leaving a bitter taste in his mouth. And in his mind, an obsession burned.

Find the cave. Find my friend. Bring him home once and for all.

No fog today, however. He made a loop through the Oakwend woodland just for a quick inspection before waiting for his sister to return home from her studies.

She instantly knew something was up when she returned, whistling to herself as she scrolled through her phone, only to freeze, then awkwardly shuffle around him.

“Oh, sister,” he said sweetly. “I hope you had a lovely time at the academy.”

“Yes?” She continued to shuffle toward the stairs and subsequently to her bedroom. “Did I do something wrong? Because you’re looking at me like you want to murder me.”

“Am I still glowing?”

“What?” She squinted at him. “No?”

“It appears you have been talking to people a little more than we agreed on,” he said, folding his arms and leaning forward.

“Ah,” she said, her face now a little more wary. “Everything I discussed was all to do with helping you out with this situation. I don’t believe I said anything that wasn’t relevant to it.”

“You shared too much. Professor Z’Hana and Umber cornered me for an intervention. And Willow slipped a potion into my drink, which I didn’t really appreciate. I thought we were just meeting for lunch. Now I know I’m under some sort of glamour, just to make things even better.”

Eva’s expression softened, though it didn’t do a whole lot to ease his annoyance. “The problem is, dear brother, it had to be this way. We were extremely concerned that you might be under an aggressive enchantment. There are a few of them that have a bad effect on their target if that target finds out about it. That meant we literally had to do some things behind your back. There was no other way to it was possible.”

Eva’s words made sense, but they still left him with a profound unease. Some of that unease came from the burden of knowing that not all of his thoughts, his actions, were his own without knowing exactly what the distinction was.

They meant well. He knew that on some level. But it’d take him a little time to reconcile their intentions with their actions.

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