my boots, giving lift to my step. The dense packing of greenery was remarkably sturdy, but I didn’t trust it to hold my mass for too long. Peering beneath the pool of green, I spied a nearby ruska fruit glowing like a beacon. It was caged by thorns and elbow-deep beneath the branches, ensuring it wouldn’t be snared without enduring a considerable number of scratches.
Tightrope-walking along the branch, I sidled up beside it and left Onyx slumbering behind me. I dropped to a crouch and rolled back the sleeve of my coat. My shadow pooled beside me, and a slow-moving vine receded with the sudden lack of direct sunlight. I frowned at the retreating, thorn-covered trap, but brushed away my concern. A few less scratches—no complaints from me. Diving my fingers beneath the thicket, I let out a soft grunt as the first series of thorns dug into my hand and wrist.
“C’mon.” I pushed farther and winced when the jagged barbs nicked my forearm. The ruska fruit glowed with expectation. One final cage of thorns barred my path. Fashioned like rows of teeth, they held firm until my fingers just barely grazed their glistening skin. A quiet exhale trembled through the leaves, and the thorns parted.
Was that a sigh? I glanced back at Onyx. Still sleeping, his paws twitched against the leaves. Vines started to move of their own accord and reached up with deadly quiet, sneaking around his limbs.
An agonizing pain radiated from my hand, and I shrieked. Yanking my attention to the fruit beneath me, I paled. The thorns had come crashing down, snapping around my hand and embedding themselves in the soft muscles of my arm. Vines lashed out in a frenzy and crawled up toward my shoulder.
Onyx roared, but the moment I’d screamed, the tree had come to life. Snarling vines covered in glistening barbs wrapped around him, keeping him ensnared. I tried to run to him, but the trap held strong. Barbed thorns bit into his fur and locked him in place.
“Onyx!” I jerked and sent a wave of power to my symbol, contemplating which beast to summon. A flash of rosewood light erupted from my hand, and the trap released with a high-pitched whine. From the center of the tree, a creature emerged. Endless streams of vines shot outward from its center mass. The beast was no bigger than a toddler, and two spheres made up its body. The larger sphere was hollow with branch-like bars displaying an empty cage. The smaller, bulbous sphere was its head. Another shrill whine escaped from a jagged rip masquerading as a mouth beneath glowing yellow eyes.
Behind me, Onyx howled. Still trapped in a net of vines, he couldn’t fend off the continued barrage of attacks.
“Let go of him!” I sprinted toward the beast, tossing sure footing aside and charging instead toward its center mass. Vines reacted in an instant, creating a wall of needles that ripped into my clothes and flesh and stopped me in my tracks.
I needed fire, but summoning Lola would be a mistake. Her weight would cause her to go crashing to the ground. My mind worked on overtime. If I couldn’t save Onyx by force, I’d have to send him back to the beast realm and pray he’d agree to fly me down when I was through. Channeling power through to my hand, I opened the realm door.
“Go!” I begged him to take the invitation. The thorns had done more damage than I’d realized, growing slowly to form spikes the size of my arm and digging through his flesh. He needed to heal. But he only looked at me with worried eyes as he ignored the promise of safety.
“It’s okay. Please, just go home.”
He refused to move, each moment costing his silky hide more and more gashes. A vine lashed out and scraped the side of my face. I’d never encountered or heard of a beast like this, but unexpected creatures were bound to appear from time to time. It was what made filling the pages of our bestiaries so exhilarating.
A sudden flux of power raised the hairs on my arms as one of my beasts approached the open door and barreled their way through. Lustrous white fur and plated scales caught in the high sun, and Dominus roared to life beside me. Onyx took one look at him and seemed to decide that I was safe. Finally, he disappeared into the realm, leaving an empty cage of vines behind.
I closed the door