Page 135 of The World Undone

“Right,” I muttered, “air.”

I forced my lips into the closest thing to a smile I could manage right now and patted him. “Let’s go for a run, boy.”

When his tail wagged, his entire back end followed suit.

I took off, and he kept pace next to me, slowing his stride to match mine, both of us adding considerable speed once our legs were warmed up.

Before I realized it, the forced smile shifted into a sincere one, as the crisp air chilled my cheeks and the strain of exercise lifted the vice that had been tightening around my chest.

We ran hard and fast, suffocating the ruminating thoughts until they had no energy of their own to churn.

We were maybe eight or nine miles into it when we paused in a clearing, Ralph demanding some water and a quick game of fetch.

He dropped the red ball at my feet. One of the kids at camp had given it to him and I rarely saw him without it anymore. It was a bit absurd—the small size of the ball compared to the large size of the dog—but he loved it.

I tossed the ball as far as I could throw it, wiping the excessive slobber coating it against my thigh.

He took off, pouncing and prancing through the brush more like a deer or giant rabbit than a dog, and disappeared from sight, his playful soft barks echoing through the trees and forcing the sleeping birds from their perches.

I stood in the small clearing, catching my breath and enjoying the small reprieve while he dug through snow and piles of sticks, trying to find his prize.

It was a bright, crisp morning, and even in the thick of the forest, I felt the gentle heat of the sun kiss my skin. I closed my eyes for a moment, basking in the feel of it, letting some of the heaviness that had been weighing me down evaporate from my pores.

A twig snapped behind me, disturbing the brief peace I’d fought so hard to find.

My blade was already clutched at my side, my muscle memory faster than my fear, as I spun around to meet the intruder.

I expected a rabbit or a wolf, some animal startled from rest by Ralph’s rambunctious play.

Instead, there was a man.

He stood tall and lean, the few visible patches of his brown skin marred with scars and inked markings. Dark, wavy hair fell over his brows and down to his shoulders, meeting a thick, curly black beard that held a few stray twigs hostage in their strands.

He was dressed for the weather, in hiking boots and a down jacket, a large pack hitched high on his back. If it weren’t for the blade dangling from his right hand, I’d have thought him just a human man who’d wandered off a hiking path.

But he didn’t seem lost, and his glare was just as sharp as the weapon his fingers tightened around.

They were dark as coal and pinned narrowly on me, like he’d been searching for something and I’d come up lacking.

There was something familiar in the lines of his face, though I couldn’t pin down what exactly it was.

I didn’t know every person who lived at The Lodge by name, but I was certain I’d never seen this man around before. He had the sort of presence that couldn’t easily be forgotten. Strong, foreboding. Dangerous.

“Hi. Are you lost?” I’d give him the benefit of the doubt, but my feet shifted anyway, years of Cy’s training preparing my body for a spar, even though teleporting would probably be the safest thing to do out here if it came to blows.

His shoulders relaxed as he studied me, a small grin hooking the corner of his mouth, though I couldn’t entirely tell if the smirk was malicious or not. “No. I don’t think that I am.”

Ralph came bulldozing back, the red ball dropping at my feet with a liquid flop, as he put himself between me and the strange man. A low, soft growl rippled from his chest, vibrating the ground at my feet.

From the brief flashes I could see of him around Ralph, the man looked startled.

He dropped the blade at his feet and took a few steps back.

“Easy,” he said, his voice a low, deep rumble, “I mean no harm.”

Ralph took a step closer, then another, his loud sniffs echoing through the clearing as he pressed his nose to the ground, then to the man’s feet.

I stepped around for a better look and found the mysterious man craning his neck back, eyes shut and trying not to panic as Ralph’s nose pressed to his chest.

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