Chapter 9: Chapter 9

Unlike the real woods that stood near Angel Grove, only a few miles away from the historic home, these woods were shrouded in eternal night. Being part of a dream realm heightened the more sinister qualities of the location. The real woods would’ve appeared less menacing during the day, while it would always be just as dark, foggy, and uninviting here no matter the time, although it didn’t help that it was almost eleven at night when the team began their search.

Cutter kept Ru within eye sight, which wasn’t difficult considering she was more than a little scared to step out of his line of vision. She was also more than a little distracting, not only because he felt he was constantly checking on her location, but because it was her. While he was surrounded by twisted trees with long, scraggly branches, thick roots reaching up from the ground to snare a misplaced step, she was the embodiment of all things lovely and good, even in jeans and a T-shirt, her platinum blonde hair pulled up in a high ponytail. The contrast was mesmerizing.

The fog ebbed and flowed almost like pure liquid, wrapping around the tree trunks, weaving in and out, encapsulating him such that he couldn’t even see his own legs from time to time before it would undulate away, only to recoil like a snake stalking its prey. Cutter’s eye sight might not be able to cut through the tentacles, but his sixth sense could. Making sure Ru wasn’t too far away, he closed his eyes and reached out with his senses in an attempt to identify any disturbance in the air around him. So far, all he’d picked up on were the portal openings in the distance, the same ones he’d identified the moment they’d entered this realm, and none of those were the portal to Hell they were searching for.

They continued to carefully search through the woods, spread out so that Ru was the only other member of their party he could see, and there were times when she became enshrouded by either the fog or darkness so that he lost sight of her for a few moments as well. He had no idea where Lyric, Ivy, or Rider were and didn’t send out any mental probes to locate them because he didn’t want to disturb them. He was sure if they found anything, they would let everyone know.

After about an hour of searching, Cutter heard Ru let out a loud sigh. “You okay?” he called. He knew she was about twenty feet away, hidden behind a large tree trunk from his current perspective; she had gotten a bit braver the longer they continued their hunt.

“Yes,” she said, frustration obvious in her voice. “I’m just… confused.”

Cutter took note of exactly where he was standing so he could come back to it later and picked his way through the marshy soil, his feet crushing thousands of brittle leaves, who protested their disturbance, as he went. She turned to look at him, her jaw set in frustration. “What’s the matter, Ru?”

She crossed her arms. “It’s just… I don’t think we’re going about this the right way.”

“What do you mean?”

“If you were going to stick a portal to Hell in the woods, you wouldn’t put it where just anyone could stumble upon it.”

“Not just anyone can,” Cutter said, not exactly sure what she was getting at.

“No, that’s not what I meant.” She grabbed ahold of two large sections of her hair and pulled, an action he’d come to realize made her ponytail tighter. “I mean, even for us. They’d hide it, wouldn’t they?”

“Likely, yes,” he nodded, still not sure where she was going with this. “That’s why we can’t sense the portal opening. We’ll either have to stumble upon it or see it.”

“Then why are we trying so hard to feel it?”

“I don’t know that we are.” He was growing a little confused himself. “I guess… that’s just part of looking for it.”

She was shaking her head. “We can’t look for it because we can’t see it.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Okay. What do you suggest then?”

Her breath came out almost as a growl. “I don’t know. But this is never going to work.”

A smirk spread across his face. He couldn’t help it. She was absolutely adorable when she was so worked up. Seeing her eyes narrow at him, and realizing she was likely misinterpreting his reaction, he wiped the wayward smile away. “Do you feel anything at all, Ru? Anything different than you did, say, when you were reaching out in the other realm, trying to find the opening that led here?”

Unfolding her arms, she placed one hand flat against her stomach. “No,” she said, slowly. “I don’t feel anything at all. Except for those portals you identified earlier. And Lyric over there.” She pointed ahead of them and to her right. “Ivy back there. And Rider over there.”

Cutter had no idea if that was where their teammates were located because he hadn’t been probing for them. “Maybe you’re spending too much time identifying where the rest of us are, and it’s interfering with your ability to concentrate on the portal.”

“You think?” she asked, her face crinkling, puzzled. She scratched her head, but her hand was still pressed against her midsection. “I don’t know.”

“Is your stomach bothering you?”

Ru glanced down as if she didn’t even realize what she was doing and withdrew her hand. “I don’t know.”

“Come on. Let’s go a bit further. Eventually, we’ll end up running out of forest or in someone’s backyard. Or both.”

“’Kay,” Ru muttered, but she didn’t look convinced. Cutter patted her on the shoulder, fighting to keep his fingers from lingering, and then headed back to where he’d left off.

The woods continued to thicken around them, which Cutter found surprising; as dark and dreary as the scene had been from the moment they’d stepped foot here, he wouldn’t have thought it was possible for it to become less inviting. A few steps more and he found himself in familiar territory. He spun around, taking it all in. Even though their encounter with Nat and his army had taken place in the real world, the scars were cut into the trees here. Char marks marred the bark of several trees where he and Rider had used the light to keep the Reapers at bay while Ru had made her escape. The ground was littered with fresh vines, new ones Ivy had created that had tripped up the Reapers, winding around their ankles and legs. An assessment of the tops of the trees showed very few leaves had survived Lyric’s winds.

“Cutter!” Ru shouted, and he took a few steps over toward her. She wound her way between trees and found her way to him. “Is this where you battled the Reapers?”

“It is.”

Ru nodded. “Then, the ravine is that way.” She pointed off in the distance, and he agreed with her. “Kyle said that what he wanted to show me was this way.” When she spoke that name, she grimaced a bit, and Cutter realized it had to be difficult for her to talk about still, even though Kyle had never even existed. In her mind he was all too real.

“Let’s go.”