Page 76 of Untethering Dark

Bowing his head, he said, “A friend of Astrid’s is a friend of mine. And thank you for all that you do for this forest. It’s not gone unnoticed.”

Surprise lit the human’s features. “You’re welcome.” While she remained tense, its potency dulled, more vigilant than fearful.

And to Suri, he said, “Astrid tells me I’ve not lived until I’ve tried your Desi cooking. I hope we can meet again under better circumstances and rectify that soon.”

Waves of excited, bubbly energy rolled off them. If there was ever a human to make him believe he’d the capacity to inspire joy, rather than fear, it was this one.

“We’ll have lots to celebrate, that’s for sure—victory, Astrid’s transformation.”

“Where are the other rangers?” Astrid asked.

“Keeping an eye on the procession.” Johanna flapped a hand at the trail. “I’ll relay our plan to them, whatever we decide.”

“So, what can we do?” Suri asked.

“Keep vigilant,” Perchta replied, clasping her hands.

Even to Gudariks’s ears that was rather ambiguous.

But Astrid clarified, “You’re our eyes in Baden-Gottsdorf. The spell didn’t work when wolves were sacrificed, it wasn’t powerful enough. We think they’ll target humans next, people in town. Folks who’re easy to snag.”

“It’s best we avoid that outcome,” Gudariks added grimly. “No one should endure such a fate, except for those willing to enact it.”

“So that’s it? Just stake out the town, keep an eye on things?” Johanna didn’t seem happy about that. Offended even, which confused him. Preventing the brutal murders that would power a resurrection was no paltry task.

“Not much of a plan,” Suri agreed.

He was missing something.

“It takes a kind of darkness to go against evil like this.” Astrid laid a hand on Johanna’s shoulder. There was a gravity to her tone that promised wisdom, and the forest ranger paused to listen. “We’ve all been both predator and prey at one point or another, but this darkness is a part of us monsters in a way it isn’t for you and Suri. Nor should it be. There’s still a meaningful role for you in all this. This forest and the responsibility for it belongs to you too, but we’d like to spare you from the violence we’ve readily accepted to protect it.”

“You’re not a monster, Astrid.”

“Oh, I am.” The witch’s expression frosted over. “I just don’t let you see how much.”

Johanna shivered. “Maybe so, but I’ve never been afraid of you.”

“I never wanted you to be.”

“If you have suggestions for what we should do,” Perchta gently interjected. “We’re listening.”

“Well, first order of business is to shut down public access to our section of the forest,” Johanna began. “I’ve already talkedto our local officials about it, and they agreed to do so after Perchtenlauf. They didn’t want to cancel the event, and since a parade is hard to miss, they weren’t worried about poachers stumbling onto participants and causing trouble. The tourists, however—there’s too many variables, too much we can’t control and still keep the park open for them. There’ll be a ‘see something, say something’ public service announcement, too. We’ll leave out the supernatural details, but folks should know there’s danger afoot.”

Seemed reasonable as far as Gudariks was concerned.

“We also know the location of where they’re likely to spring from, right?” Suri continued. “I know the goal is to stop it from getting that far, but we need to know what to do if the worst happens. What’s our role then?”

Astrid nodded. “Magic is hard to fight when you don’t have it yourself, but it’s not impossible. Gudariks and I will try to take the brunt of any assault—he is, and I will be, harder to kill—but we’ll need your help.”

“Why not lay a few traps?” Suri suggested. “It doesn’t completely neutralize the threat, but a vicious ‘welcome back’ might be a nice sucker punch. We’ve got the home ground advantage, why not use it?”

“There’s a few spells I miss using.” Perchta ran a claw over her lips, a wicked gleam in her wolfish eyes. “I have my hands full with the containment spell, unfortunately, but Tochter, I can teach them to you this week.”

“And Jaan, if you take me to the site, I’ll map out the air space, rig up and program a couple drones to release pepper spray...”

“We also can carry guns.”

Suri scrunched their face. “My idea is way cooler.”

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