Like the time when Mutt nearly beat me to death, there wasn't much I remembered before I was fully conscious again. It was less than before. Just itching sensations across my entire body. The almost comforting aches in my muscles. Flashes of a small room illuminated by fire.

When I finally came to for longer than a few seconds, it was to the sight of Kat's eyes. They were both open, the green watching me as the blue was buried in a pile of old clothes we both lay in.

"You're finally awake," she said. Her voice was hoarse. Her face was still cut and bruised.

I didn't know what to do or say. I didn't know how I was supposed to be feeling in that moment. But I didn't move when her hand reached out for me. When she stroked my hair and the side of my face, my chest tightened.

"You too," I answered back.

I wanted to reach back for her, but my arms weren't fully cooperating. They burned back their protests at my sudden demands, and I then saw the bloody, bandaged mess they had become. However long I had been out, it wasn't long enough to fix what had been done to me.

"What's happened?" I asked as I looked around us. Our pile of clothes was in the corner of a room I vaguely remembered during my recovery.

A hole in the wall let in moonlight from outside. It didn't reveal much to me, as there wasn't much to reveal. A pile of animal corpses—mostly eaten down to the bone—lay in another corner of the room, explaining the rotten smell that weighed heavily on the place. The center of the room seemed to be taken up almost entirely by a massive tree stump. It was wide enough to easily take on the appearance of a make-shift table for a large family. The last thing was a very out of place, yet sprawling bookshelf that covered nearly an entire wall of the room. On the shelves were numerous, strange objects ranging from what looked like twigs tied together to masterfully crafted clay sculptures of animals.

"Ninovan is letting us rest while she and the others are hunting for my Master," Kat answered before I could examine anymore of the items.

"Who?"

Kat blinked. "The witch who created us," she clarified. "Her name is Ninovan."

"Oh."

Despite everything that happened between she and I, I never did learn her name. For a reason I knew all too well, I wasn't comforted by knowing it. I was perfectly content just referring to her as 'the witch'.

"Did they leave us alone here?" I pressed.

It was foolish to hope, but I had to ask. Kat was quick to snuff out that light with a small shake of her head.

"They always leave someone here. Either Tusk, Crane, or that shadow."

That clearly meant John was still alive. But did that also mean he was now a familiar, like us? I considered asking, but decided there were more pressing things I wanted to know while we had our moment together.

"I don't know if you heard yet, but Stallion and I were able to bring Lilly back before the witch's little monster attacked me. Do you know if they are okay?"

Kat's eye widened at the mention of Lilly's name, but her expression grew dark when I finished asking my question.

"No, I don't know," she muttered into the jeans she was resting her head against. "Ever since I woke up I've been trying to talk to Stallion and even Mouse through that other way, but neither of them have answered. It's been several days now and nothing."

"Mary isn't going to answer you," I said. "Copper and Fawn took her back to Wildwood."

"And Stallion?"

"He was there when I got attacked. I wasn't able to see what happened to him. But I'm sure he's fine, Kat. I know he is."

I wasn't hurt, or even surprised with how little Kat seemed to care about the news of Mary's abduction. If they had wanted to kill her, Fawn could easily have done it. Whatever the Stalwart's morals, he clearly wasn't calling the shots anymore. Wildwood still needed her for something.

And if what Kat said was true—if Mary really was aiming to shoot her—maybe she needed some time apart.

A clearer picture was forming in my head the more I learned of our situation. Despite the most recent set-back, I was still here. The witch still wanted me to live. If I could make the most of the next opportunity, I could still keep the promise I made.

I could still save them.

"How can you know he's okay?" Kat asked me. Her green eye was glistening now. It was telling me to say anything—anything at all and she would believe me. She was desperate to.

My chest clenched again, but it was different than the comforting feeling I had when she stroked me. This time it hurt.

"I pissed off that witch more than Stallion could ever hope to, and yet I'm still here. That's how I know."

Kat sat up, pulling articles of clothing up with her to wrap around her thin body. She was shaking, as if she was cold, and I realized then the burning in my body wasn't a reflection of an unusually warm night. It was a feeling similar to the many, many times I consumed that foul tea. Like a fire that was scoring through every vein in my body.

"You kids finally awake, huh?"

Kat's bright, green eye, almost glowing in the darkness of the shack, honed in on the hole made into the side of the wall. I followed it and saw the wide, lumbering form of Tusk carefully maneuvering himself through the opening. He moved slowly and awkwardly, I noticed, because in his arms he cradled the delicate form of a sleeping little girl. Lilly.

"She's doing alright," Tusk said after he stepped inside and caught where I was staring. He walked over to the stump-table and sat himself down so that he and Lilly were both facing us. "Sleeping almost as much as you."

I nodded back to him, still trying to work out what I wanted to say. I wasn't expecting this. Tusk speaking without that growl in his voice or the glare in his eyes. My enemy carefully looking after someone I cared so much about.

Kat, thankfully, wasn't so tight-lipped.

"Has she said anything about where they could be?" My friend swallowed, clenched her teeth, as if she trying to work something out her body reflexively wanted to keep in. "Maple and Gust?"

"She hasn't talked much," Tusk answered as he readjusted the sleeping girl in his bulky arms. I could have mistaken it, but his dark eyes almost looked misty as he looked down on Lilly. "Just sleeping, crying, screaming. Whenever she's awake, its like the whole damn forest comes alive. Everything shaking, smashing, trying to get at us. Mother will make something to keep her dozy until we can work something out."

"You really trust her taking anything that witch makes?" I asked, finding my voice after listening to more than enough of Tusk's words.

The old familiar's teeth clenched and his dark eyes took on a hint of that familiar hatred as he glanced up at me, but he let out a deep breath instead and spoke to me in a calm, almost chastising voice, "She is looking out for us, fox. She wants what is best for us. She knows what I want is the health and happiness of these children. That's why she's out there risking her life to wrangle in those two older brats who should know better. Their mother—They were taught better than to act up this way."

A flash of Maple—of whatever was controlling Maple—and their dark pits for eyes flashed across my memory. I could still hear Ovidia's screams. The putrid smell of her burning flesh still settled heavily in my nose. I tried to push it back, swallow the bile, and keep Tusk's waiting gaze with a fresh glare of my own.

"Those kids aren't the same ones you remember from some long ago fantasy where you weren't trying to hunt them down with an insane witch. They've been hurt by their Knowledge, and by the witches who keep pushing them to use it. I don't fully understand what it is they struggle with, but it's obvious they can't control it."

An old memory was resurfacing. One that was hard to summon up all the details of. I was in great pain back then. There were cuts all over my body and holes in my hands. Lilly's mother stood over me and was about to finish what she started. I don't remember what I said to her, but I knew I was desperate to save my own life. To keep her from ending it. Her words I do remember, clear as day.

"I never had a choice."

And then when the fire started, when my lungs filled with smoke and the world burned down around me, I still remembered that same witch crying and begging. Screaming at the plants she once had her beck and call to not leave her.

I thought about sharing these memories with Tusk, but he wasn't there. I thought I had killed him at the time. He would just think I was making up lies.

"Do you really think your 'Mother' is going to treat them any differently?" I asked him before he could speak up. "She's going to use them. Like every witch has used them before."

I hoped he would understand what I meant when I emphasized the word 'every'. I think he did, when he more openly glared at me.

A cold hand on the crook of my arm broke through the burning in my veins, as well as the shared glare I had going with the old bastard. Now I was watching Kat's pale face as she shook it slightly from side to side. Her green eye telling me enough was enough as her blue one remained blank and cloudy.

"If your Mother still needs help, I can help her find them. But, first, I want to know what happened to Stallion."

Kat's voice made it very clear. I have the key to finding my Master, but I won't do it for nothing.

Tusk sighed and then busied himself with brushing loose strands of Lilly's hair behind her ears. I noticed Kat's hands tighten around the shirts and jackets she held around herself, but neither of us said anything. We simply waited for him to give us the next piece of bad news.

"He played nice when you were being restrained," Tusk said, his eyes back on me, "and for a few days after that. But I guess he was better at hiding his thoughts than Mother predicted. He left one night and we haven't seen him since."

So Stallion was gone. Again. I would be lying to myself if I said I was surprised. Kat didn't seem shocked by the news either as she didn't immediately say anything. But she did sag further into the pile of clothing. Her green eye stared at the floor. Stared at nothing.

Part of me wanted to comfort her, but I didn't have words to say because the other part was relieved Stallion was gone. I could still hear his final words echoing in my mind before that feral familiar knocked me out. If he had stayed, for whatever reason, he wouldn't like what I was planning next. He would have tried talking me out of it or, worse, tried to stop me. Kat and I were safer with Mary being gone, and Stallion was safer being far away from me. He didn't have the stomach to do what needed to be done. I didn't have the patience to let him try and push his ideals on me anymore.

It's better that he's gone. It's better Mary is gone. I'll get them back, but only after I settled things with the witches.

"It's been almost a week."

Tusk's voice brought my eyes back up to him. He sat cross-legged on the stump now, allowing Lilly to curl up in his lap. I watched the slow rise and fall of her back as the old familiar stroke the top of her head.

"And like I said, she hasn't been doing much else but sleep," Tusk continued, not looking up from the girl. "I think this is the first good rest she's gotten in a long, long time. Those bastards aren't letting up on them. They're working kids to death to try and catch a couple of runaway familiars."

I reflexively tensed when his dark eyes looked up at me. They practically glowed in the dull moonlight.

"I bet if I killed you or brought you in myself they'd give these kids a break."

I tried to sit up, but my body just burned and hissed back at me. Kat placed a steadying hand on my shoulder, her own body taut and ready to move.

Tusk watched our reactions passively. He didn't move an inch.

"But I'm not going to do that." He glanced down and gave the little girl a smile. Lilly reached out her hand and grabbed his beard as she continued to snore. "It's obvious to me these kids care about you, for better or worse. And since it's also obvious you two won't willingly turn yourselves in, I'm not left with a lot of options. Whatever Mother wants. Whatever her true intentions, she is letting this poor girl rest. That's more than any witch from Wildwood has ever done for her."

I nodded. "I understand," I said.

Kat watched me quietly. Tusk had eyes only for the sleeping girl.

"As long as the—As long as Ninovan keeps those kids out of her plans, then maybe I'll consider helping her."

This could work. I could make this work.

"Yeah, right," Tusk said with an amused snort. "You having a change of heart just like that? Real fucking likely."

"Don't get me wrong, I still don't agree with her methods. I won't follow her like some loyal pet. And I will never call her mother." I stared at Tusk until he looked at me. Until his eyes were only for me. "But those kids are the only family I have left. I'll do anything to protect them. Even if it means working with her."

Tusk grunted and grinned at me. I saw that dark gleam in his eyes. A primal look that told me he could kill me and not even give it a second thought.

"I'll talk with Mother about it when she gets back but, for your sake, you better not be bullshitting us. Whether they like you or not, the kids can always get a new pet. Don't forget that."

The old familiar waited until I nodded before he stood up and carried Lilly back towards the hole in the wall. I watched him go without saying a word.

Despite the confidence in my plan. Despite everything going perfectly so far, I was trembling. My hands were shaking. My heard pounded enough to make my ears ring.

Whether I made this work or not, this could be it. I was at the mercy of people I couldn't trust, forced to fight against people I trusted even less. Really, it wasn't much different than how it always was. Except this time felt like the last time. Either we wiped out Wildwood, or we are all captured or wiped out by them.

No option three. No running. No way out.

A cold hand found its way around mine. Kat's green eye captured me once again with its splendor. Even after all this time, it's effect hadn't changed much. I felt like I could get lost inside it and forget everything else.

"You are all I have left," Kat said, snapping me out of my haze as her hand tightened on mine. "Please remember that."

I bit the inside of my cheek. Without meaning to, it broke skin and the bitter taste of blood tickled my tongue and drained down my dry throat. I tried swallowing, but it was like the blood had coagulated into a foul knot that resisted my attempts to clear it.

What about the kids, I wanted to ask her. What about Stallion?

"They are not my children," Kat answered. "And Stallion made his choice. He made it a long time ago."

Her grip on my hand was still cold and tight. I met its intensity as best as I could while closing my eyes at the same time. "Will you stay with me?" I asked the darkness. "No matter what happens, no matter what I decide to do, will you stay?"

"I will," the darkness replied. It's frigid lips found my forehead before continuing in a whispered voice, "Now and forever." 

...

*Author's Note*

Foxy and Kat reaffirm their reliance on one another, but will it be enough to see them through the rest of their journey? Do they have any hope of saving themselves, much less the ones still close to them?

Whatever your thoughts, I would love to hear them!