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“Unfortunately.”
Well, at least I wasn’t insane.
I glanced back at the fallen tree to make sure it was there, needing reassurance after Pan’s little admission. That he left that out in his whole speech about taking me to my family made me feel unsettled. This conversation wasn’t over.
“Not a fan of your loyal subjects?”
“Something like that.” I was being a smartass when I asked, but his response made me take a second look at the shifters approaching.
Two larger men walked hand in hand. The taller one was slight in build with a beard that had seen better days. Black, velvety ears stuck out from a mane of salt-and-pepper hair. The shorter of the two had more muscle on him. A black-and-white striped tail flicked in and out from the back of his pants. On his shoulders, a half-shifted child sat with a pointed black nose and large raccoon ears. White fur lightly lined her cheeks, and black rimmed her eyes. Her mouth and hands were human, but her lower half was entirely raccoon.
With them was a single half-shifted woman that I could only make out to be female from her breasts bound in vines. Her face had entirely shifted.
“I’m really not imagining this, right?” I asked. Distaste leaked into my voice, and the god-king visibly flinched.
“No.”
“’Kay.”
The shifters kept coming toward us, the ones with human mouths smiling and speaking words I couldn’t understand. The only thing I could make out was a name.
Kali.
It was the same thing Pan had called me back on Earth at the portal. The same thing he’d said in the dream.
Who the hell was Kali?
“We need to leave.” Pan grabbed my wrist, his touch sending tiny shots of electricity through me.
It was that same feeling I’d had for months. The sense of something calling.
If only I knew how to answer.
“They look friendly,” I remarked, but didn’t stop him from dragging me in a different direction. The raccoon shifters walked faster, breaking out in a run. “Why are we ignoring them?”
Pan growled under his breath. “Because I said we are.”
“Oh, of course. How dare I question the almighty Entitled One? Clearly you know best ...”
He gave me a sharp look over his shoulder. “I’ll explain it when we stop for the night.”
“Why can’t you explain it now?”
I could have sworn I heard him grind his teeth in frustration. “Because I’d rather not have to deal with them.”
Behind us, their calls grew louder, more desperate. “Kali! Kali!”
I dug my heels into the ground, bringing us to a temporary halt. Storms brewed behind his gaze. “Don’t do this.”
His words were a command, but also sounded strangely like a plea. I couldn’t decide which it was.
“You called me Kali before.” I lifted my chin in defiance. “Now they’re calling me Kali.”
He cursed. It wasn’t in English, yet somehow, I understood it.
That realization terrified me.
I’d only been here a few hours and was already beginning to wonder if maybe this was a mistake.
