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Once he enters the Forest, we trail him for a little while. It's not like we had anything better to do. Survive. That’s just one thing. And surviving is what we've been doing. Day in and day out, watching, waiting. Hiding. We are tired of hiding, though. Niklas hasn't come looking for us for longer than a season, last spring. I shudder, a chill running through the length of my body when I recall the nature of his last visit. I’ve not seen Set recently, and when Salomea had, he’d been too preoccupied to bother with her. At least, that’s what she’d told me. It’s entirely possible that she wasn’t being entirely truthful regarding that encounter. She had only ever seen the more benevolent side of the pied magician, shielded from his darker tendencies by the shroud of Niklas’ violent misdeeds.
“Psst!”
Salomea’s loud whisper comes from the shadows somewhere up ahead of me, off to the side of the young stranger. Grumbling, I skitter out into the open, hoping to draw his attention off of Salomea. Her dark coat blends into the shadows much better than mine and I silently will her to stay put. The stranger looks to be around our age, but I’ve learned in a short time that looks can be very deceiving. I search his odd eyes for any hint that he is anything but what he appears to be, my nostrils wide, jaw clenched tightly. Now what?
“Psst!”
Salomea’s loud whisper comes from the shadows somewhere up ahead of me, off to the side of the young stranger. Grumbling, I skitter out into the open, hoping to draw his attention off of Salomea. Her dark coat blends into the shadows much better than mine and I silently will her to stay put. The stranger looks to be around our age, but I’ve learned in a short time that looks can be very deceiving. I search his odd eyes for any hint that he is anything but what he appears to be, my nostrils wide, jaw clenched tightly. Now what?
