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Juniper turned to shout over her shoulder as she ran. “There’s something wrong with the barrier! I think it’s the thing we’ve been looking for! Hurry!”
She took off mindlessly out the gate and down the road. She couldn’t lose any second. She didn’t know how much Rowan had heard of what she’d said. What she did know was that whatever had disturbed the barrier was certainly not hanging around waiting for her.
She heard the humming of a truck and turned back in shock. Rowan parked the car a few feet in front of her and threw the door open. “Get in. This will take us there much faster.”
Juniper jumped into the vehicle and Rowan sped off toward the border.
“Right here!” Juniper shouted.
Rowan, unbelievably calm, parked the truck on the side of the road. Together, they ran into the forest, Juniper leading the way. She didn’t need to check to see if Rowan could keep up. She could hear his heavy footsteps pounding behind her.
Juniper’s heart sped up with excited anticipation. She had no idea what she was going to find, but she knew that there was definitely something there.
It occurred to her that the warning could mean that there had been a breach. She dismissed the idea of that happening at first, then thought more carefully about it.
What if she had made a mistake? Was her shield really as strong as she hoped? What if the thing had just ripped through her barrier?How strong is this thing?The fact that she didn’t have an answer to her last question terrified her more than anything.
And then again, the barrier could have trapped the thing. The chances of that happening were slim, but Juniper felt hope rising in her heart. She moved faster, and Rowan kept up with her excellently. He didn’t ask her questions, he only followed after, trusting her to lead the way.
Just as Juniper had feared, the ward had been tampered with. Worse, it had been moved? Huh. Who could have moved it? As she searched for the ward, she realized something.
The ward had not been tampered with from the outside. The disturbance had come because someone had stepped out of the shield. Juniper felt all her hopes come crashing down as she realized her error.
Besides disappointment, she felt a burning anger. Not only was she angry at another dead end, she was infuriated by the sheer stupidity of whoever it was that had entered the forest.
Rowan noticed the change in her countenance and stepped forward. “What’s wrong? You look upset.”
“That’s because I am,” Juniper replied, shaking her head. “This looks like another dead end. The barrier was disturbed by someone going out. Not something coming in. There’s someone out there in the woods right now.”
Rowan moved instantly. “Come on. We need to find them, whoever they are. They are in grave danger.”
This time, Rowan took point. Using his nose and his ears, he stalked slowly through the woods, following a trail that was impossible for Juniper to see.
Rowan had already broken off into a run before Juniper heard the painful groans coming from ahead. Juniper followed close behind Rowan and found a young wolf on the ground, lying on his side. He whimpered and cried pitifully, and Juniper could sense that he was in a world of pain.
Rowan knelt down beside the wolf and turned him gently so he faced upwards. “Ohshit,” he cursed.
There was a foot-long gash on the young wolf’s belly, a gaping wound that revealed his insides. Juniper forgot about her anger and the young wolf’s stupidity in coming into the woods. Her only concern was saving his life.
Rowan turned to look at her hopefully, his eyes begging her to save the young wolf. He scrambled away, giving her room to work. She spread her hand over the injury and began chanting.
As purple light poured out of her hands, Juniper said a silent prayer, hopeful that it was not already too late for the young wolf.
Chapter 10 - Rowan
“Stay still,” Juniper ordered the squirming brat. Her voice sounded strange, altered.
The boy looked up at her with terror in his eyes. Rowan couldn’t blame him. Juniper looked like something out of a horror story.
It was one thing to see what she had done when she’d put up the barriers at the town square, from a distance. It was an entirely different thing, however, to witness it from mere inches away.
Juniper’s eyes and hands glowed, with a softer light in her mouth as well. Her chant sounded deeper, colder, than the one she had used to save the buck. There was a world of difference between saving a person’s life and that of an animal, Rowan concluded.
He watched Juniper as she worked. No matter how many times he had seen her using her powers since she returned, it still amazed him every time.
His attention was focused on the boy, though. He was burning with anger at the entire situation. He could not believe that the boy would be brazen enough to flout his orders.
Worse, what could he have possibly been looking for in the woods?
