Page 21 of Entangled in the Woods
Stopping in the pack’s tent, I took the roll of paper towels and the masking tape from the table. I grabbed a bottle of water from the coolers and walked to my tent. I fingered the leaves and flowers in my pocket as I bent down to enter my room. Using a small amount of water and a couple of rocks I found on the ground, I made a paste with the yarrow leaves. Then I carefully peeled the paper towels off the back of my head. Dried brown blood covered the white paper. It didn’t seem super serious, but I would need to keep it clean.
I blindly smoothed some of the yarrow paste over the cut and covered it with a clean rectangle of paper towel. I pulled strips of masking tape from the roll and taped it to my head the best Icould. I would probably be losing some hair when I removed it. I lay on my side, listening to the muffled conversations going on around the tent. The warmth of the tent in the afternoon sun and the ambient noises lulled me into unconsciousness.
CHAPTER TEN
“Elise?”My eyes popped open to find Kleio’s head poking through the tent flaps. “I just came to check on you. Gavrill decided he doesn’t want to play our game anymore, and we need another player.”
I rubbed my eyes and sat up. The pain in my head had subsided to a dull ache instead of a pulsing pain. “How long have I been in here?” I took a drink of my water, trying to wake up.
“About an hour? You humans sure take a lot of naps.”
Wiping the sleep from my eyes, I stood up.
“So, the game,” she said. “Will you join us?”
It was Saturday. Another day away from the cabin and my research, but at least I was still in the same woods, albeit an area I hadn’t expected to study. It didn’t feel right to be playing games when I could use the time to explore.
“I am going to have to pass on the game—sorry.” The excitement left Kleio’s face, and I felt an unexpected pang, like I was letting down a friend. “I’m going to go explore for a bit. Maybe you could come with me? It would help if I had someone familiar with the forest.”
“Where are you going? Remember the wards, Elise.”
Yes, the constant dull ache in my head was my constant reminder of the wards.
“I’m going to stay within the wards. I just want to look around, maybe take some plant samples if I find anything interesting.”
Even in the enormous field surrounding the tent city, there could be something exciting. The possibility of finding ornamental grasses that hadn’t been documented within the last century made my body tingle. And if I could get into the dense forest, even just a few feet, who knew what I could find? The prospects were endless in this forest.
“You like plants?” Kleio looked at me, surprised.
“Yeah, that’s why I’m here. I’m on the hunt for rare plants in this region.”
“So, it’s like a scavenger hunt?” Her eyes lit up and twinkle returned.
“Yeah, kind of.” Essentially, that was what I was doing—scavenging for rare species.
“This is even better than the game! Let’s go!”
“Wait, do you have any paper or pencil?” I didn’t have my journal, but it would be nice to have something to write on in case I found anything of interest.
She thought for a few seconds. “I’ll take one of their stupid maps. They have so many they don’t even use. You can write on the back of it.”
Kleio pranced away to the main tent on a mission to find me some paper. I lay my purse across my body. It wasn’t my backpack that I took on research hikes, but it gave me a sense of constancy to have something with me.
Camp was almost empty when I stepped out of my tent. A few fires smoldered, sending light colored smoke into the air. The shifters who sat around the fire closest to my tent turned to look at me. I tried not to make eye contact, remembering Everett’swarning.Act normal.I felt their gaze leave me, and I let out a sigh of relief.
Kleio’s strawberry blonde hair drifted behind her as she made her way back to me, paper in hand…and Gavrill’s massive body steps behind her.
“I was told we require a babysitter.” She handed me the map and a black felt-tip pen. I took the map and folded it twice into a square and stuck it into my purse with the pen.
“I’m just following the boss’s orders,” Gavrill said. He had a backpack on and looked ready to hike.
“He doesn’t trust me with you,” Kleio whispered into my ear in a teasing tone.
“I don’t trust that you won’t get carried away and find yourselves so deep in the forest that you can’t find your way back by sundown.”
“I’m a horrible tracker,” she whispered to me again. “Oh, well. We’ll just ignore him.”
“I heard that,” Gavrill said.
