Chapter Twelve: Tamsin

The smell of damp earth and tree bark washed over her as the two of them stepped through the next door. It took her eyes a moment to adjust from the bright corridor to the darker room they now stood in, lit by slivers of light that pierced through gaps in roughhewn log walls.

"That's much better," Mason said, breathing in the fresh smell of forest. "No whispering, the sound of birdsong and rustling leaves, the scent of the outdoors."

"You like being out in nature?" Tamsin asked as she carefully walked over the uneven floorboards toward the table in the center of the room, frowning as she realized it was nearly as tall as her chest.

"I feel like it's not uncommon amongst shifters, but I just feel at home there." Mason picked up a rustic ceramic pot, needing both hands to lift the thing. "You don't?"

"I used to. But it loses its charm after being stuck out in it for so long. Four walls and a roof over my head seem much more appealing than they used to." She could see a sad expression on Mason's face in the corner of her vision as he placed the pot back down amongst the others.

"I hope you can find somewhere you'll feel safe once again."

"Me, too. It's just not easy to feel that way when the people who were my place of safety seem to have turned against me. It just feels like I have no one to turn to, except perhaps Valaky or Sophie." She held up a finger. "And before you say it, I know that you're helping me now, but it's still a little hard to get over the whole being chased out of town incident, even if you say you were doing it to help." She sucked in a breath. "I still don't really know why you're doing this."

Mason held her gaze for a moment. She wished she knew what he was thinking behind those dark eyes. And she would be left wondering, as he turned wordlessly away and pulled open the wide, slanted front door.

Tamsin gave one last look into the strange cabin with its roughhewn, cartoonishly large furniture covered in animal hides, the mismatched glassware and ceramics that sat on clearly handmade shelves.

The place reminded her an awful lot of her own hideout, though whoever had lived here was much larger than her and looked to have left in just a little bit less of a rush.

"I don't know what Morwenna was so worked up about, there hasn't been anything..." She paused as she stepped into the next room. "Scary."

Ahead of her, past Mason's silhouette, was a lone candle standing about chest height on a tall, freestanding candle holder, burning steadily. It cast a small circle of light onto a smooth stone floor. The rest of the space was completely dark, with a strange sense of nothingness beyond.

"You know, I didn't mind the hut." She turned to walk back through the door, but it was gone, and she faced unending darkness. It sent an unpleasant shiver through her body, and she quickly spun back around and darted into the light with Mason. "Can you sense anything?"

"I think so."

"Ugh." Tamsin rolled her eyes. "This was the one time I was hoping you would say no. It's not our ‘prey,' is it?"

Mason stood stiffly. "No. But they do feel…familiar."

"Definitely wishing you'd just said no." Tamsin found herself shuffling closer to Mason. "What are they doing out there?"

"I think whatever they are, they're just watching. Wait..." He stepped forward, standing between her and the unending darkness. "Something's coming this way."

Tamsin raised her hand, letting her magic course through her.

"Father?" Mason asked, crouching low, as if ready for a fight.

"Excuse me?" Tamsin peered around him to see the shape of a man, made from shadow, standing at the edge of the candlelight.

"I don't know how I know, but it's him…sort of." Mason took a step back as the figure began to speak, a deep, rasping sound.

"You have betrayed your pack, your family, and yourself." The figure inched closer to the edge of the light, and Mason edged away. "What is a wolf without his pack? Let alone the son of the alpha?"

"Maybe it's because I've never felt like the son of an alpha," Mason said. His voice stayed steady, but she could hear the pain behind it.

"Because you are a coward and a liar."

"Hey! Mason! Don't let him talk to you to you like that," Tamsin called. "You did what so many other wolves, so many people wouldn't do—you went against the orders of your superior. You did what you thought was right."

"But was I right?" Mason didn't take his eyes off the shade of his father. "I should have stayed with the pack. Perhaps I could have changed the way the others saw things between themselves and the coven. Maybe I could have…challenged my father."

Laughing echoed throughout the space.

"You cannot think that would be possible." The voice was louder, more forceful.

Mason hung his head. "He's right. I wouldn't have stood a chance. The entire pack idolizes him. I'm just an outcast."

"So?" Tamsin asked, and Mason finally glanced over his shoulder to look at her. "What does he know? They're so blindly stuck in their ways they couldn't see their tail to chase it. They need you, not the other way around." She stepped around Mason and jabbed a finger at the shade. "And that's the reason why you don't feel like the son of an alpha, because the alpha you're the son of is a whack job who's trapped in the past."

Mason kept his eyes on her for a moment, thinking, before he glanced at the lit candle and back to the shade. "You're right. The reason I moved away from the pack, the reason I didn't try to rise to your challenge, the reason I lied about Tamsin, wasn't because I was scared of you, I was scared of becoming you. You've always had this way of trying to goad me to fight to impress you, but I'm not interested."

The shade stood still for a moment before it moved forward into the light, evaporating in the candle's glow.

Some way in the distance, a second candle flickered into life.

Tamsin edged her way to the divide between light and shadow. She was sure that she could still see movement at the edges of her vision, faint, subtle shifts in the darkness that obstructed the distant candle only slightly.

"You ready?" Mason asked.

"I feel like I've been facing my demons all day, so I guess so," Tamsin said, although she lingered at the edge of the light.

"Come on." Mason held out his hand. "Let's not get separated."

Tamsin eyed his offered hand for a moment, trying to decide which was worse, holding hands with the wolf or braving the shadows alone.

"Fine." She slipped her hand into his and nearly pulled it back as a jolt of energy shot through her body.

So this was what it felt like to make contact with one's ancestral enemy? She didn't expect it to feel so warm and…pleasant. She expected the heat that spread across her body to have been a fiery flame of rage, not…desire.

Mason didn't say a word as he stepped out of the light, leading her forward. A chill came over her as they left their candle behind, and she could feel motion all around, as if crowds of figures, unseen in the darkness, shuffled out of their way as they passed. She could feel Mason grow tenser as they moved farther into the shadows. He felt it, too. And likely, he felt more.

She shuddered, but before she knew it, they were stepping into the warmth of the next candle, and she relaxed. For a moment she held onto his hand, not wanting to let go of this strange feeling that had settled within her, but she forced her hand to uncurl, her arm dropping to her side.

She shifted on her feet as she tried not to look at Mason. Suddenly, she felt like there was a little part of her missing. She had felt like that for a while, but now it was more acute. She had put it down to homesickness, and missing her sisters, but this was different.

Her reverie, staring out into the blackness, was broken as she saw a shape approach. She blew air out of her cheeks. "Here we go, I guess."

"You are not important."

Tamsin gasped. It was her own voice that called out to her.

"You think you are this special thing when you were simply cast aside by your sisters. No one came looking for you. Not even your enemies sought you out for all that time."

Tamsin bit her lip and closed her eyes. "That hurts. I never thought about it that way, but I was forgotten." She could feel the sting of tears in her eyes. "I was part of a community. I was part of a coven. I had friends, people who I thought were my family, and no one came looking for me."

"I never forgot about you," Mason said quietly.

"Only because you were worried that your lie about killing me would finally be revealed to your father."

"No." Mason reached out a hand but stopped himself. "I felt awful for what I'd done. I have wracked my brain all this time to try to find another way that things could have gone. I've wondered countless times where you were and what you might be doing. And I wasn't the only one. I knew Sophie was involved in your escape, and so I've been watching her. On calm nights when the stars were bright, she would go down to the shoreline and stare out. Looking for you. Just as you would look out to sea for home. Even…Valaky," his lip only curled up a little at the name. "Seems to have been watching out for you." He half smiled at her. "It's hard to show someone you care when you're distancing yourself from them for their own safety. It was hard was for…them."

"They think you're a burden," her voice said back.

"Then why did they come all the way out to the mountain to find me? Why did Sophie swap our brooches and put herself in danger for me?" She turned to look at Mason. "Why did you, despite Morwenna's warnings, come all the way up here to find me answers?"

There was a moment that seemed to draw out as they looked into each other's eyes. She tried to decipher any meaning from his stoic expression, but there was none.

"I wasn't forgotten, and it'll be the coven who are sorry for the way they acted, not me."

The shade once again disappeared, and another area of light flickered on in front of them, though this time a door stood between two candles.

"Let's get out of here." Tamsin grabbed Mason's arm, and they waded through the darkness, rushing toward the door.

"Hey, what's that?" Mason stooped as they stepped into the light by the door, and picked something up, holding out his hand to show a thick silver chain.

"The guy who attacked me had this!" Tamsin took the chain and turned it over in her hand. "We're on the right trail." She turned back to look into the dark space behind them, the previous candles having gone out. "I wonder what he encountered in here."

"We can ask that among everything else when we find him." Mason pushed open the next door.

They left the dark place behind them and stepped into what looked like water. A whole lake was spread out around them, though while the water moved as they walked, Tamsin couldn't feel it soaking into her clothes. The distant shoreline looked like it was covered in forest, but it was blurred, as if through a haze, and hard to make out any details.

In front of them was a floating cabin, or perhaps a boat, made of wood and strange materials that she couldn't place. Its windows were placed haphazardly, and its door tilted at an odd angle.

"What is this?" Tamsin ran her hand through the water. As she did, it became more transparent, less real at her touch, and reacted oddly, the ripples on its surface not quite matching her touch.

"It's like a half-forgotten dream," as Mason spoke the scenery around them shimmered and flickered, like glitter being blown into the air, before it settled again, forming into a long beach of pale sands dotted with drawings yet to be washed away by the dark ocean, under strange stars. An old shipwreck lay half on its side in front of them.

"What is happening?" Tamsin looked around. "I thought that I'd never be back here."

"I don't think we're actually back." Mason stooped to scoop up a fistful of sand, but his hand simply passed through it. "It is just a dream."

"Well, it's certainly not mine. I would never dream about this place."

"Maybe it's not your dream." Mason straightened up, his voice hoarse.

"Then whose?" Her eyes widened as she looked at Mason. "Yours?"

Mason nodded slowly. "I had dreams or visions. Of this place. Of you."

"You really never did forget about me." She spun around, taking in the same beach that she had been on for so many years. It was a little fuzzy around the edges in a dreamlike way, but it was exactly how she remembered it. "I had no idea."

"You couldn't have." Mason scented the air. "We're very close."

She followed him across the beach toward the shipwreck. The sand glimmered beneath their footfalls. It really hadn't been a bad spot where she had whiled away her exile. Apart from the isolation and the lack of supplies, it was a really pretty place.

They reached the entrance to what had been her home in those far lands—a gaping hole from a collision with a rock or perhaps a cannonball that she had shrouded with some of the old sail she had salvaged from the masts.

Mason pushed the curtain aside. It was dark beyond. Tamsin tensed. She had never really thought anyone would see the inside of her hideout. It hadn't been much, but she had put what little love she had mustered into the place, having decorated it a bit with strings of seashells, pretty rocks, and some artifacts she had salvaged from the ship. Bags and bundles of cloth, driftwood furniture, and rudimentary games. She had tried to make it comfortable, and considering her situation, it had been. Somehow it felt oddly personal, and the thought of anyone else seeing it made her feel strange.

"After you," Mason said.

She nodded, a little worried about what was waiting on the other side, considering what had happened the last time she passed through. But she put her doubts aside. It was with a friend rather than an enemy this time.

She realized that was a strange thought as she glanced back at Mason before stepping through.

"I like what you've done with the place," Mason chuckled as he joined her.

"This isn't quite how I remember it," Tamsin said as her eyes took in the feast of lush greens, vibrant purples, and yellows. A beautiful garden surrounded them, with butterflies and dragonflies flitting between the enormous flowers.

Mason stiffened. "He's here."

Tamsin nodded. "Let's get to the bottom of this."

She allowed Mason to take the lead and followed him as he ducked behind massive fronds, squeezed between the woody trunks of shrubs, and carefully climbed over sprawling roots before they saw the man, kneeling before a wide, shallow pond, cluttered with pastel pink lily flowers.

Mason leaped from beneath a Tahoa leaf, shifting midair. He landed behind the man, gripping his collar and pulling him down to the ground, pinning him there.

"Thought you could hide from us up here, huh?" Tamsin pointed her finger at the man, with sun-worn skin and a salt and pepper beard, ready to blast him with a freeze spell if he caused trouble.

The man simply raised his hands. He still wore his robes, but she could see that they had been dirtied with stains of dirt and plants, his pockets filled with plant cuttings and dead-heads from flowers.

"I've been waiting for our meeting," he said, his voice calm. "This was the last tie to my old life that I must deal with before I can cast off who I used to be and find peace."

Tamsin's eyes flicked to Mason, and even as his wolf, she could see the confusion in his expression.

"I'm sorry. I'm not sure I understand." Tamsin frowned.

The man nodded, which was a little difficult with his collar pulled taught by the wolf. "It's hard to understand, and so easy to misunderstand when everything is moving, and you are rushing to keep up. But once you stand still, everything becomes clear."

Mason's wolf grunted and he gestured with his head, which Tamsin understood to mean to ask what they came here for.

"Who sent you to attack me? Was it the DuskWood Pack? The DawnLight Coven? Is there a bounty on my head?" Tamsin inched closer. "I don't care how much they paid you, you will tell us."

"There is no need to for that. It was Valaky, the vampire."

Tamsin's mouth hung open. "What?"

There was a crackling sound as Mason shifted, replacing his wolf's grip on the man's robes with his curled fist. "I knew he was not to be trusted. He's up to something!"

"Wait! Let me finish or else there will be another misunderstanding." The robed man kept hold of Mason's arm. "Valaky didn't mean you harm."

"Well, it certainly felt like you at least meant me harm," Tamsin said with an incredulous tone.

"I know, I know," the man whispered. "But listen. I am—was—a dangerous man. A bounty hunter who was known for forging into the farthest lands after people. I don't think there's anyone else who would have been able to find you."

"This doesn't sound like Valaky meant her well." Mason tightened his grasp on the man.

"I thought he didn't, but I don't think that old vampire has ever put a bounty out on someone before, and he's not the easiest to understand. So, when he said, ‘I need thee to seek this person and deal with them appropriately,' I thought he meant…" He pulled his thumb across his neck. "You know? And so I spent much of my journey wondering why he sent me on my way with a case of books, tea, and some cake, which was delicious, by the way."

"You ate it?" Tamsin asked.

"It would have gone to waste," the guy said apologetically. "It only dawned on me when I arrived here, in this place of serenity, that by appropriately, he meant to treat you well and look after you."

"You can't be serious?" Mason let go of the man and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Valaky sent you away with what was basically a packed lunch meant for Tamsin, and you thought you were supposed to kill her?"

The man shrugged as he got up. "No one's ever really asked for anything different, so…" He clicked his tongue. "My bad?"

"My bad!" Tamsin shook her head in disbelief. "I'm still in half a mind to zap you."

"And as someone who has spent their years making a life out of zapping people, it would bring you no joy."

She crossed her arms. "Debatable."

Mason took in a breath. "I guess I misjudged Valaky."

"I told you he means well." She paused. "Although that doesn't explain why he wanted to find me in the first place. Sophie must have told him that the plan was for me to wait for the conjunction of the moon and Venus to pass."

"I know one way we can find out." Mason stepped toward her before turning back briefly. "Come on, we need to find our way out."

The robed man shook his head. "I will remain here. All my life I have been moving, but I have finally found a place where I wish to remain." He gently lifted the petals of a nearby flowering plant. "This place was once a well-kept, beautiful garden. For whatever reason, the previous keeper could not continue to care for it. I am the gardener now."

Mason shrugged and walked toward Tamsin. "Suit yourself."

Tamsin turned and fell into step beside him. "I suppose he's found his something."

"This doesn't seem like too bad of a place to never return from."

Tamsin looked up at him. "But we've still got to make it back. What if we found our something that makes us want to never leave?"

Mason looked thoughtful for a moment but didn't meet her eye. "Maybe we'll be fine because we've already found our something."