Into the Forest Shadows (6 page)

She pressed the large button on the top, but
the screen stayed dark. She pressed it again and then started
pressing the other buttons around the main screen. Still
nothing.

"Dead, isn't it."

Kate found Ayden kneeling on the top of the
curved shuttle hull looking down at her with an amused expression
on his face that was echoed by Bunbun.

She frowned at them. "You don't have to be so
pleased about it. What are you doing up there, anyway?"

"Checking the weather. With the break in the
canopy the shuttle crash caused I can see pretty far. The fog is
starting to build on the slopes of the mountains again. By tonight
it will envelop the entire forest."

Kate looked back at the tree they'd taken
refuge under, "So we make camp under the tree until someone finds
us?"

"No, that tree isn't big enough to protect us
from what is coming." Ayden walked to the end of the shuttle and
climbed down the way he'd come. "We have a little time to get
somewhere safer and I plan to use it."

Kate dropped the dead emergency communication
device into the pack. "Just what are you suggesting?"

Ayden jumped to the forest floor, pointing in
the direction of the shuttle nose, "Your grandmothers house. The
tree her house is in is more than powerful enough to protect
us."

Kate eyed the wall of trees and shrubs in the
direction he pointed. The sunlight angled down in preperation for
sunset, accentuating the shadows. "Walk the rest of the way? You're
kidding, right?"

Ayden swung his pack onto his back, "No, not
kidding. It's the safest place."

"If there is a break in the fog for us to
walk then there will be a break for a rescue shuttle."

"If there were a shuttle nearby, which there
isn't. We were on the last flight of the day. They will not be able
to send anyone out here before the fogs descend. They are denser at
night." Ayden came to stop in front of her. "Are you going to argue
like this the whole way?"

Kate closed the pack, "I just think we should
think this over a little."

"You think about it a little. I already have,
and I know where the safest place is. You can come if you like. By
the way, leave the pack. It's too bright. It'll attract unwanted
attention."

"By that logic, I should take off my cape and
I'm not doing that." Kate grabbed the edge of the cape.

She might not know much about the forest, but
her grandmother's words about it keeping her safe in the forest
kept replaying in her mind. And her grandma was smart.

"Your grandmother wears one just like it all
the time and isn't bothered. You can keep it on." Ayden detached a
short rod hanging from the side of the backpack. With a flick of
his thumb it extended into a long metal stick. Using it as a
walking stick he headed towards the wall of green.

"I don't need your permission!" Kate shouted
at his back.

Ayden continued walking, using the stick to
push aside a large fern, disappearing without looking back at her
even once. Kate couldn't help taking one last glance at the
shuttle. The nice, safe, familiar shuttle. She really didn't want
to leave it. The Trailing Willow was an acceptable place to her,
just because the shuttle would still be in sight.

A dark shadow moved near the Trailing Willow.
Kate froze. Nothing moved. As fast as the dark shape had appeared
it disappeared.

She also noticed that every single bunt had
disappeared. She couldn't even hear one.

No way did she want to be alone out here.

What had Ayden said about attracting
attention? Attention from what?

Kate yanked the cloth cover off the basket
and stuffed the plastic-wrapped tea bags into a pant pocket. She
emptied emergency food supplies into the basket, but only one of
the blankets fit.

She threw the almost empty pack into the
shuttle and fastened the cloth top of the basket to keep the
supplies from bouncing out. Ayden had completely disappeared, but
Kate could still see where the branches of a dark burgundy bush
were slowly moving back into place.

With a strong grasp on her basket Kate ran
after him. She found Ayden waiting for her a short distance away.
Kate came to an abrupt stop, "Just absolutely sure I was going to
come, weren't you."

"No, I would never assume with you. I heard
you coming through the forest. In fact, the entire forest heard you
coming."

"Go ahead, make fun. Okay, you insist we need
to get to grandmothers house before the fog arrives? Fine, let's
get going. I don't want to be out here when it grows dark."

"No way we can avoid that, but if we can keep
our pace up we'll be there not long after nightfall."

The smug look on his face as he turned away
from her made her want to hit something. He might have denied it,
but she was sure. He knew she would follow. Kate allowed her mind
to go over the appropriate means of revenge as they walked.

She didn't count on just how fast he would
walk. Soon the complaints of her feet and lack of breath brought
new plans for revenge. Pushing the pace faster than it needed to
be. To punish her, she was sure of it. But no way would she ask him
to slow down. She would rather drop dead in her tracks than do
that.

On top of that, the forest itself appeared
intent on punishing her. Branches hit her at every turn. Roots rose
up from out of nowhere to trip her. All while the light filtering
down through the canopy grew fainter and fainter.

A stream of solid light through a break in
the canopy gave her hope that the daylight might last a while
longer.

Ayden stopped and pointed through the angled
hole. "Look at the mountains. "

Through the break she could barely see the
tops of the tall mountains that ringed the wide peninsula the
humans had access to. Along the tree-line a white haze obscured
some of the mountain slopes. Even from a distance she could see it
move and change shape.

As if alive.

"It looks thick," Kate said, trying not to
shudder.

"It is. And it's building and starting to
descend. We don't have much time," Ayden said.

He left the circle of light and headed back
into the shadows. Kate glared at the threatening white substance,
wishing she could extract revenge on it for her lungs and sore
feet.

Kate took a deep breath and plowed on behind
Ayden. With the vision of the gathering fog she concentrated on
walking as fast as possible.

The shadows continued building. Kate's eyes
alternated between watching where her feet were going and searching
for moving shapes. She didn't like the thought of some unknown
creature following them, but she'd now seen the moving forms twice
in one day. Low to the ground, moving smoothly from one shadow to
the next.

She would ask Grandma about it when they
arrived. Maybe the creature causing the shadows wasn't as
threatening as it felt like.

Kate pushed her way around a stiff-leaved
bush, pulling her cloak tight around her to keep it from catching.
Ayden's head disappeared as he dropped to the ground.

She stopped, looking down at him. She
laughed, "Did you trip?"

Something large and dark flew straight at her
head. Kate shrieked and dropped to the ground.

Her head jerked up to see one of the large
beetles she'd occasionally seen around Grandma's orchard. It
circled around and came back at them, its wings making a fluting
singing noise.

That was scary enough, but the sight of
several more joining the first made her heart drop.

Ayden jumped to his feet, dragging her up
with him. He pulled her back the way they'd come. At the sound of
singing wings in flight they ducked down. She felt a small tug
against the hood of her cape. She swung her basket up over her
head, feeling it hit something hard.

Ayden pulled her to her feet again and
plunged through the undergrowth.

"Are we heading back to the shuttle?" Kate
yelled.

"No questions, just run!" Ayden yelled back
at her.

CHAPTER SIX

The singing wings came back for another pass.
Ayden shoved her into the middle of one of the bushes with the
stiff leaves.

Kate tried untangling her cape from the
leaves as Ayden dove down next to her. The beetles flew over the
top of the bush, their red and black iridescent legs touching the
top-most leaves.

Kate looked up at them. "I didn't think they
minded people."

"They don't, unless you step in the middle of
a hive," Ayden said.

Kate shuddered. "We did that?"

"I didn't see any burrows, so it may have
been only the very edge of one," he said, as the beetles took
another pass at the bush.

One of the beetles landed on the trunk of a
nearby tree, whipping his wings so fast that the singing turned
into a shriek. Kate put her hands to her ears to block out the
horrible sound.

"Great, what do we do now?" Kate asked.

"We find a way around it. A little hard
considering I didn't see exactly where the hive is located. And I
don't want to make a mistake and fall down one of the burrows and
be eaten alive," Ayden said.

She glared at him. "You're just trying to
scare me."

He glared right back at her, "Tell me one
animal that doesn't protect its home and its young."

Kate couldn't help a hard shiver going
through her. She peeked out from under the bush. No beetles, but
they had to still be out there. Lurking in shadows, just waiting to
pounce the moment they emerged.

"We can't stay here all night," Kate
murmured.

"Trust me, I know that," Ayden said
testily.

A shape in the canopy flew through the
branches. Before Kate could point to it a mass of beetles converged
on it. The shape disappeared in a flurry of singing wings.

Ayden pulled at her arm, gesturing at her to
follow. He crawled out from under the bush. Her hands and knees
crunched against the dry leaves and twigs that had fallen on the
floor. She recoiled at the touch of something slimy, brushing a
hand against her pants before continuing.

He rose to his feet and started running. Her
basket banged against her shin as she followed him further into the
forest. Her ears attuned themselves to the returning sound of
singing wings, but couldn't hear any noise other than the sound of
the two of them crashing through the underbrush.

Ayden led the way to a small rise and
stopped. Kate was thrilled to stop. She bent over, sucking air into
her lungs.

"Well, that was a bit of excitement," Ayden
said with a laugh. "Good time for a meal to fly by."

"Glad you find it so amusing. You were
kidding about eating us, right?"

"Only if you fall into the burrow," Ayden
clarified.

"Great, you weren't kidding."

"We'll walk along this ridge as far as
possible. The beetles always make their nests in hollows or
depressions."

"And when this ridge ends?" Kate asked,
standing up straighter.

"We'll figure that out once we get to it,"
Ayden said with a shrug. "Let me know if you hear any fast
clicking."

Ayden walked swiftly away. She demanded.
"What do you mean fast clicking?"

"You'll know it when you hear it," Ayden said
over his shoulder.

Kate groaned. She forced herself to start
moving forward.

She strained to hear the beetles. She also
searched for one of the Trailing Willows. Come to think of it, she
hadn't seen one since they'd left the shuttle.

It concerned her. What would they do if the
fog came before getting to Grandmother's house?

Kate opened her mouth to ask Ayden, only to
find he'd stopped. Kate caught up with him, trying to see what he
so intently stared at. A few breaks in the trees allowed her to see
a portion of the mountains.

A thick fog had descended in one big cloud
towards the base of the mountains. The bank blocked out the tops of
the trees, appearing as if it were covered with snow right down to
the base.

"That doesn't look good," Kate said.

"No, it doesn't."

She didn't care for the worried expression on
his face.

He led the way back into the shadows of the
forest. They dropped down the ridge and struck out across a
relatively flat area filled with the larger and taller trees with
the bright purple leaves. No matter how quietly she tried to walk
the crunch of dead leaves met each of her footsteps.

Holding the basket grew annoying. Kate wished
for a backpack like Ayden's to carry everything in. And why did her
cape have to get caught on anything close to her? And her basket?
She'd never felt so clumsy before.

She jumped at a sharp bump on her head.

A purple and blue seed pod dropped to the
forest floor at her feet. Kate rubbed the top of her head and
looked up.

Just in time to see another one heading
straight for her.

Kate squealed and ran. A shower of seed pods
rained down, some hitting her head, some her shoulders or bouncing
off of the cloth cover of her basket.

Ayden put up an arm to protect his head,
breaking out into a run. But the shower of seed pods followed. Good
grief, aerial attacks by the trees now?

He pulled her up next to a tree. He glared
into the canopy.

Then Kate's ears picked up the sound of
chittering and what sounded like laughter. Small bodies ran up and
down the limbs above them, but they were too far up to see what
kind of creature they might be. They couldn't be the forest-floor
dwelling bunts.

"What just happened?" Kate asked.

Ayden turned away from the chattering
creatures with disgust. "Some of the animals don't like humans in
the forest. Lately they've been playing tricks on us. We do our
best to ignore them."

"You mean they are doing this on
purpose?"