Into the Forest Shadows by J.A. Marlow Read Free Book Online

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