Tiddly Jinx by Liz Schulte Page B

but they make up for it with brawn. Whatever took them out has to be fast and strong enough to kill them on the first pass. I don’t think anything could survive round two with either of them. We need to shut this down now. I don’t care how we do it. There are worse things than death.”
    Worry looked out of place on the laid-back half-elf. Sy normally gave the impression he had seen everything before. It made me wonder if he was more concerned about what we were up against or something else.
    “How did you know about the attack?” I renewed my earlier question.
    Sy’s mouth pursed and he glanced around to make sure no one was close. “The Abyss isn’t as autonomous as you might believe. There are unwritten, unspoken rules we all have to follow or…” He splayed his hands. “Let’s just say, it’s best not to draw attention to yourself from the wrong people.”
    My whole life I had heard rumors—bedtime stories meant to frighten small children into being good—about a secret council who protected the Abyss from exposure by any means necessary, including cutting off tongues and turning bad little elves who revealed themselves to humans into swine. Obviously we all dismissed it as we got older and elf/human relationships became more of a reality without anyone turning into a pig.
    Sy shook his head like he could hear my thoughts. “But those relationships never last, do they? Do you know a single half-elf who has both parents? How many even have one? It’s not a coincidence.”
    What exactly was Sy saying? I opened my mouth to speak, but he cut me off.
    “I’m not saying anything,” he said pointedly. “But if you’re a human without some sort of magical connection to the Abyss, you better hope you never learn about it.”
    “Are you reading my mind?”
    Selene came through the door, wearing a backpack and accompanied by Sebastian and Frost.
    “Ready?” Sy asked them. “Do you need the coven?”
    She shook her head. “I don’t even know if we can do anything. I want to see what we are dealing with before I bring them in.”
    Sy nodded and pulled on a pair of thick rubber gloves from his pocket. When he had them on, he offered a hand to Frost, who rolled her eyes but took it, grumbling about hating to transport. Sy gave us the exact location of the settlement, and then a moment later we were all standing there. I let my eyes take in the surroundings. We were on the side of a mountain that was thick with cedar trees. The scent masked the only other smell. Death. Chunks of flesh and pieces of bone littered the ground. Most were small and delicate but some were larger—much larger—but every bit as dead.
    A scream ripped through the mountain, impossible to pinpoint. I looked at Sy. “What was that?”
    It was Selene who answered in barely a whisper. “Wendigo.”
    I looked back at her, her hand trembled as she pulled a sword from her holding—something a half-elf shouldn’t even have, but rules never seemed to apply to her. Sebastian and I followed suit. I tossed a weapon to Sy and offered one to Frost, who shook her head. Selene crouched low to the ground, staring up at the trees, sword ready for battle.
    “What’s a wendigo?” Frost asked, not looking overly concerned.
    “ Shhh ,” Selene breathed as her eyes continued to dart around. “Cut off its head,” was all the explanation she gave.
    There was another scream, and while I still couldn’t determine a direction it sounded closer. A lot closer. I squatted next to Selene and closed my eyes, letting my senses take over. Eyes could be deceived—made to see things that weren’t there. My other senses, when not hindered by sight, could work together to discover the truth. The hunter in me was at home in the woods and knew which sounds belonged and which didn’t. My nose could distinguish foreign odors. I was willing to bet that a wendigo wasn’t native to this forest or any other I knew, since I had never heard of it. Movement in the