Page 3 of Foxin’ Around (Mated to the Monster: Season 3)

Chapter

Two

A s nerve racking as it was to walk across open fields and through the dense forests, Krystal found it less difficult to carry out than she was initially worried about. The nights alone made her uneasy, however, especially with the odd sounds that carried through the dark. Thankfully, so many years of camping and hiking in her youth paid off, so that she made sure she was well equipped. The compass and a decent map of the area alone proved to be lifesavers. As someone who was accustomed to having a GPS telling her every turn to make in recent years, her map-reading skills were rusty but gradually kicked back in.

She didn’t know if it was her imagination, but it also seemed that every time she had doubts as to the direction she was to travel, the scent of flowers would return, calming her and drawing her down the right path. Sometimes it even came unexpectedly, drawing her aside just far enough to evade a roving group of orcs or some other creature that happened to be making their way across the land as if they had always been there. But now, finally, she was at last arriving at her destination.

“Not too much farther, now,” she panted, her eyes falling on a crooked, worn sign at the edge of the property line.

It was half collapsed and sitting at an angle, nearly buried in the bushes just a short distance from the overgrown dirt road that led up to the cabin. The road itself was practically invisible. She might have missed it if not for the fact that she knew the distance between the sign and the road like the back of her hand, and could still see the tattered ribbon in the tree at the side of the entrance and the scars that marked the wood where she and her cousins had carved their names.

Krystal stopped beside the tree and ran her fingers over each name. Makayla, Nicholas, Andrew, Timothy… Krystal. She swallowed thickly and blinked back her tears. Was there a chance that any of them made it to the cabin to escape the marauding that had wiped out families and small populations following the Ravening? The chances were slim, she knew that. But some part of her held on to hope that she would have someone waiting for her there.

Glancing once more back toward the sign, she walked into the bushes, pushing her way through onto the dirt road. The overgrowth was annoying as it snagged on her bag, her hair, and her clothes, but she continued to make her way along it despite the sinking feeling that grew heavier in the pit of her stomach. No one had come this way for a long time… perhaps not even for years, long before the Ravening. She still clung to hope that just maybe they had walked through like she was now, and the undisturbed appearance of the growth was more an illusion than anything else. Would she really even know if one of her cousins had similarly fought their way down the road months before her?

Sweat slicked her skin with the effort as she pushed branches out of the way with every step, making her clothing stick to her even as the cool air made her shiver unpleasantly. She hoped there was firewood already stockpiled at the cabin. She was going to need to start a fire and warm up to keep from catching a chill. She likewise hoped to the gods that there weren’t any spiders in the bushes. Spiders, and all manner of bugs, made her skin crawl. It was the one thing she didn’t like about visiting the cabin. Despite all the fun she had as a kid, she always hated bugs. They always found ways to get on her and she wouldn’t find out until she felt the tickle of it crawling across her skin. The idea of spiders dropping from the bushes onto her to hitch a ride was just enough to momentarily override every bit of her common sense.

With a vocal screech, she threw herself forward, breaking through the brush in a frenzy. It was a wild tangle of confusion that sent her mind whirling with panic, without even a thread of sanity except the allure of that strange perfume returning. She clung to that one familiar thing, racing toward it until she finally stumbled free from the tangle of the woods. Drawing to a stop in front of the cabin, she doubled over as she gasped for breath and scrutinized the cabin.

Her brow furrowed slightly as she stared at it. It looked remarkably… well kempt. The porch was clear of leaves and debris and there were all manner of flowering plants around the perimeter of the cabin, several of which were climbing the walls like a trellis. Had Auntie Lucy suddenly developed a green thumb? Last Krystal recalled, the woman had lamented over her inability to keep even a potted petunia alive. Not that it kept her from trying. It seemed that she had succeeded after all.

Krystal whistled quietly to herself as she started toward the cabin. Hell, even the bushes and trees seemed to cluster around the cabin thicker and far different than she remembered. Wasn’t there a view of the lake that should have been visible from there? It seemed the garden wasn’t the only landscaping that was done. Even the old porch swing looked as if it had been repaired and securely anchored rather than the half-fallen safety hazard she recalled from her last visit. Her cousins had been brutal on that poor swing as children.

“Auntie, you really outdid yourself. Not only did you get uncle to repair that damn thing but you’re even growing roses,” she murmured. She squinted at a cluster of plants boasting large pink and white blooms. “And peonies?

She admittedly only recognized the latter because, just prior to the Ravening, she had gone to a gallery with a few friends to look at watercolor paintings. There were several paintings which depicted the flower.

Not only was there a garden around the cabin, but it looked well-tended and pruned, and just as orderly as the porch. Even the doorway was swept clear of any spiderwebs and the windows washed. A faint glow illuminated the window as if there was a cozy fire already waiting for her inside. Excitement stirred in Krystal’s chest and a smile rose expectantly to her lips. She was right after all. There was someone there—a member of her family who was perhaps hoping and waiting for her to find her way there.

Heart pounding, she walked up the porch steps, the floral perfume that haunted her filling her nose thicker with every step. The wood didn’t creak, not even as she walked across the old planks of the porch. In the back of her mind, she was a little surprised that she wasn’t more worried about that. The porch was ancient last she had heard, unless this was a newer improvement along with the gardens. But that didn’t seem quite right either, and she just couldn’t put a finger on exactly why. Was it something her cousin had said about the cabin? Didn’t Nicky say that the cabin was practically falling down last time they talked about it, just a few months ago?

Yes. That was right.

She had, in a moment of nostalgia, suggested the entire family get together at the old cabin. She had needed a break from her hectic schedule and hadn’t seen everyone in practically forever. Nicky’s regretful sigh rose from the depths of her memory as she pictured the way he must have rubbed his neck, as he did whenever he was weighed down by his burdens.

“I would like to Krys, but Dad let the old place go to hell. There is so much work that would need to be done just to make it safe enough to be habitable. I think the roof is about ready to come down and the porch buckled last winter—that’s what Tim said when he checked on the property.”

Krystal’s brow beetled as she stopped in front of the door. This wasn’t right. The place was falling down and decrepit. It had never looked this good, not even when she was a kid.

“Then how—” she murmured, but fell silent as the door suddenly opened.

Hellish glowing red eyes stared back at her. “Ah, there you are. I have been expecting you.”