The Afterlife Academy Saga

Chapter 10

10

I shot a last, hesitant look at the human village. They’d been so kind to me and I wish I could’ve repaid their hospitality, but I was not in a position to do that, not anymore.

Pickles stirred in my pocket, her two ears popping out.

“Not now,” I hissed to her, trying to nudge her back. “Stay put.”

With Pickles nice and snug in one pocket and the little vial with berries tucked in the other, I had everything I needed. The berries were no longer fresh, but I hoped that didn’t matter. Their essence had been sealed in the bottle since I picked them, it would have to do.

I tightened my borrowed sweater and with a worried look at the grizzled sky, I made my traitorous descent down to the forest. There wasn’t a cloud in sight, but from my short stay at the Deep Mountains, I’d learned that could change in an instant. Still, if I didn’t go now, this entire trip would be for nothing.

Faster than was safe, I hurried through the snow. Aware of the trail of footsteps I was leaving, but I couldn’t waste energy erasing them. I just had to make it to the forest before a new storm hit. I’d already lost too much time and Ryoko had been trapped in that bunker for far longer than I wanted.

Clouds shifted and the sky darkened. The threat of a new storm hung above my head, but I couldn’t turn back now. Down at the foot of the mountainside, I could see the edges of the forest. I wasn’t sure if that was the one I emerged from, but it didn’t matter. Any forest would do. The Keeper’s mark would guide me as soon as I crossed into his territory.

I gave the little dust bunny a scratch. “Not too long now, Pickles.”

“Hfff.”

“I wish Hyde was with me. I’d feel a lot safer if he were here,” I muttered, not sure why I was talking to Ryoko’s pet. I assumed Pickles could more or less understand me, but there was no reason to talk to her. I just felt lonely and this helped.

I missed Ryoko and this little dust bunny was my only connection to her right now.

“Almost there.”

I jumped over a suspicious-looking patch of wet snow and breathed a sigh of relief as I crossed from the shrieking snow onto a bed of twigs. The forest.

The wind immediately laid down and even if my breath still made cloudlings, the temperature was a lot more tolerable.

Shivering and shaking, I ran deeper into the forest. The mark on my hip started glowing and I allowed the Keeper to guide me to where I needed to go. Var’s hut to deliver the berries and then the bunker to save my friends. Astrid, Sim, and the one that kept my heart warm in the freezing cold. Ryoko.