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Murmur must pick up on my worry as he grabs ahold of my shoulders, and suddenly the world steadies itself.
“Rez, look at me.” I peer into his green eyes as he smiles at me. “I don’t expect you to be able to hold the field the entire time, or even make it big enough to cover him completely. But every time you’re able to do it, you will become stronger. Picture it like working your muscles. It will become easier, and next thing you know, you’ll be doing it without thinking, okay?”
I let out a deep breath as what he says makes sense. It’s the same thing I’ve been told over and over again in training or when I’ve struggled with learning something. The stupid saying “practice makes perfect.” No it doesn’t. Practice just makes it easier, but I see his point.
“Okay.” I nod. “Thank you.”
“All ready?” Lilith asks, and I give a thumbs up. “Fantastic.” She turns, waving her hand in the air, and a portal opens up. On the other side of the portal, I can see trees, dirt, dark greenish grass, and lots of tiny rivers with varying degrees of red water.
She turns and motions for us to go. “I can’t hold this forever.” One by one, we walk through a portal to a worse place in Hell.
* * *
The Blood Rivers are adequately named, that’s for sure. Stepping out of the portal, we find ourselves surrounded by three rivers all flowing the same way with trees all around us. Some of the trees are burnt and rotten, while others are flourishing with various colors of burnt orange, reds, dark greens, yellows, and dark blues. The only smell I’m picking up is rot, soot, and soil.
“Um, does anyone have any idea where to go?” Lynx asks as he lifts up his bare foot and wipes it on some foliage.
“This is why you should have worn shoes,” Knots says, shaking his head.
“Shows what you know,” Lynx snarks back and points down to his feet. Where he’s changed his feet into big tiger paws.
“How? I…”
“You should see what I’m packing in my pants now… It’s grrrreat!” he says like Tony The Tiger.
“Lynx!” I groan.
“I’ve been practicing. Well, that’s the only thing L.A.M.B. wants me to practice until I get my memory back,” he says with a little disdain.
I don’t blame him. Hopefully, I’ll have my best friend back by tomorrow.
Laughter comes from behind me, and I see a few of the guys laughing at Lynx’s paws. Levi’s face has completely transformed. His stoic nature is gone as he laughs freely, saying something about the ultimate fuzzy slippers. I love seeing this side of him, and looking at his brothers, it’s apparent they do as well. With the nagging thought of a timeline that’s against us, the dread of Levi’s up-and-coming ceremony hits a sour note for me. I’ll be gaining my bestfriend back, but losing Levi.
“Hey, guys!” Zissa calls out, pulling me from my depressing thoughts. “It’s this way. Once we are out of the woods, we make a left and follow the Blood Slick Road,” Zissa instructs as she takes off, leading the group.
“Did she say Blood Slick Road?” Moni asks, shrinking down and catching a ride with Chester.
“Yep,” he answers as he pushes his glasses up his nose. “I’m definitely not looking forward to learning why it’s called that. But I also don’t want to miss out on this trip either.”
“My guess is thieves and robbers are known to hunt on this road, so there’s always killings. Therefore blood,” Ryker says, as he falls in line in front of me.
“I’m not taking that bet,” I mumble as I step closer to Knots and lay a hand on his arm.
“You okay?” he asks, looking me over.
“Yeah, just going to practice on my shield while we’re here, and hopefully help give you some extra protection while we’re out and about. Is that okay?” I ask, not really looking for an answer.
“As long as it doesn’t hurt you.” He grabs my other hand and kisses the back of it in a swoon-worthy move. Who says chivalry is dead? Tell that to the tornado of butterflies in my stomach as I feel heat rush to my cheeks.
“Okay. I’m not great at doing this with my eyes open, so can you just make sure I don’t run into a tree?” I chuckle.
“I got ya,” he says, lifting me up bridal style. “Now you can concentrate.” He winks and starts to follow the group.
I shake my head at the absurdity of it all. Here I am, supposed to be pushing myself to get stronger or better with my power, and he comes and takes away a hurdle for me. Knowing my luck, I would have tripped and broke something if I tried to apply my shield and walk at the same time. Oh well, beggars can’t be choosers, right? I close my eyes, press my hand against his chest, and go searching for that silk spool inside myself. Surprisingly, I feel the threads already at my fingertips, willing to do my bidding, and I picture it wrapping around Knots’ form as close as possible without hurting him. Protecting him.
“I can feel that,” he whispers, and I smile as I continue to work. I feel some resistance, but knowing it’s probably just my own power limit, I push against it and stretch out my reach. Once I picture it covering him, I slowly open my eyes and test how it holds with my concentration.
“How does it look?” Knots asks, stopping to set me down. I take a moment to look him over, and as he shifts, the light filtering through the tree hits him just right so that I see a shimmer. It seems to completely cover him.
