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The going was slower than I’d have liked, with the group weighed down carrying the unconscious forms of Leif and Abel, but at least no one straggled behind or complained. The jungle roared with a cacophony of sounds. Behind us, I could hear the snapping of twigs and crunching of leaves as beasts rushed toward the destroyed Haven. There was a bit of heartache, thinking of that place crushed under all that earth. It had been a bastion of safety in a world devoid of it.
If I was feeling like this, then I couldn’t imagine what Crew was going through. The place had been his baby. A society he’dbuilt up with blood, sweat, tears, and more blood. He had to be heartbroken.
Craning my neck to peer up at the front of the group, I saw Chelsey right behind him, holding his hand. Maybe mending fences with her would be a comfort for him.
A snarling yowl came from the underbrush to our left. A dog-sized creature jumped forward right behind Kira and bolted into the cluster of people. A chupacabra. It bit into the boot of one of the only humans who’d been in Haven and pulled him off his feet.
“Good gods!” the man screamed as the chupacabra dragged him into the jungle. “Help me!”
Kira strode forward and kicked the beast under its jaw as hard as she could. The teeth released as its eyes rolled up, neck snapping. The dead thing tumbled into the weeds.
Bending, Kria grabbed the man and pulled him to his feet. “It’s a fucking chupacabra, man,” she hissed. “No need to scream like a baby. Move. Everything in a hundred yards heard you wailing.”
“She’s right,” Crew said. “Double time.”
Our light jog turned into more of a slow run. By the time we reached the area Crew wanted us to hole up in, the sun had slid below the horizon. A secondary mountain outcropping rose up at the side of a cliff overlooking the sea. He was right about there not being much here. No running water, and very little foliage other than a thick outcropping of palm trees. However, up a hill sat the perfect spot for a camp. On two sides, the mountain surrounded it, and the cliff abutted the other side, leaving only one path in or out. That would make securing it a little easier.
Crew led us up, and upon closer inspection, I saw a small abandoned cave that went back about fifteen feet into the stone. It was a good spot to get everyone out of the weather and to sleep at night, though it would beverycramped. Still, it wasbetter than being soaked. It also provided an additional layer of protection from the prying eyes of whatever monsters lurked in the darkness.
The folks who’d managed to haul supplies from Haven took them into the back of the cave to inventory what they had.
Crew walked up to me and nodded back at his group. “We need to set up a watch system. Two on guard at a time?”
“Good plan,” I agreed. “It’ll give everyone time to rest, and no one will be alone on watch. It might be better to have four, though.”
Crew glanced at the pathway leading into the new sanctuary. “Two here, and then two more scouting farther out?”
I nodded. “If something comes, I’d like to have a two-stage warning to give us more time to mobilize. Plus, the two scouts can look for water and any edible plants. Maybe do a bit of hunting, too. The supplies we managed to get out of Haven will last for two or three days at most, and that will be with rationing.”
Crew drifted off and pulled four people aside, spoke to them for a few minutes, then sent them out. They were two shifters and two magic wielders—one on each team. Once they were off, Crew returned to me.
“They’ll be on four-hour shifts, nothing longer. Don’t want anyone falling asleep on duty,” he said.
Behind me, Eli and Kira were working with Zoe and another fae to use magic to lift some fallen palm trees and hide the cave entrance.
Lowering my voice, I leaned in close to Crew. “How safe is this place?Really?”
Crew sighed and nodded toward the entrance path. “As safe as it gets at this point. I’ve never seen any territorial creatures here, so that’s a bonus—those things are hard to fend off when you’re in their lands. We’re on the opposite side of the islandfrom the thunderbirds, and they never fly over this area. That means we’ll only have to worry about roaming monsters, the ones with undefined territory. I already told the team on guard thatanythingcoming near us needs to be killed, not just scared off. When stuff on Bloodstone gets scared off, they have a really fucking bad habit of returning. And with reinforcements.”
“I guess we’ll have to hope nothing terrible happens,” I said with a sigh.
We spent the next few hours trying to get everyone as settled as possible. Leif was still asleep from whatever spell Eli had put him under, giving us one less thing to worry about. Night had fully fallen by the time a simple dinner of roasted potatoes and canned peaches was served. Zoe had used magic to cook the food—we didn’t want to risk a fire.
“Who wants the second watch?” Crew asked, squatting down in front of the group. “It’s about time to swap out, and those folks need to eat.”
“I’ll go,” I said. The next few hours would be the most dangerous. The creatures on the island tended to be most active in the five or six hours after moonrise.
“Me too,” Mika said, standing and dusting his pants off.
Another guy—a wiccan—volunteered as well. Crew thanked him and added, “That works. I’ll go on this watch, too. Eli, you’ll relieve us in a few hours. Go ahead and figure out who’ll be with you, then get some rest.”
The four of us walked out to find the others and sent them back for food and sleep. Crew and I headed out to do the scouting, leaving Mika and the wiccan to watch the entrance. As the minutes and hours ticked by, I had a hard time not glancing up at the volcano in the distance, rising high above the dark jungle. Our one small slice of safety had been torn away. I grieved for Crew and the others who’d called Haven home.
Just past midnight, I stood in a small clearing a few hundred yards from our camp and glared in the direction of the volcano again. My anger rose with each second. We’d take Simon down. I made a silent vow, then and there. We’d tear apart his lab and destroy all his work.
Then? By the gods, then we’d go home.
Chapter 11
