Shadows of the Woods

Chapter 1

The air was muggy and hot that evening, like it had been for several weeks now. I wiped a hand across my sweaty brow as I frowned up at the dull orange sky. I usually loved heat, but this was something that made me vaguely uncomfortable; the air here wasn't usually this thick with smog and heat. It made my hair stick to the back of my neck and little beads of perspiration appear on my brow.

It didn't help that I was so uneasy.

It was Jannosh that had alerted us earlier that evening. Apollo and I were in the kitchen, sampling more of Myrnah's constant baking - today, she'd experimented with raspberry tarts - when he'd come into the room, his silvery eyebrows furrowed in worry. I'd made some lame joke about how he'd get wrinkles if he kept frowning, but he didn't even seem to hear me.

"Sir Apollo, I think you need to come outside."

The "sir" had the rest of us staring at him. He only called Apollo that when strangers were around, or if he was really nervous. Since no one else was around, it had to be the latter reason.

"What's wrong?" Apollo slid off his stool, dusting his hands off on the lap of his jeans. His beautiful emerald eyes were extremely alert as he looked at the shifter. I watched Myrnah swiftly turn off the oven before she hurried over to her husband

"I don't know." Jannosh looked unhappy at the thought. He hated not knowing things. "I think you'll know better than me."

"Alright, let's go." Apollo absently took my hand as we headed out of the kitchen. It was a habit; our hands always found each other, no matter what we were doing.  Even now, in the face of whatever was bothering Jannosh, he still sought me out.

Outside, the scent hit me like a tidal wave.

I was still getting used to my new elvish senses, so I almost toppled over from the strength of it. The scent was sickly and heavy, and it cloyed at the already muggy air like poison.

I gagged. "What is that?!"

"I don't know..." Apollo replied. He looked unhappy now too.

"Should we go investigate?" Jannosh asked Apollo seriously.

Apollo grimaced as he ventured further out onto the lawn. "I think we'll have to. I'm not sure how I didn't notice it from inside; this smells ghastly."

And so we'd headed out into the shadows of the trees.

I looked ahead of me now, my new, sharp eyes picking up Apollo's dark head and Jannosh's silvery head several feet in front of me. Myrnah had elected to stay behind at the house in case whatever was the source of the terrible scent circled back, so Apollo and Jannosh lead the way into the woods. The two of them didn't make a single sound as they wound around trees and stepped over felled branches. They were so opposite; Apollo was tall but slender, his ivory skin contrasting beautifully with his dark brown hair, and Jannosh was bulky and wide, his ashy blonde hair almost undistinguished from his skin. I felt a familiar fondness as I looked at them. The men of our strange little family were amazing.

The forest around us seemed undisturbed, but I noticed apprehensively that all the sounds that came with the trees were absent. The silence was heavy; no birds called, no animals rustled branches. Even the creaking of the ancient trees were gone. It wasn't just us alert to something wrong - the forest was holding its breath.

Apollo looked back and caught my eye. He waited for me to catch up. "Whatever it is, it's up ahead."

I shivered minutely. "You still can't tell what it is?"

He shook his head, his gorgeous face troubled. Apollo was extremely intelligent and informed, in both the magic and human world. If he didn't know what something was, then something was definitely up.