After about an hour of searching, Cutter heard Ru let out a loud sigh. “You okay?” he called. He knew she was about twenty feet away, hidden behind a large tree trunk from his current perspective; she had gotten a bit braver the longer they continued their hunt.
“Yes,” she said, frustration obvious in her voice. “I’m just… confused.”
Cutter took note of exactly where he was standing so he could come back to it later and picked his way through the marshy soil, his feet crushing thousands of brittle leaves, who protested their disturbance, as he went. She turned to look at him, her jaw set in frustration. “What’s the matter, Ru?”
She crossed her arms. “It’s just… I don’t think we’re going about this the right way.”
“What do you mean?”
“If you were going to stick a portal to Hell in the
