Cybele wasn't entirely sure what was happening.

She bit her bottom lip, trying to focus on what she did know. She knew half the map was in Will's hands. She knew they were locked in some sort of battle with another group who must have also been after the sources. And, of course, she knew Will was currently being chased by an anguis.

And the anguis was gaining.

Cybele nearly tripped on the tangled undergrowth as she raced after them, keeping her eyes on Will's brown hair to avoid getting lost. Her head was spinning, with adrenaline or confusion or panic, she wasn't sure; likely all three.

That hibri, the one she'd encountered, the one she'd unsuccessfully and dangerously attempted to persuade away from Cynth — there was something about him, something that felt strangely familiar. She couldn't pinpoint why, and she wasn't sure why her emotions had felt more wounded than her body when the hibri had knocked her to the ground.

Pushing the hibri to the back of her mind, Cybele was hit with a sudden stab of panic as she lost sight of Will. Her heart pounded in her ears as she looked wildly around, cursing herself for getting distracted.

And then she heard her voice, shouting in hysterical panic.

"Tide-bringing, moons-damned — "

That was another, far less important thing, Cybele thought — the way Will seemed inclined toward species cursing. But she couldn't dwell on that further, not right now.

She followed the sound of Will's voice just in time to see her and the hibri caught in a fierce tug-of-war with what remained of the map. Will was continuing to curse aloud, attempting to kick the anguis away and refusing to release her grip. If she held on any longer, the half-map would become a quarter-map, and Cybele didn't want to imagine what Cynth would do if that happened.

"This was — really — fun," the anguis said between panting breaths. "I mean, truly, I've been having the time of my life. But now — " He yanked the map, Will jerking forward from the momentum. "Now I'm getting kind of pissed."

And before Cybele could blink — before she could yell Stop, or Wait, or even just a cry of surprise — the anguis tore the map from Will's hands as he twisted to grab a rock from the ground, reaching up to slam it into the side of Will's head.

Cybele knew she should have started chasing after the anguis before he got away with the map, but her eyes were instead caught on Will's prone form as she crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

Everything was happening too fast. Cybele felt as if she was processing it all too slowly, as if her mind wasn't quick enough to catch up. She struggled to take a breath, fighting to steady her heartbeat as she tried to clear her head and think.

The anguis was now long gone, the map gone with him — and when Cynth found out, Cybele knew her life would soon be gone as well.

And Will. Will was on the forest floor, blood trickling from where the anguis had hit her in the head, and the sight of it made Cybele's face pale. She willed herself to continue taking slow breaths, to keep her hands from shaking, as she finally gathered herself enough to run over to Will's unconscious form.

She fell to her knees beside Will, gently turning her over. Cybele's head was a mess of panicked terror until she saw that Will's chest was still rising and falling, if only very shallowly.

Relief flooded through Cybele, more relief than she ever would have anticipated.

And then she saw them.

The gills on the side of Will's neck.

For a moment, Cybele could only stare, sure she was imagining things. It couldn't be possible — it could not be possible, and yet —

Cybele sat back on her heels, incredulous shock making her head pound. Will's brown hair had shifted when Cybele had turned her over, falling away from her neck — and that was why, Cybele realized, Will always kept her hair hanging the same way all the time.

Her mind was spinning, struggling to make sense of the situation. Will — Willa Fen was a hibri.

She was a hibri.

And Cynth didn't know.

She couldn't have known. If she did, Will would have been dead long ago.

And that's what made the current of fear suddenly shoot through Cybele as she fully grasped the meaning of this revelation. Cynth didn't know, but once she did — once she did, she would kill Will. As soon as she found out, she would kill her.

She would not forgive.

Panic was crashing into Cybele in waves. She couldn't tell Cynth — she could never tell her, even if she was risking her own life by doing so. Even if Will had lied to her, tricked her all this time. Even then, she could not put Will's life into Cynth's hands.

Cybele would have continued sitting there, thinking everything out — but then she heard distant shouting from somewhere beyond the woods, jolting her back to the harsh present: Will, still unconscious; the other group who'd come for the map, likely still searching for them.

Cybele released a shaky breath, gathering her composure as best she could as she leaned forward, scooping Will's limp form into her arms. Will's head lolled against Cybele's shoulder, her hair brushing against Cybele's face and smelling faintly of sea salt, and Cybele's heart began to race again. Unconscious like this, Will seemed suddenly even more vulnerable than before, and Cybele knew then, with absolute certainty:

She would never tell Cynth Will's secret.

Careful to avoid jostling Will too much, Cybele struggled to her feet, keeping her arms tight around Will's body as she took a weary breath before beginning to move.

Will was surprisingly light, but the events and revelations of the past hour alone had begun to take its toll. Cybele stumbled multiple times as she hurried blindly toward the edge of the forest, searching for an empty clearing or safe ground to stop and make sure Will was taken care of.

Cybele wasn't anywhere near an expert in the medical field, but considering Will had just been knocked out twice within the last twenty minutes, it was almost certain that she had some sort of concussion.

She was lucky to be alive.

Cybele walked faster, her head still pounding. She needed someone to help her — someone who knew what to do. But there was no one; Cynth was out of the question, and the people of the other group would only laugh if they saw Will's state.

Will had, after all, attacked one of them to save Cynth.

Which led Cybele back to her mess of unanswered, frantic questions. Why would Will shoot at patrias if she was partially one herself? Why would she defend Cynth, a known species hater? And why would she have come along with Cynth this far?

Unless, Cybele realized, she was some sort of... spy.

No — no. It was ludicrous to even consider. And what could she possibly be a spy for?

But then again, isn't that precisely what Will had stated herself when Cybele had first met her? Something along the lines of "I am a good spy, after all." At the time, Cybele had chalked it up to the meaningless rambling of drunken fantasies — but perhaps it had instead been very meaningful rambling of drunken truth.

Cybele harshly shut down her thoughts. She was exhausted, and her mind was spiraling uselessly. There was no way — no way Will was a spy. She needed to clear all of her doubt, because it wasn't true.

It could not be true.

If it was, then that meant the pressure on Cybele to tell Cynth Will's secret would infinitely increase.

Pushing any more speculation of Will to the back of her mind, Cybele pressed forward, keeping her gaze straight ahead. She didn't know where to take Will that would allow them both to rest safely; she wasn't sure how far she was from where they'd encountered the other group.

As if triggered by her thoughts, Cybele suddenly sensed someone's sharp gaze. Tensing, she looked over her shoulder — just in time to glimpse what looked like a pair of cat ears through the maze of trees.

Cybele bit her lip hard against the urge to curse, an edge of fear beginning to press in. A maxi. She knew who the maxis were, of course, but she'd never encountered one before. They were the most militaristic of the species, in some ways even more so than the humans; to say they were intimidating was an understatement.

They looked at each other for a moment, Cybele with fresh panic, the maxi with a scrutinizing regard, as if they were contemplating whether or not Cybele was a threat.

Cybele turned away, attempting to keep her eyes forward as she quickened her pace — but she could sense the maxi's stare still boring into the back of her head. It was all she could do to hold her breath, begging anything and everything that they would be overlooked.

She was all too aware of how pathetic she looked, her shoulders shaking as she tightly held on to Will's form. But in the end, perhaps it was her pitiful appearance that saved her.

After an excruciating few heartbeats later, the maxi's attention turned elsewhere.

Cybele allowed herself to release a breath of relief, some tension easing in her chest — but she still had Will to worry about.

Just up ahead, the trees finally cleared, giving way to the seashore. Cybele reached the edge of the forest and carefully set Will down before collapsing on her knees beside her, her heart pounding, her breaths coming too quickly.

She gently pushed Will's brown hair to the side, away from her neck. Some irrational part of her had been hoping she'd imagined the gills in all her exhaustion, but they were there, stark as ever.

Cybele forced herself to take a deep breath as she let Will's hair fall back into place, struggling to steady her hands. She quickly tore off a piece of the edge of her shirt, folding the cloth over twice before pressing it to the side of Will's head, where the anguis had hit her with the rock.

The bleeding of the wound had somewhat slowed, but Cybele knew she needed proper bandages to staunch it completely. She wasn't sure how Cynth would react upon seeing Will's state — would she order Cybele to leave Will behind, as she'd be more a burden than a benefit? Would she allow Cybele to take Will to some sort of apothecary?

Either way wasn't at all ideal, the first one for obvious reasons, the second because any healer would likely discover Will's gills.

No, Cybele had to take care of Will on her own.

She pulled Will to her lap, keeping pressure on her wound as she tried to make sense of everything that had just happened, mentally sifting through everything she'd learned and what it could all mean.

Will was a hibri. Cybele still couldn't fully believe it, but she couldn't try to deny it any longer. So many little things finally made sense now — why she'd been so shaken after seeing Cynth shoot and kill the hibri who'd been following her. Why she constantly slipped and used species curses.

Cybele should have known.

Maybe she'd always suspected, somewhere deep down. Will had never necessarily been discreet; Cybele was surprised anyone would hire her as a spy to begin with. But Cybele had ignored any of her own suspicions, because she'd always assumed that Cynth herself was smart enough to know if Will really was a spy.

She didn't want to imagine what would happen if Cynth found out — if she realized Will had been a hibri the entire time, and had damn well fooled her into believing it.

So Cybele made a decision — a promise. Will could never know Cybele held her secret in her hands, and Cynth could never know Will's secret at all.

Because Cybele knew, with an undeniable certainty, that the alternatives would be unthinkable.

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Thanks to -lightsabove for the magnificent chapter! Feel free to scream incoherent predictions in the comments here. We'll wait.

:)

With virtual hugs, purple Google features, and homoerotic healing,

Grand Fabri Chronicles

(G.F.C.)