Page 26 of Moonmarked

I finally sat up. “Thanks again for saving me, Wolfie. I don’t know where your destination is, but I need to get going.” She raised her head, perked up her ears, didn’t make a sound as I stood up on my feet—strongfeet. My knees didn’t shake. My stomach didn’t turn.

Buttoning the jacket again, I took in a deep breath and I started moving, aware that I had no direction, that I had no clue where I was or how to get to Blackwater, but it wasn’t so bad, was it? I mean, I’d been about to become a sorcerer’s prisoner and finding the right direction right now didn’t seem like the nightmare it had in the beginning.

But the werewolf was on her feet again, and she basically stepped in front of me as if she wanted to stop me. Looked up at me with those wide almond eyes that seemed more yellow by the minute.

“What?” I asked, pretending my heart didn’t jump at her sudden movement. Pretending she didn’t still scare me shitless, especially when she moved like that—like Rune, like she was fucking fluid.

She stood still and watched me, so I took another step forward.

She took one back.

“I can’t stay, Wolfie. I have to get to Blackwater. I can’t stay—there are sorcerers here.”

She didn’t look like she planned to attack me. She just let out a growl that could have meant anything fromyou’re not going anywheretoare you out of your fucking mind?! This is Mysthaven!

I went with the second option.

“Yes, I know where we are, but Ihaveto get toBlackwater and find Raja. People are after me and the sooner I get there, the better. Do you understand?”

Another growl, this one different.Softer.

“Bye, Wolfie. I really have to go now.” I stepped to the side, trying to move around her.

She jumped in front of me the next second.

“Stop it!” I said, falling back, already pissed off. “Just stop it. I have to get to Blackwater. I have to?—”

The wolf moved, around me and to the other side, then howled.

She actually howled like I’d heard wolves do in movies and videos back home, ending it with a growl. I watched her with unblinking eyes, stunned, but not quiteafraidas I thought I would be, unsure what the hell to make of it. She went ahead three steps, then turned around and looked at me again—like she wanted me to follow her again. Like she was telling me that it wasthis way.

“Is that…” I licked my dry lips, the anger already faded away. “Are you telling me that Blackwater isthatway? Or am I just making things up now?”

Another howl, a spin, and another few feet forward.

That was definitely ayes.

“Fuck me,” I whispered to myself, rubbing my face raw.

This was justabsurd. How was I to know which way was the right way or if this werewolf even knew what she was doing?

I didn’t. I didn’t have the slightest clue.

But what I did know was that she was a werewolf, and I was a mortal who did not belong in this place at all.

With that thought in mind, I followed her lead without a word.

I hadno idea whether she actually knew the way, Wolfie, if she was taking me to Blackwater, or at least to a safe place from where I could continue on my own.

Even so I kept on following, and I told myself it was because she knew better, but the truth was that I didn’t want to be alone. Just the thought of being in these woods all by myself made my skin crawl and I would rather take longer to get where I was going in the company of someone whodidn’t wantto eat me or kill me or use me in any way, than try to find my way all by myself. Not here. Not in Mysthaven.

Especially not when the werewolf slowed her pace, and a few minutes later, I felt the magic just before we spotted the altars.

They were the same as the ones I’d seen before on the other side of the dry riverbed. Made of rock and wood and glass—one a pile of broken mirrors with a flame at the top that didn’t actually burn anything—the altars had no rhyme or reason, no specific distance between them, and not a single thing in common. Other than the fact that they were all strange as hell and leaked magic in the air like a fucking gas, that is.

They were definitely scary as hell, but the werewolf didn’t look spooked. She continued ahead, never stopping for a second, so I didn’t, either. I would rather keep going anyway.

The sky was dark, the day done, but I didn’t mind the night that much. My limbs were strong, my feet didn’t hurt. The food and the water had really brought me back to life. And I must have slept on that riverbed far longer than Irealized, maybe even a full day, because my muscles were so well rested, nothing else made sense.

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