Page 15 of Rise of the Witch
“Because moss is easily damaged and slow to heal and should be treated with the respect it deserves,” she slowly enunciated each word as if she were talking to a child.
“Ok, Pocahontas, I’ll try to remember that,” I sighed, shading my eyes as I peered around the small glade we now found ourselves in, searching for threats.
She frowned, the tiny wrinkles forming between her eyebrows only making her more infuriatingly attractive. “I don’t know whoPocahontasis, but if she understands the interconnectedness of all things in the natural world, then perhaps humans should listen to her.”
Asa beamed in her direction, apparently just as happy as Tan to spend the day wandering the woods with a salty witch. “Well said. On behalf of all Americans, may I thank you for your wisdom and likewise apologize for you being about 500 years too late to save us from our own stupidity.”
“Well, I haven’t been around quite that long, but close...” Vasi mumbled distractedly, gaze suddenly fixed on the opposite tree line. “Oh! We have company,” she casually announced as a half dozen Siberian brown bears lumbered into the clearing.
“Holy shit!” Tan exclaimed as the three of us drew our weapons and instinctively moved closer to Vasi, protecting her from all sides.
That crazy witch actually laughed. “Oh, for the love of the Goddess, put your little guns away. Misha is an old friend, and I can’t have you offending him.”
If this ends like Grizzly Man, I’m going to be pissed.
Not as completely batshit as the woman we were trying to defend, we lowered our guns but kept them in hand. A few moments of tense silence followed as we stared at the enormous man-eaters until the air shimmered and the bears were suddenly replaced by equally gigantic men.
“Vasilisa!” the one I assumed was Misha exclaimed, arms stretched wide in greeting, his broad smile revealing gleaming white teeth deep within his bushy brown beard. His companions all resembled him in size and hairiness, and I realized with annoyance that I would probably fit in perfectly among them. “And her veryprotectivefriends…” he continued, completely ignoring our weapons before dramatically gasping and bringing a hand to his heart. “Could it be? Has the great legendary beauty finally been found?” Vasi blushed and noticeably stiffened at my side, although why that was her response to his cringe-worthy compliment was a mystery.
Wait a fucking minute…
A hazy memory floated to the surface of my mind, instantly transporting me to my grandmother’s tinyizbaby the coast. I would perch on her oven, eagerly listening to her tell me Russian wonder tales—skazkis—including the one about a beautiful young girl who outsmarted the evil witch of the woods with the help of a magic doll and her own gut instincts.
Oh, hell no.
It was bad enough that Vasi claimed to be Baba Yaga and even worse, we were humoring her delusions, but now this shifter was implying she was the actualVasilisa the Beautiful.One of the most famous, and most definitely fictional, Russian fairy tale heroines.
The gods were real—I knew that fact better than most—but even my superstitious grandmother acknowledged herskazkiswere shared for entertainment purposes. Although almost every ounce of my being screamed to openly call bullshit on Vasilisa existing in real life, there was a tiny part of me that remembered how I loved that story best of all.
But how could Vasilisa and Baba Yaga become the same person?
No. Not a person. This woman may look human, but a dangerous monster lurked underneath her alluring facade. Baba Yaga was the bogey monster Russian parents used to scare their children into behaving, as we were supposedly her favorite snack. For all I knew, Vasi’s gorgeous face was simply the illusion she wore for any men she encountered, to lure us in so she could roast our dicks over the fire like sausage kebabs.
We have to get the fuck out of here...
“You don’t get it, do you?” The bear shifter was speaking directly to me now, his gaze way too observant for my liking. “You’re going to fight this tooth and nail as if you stand a chance against fate?”
I scoffed. “I don’t know what the fuckanyof you lunatics are talking about,” I growled, wishing I could shoot that smug look right off his face, regulations and witnesses be damned. “None of your little forest drama has anything to do with me. Withus.All we want is to get the hell out of these fucking woods.”
Asa interrupted, surprising me with his uncharacteristically snappy tone. “Speak for yourself, Nox. Personally, I have no intention of leaving anytime soon.”
Chapter 13
Vasilisa
The sullen mood between the three men resulted in an uncomfortably quiet walk back to my hut. Tan mostly seemed concerned by what Asa had said, judging by the worried glances he kept sending the other man. True to form, Nox’s reaction to Asa’s declaration had been immediate and far more explosive.
“And just what do you hope to accomplish by staying out here in the sticks, Ace?” he’d growled, brown eyes flashing and teeth bared, looking like a wild creature of the forest himself. “Besides hiding out and pretending the accident never happened?”
Judging by both Tan and Asa’s shocked expressions, “the accident” was not something you were supposed to mention. Even Misha and his sleuth of bears caught on to the impending conflict and bid hasty farewells before slipping back into the woods.
On a positive note, the momentary peace gave me some precious space to think. Besides Anthia’s regular visits and my routine check-ins with the shifter tribes in the area, I was used to spending long hours alone. Solitude was as natural as breathing, so finding myself suddenly surrounded by three large, loud men had been jarring at first. And even though I’d grown accustomed to their constant presence—started to enjoy it even—I’d assumed they’d return to civilization the first chance they got. Tan and Nox may have looked astonished at Asa’s announcement, but no one was more surprised than me.
Even more surprising is how relieved hearing his intentions made me feel.
The silence continued through dinner, but I overheard Tan and Asa exchanging harsh words across the cabin while I washed dishes. The conversation abruptly ended when one of them left the hut, closing the door behind him with more force than was necessary.
A few minutes later, Tan appeared at my side, unusually somber. “Vasi? Could you go check on Ace for me? He needs to be with someone right now.”
