Page 110 of Found in Obscurity

“Or they want to make sure shifters specifically can pass and no one else,” Flora said.

“In any of those cases, the point remains…Kit can pass but we can’t?” Nomi asked.

“It would seem so.”

“What if we closed our eyes and followed Kit?” Lorin asked.

Four pairs of eyes blinked at him in unison.

Lorin flushed at his childish suggestion, but didn’t back down. “I only felt strange when I looked at it. Right now, when I can’t see the woods I feel no effects. You’re all looking at me and facing that way, but you seem fine also. It might just be a sight spell?”

“You raised a smart boy,” Flora said to his grandma after a minute passed.

“He has his moments,” she conceded with a hidden smile.

“As one would expect of a pathfinder.” Nomi nodded. “Are you okay with this, Kit?”

Kit nodded.

“Look for signs of where the spell drops. To maintain it on the whole woods would be almost impossible for the coven sizewe suspect they are. My guess is they must have only done the perimeter,” Flora said.

“Very well. Let’s prepare,” Nomi said.

They all got in place, Lorin taking the spot behind Kit and grasping his waist, feeling his grandma doing the same to him. The familiars joined their witches, either on their shoulders or at their feet. It was the strangest and scariest conga line Lorin had ever been a part of.

“Walk forward slowly now,” Kit said, beginning to move.

They followed awkwardly, trying to find a rhythm with stumbling steps and knocks into one another before they found a pace that didn’t send them falling like dominos.

Lorin felt the exact moment they entered the woods. An oppressive force sat on his chest, making it hard to breathe, and what felt like ants crawled over his skin. He wanted desperately to bat them off, but he didn’t dare let go of Kit. Both for his own sake and, more importantly, his desire to keep Kit close now he couldn’t see him.

Every sense was heightened like this. He heard the snaps of twigs under their feet and the squelch of damp earth and snow sucking them in. Branches brushed against his cheeks and caught his hair like gnarled fingers, and sounds from all directions made him jump in fright.

He could barely hear the murmuring of the elders behind him over the beat of his own heart.

Kit pressed forward, the spell making his pace relentless, until the sinister feeling stopped, and Lorin blinked his eyes open on instinct.

A calm tableau was set before him. The woods had lost their dark edge and simply stood where they had for years, breathing life into the surrounding area. The spell was nowhere to be seen.

“Flora was right,” Lorin said.

His grandma hit him on the back. “Boy! Who told you to open your eyes?”

Lorin flushed and peeked back at her. She had her eyes open too. Hypocrite.

“He’s right though,” Nomi said, glancing around. “The spell has indeed lifted.”

Lorin moved to Kit’s side to grasp his hand and link their fingers while the rest of them talked. “Okay?”

Kit turned to him, looking so exhausted it made Lorin’s heart ache. “They’re close. I can feel it.”

“As soon as we find them, we can hang back. You won’t need to see them,” Lorin promised.

“I don’t know if that’s possible,” Kit said, voice trembling.

“Why?” Lorin asked.

“Because something has been following us,” Kit whispered.