Chapter 19

Rhett

After a long and exhausting walk with the heavy chest and no water, Hansel and I finally found a path that looked familiar. My hand ached from holding the handle on one side, and Hansel looked about ready to pass out.

"Maybe we should take a rest and try to find something to drink?" I suggested, stopping our movement.

"I want to get as far away…" Hansel lifted the wooden chest to take the whole weight and swallowed hard. He shook his head as if to clear it and squared his shoulders. "Away from that place. As far as possible."

"Yeah, I understand."

When I clasped his upper arm to give him my support, Hansel jumped. He was traumatized, and I probably would have nightmares myself, but the emotions and reality of our experience hadn't hit me yet.

"Sorry." Hansel sniffed and kicked at the ground. He was taller than me, but he was still my little brother.

"I'm just worried it's getting dark, and we're not dressed for the cold. Maybe we can stop and look for water after putting a little more distance between us and… that place."

Hansel nodded and started walking, not letting me take hold of the chest again. I did feel weak, but the adrenaline from what we'd done was still coursing through me.

The sky was darkening by the time we took another rest and I tried to find a creek within shouting distance of the trail. I didn't find one before we were solidly in the dark. I considered doing a spell, but I only knew one that might help, and a fire in the woods was probably a bad idea when I didn't know how to control it, yet.

"Maybe we should stop for the night," I suggested after Hansel tripped over a root on the path neither of us had seen.

Hansel had dropped the chest but it stayed locked and closed. Which was a good thing, since I didn't want to try to find all the things inside if they spilled across the narrow path.

There was just enough moonlight for me to make out the determined look on Hansel's face when he righted himself with our cargo again.

"Just a little further."

"Alright," I agreed.

We came to a fork and I remembered turning right, so we retraced our steps. The path was broadening enough so we could walk side by side again. I stepped up to stand beside Hansel, and I was about to ask him to share the load when we rounded a corner.

Then we saw the first person besides the witch in days.

In the dark shadows cast by the tall trees, the large figure appeared monstrous in size, and fear gripped me. If there was a witch in the woods, what else might there be?

The shadow had stopped when we came into view, but was moving toward us again at a fast pace. The nocturnal animals stopped their noises at the heavy footfall and time stood still.

Wait, that sounded like boots. Did monsters wear boots?

Clouds cleared from over the moon and revealed the figure to be a man in a flannel coat with a large backpack, not some monster. Still, I couldn't be certain this man wasn't a threat. Cautiously, displaying less fear than I felt, I stepped in front of Hansel. The man tried to do the same and we jostled shoulders.

"Rhett, what are you doing?"

"Stay back." I raised my voice, both as instruction to my brother and warning to the stranger.

"Rhett?" The masculine growl felt like a punch to my gut.

The voice didn't belong to a stranger. No, it belonged to the exact person I'd been wanting to hear for the previous days in captivity. Was I imagining things?

Hansel moved out from behind me again and woke me out of my swirling thoughts with one word. "Jakob?"

"Jakob," I echoed, running the last few steps between us and launching myself into his arms. He grunted but caught me with both hands gripping my thighs.

My legs were unable to go around him with the pack in the way, but that didn't stop me from wrapping my arms around his neck and nuzzling in to feel him. I breathed in his familiar scent, fresh-cut wood and his own unique musk, and reveled in how his beard felt against my cheek.

"I found you." Jakob sighed with relief and clutched me tighter to him.

Leaning back to look into his eyes, I cupped his face and felt myself sob with joy. We weren't lost in the woods and forgotten.

My woodcutter had come to find us.

Sniffing, I cleared my throat. My subconscious niggled at the back of my mind, asking if I'd passed out from the witch's torture and conjured up images to console myself with. I could see him, feel him, smell him, and hear him, but I had to be sure.

"Kiss me so I know you're real."

Jakob didn't waste a second, pressing his lips to mine in a feverish melding. I wanted to sink into him, never let him go. He licked into my mouth, touching my tongue with his, and my body lit up with warmth, despite my limited clothing.

"Um, I hate to break up this sweet reunion, and I'm happy to see you, Jakob," Hansel interrupted, "but you don't happen to have water?"

Jakob separated our lips and set me on my feet, and I was not happy with the distance. When he slipped his pack off and pulled out two bottles of water, my thirst won out over my annoyance.

"Oh, thank god." Hansel pounced, taking the offered bottle and chugging it down before I'd even had a sip of the second one.

"Now that I've found you," Jakob started, pulling out another bottle for himself, "I think we need to settle in for the night."

"Stay in the woods?" Hansel handed the empty bottle back and raised an eyebrow.

I knew he would vote to keep going.

"Yeah, it took me hours to get this far. I have a sleeping bag and food, if you're hungry?"

Jakob gestured to his large pack, and I could finally make out why I thought he was a giant. There was a sleeping bag rolled up at the top. And had he mentioned food?

"Yes, please." I reached out and took Jakob's hand in mine. "And there's some stuff we need to tell you about."

"Does it have to do with your evil stepmother and why you're lost in the forest?"

"It does, among other things." I glanced back at Hansel, who had set the chest down on the dirt path between us.

"Then let's find a place to set up camp."

At the moment, I didn't care if Jakob wanted to live in the woods. I would follow him wherever he wanted to go.