Huntress

Chapter 14

I was steady, steadier than I had ever been while balancing on a thick tree limb. I knew this as well as I knew myself. My core tight, keeping me upright, my legs bent to have a low center of gravity, my arms moving with a smoothness that could only come with years of practice. I was at peace, feeling every breath in my lungs, every whisper in the woods.

One arrow. A perfect hit.

Another arrow. A little off the middle, but a kill shot by my books.

My upper body twisted. A third arrow was readied, but when I looked at the lowered target, I only saw glittering eyes and heard the laughter of a little girl in my ears. I was picking off someone who never got to experience their first crush, someone who never knew what a principle's office looked like, someone who wasn't even old enough to worry about acne or their driver's test.

"Get running!" Milo barked from down below.

Though my task was incomplete, I didn't question his order. I swung down from the shaded canopy of the tree into the full spring heat. It was an unseasonably warm day, not a time when most sane people would be sprinting, but this is what I had to do. The werewolves would not be slower if it was hot or pouring rain. They would push their bodies as hard as they could in their defensive mode, unbothered by the elements. I had to be the same because we were not postponing because of a little drizzle or a heatwave.

So, I ran as if my life depended on it. I thought of the black beast with red eyes being hot on my trail, and I tore through the forest, mindful of every inhale into my body, every extension of my leg, every placement of my foot. Anything could take off a second, and I would not have seconds to spare. If I burned out too fast, if I didn't let myself get enough air, if I twisted an ankle, it could be all over for me. the blind panic and adrenaline would give me speed, but mistakes would eat it up.

I listened to my body and the world around me as I went, trying to find signs, even if I couldn't understand them. Had I always been so out of tune with my own body? Had the wilderness always harbored so many secrets? How had I gone so long without knowing how fast I could run or what the birds in the tree were trying to tell me?

When I returned from the five-kilometer trail in the forested area, Milo was waiting for me in a lawn chair, looking like he was about to crack a few cold ones with his friends. When he heard my rough pants, he clicked a button on his stop watch.

"Terrible time, H."

"Great, thanks," I managed, grabbing a waiting water bottle and slugging down half of it immediately.

"The run was okay, but your shooting times were terrible. I'm starting to wonder if three arrows are the best option. There might be something faster."

"And you didn't even let me finish," I complained.

Milo said nothing for a moment, just brushed back his hair from his brow and turned his gaze towards the sky. The mysterious, thoughtful boy that I had crushed on so hard for so many years returned. I ignored him and drank the last of the water before placing my fingers on my wrist to check my heart rate. It thundered away under my gentle touch.

"I'm going to ask you a question and I want an honest answer," he stated.

"Am I not always honest?"

He only stared at me while I wiped some of the sweat off my face. I knew what he wasn't saying. Sure, I trusted him with my life and I would like to think that he trusted me with his as well. But I relied on him to save me while I didn't even know his middle name, while I didn't know where he grew up, or what music he listened to. Sure, maybe they weren't blatant lies, but secrets were lurking below the trust we had built. The fact that we damn near lied for a living didn't help that.

"Do you care more about completing your task than you care about getting out of there alive?"

My mouth fell open with the obvious answer. Of course, I wanted to survive. Any sane person would. I didn't want my journey to end there, on enemy lands with creatures tearing out my intestines with their teeth. I wanted to come home and hug my family at the end of the day.

But if that meant coming home without a victory, if that meant facing Armond and Dawn just to tell them that the royals lived on...

"I want to make it out alive. But I think about starting over, pushing the whole team back to square one," I said, my voice hardly above a whisper. One strong gust of mountain wind would rip the confession away from me.

"You can't kill the kid. You can't even pretend to kill the kid."

"I have to try." I was still breathing hard from my run, but the blood I tasted now came from the sickly feeling of death in my stomach.

"But you don't," he argued. "There are other people, other ways. If Dawn and Armond want them dead so badly, they can do it themselves for all I care." Unable to sit still, he jerked up in the lawn chair, looking far too fired up. It was the most emotion I had seen from him since our last meeting at the compound.

I just lowered myself into the soft grass, my legs no longer able to hold me. "Did you have some kind of issue with them? Is that why you left?"

Milo blinked several times as if my question had surprised him, then slumped back as if the fight had been sucked right out of him. "They aren't really all that likable. At least, Armond isn't. but, it's not why I left. It just didn't feel right anymore. When wolf-drain first affected my family, this gave me a purpose. Now, it doesn't feel like purpose. It feels like a chore and I have millions of unanswered questions." His gaze suddenly narrowed on me. "But this isn't about me right now. It's about you."

"I'm fine."

There was no pushing me and he either knew that or simply didn't care, because he let the conversation drop. Only to move on to a more uncomfortable one. "What about that Ryder guy? Your distraction?"

"What about him?" Milo had been the guy I wanted so desperately for so long. Talking to an old crush about a new man was a strangeness that I couldn't take right now. And looking at Milo, comparing the way his lips were always pressed into a tight line to Ryder's easy smirks made me wonder how I had ever even considered Milo as an option.

"Are you guys dating? Seems odd to start a relationship when you know that you're walking into a death trap." He said it like he had picked up rotten fruit at the super market.

"We aren't dating," I stated firmly. "I already told you, he's just a distraction." A distraction that was coming over to my house tomorrow. A distraction that filled my head when I needed to chase away the nightmares.

"Well, you can keep him as your pretty little distraction, but I'm going to keep training you. I'm going to be keeping you alive. It sounds like we only have a few short weeks before they want to throw you into the den. We'll figure out the fastest combination together and get your stamina up. I'll make sure you come home."

~~~Question of the Day~~~

What is the most unsettling film you have seen?

Shutter Island stayed with me for a long time. So did Sea-spiracy.