They followed the shroomline south. Webber couldn’t help staring at Pango. There were a couple things about him that Webber found odd. One: he appeared to have a thick tail that hovered above the ground. Two: the overlapping scale armour that covered his body and seemed to move far too naturally… ‘Are you wearing armour? And why does it look like you have a tail?’

Pango chuckled, ‘Forgot what it’s like meeting civilians for the first time. Guess there’s no harm in telling you. There’s a very powerful shroom called an animashroom. If you eat half and give the other half to an animal, or a human, you both merge into one.’

‘You’re taking the piss, right?’

‘What kind of answer were you expecting? That I was born like this? That I’m an alien?’

‘Fair point,’ Webber reached out and touched the armoured scales on his arm. They were solid, and didn’t seem like something he was wearing. Pango held up his hand, showing where the scales became smaller and more intricate and gave way to large talons instead of fingers. ‘But if this animashroom exists, and is this powerful, wouldn’t the Foresters use it? Wouldn’t more of them be like you? Seems like it would be pretty handy during a fight.’

‘Oh, believe me they try.’ Pango’s expression darkened momentarily. ‘But merging with an another person or an animal is unpredictable and kills most people who attempt it.’

‘How’d you do it then?’

Pango shrugged. ‘I had a good feeling.’

‘So what kind of animal did you merge with then?’

‘You like asking questions, don’t you?’

‘My uncle taught me that if you don’t know something, ask questions until you do.’

Pango smiled, ‘That’s very wise. But is it not obvious what animal I am?’

‘Uhh…some sort of…lizard-hedgehog-thing?’

‘I’ll give you a hint, I’m named after it.’

Pango…Pango…Pango…‘A penguin?’

Pango stared at him.

‘Wait, no, that’s probably not it. Right? I dunno, I give up.’

‘A pangolin.’

‘That’s what I said! A penguin!’

‘Have you ever seen a penguin?’

‘Not really, no.’

‘Penguins are smooth aquatic birds. I said pang-o-lin. It’s like an ant-eater with scales. A really beautiful creature.’

‘Never heard of them. But I saw an ant-eater at the zoo once. And “Ant-eater with scales” doesn’t really sound beautiful to me. No offense.’

Pango laughed.

‘So where’s this partner of yours?’ Webber asked.

‘There’s a hill about ten minutes away, the plan was to meet up there. Her name’s Eve. I think the two of you will get along.’

Webber looked ahead, the ground shroom lights exposed the lay of the land but the trees made it hard to see beyond a couple hundred paces.

‘So what were you guys doing back there anyway?’ Webber asked. ‘Why’d you kill those Foresters?’

‘I can’t really get into that.’

‘Huh? Why not?’

‘It’s just a rule we live by. There are certain things about the shroom circles that we can’t tell civilians.’

Webber narrowed his eyes at Pango. Up until this point he’d been certain he could trust Pango—he came across as a friendly, laid-back guy. But what is he not telling me?

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If Webber stood any chance of helping Caruso, he would need a crew, one that knew the forest—that meant sticking with Pango. But he would feel a lot better about it if he could trust him.

‘Why are you helping me?’ Webber asked.

‘Because I didn’t want the Foresters to execute an innocent kid.’

‘Fair enough. But if you’re against killing, didn’t your partner kill a couple men back there?’

‘The Foresters are far from innocent.’

‘Is that why she killed them?’

‘No. Not exactly.’

Webber thought as much. There were three Foresters on that raft, and the urchins didn’t seem to care that one got away. It looked like a classic smash-n-grab job.

‘So you were robbing them then. What were you after?’

‘You know, you’re very perceptive.’

‘Thanks.’

‘But I really can’t tell you much more.’

‘So let me get this straight,’ Webber said, struggling to keep up with Pango’s strides. ‘You had no problem telling me you that you are urchins, that you robbed and killed a couple of Foresters, and that you ate an animashroom and merged with a pango-thing—’

‘Pangolin.’

‘But you can’t tell me what you were stealing?’

‘When you lay it all out like that…Maybe I said too much. This stuff is complicated. Please, just wait till we find Eve, she’s much better at this sort of thing.’

‘What sort of thing?’

‘You know, deciding what to do, what to tell others. It’s always blurry for me.’

Whatever rules the urchins followed in sharing information, Webber got the idea Pango was a bit more flexible than Eve was. Up ahead, a hill shrouded in shroomlit trees rose up into the night.

‘Caruso was kinda like that for me,’ Webber said. ‘I didn’t know him long, but we felt like a good team, ya know? I helped him out with a little bully problem he had. And he was teaching me all about shrooms and trees.’

Pango nodded. ‘Sometimes two people are just a good fit for each other.’

Talking about Caruso, Webber felt his heart begin to race. He remembered that helpless and frightened look on his face when the Foresters took him into Zone 3. The familiar heat that comes before a fight surged through his body.

‘Why the fuck would the Foresters take him like that? It makes no sense.’

He felt a firm hand on his shoulder. Webber looked down at the large talons resting gently against him. They should’ve felt threatening, but somehow they didn’t.

‘You know,’ Pango said. ‘Some time ago, Eve used to be a Forester. She’ll be able to answer that. Although I must confess, I feel partly responsible for what happened.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Well, that thing we were trying to steal…it somehow ended up in your friend’s hands. That’s likely why they took him.’

‘But why would they take Caruso? Why didn’t they just take the thing back?’

‘The “thing” doesn’t quite work like that.’

‘Then how does it work? Is it dangerous? What did it do to Caruso?’

Pango hesitated, ‘Not sure if I should be telling you this…It’s called a slimekey. Once it absorbs into your skin, its yours for life. But one of the things it does is give the ability to move through Zones without sporesickness. So if your friend were to escape, then he might be able to make it out of Zone 3.’

‘So that’s how the Foresters do it…’

Webber almost laughed. Caruso had wondered about how Foresters overcame sporesickness, now he’d found himself with the means to overcome it himself. That meant all Caruso had to do was run away from the Foresters. Webber allowed himself a glimmer of hope—but it didn’t last long. He remembered how that one Forester had somehow snagged his foot from ten paces away. Webber had been completely powerless. And he doubted Caruso could do much better.

‘What about your partner, Eve?’

‘She should be at the top of this hill.’

‘No, I mean, I saw her attack those Foresters. It was not a normal attack. And that thing that snagged my foot…Your animashroom isn’t the only powerful shroom in the forest, is it?’

They had reached the top of the hill, instead of answering, Pango scratched his head and looked around. ‘This is the hill…’ he said, checking around and up the nearby trees. ‘I’m pretty sure this is the hill.’

Webber felt cold steel against his throat, a woman’s voice hissed in his air, ‘Who the fuck are you?’

‘Eve, relax, relax,’ Pango said. ‘He’s a friend. It’s okay.’

After a moment’s pause, she sheaved her knife, pushed Webber away and scowled at him.

Webber couldn’t help feeling impressed. How did she sneak up on me like that? He held out his hand, ‘Name’s Webber’—she didn’t shake it.

‘What the fuck Pango?’ Eve spat. ‘This was not part of the plan.’

She looked like a woman in her late twenties. But clearly more of a scrapper than a lady. Lithe, yet strong and fast. Webber liked that.

‘The plan changed,’ Pango shrugged.

‘Not for me it didn’t.’

‘They were gonna kill him, Eve. I wasn’t about to let an innocent kid die.’

Kid? It had sounded friendly when Pango used it before. But now with Eve listening, the word made Webber cringe.

‘Well, congratulations, you saved him, you’re a hero,' Eve said. 'Why is he still here? We don’t need the heat. The Foresters will be looking for him.’

‘That’s why I brought him. He was about to head back to Jamala. I figured it wasn’t safe for him.’

‘Great, so he’s an idiot as well. And what’s the rest of your plan? Show up to the settlement with a civilian tagging along?’

‘Well…’

‘You didn’t think, did you? God, you can be such an idiot at times!’

‘Hey,’ Webber said. ‘That’s not fair. Pango saved my life; twice by the sounds of it. That’s a lot more respectful than simply running away and saving your own ass.’

‘Stay out of this,’ Eve snapped.

‘The way I see it,’ Webber replied. ‘Foresters are after us both. Makes sense to team up, watch each others’ backs.’

‘Kid’s not wrong,’ Pango said. ‘Could come in handy too, seems pretty fearless.’

‘Precisely the quality we don’t need more of right now.’

‘C’mon Eve,’ Pango said. ‘I got a good feeling about him. Besides, it’s the middle of the night. And I already cut his mare loose.’

Eve gave a frustrated sigh. ‘He’s gone by morning. We’re wasting time. Let’s get off this fucking hill.’

Eve stormed off. Webber exchanged a little smirk with Pango and together they followed after her.