AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He shook his head, grimacing as he did.
“What’s wrong? Are you hurt?” she asked.
He turned his right arm. “Just a scratch on my arm. It’s nothing. Really. We’ll look at it later.”
She nodded and exhaled again, tucking her phone back. “That was crazy, huh?”
He didn’t respond; he was focused on something on the ground.
“What is it?” Olivia asked.
Christian let go of her hand and walked over to the can the cub had been playing with. He picked it up and sniffed it.
“Cat food,” he said turning the can left and right as he read its bright pink label with a white cat on it.
Olivia walked over and took the can out of his hands. “I thought I smelled cat food. But why would there be cat food along the path?”
Christian narrowed his eyes. “That’s a very good question.”
“Do you think they stole the food from a farm or campsite?”
Christin tilted his head. “In Magura Forest? Possible, but not likely.”
Olivia frowned and noticed Christian’s eyes on her.
“What?” she asked, blushing. “You don’t think I—”
“You saved me,” he interrupted her. “I can’t believe you did that for me.”
“I can’t believe that worked.” She tapped her phone in her pocket. “Turns out that app has more use than damaging your eardrums.”
He didn’t smile, his eyes still set on her. “That bear could have killed me, but you . . . you saved me. Nobody but my mother would ever do such a thing for me. Does the world know how brave and selfless you are, Olivia Carter?”
Her smile waned.The world only knows how boring I am,she almost said but stopped just before the words could slip through her lips.
“It’s nothing,” she said. “Besides, you risked your life for me first.”
His eyes softened and he laughed, the sound filled with his relief and gratitude. He grabbed the empty cat food can out of Olivia’s hand and squeezed it into the upper front pocket of his white shirt. Then his gaze fell onto something in the distance.
“Hey, look!” he said and walked toward a dead tree, its rotten branches black and full of termite holes. “I recognize this tree.” He stopped in front of it and looked around. Olivia strode over and stood beside him.
“Really?” she asked.
“Yes. I remember wondering what killed it when I spotted it on our way to the village. We’re on the right path.” He pointed at the path they’d been walking on right before the bear incident. “I was facing it downhill when we came, so going up the slope from here on should take us right back to the castle. Let’s go.”
Christian started walking carefully up the hill, glancing around behind him. Olivia followed closely, her hand snug around the phone in her pocket. Every small sound sounded like a growl, or a scratching paw, or a bear’s heavy footstep. She walked faster.
He slowed down and when she caught up, he turned to her and looked at her closely. “Are you sure you’re all right?”
She was able to hold his gaze this time. “Just shaken, but I’m okay.”
Her eyes went to his upper arm, the slashes on his bloody clothes. “Are you okay though? That looks like it got you.”
“I’m not dead, thanks to you. Now come, the castle is just up ahead.”
***
It felt like that squeezing feeling around her chest stopped the moment she spotted the main gate and the grey stone castle finally came into view.
