UnKnown(PUBLISHED)

Twenty-Four

"We'll fix this, you know. Everything will be back to normal soon." I spoke up, straightening myself. Connor let go of Meadow and stepped toward me, his attention now on me. His eyebrows furrowed as he inspected me.

"And you are?"

"Rylan. I'm Arianna's friend. She's the twin of Fay." I greeted, holding my hand out. Connor hesitated before grabbing my hand in a firm handshake, now arching his eyebrow at my introduction.

"You are a human."

"I would hope so."

Connor chuckled at my words, which brought a smile to my face. With the way he inspected me, I was scared he would be not so lovely toward me and send his pack at me. But it looked like, despite his title, Connor was a pretty cool dude.

"I'm sorry about my people. We haven't had many humans pass by. It's been... a very long time since we ever saw a human, actually. But they know better than to attack like that." Connor rubbed his beard, shaking his head. I shrugged my shoulders even though a second ago, I was scared for my life, but it was understandable.

"Hey, I get it. It's okay. This is your territory that I'm crossing. I'm sure your people were protecting like they were supposed to." I brushed it off before looking at Peri as I remembered what we were even here for. But before I could say anything, my stomach cried out in hunger. What we ate must not have been enough. Go figures.

"Hungry?" Connor tilted his head to the side, to which I nodded. "Great! We were all about to have some stew, so you are welcome to join us. We have enough to go around." He clapped his hands together before motioning for us to follow him toward one of the bigger cabins I hadn't noticed while looking around.

And you think I would have noticed since I don't know... it's gigantic.

Looking over at Meadow for confirmation, to which she was already following Connor inside, I shrugged my shoulders and followed them with Peri on my tail. Everyone else followed suit as some grumbled about their hunger while the rest talked about me. At least I heard something about a human, and I'm the only human here.

"Please sit down. I'll be right out with the food." Connor motioned toward the long table in the middle of the dining room before snapping his fingers toward two guys. "You two. With me." Without another look, he went into the kitchen, where the smell of stew warped its way throughout the cabin.

I sat in the middle of Meadow and Peri, my stomach crying again from the smell of the stew. At least the inside of the cabin wasn't as destroyed as the outside. This means that Fay's rage only impacted the outside and not the inside as much, of course.

"We'll eat and then get moving. As nice as Connor is, we can't waste more time." I stated quietly. The girls nodded their heads in agreement, and I was glad that Peri was being helpful.

It didn't take Connor and his two guys long to start placing bowls of stew in front of everyone. I was so hungry that I could have started eating as it was being handed out, but I was raised better than that, so I waited until everyone was seated and started eating themselves. Though some of the pack seemed content and not bothered by me anymore, others still had that hungry look to them despite having food in front of them. But with Connor around, I knew they couldn't get to me even if they tried. Everyone ate silently, not much conversation flowing about. But I was eating a bit fast, dead set on getting to this destination before nightfall. Connor must have noticed my hurriedness as he placed his spoon down and leaned forward, clasping his hands under his chin.

"What's the hurry? Besides saving the forest." Connor questioned, but that was precisely it. That was what I was in a hurry for. I needed to meet up with Arianna and help her not only save her parents but save this forest as well.

"We're on a timer. We need to find the final destination, or else we won't be able to save this forest. And we have not caught up with Arianna either. Without her, we won't be able to do anything. I do not want to waste more time trying to get to her." I answered honestly. Half honestly. I did not know what they knew about the whole memories aspect and whatnot. Connor hummed in understanding. He leaned back in his seat now, crossing his arms.

"Maybe I can help, but I'll need some information. Clearly, you guys do not know where this final destination is, right?"

"We do. Peri is helping us find it. She said we just have to pass you guys." I looked over at Peri, who was not even halfway done with her food. It was like she was purposely taking my time, which made me narrow my eyes at her.

"It's the place where everything went wrong." Meadow spoke up now. Was that the information that Connor needed? Probably. I was overthinking this and not wanting to spill anything that could jeopardize this mission. This felt like a damn mission. Connor furrowed his eyebrows at Meadow's comment. His hand rose to his beard, rubbing at it.

"You mean when Fay went out of control and destroyed half of the forest, causing her to get sent off?" Connor stated, tilting his head to the side a bit. Meadow and I nodded our heads. "Shouldn't you know this Meadow? You took them there all the time. It's not past us."

My spoon fell out of my hand, making a clacking noise as it hit the side of my bowl. Everyone stopped what they were doing as all eyes were on me, but my eyes.. my gaze was directed toward Peri, and if looks could kill, then she would be dead. Peri avoided eye contact with me as she now played around with her food, stirring the stew around and around. What Connor said couldn't be true. There was no way we walked for this long just for the path to be wrong.

There's no way I was right all along about Peri. I wanted her to prove me wrong. That she wanted to save this forest, but it looked like all she wanted to do was play games.

"I took them? Oh.. oh!" Meadow snapped her fingers, her eyes lighting up with realization. "I can't believe I didn't see it before. It's this wide open area surrounded by trees and water. I know that sounds ridiculous, as trees and water surround us, but there was a specific one where I would take them when they were getting fussy. That's where the final destination is." Meadow explained, clasping her hands together as she smiled brightly. I'm Glad she could figure it out, but I sure as hell was not. We could have already been there either waiting for Arianna or figuring out where she might be.

But no. Instead, here we are being played.

"Something wrong, Ry?" Connor furrowed his eyebrows. I took a deep breath, pushing the chair back as I stood up.

"No. Because she played us, she told us she knew exactly where this place was. That she wanted to help. But instead, like I thought, she just took us on a joy ride." I gritted my teeth, glaring down at Peri, who showed no remorse for what she had done. Instead, Peri stood up and smoothed her dress down.

"I would have shown you eventually, but there's always room for some fun," Peri stated, smiling brightly. Before I could blink, Peri had transformed and flew off before anyone else could catch her. I cursed under my breath, slamming my fist on the table, wasting time. Peri wasted our fucking time.

Taking a deep breath, I looked over at Connor. "I apologize for my behavior. Thank you for your kind gesture and the warm food. But we must be going now."

Connor nodded his head in understanding. He stood up and led us out of the cabin, giving Meadow a hug as well as shaking my hand once again. There was no need for words of what just happened. Or anything else needing to be said. Our eyes said it all.

And with that, we were off to where we needed to go.