Cleo pursed her lips. It was likely messing with her head, too. She’d tried pot before, and loved the feeling of disconnect. This tea was an echo of that. Parts of her relaxed that she hadn’t known were tense. She wondered how shifters experienced the tea, and if the curse changed the experience. She wondered if shifters felt slightly singed afterwards, too.
Her cell phone rang on the counter. She’d hoped to see Ian’s name, but an unknown number flashed across the screen. She picked it up and hesitantly said hello. Usually she’d expect some scammer trying, but what if it was someone from Ian’s pack?
Dante’s voice carried through, confident and angry. “If you want our help, get here now,’ he said. Dante hung up before she could reply.
Cleo’s hand brushed the necklace she still wore. Should she cover it? She still wasn’t sure about its function. A knot twisted in her stomach, but she tried to ignore it. Ian had lent this to her in good faith. She trusted Ian wouldn’t screw her over on this, right?
When she finally arrived at the nearly-hidden turn-off to Jenny’s house, Cleo was sweating both from the heat of her car and nerves. She wasn’t sure which was worse. She drove up the long gravel drive slowly, mindful of the occasional twitches of the trees. She was being tracked by something large, and Cleo wasn’t sure if whoever was out there was friendly.
When she opened the car door in front of Jenny’s house, Cleo arranged her face in the most neutral expression she could manage. The hairs on the back of her neck raised with each step away from the car. Someone was watching her. She kept her hands loose and by her sides, and thought harmless thoughts.
By the time Jenny opened the door, Cleo was wound so tight that the scrape of the hinge caused her to flinch. Jenny gave her a strange look, but instead of welcoming her inside, stepped outside into the heat with Cleo. Jenny’s eyes darted to the bear claw necklace and stayed there for a beat. Cleo wasn’t sure what to think about Jenny’s expression. Shock, maybe, or surprise. Distaste, definitely. Jenny raised her eyes and gave Cleo a tight smile, polite, automatic, and completely insincere. Cleo’s heart sank even deeper.
Without saying anything, Jenny gestured with a nod of her head that they were walking away from the house. Cleo kept pace with Jenny’s short legs easily, but Jenny kept pulling forward to walk one step ahead. When the pace was almost to a jog, Jenny stopped abruptly.
“Listen,” Jenny said, then paused. Cleo waited with her brows raised for Jenny to continue. “No, literally listen,” Jenny said impatiently. “What do you hear?”
Cleo took a breath. The hum of bees in the catmint lining the cobblestone path. There was no wind, so no branches.
Then Cleo got it. “There are no birds,” she said softly. The woods before them were quiet. It should’ve been alive with the tweets and twitters of birdsong. Instead, it was heavy with silence.
“Watch your step,” Jenny said.
The path thinned to a single-file dirt trail at the tree line. There wasn’t enough canopy to provide shade, and the sweat dripped down Cleo’s back in one long line. Her mouth was dry, but she wasn’t sure if a drink of water would’ve helped at all.
They walked for a long time in silence. Jenny seemed unaffected by the heat and the brutal pace. Cleo promised herself that someday soon she’d start exercising. She’d take up running. If she was going to be enemy number one of coven, she should definitely take up running. Her mind started to tangle with thoughts, the heat and exhaustion starting to wear her thin. Did Ian have a group of bears he belonged to? Was it even a bear pack? She remembered a children’s book insisting a group of bears was a sleuth. Was it? Or was it a troop? She knew crows were a murder. She sincerely hoped a group of bears wasn’t a murder. No murders, thank you very much. Cleo still wanted to ask Ian if he liked being called a shifter. She watched the swing of Jenny’s ponytail and decided against asking her. Her vision doubled for a moment, and Jenny briefly had pigtails. Not a good sign.
“Can we take a quick break?” she huffed, coming to a stop.
Jenny sighed dramatically and stopped too. Her expression changed from irritation to concern when she saw Cleo leaning forward, weight on her thighs, and sweat dripping down her face.
Jenny led Cleo off the trail to a small copse of trees growing closely together. Cleo nearly collapsed against a huge fir, mindful of the needles on the ground. She rested her head on her arms.
“Thanks,” Cleo huffed towards the ground. She’d be embarrassed later for being so out-of-shape later, she knew. But for now she was just too overheated and tired to care.
Jenny looked amused and pulled an aluminum water bottle from the small bag slung around her body. She offered it to Cleo, who took it with grateful hands.
“You can just have all of it,” she said after Cleo had taken a polite sip and tried to pass it back to Jenny. The liquid was cool in her mouth and felt like heaven.
“Thank the Goddess,” Cleo said reverently and took a much larger gulp.
“Not a hiker?” Jenny asked with a small grin.
“I wander around the woods by my house a lot,” Cleo huffed. She waved a hand towards her body. “But I’m built for comfort, not speed.”
Jenny tipped her head, her ponytail brushing over one lean shoulder. “Interesting,” she said. “Who do you comfort?”
Cleo would’ve flushed but was convinced her face was already at max coloration. Any more blood flow in her skull and she’d have a nose bleed.
“Just an expression,” she said mildly, not meeting Jenny’s eyes.
