The position would have made her feel cherished and protected if the three of them weren’t being so pigheaded and stubborn, Terra thought. As it was, she just wanted to shake all three of them and make them admit they needed each other. They just—
Suddenly, V’rone came to a halt and she nearly ran into his back.
“What? What is it?” Rive hissed.
“Something’s tracking us,” V’rone murmured. “There!” He pointed into the red jungle, but Terra couldn’t see anything.
“Where?” she whispered.
“I don’t see it,” Tem confessed.
“Nor do I,” Rive said.
“It’s hidden but it’s there,” V’rone muttered. “For now just keep moving. We’re over halfway to the door now—hopefully we’ll reach it before this thing gets the balls to attack.”
They started forward again, only to stop a few minutes later.
“Fuck!” she heard V’rone growl in frustration.
“What is it now?” Rive sounded exasperated.
“Look right in front of us—can you see it?” V’rone demanded.
They all peered around him at the path ahead. At first Terra didn’t see anything, then she realized the forest floor was moving somehow.
“It’s a fucking river—a wide one,” V’rone said. “And it’s between us and the door.”
“Wait—I think I see steppingstones.” Rive was peering hard at the water. It was blood red but what made it difficult to see were the plants growing over and around it and the many dead leaves floating on its surface. Other than the motion, it really did almost look like just another part of the jungle floor.
“I can’t see any steppingstones,” Terra said, frowning. “It all just looks like different shades of red to me.”
“I see them,” V’rone said confidently. “Tem?”
“Yes.” Tem nodded. “They’re there.” He pointed to the river, but Terra still couldn’t see the stones. It must be because Monstrum vision was better than human sight, she thought. She knew they had more rods and cones in their eyes—it was one thing that made them good at seeing in the dark.
“We’re going to have to go single file and we’re going to have to go fast.” V’rone was staring away from the rushing river, into the forest again. “That thing that’s tracking us is coming closer.”
As he spoke, there was a rustling in the dense undergrowth behind them. Terra shivered, feeling a prickle of fear run down her spine. What was in those bushes? Was it this world’s equivalent of a hungry tiger? She really didn’t want to find out!
“Rive, you go first. Then Terra, then Tem. I’ll bring up the rear,” V’rone ordered rapidly. “I’ll hold it off if it gets too close.”
“But, V’rone—” Rive began.
“Go! Go, it’s coming!” V’rone shouted.
They leapt into action. Rive rushed to the front and turned to Terra for just a moment.
“Put your feet exactly where I put mine. Look down at where you’re stepping and don’t look anywhere else,” he told her. “We’ll keep you safe—just concentrate on getting across the river.”
“He’s right, my Lady—I’m right behind you,” Tem said.
“Got it.” Terra nodded.
“Good—then come on!”
Rive darted forward, moving with surprising nimbleness and agility for such a big male. Terra kept her eyes on his booted feet, placing her own exactly where his had been just a moment before.
It was a harrowing business—she still couldn’t see the stones she was stepping on, though she could certainly feel them beneath her bare feet. They were cold and wet and slick and more than once she would have fallen if Tem hadn’t reached out and caught her.
“Careful, my Lady,” he panted. “Keep going!”
Terra kept going. She could hear the rushing of the blood-red water and the beating of her own heart, which sounded very loud in her ears. She wondered what was happening to V’rone. Was he all right? Or had the predator that was stalking them somehow gotten to him?
Then, suddenly she heard a monstrous SPLASH in the water behind her and V’rone was roaring,
“Faster! The fucker can swim—go faster!”
Rive’s feet fairly flew over the invisible stones as he quickened his pace and Terra could no longer keep up. Where was she supposed to step next? She couldn’t see, couldn’t tell…
She put her right foot down and found that she was falling into the rushing river!
“Watch out, my Lady!”
At the last moment, Tem caught her from behind. He swept her up into his arms and began running flat out across the stones, as graceful as a cat despite the fact that he was carrying Terra.
And still V’rone was shouting for them to go faster…faster!
“Here we are, my Lady—safe across the river,” Tem told her, as he at last stepped onto dry land. “And there’s the door,” he added, nodding at the glowing shape not far from them.
“Yes, there’s the door—but there’s a barrier around it!” Rive sounded frustrated and Terra saw that he was standing about ten feet from the door to the next world. Sure enough, there was a kind of glowing fence between them and the door that Terra hadn’t seen there earlier.