Page 172 of Cherish

I’m beginning to think “ladies first” is just another way for guys to hang back and see what kind of trouble they’re getting themselves into. But what the hell. The clock is ticking, and we’re too close to waste any more time.

So with no further ado, I squeeze Hudson’s hand and then step into the portal…and straight out of it on top of a mountain.

I can hear the roar of a waterfall close by, but since I’m not standing on the edge of it—or floating underneath it—I definitely call this a win for Remy.

As I wait for the others, I spin in a circle, trying to get the lay of the land—and gasp as I come face-to-face with a bear, who looks just as bewildered at seeing me pop out of nowhere as I am about seeing it at all.

92

On Your Bark,

Get Set, Go

Then again, it could be the gold rings around its eyes that make it look so surprised. I’m not so sure about me.

“Umm, hey there,” I say, taking several big steps backward—right into Macy, who has just come through the portal, too.

“Oh, hey!” she starts, then freezes as she, too, sees the bear. “Huh. Guess we didn’t think this through.”

“What should we do?”

“Why are you asking me?” she demands. “Do I look like a bear whisperer to you?”

“You live in Alaska. There are bears there,” I tell her.

“By that logic, you live in California. You’ve got one on your flag, for God’s sake.”

It’s a valid point. “Should I turn into a gargoyle? Or do you think that will make it freak out?”

Before she can answer, the bear leans toward us, sniffing. Which makes both of us lean way, way back. So far back that we end up colliding with Heather, who does scream the second she steps out of the portal.

The bear rears back and lets out a roar of its own. And then turns and runs in the opposite direction.

“Huh,” Macy says. “So that’s all we had to do?”

“I guess so.”

“What was that?” Heather demands.

“What do you think it was?” Macy asks as she walks toward the sound of the waterfall. “Hey, so is the tree supposed to be on the banks of the waterfall?”

“I don’t know,” I tell her before shifting into my gargoyle. “But I’m going to fly around a little, see what I can find.”

Jaxon comes through the portal just as I launch myself into the air, and I wave at him before I fly over a huge copse of trees and off the edge of the world.

It is an absolutely breathtaking view. The sky is a gorgeous blue, without so much as the thought of a cloud in the sky. The mountains in the backdrop are gorgeous, including what I’m pretty sure is an active volcano that I’m just going to hope chooses not to be an asshole right now.

And the waterfall itself looks like it’s more than two hundred feet tall as it cascades down the side of the mountain. There’s greenery growing on either side of the fall, but the drop itself is pure sharp rocks that end in an area almost completely enclosed by neighboring mountains, making what looks like an enormous natural pool.

It’s yet another amazing sight I wish I had time to go down and appreciate fully. As it is, though, I’m less interested in the waterfall than I am the trees growing all around it.

And I do mean all around it. How on earth are we supposed to find the Bittersweet Tree in amountainof trees? I can’t believe only now am I realizing I should have askedsomeoneto describe this damn tree before now.

I do another lap above the waterfall and nearby trees, hoping to see something that I missed the first time. But nothing particularly jumps out at me, so I circle back to where the portal is—and find that I’ve been gone long enough for everyone else to make it through.

“See anything?” Hudson asks, holding a hand out to me as I land.

Behind him, Heather is telling anyone who will listen about the bear we ran into. Unfortunately, she’s talking mostly to dragons and vampires, so none of them are particularly impressed—especially when she says it was her scream that scared it away.

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