The big tree in the middle isn’t the vibrant brown and green it usually is. The leaves are turning to fall colors and withering. What happened to Pan’s wife? Is she okay? Where is Pan?
“We should spread out and look for him,” I say, bumping into a shelf but gripping it tight so it doesn’t crash to the ground.
“Where do you think he might be? The back room?” Jayden squeezes my hand.
“Maybe. That’s as good a place as any to search for him.”
“We’ll find him. He’s going to be okay. This may have something to do with Hermes. We should stay the course.” Jayden grips a tree branch, holding it out of the way for me.
We pick through hiking equipment and stores of dried meats and canned goods he keeps in the shop but are now strewn across the floor. This place has never been particularly clean but this is a disaster.
My hands shake as I press my hand to the door of the back room but it doesn’t budge. Pushing harder, I glance at Jayden with terror. Pan could be slumped on the other side of the door dying and we won’t be able to help.
“Can you shadow walk in there?” I ask. “What if Pan is the reason I can’t open it?”
Jayden nods and grips my hand in his. Shadows wrap around us, caressing my skin as we appear in Pan’s back room. There’s a table shoved against the door.
“The wilds.” A mutter reaches my ears from deeper into the room. “There has to be a solution to the shrinking wilds.”
“Pan,” I whisper, attempting not to startle the god of the wilds.
Pan either doesn’t hear me or doesn’t want to talk as he continues to mutter to himself. “Father must be strong. They have to make him strong or all is lost. The beautiful wild places will disappear.”
“Pan, what are you talking about?” Jayden asks. “Who needs to be strong?”
I step around the table he’s hunched over, tinkering with something, and crouch down to the god’s level. His gaze is glassy and unfocused. He’s not seeing or hearing us speak.
“What’s wrong with him? Why can’t he hear us?” I ask Jayden.
“I don’t know. Maybe we need water magic to snap him out of it?” Jayden waves Thad over.
“You want me to spray a literal god with water to snap him out of his trance?” Thad asks, incredulous.
“It’s better than if I zap him.” I shrug. “At least the water won’t hurt.”
“If he turns me into a tree or something, I’m going to haunt your asses for the rest of eternity.” Thad grumbles.
“He won’t. We won’t let him.” I shake my head, taking a step away from the table.
Thad moves to the place I just vacated and blows out a breath before calling his water magic and spraying it directly into Pan’s face. Pan splutters and curses, wiping his face with a hand before glaring at Thad.
“Don’t,” I say as Pan raises a hand, a green glow emanating around his fingers. “We had to snap you out of it. It was either that or zap you.”
“Beth?” Pan snaps his gaze to mine. “Thank the fates. You’re here. The roads were perilous. I wasn’t sure if you would make it without getting sucked into another realm.”
“Well, we didn’t actually make it without that happening. We just found our way back where humans can’t.” I shrug.
“But we’re here now, so tell us what’s happening.” Jayden crouches next to the table. “Why does the shop look like a cyclone tore through it?”
“My father, he’s weak. He needs your help to get back to full strength. It isn’t just humans disappearing into other realms. Whole sections of the wilds are disappearing at an alarming rate. The fewer wilds in this realm, the weaker I become. I can’t protect them.”
“Wait, are you saying Hermes is your father?” I ask. “The wilds are being sucked into other realms because your father’s power is diminishing and as a result yours is too?”
“Yes, the wilds are disappearing, but Father can’t fix it because of the caduceus. He needs it to fix everything.” Pan rubs a hand over his wrinkled forehead.
Did he have those wrinkles before? He is satyr but I don’t remember him looking this old. I glance at the others gathered around the table.
“You know where it is,” Adrian says.
