As we exited the tunnels and entered the room with the giant stone doors, I waved in surprise.

“Kierra?” I asked.

“Alice invited me along,” she answered.

“Adeline giving you a break?”

“I don’t train twenty-four seven, you know,” she chuckled. “And she canceled today. Said something came up.”

Can’t relate.

“Cool, welcome aboard.”

She smiled and cocked her head as she looked at Alice. “Is that axe different? I don’t remember a spike.”

“Yes,” Alice said.

She approached the doors that opened on their own. Kierra turned to me and I shrugged.

“You’ll get used to it.”

The fresh forest air was soothing. A strong breeze whipped my cloak behind me and it tightened, clinging to my back before it smacked Kierra in the face.

“Hey, I got an idea.” I said, calling towards Alice. “Since we’re out here, let’s have some fun?”

“What do you mean?” Alice asked.

I grinned, and Freki rose from my shadow. As my feet locked around his back, I held out a hand for Kierra.

But instead of being surprised, happy even, she was backing away with a wild look in her eyes.

“Kierra?”

She reached for her waist, and she gripped the knife, drawing it in one smooth motion before crouching low behind a tree.

What?

Alice tapped my leg. “Shadow wolf.”

Oh, crap.

Freki returned to my shadow and I backed away.

“Hey. I’m sorry, I completely forgot,” I shouted.

Kierra still clutched the knife in a death grip while she exited her crouch. Her eyes never left my feet, but she slowly nodded.

“You have their hound,” she whispered.

“Maybe at first. But Freki is different.”

“How?”

I glanced at Alice, but she was stone-faced.

“It was part of my reward for killing a Red. It’s my skill reward.”

“Like Adeline’s magic?”

“Not exactly, but yes. He’s not the same shadow wolf. Freki wouldn’t touch you unless I said so. I swear.”

She resheathed her knife and slowly came closer. “He’s huge. Dinosaur size.”

I smiled. “He is. He had another growth spurt recently, among other things.”

“Can I see him?”

Freki stuck his head out and kept the rest of his body hidden. Kierra’s shoulders were tense, but she eventually crouched and held out her palm.

Freki sniffed and licked, making her flinch.

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Through the connection, I felt his confusion, but I reached down and scratched his head.

“He’s loyal and loves to boop you with an icy cold nose.”

“Freki, right?”

“Wuulf!”

Kierra cocked her head. “Wolves don’t bark.”

“They don’t?” I blinked. “Then my wolf is broken.”

That got a chuckle and she carefully reached for Freki’s snout and patted it gently. She pulled back and rubbed her palm before standing up and nodding.

“His fur feels strange, but he’s adorable. Are you sure it's okay to ride him?”

In response, Freki left the shadow realm and I was once again straddled atop the giant hellhound. Kierra accepted my hand and hopped on, taking position behind me as she wrapped her hands around my waist.

Alice jumped on behind her and adjusted her axe. “I’m ready.”

“I’ve only ever ridden a horse and that was when I was a child,” Kierra said.

“Don’t worry, Freki can go slow if we need to,” I said.

He took off, slowly padding between the trees. After a minute of adjusting, Kierra gave the go-ahead. Freki took it as an opportunity to bolt through the forest and her nails dug into my stomach.

“Turn left,” Alice instructed.

Freki veered west and she issued a few course corrections before we came to a stop before the wall of dense foliage and trees. Freki returned to my shadow, and Kierra stood up with a laugh.

“That was amazing. Not like a horse at all.”

“It’s pretty liberating, isn’t it?”

“Very.”

Alice had a smile as well, but her’s seemed muted. She kept looking at the wall and I nudged her arm.

Should have recognized what she wanted earlier.

“You okay? Want us to hang back?”

She shook her head. “No. Let’s go.”

I followed, pushing the branches out of the way while my cloak rebuffed anything that tried to snag on my clothes.

As we exited through the otherside, I inhaled the salty air and peered across the ocean. It was a beautiful sight, as peaceful as I remembered it, but the village stood out like a sore thumb.

The town square was packed with people moving about, and I noticed several of them wearing red coats. A large dark pillar was being built in the center with what looked like chains anchored across the town.

Beyond that, what should have been a cozy medieval town, banners of dark red and silver adorned most buildings, including the surrounding forest, with red ribbons tied to their branches.

“Is this because of the Blood Harvest?”

There wasn’t a reply and I turned to Alice, who stared at the sea with hard eyes.

Right, shut up, Cain.

Alice nodded slowly, she was steady, but she balled her hands and kept them under her cloak.

“I think it's preparation for the ritual.”

Oh yeah, he did mention that.

“Are you okay?”

She nodded and relaxed her shoulders. “Yes.”

We headed down the mountain and entered the outskirts of town without saying much. Up close, we saw just how massive the chains were. Their anchor point was larger than Freki and encased in heavy stone that wrapped around nearby trees.

“Someone used a skill,” Alice commented.

I had to agree. The stone was too uniform to be natural.

The metal smelled like iron, and I reached a hand across one of the links. I knocked and shook my head. There wasn’t a ring; it was solid metal.

As we entered town, the people greeted us with smiles and friendly waves, but some seemed subdued. The contrast between the last visit and today’s gave off a weird vibe. Alice led us toward the square and we stopped.

“You smell that?”

“Yes,” Alice whispered.

Kierra sniffed the air and frowned. “Smell what?”

“Blood.”

We continued toward the square and the smell increased. Kierra continued to smell nothing, even as the scent forced its way in.

The smell intensified and I spun around to see a man in a red cloak dip a brush into a bucket of dark red paint.

My eyes narrowed, but the smell wasn’t coming from the bucket.

He added curving lines and opened a dusty tome. More lines were added before he looked away and nodded to himself.

When he turned, he stopped at the sight of our cloaks before grinning.

“Pups? Are you looking for work?”

The man was average in height and leaner than most. He kept his beard trimmed and his hair equally short. I didn’t recognize him at all.

“What are you doing?” Alice asked.

“Preparing the warding sigils. Need to get these painted on every door,” he growled. “Devon’s running us ragged in some last-minute preparations.”

Devon’s here?

“Do you know where he is?”

“By the pillar, can’t miss him. You can take over for me if you want. Just need a steady hand.”

Alice ignored him and walked away, and I awkwardly waved goodbye. The Grimm scowled but it wasn’t malicious, merely disappointed.

“Should have asked him about the smell,” I said.

“We’ll ask Devon,” Alice countered.

I kept my mouth shut and we moved through the crowd of people congregating around the center. Several of the townsfolk were stopped in their tracks whispering amongst each other. We moved past them too fast to make sense of the snippets of conversation, but there was something ‘dangerous’ in the center of town.

The smell is getting unbearable.

As we reached the center, the crowd was thick enough to block sight within. That was until Alice made her presence known and got people to step to the side. I stopped at what waited below the pillar.

“Veyesh. Is the spell circle ready?” Devon shouted.

“Two more runes! Stop rushing me!” the man, who I assumed was Veyesh, yelled back.

A roar escaped, startling the townsfolk. The blood scent grew thick. I pulled my cloak across my face and glared at the center.

What the hell, Devon?