“That’s impossible,” Johnny scoffed. “Unless a witch was involved.”
“I don’t know about that,” Garret said. “We have to get moving. The longer we wait, the harder it’ll be to get her back.”
“No shit,” Johnny grumbled. “Come on.” He shifted and bolted off into the woods. Keller and Garret followed.
Johnny smashed through trees, upturned boulders, and destroyed just about everything in his way. He roared loud enough to scare every bird within a half-mile radius out of its perch. When they reached the spring, Keller took them to where Holly was taken. They examined the area before shifting back.
“I have no idea where she could’ve gone,” Garret said. “How could her scent just vanish like that?”
“They’re shifters,” Keller said. “I’m sure they know how to mask their scents.”
“Who gives a shit how they did it?” Johnny shouted. “We need a plan.”
“Calm down,” Keller said. “Let’s think this through before we start charging off.”
“Calm down?” Johnny rounded on Keller. “Want to know when the time to think things through was? It was right before you decided to take Holly out of the house. That would’ve been the time to think things through!”
“I made a mistake!” Keller shouted. “After all the mistakes you’ve made since I’ve known you, can’t I be allowed to make one?”
“My mistake didn’t cost me the fucking maiden, Keller. You took her to a place right smack in the middle of the territory we’ve been combing through all week! Why did you think that was a good idea?”
“I was thinking of Holly’s well-being!” Keller snapped. “Wasn’t that your excuse when you lied to her and fucked up Pearl’s plan? If we had done things exactly as Pearl said we should, none of this would’ve happened.”
“That’s bullshit, and you know it,” Johnny shot back.
“It’s not! Pearl knew exactly what she was doing. She knew more than any of us. Why wasn’t that good enough for you? It’s because you wanted to get some kind of advantage.”
“Advantage?” Johnny scoffed. “I want—”
“Enough!” Garret bellowed. “I’m not going to sit here and listen to you two assholes have the same argument while Holly’s out there somewhere. We’re going to find her. Can I tell you how we’re going to do that, or do you want to continue your pathetic pissing contest?”
Both Johnny and Keller fell silent.
“Good.” Garret nodded. “We’re going to each pick a cardinal direction. Don’t worry about west. They didn’t take her back toward the spring. We’ll travel half a mile in each direction. If we don’t see any sign of her, we come back here. We alter our course little by little until we find her trail again. Deal?”
“That’ll take ages. We don’t have that kind of time,” Johnny argued.
“Okay.” Garret nodded. “While you come up with a better plan, I’ll take north.”
“I got south,” Keller said, shifting back into bear form. The constant shifting was starting to wear him out, but he didn’t care. He’d shift a hundred times in a row if that’s what it took to find Holly. He didn’t wait to see if Garret or Johnny shifted, too. He didn’t care. Nothing mattered but finding Holly.
He ran at least a half a mile going due south. There was no sign of her or anything out of the ordinary. He ran back to where he left Garret and Johnny. Only Johnny remained. Keller shifted back again. This time, his muscles fought against him.
“What are you doing?” Keller demanded. “Are you really just going to sit there while Garret and I look?”
“Garret told me to think of a better plan. That’s what I’m doing.”
“You’re being ridiculous. If you aren’t going to put in the effort to pretend you care, just go back to the house, okay?”
“What the fuck did you just say to me?” Johnny said, baring his teeth.
“You heard me,” Keller spat back. “You don’t see a direct benefit for you, right? So, you’re not going to help.”
“Direct benefit? Is that how you think I see Holly?” Johnny roared.
“I haven’t seen any evidence to the contrary.” Keller shrugged.
Garret wasn’t here to put a stop to their bickering. It was time to hash things out.
“You’ve been at odds with me at every step. Why else would you do that unless you had completely selfish reasons?”
“Are you sure you haven’t been at odds with me?” Johnny said. “I think you’re the one trying to take advantage. You’ve been trying to control the narrative since day one. That sounds pretty selfish to me.”
“Oh, yeah,” Keller scoffed. “It’s super selfish of me to honor the dying wish of the woman who helped me turn my life around!”
“Keep telling yourself that,” Johnny said. “I think you’re just trying to find a way to get that crown on your head.”
“There is no crown. The king isn’t a literal king. You’d know that if you bothered to help with the research.”
“You think the answer to this shitstorm is in an old book?” Johnny barked out a laugh. “No, the answer is finding who took Holly and beating them to a bloody pulp. Problem solved.”
“Then you can’t see the full spectrum of the problem. There could be an army of shifters going back to the dark ways. Are the three of us going to defeat an army? No, we’re not.”
“I don’t give a shit how many there are. They have Holly. I’ll get her back even if I’m torn apart doing it. Want to call me selfish now, you asshole? I love her! I have no problem dying for her.”
“You think you’re the only one who loves her? You’re not alone. I love her, too.”
“I didn’t realize robots were capable of love.” Johnny
