Everwild (The Healer Series, #1) by Kayla Jo Page A

happen. She would be lying if she said she
wasn’t scared.
    What if a monster walked out of the trees and
ate them? Or worse! Something coming out of the ground and eating
their bodies in the middle of the night! Willow looked all around
and only saw dark forest. She squinted her eyes to see if she could
see any movement. It looked like it was endless in depth. The
nocturnal beasts were probably watching them as they stood there,
waiting for the perfect moment to come sink their teeth into
them.
    Willow imagined terrible creatures coming
towards her and she scooted a little closer to Declan. It was
colder now as a constant breeze blew. Even though it was a total
waste of mental energy, Willow tried to imagine she was in a safe
place, even though she knew she wasn’t.
    “We should start walking,” Declan said and
started to move. “It’s probably not safe to stay in one place for
too long.”
    “We just got here,” Willow said, but
hurriedly followed after him.
    Declan adjusted the holster with his sword
and looked at her. “Exactly,” he said as they ventured deeper into
the Everwild.

Chapter 5
The Faker

    “This sucks,” Declan complained for the
twenty-fifth time. He was using his sword like a knight to chop
down the thick hanging vines that had blocked their path. No matter
which way they turned, they had to maneuver through the foliage,
and it wasn’t fun at all. There was no trail and no possible way to
navigate. The undergrowth of the forest was dense and Willow had
already fallen several times skinning her hands and knees. Their
difficulty only increased when darkness had set in. Willow swore
she felt invisible eyes all over her, but every time she looked
around, there was nothing. That gnawing feeling of “hey, there’s
something watching you,” just wouldn’t go away. Several times she
heard a quiet laughter that sent chills down her back. It was
unmistakable. Something was following them.
    “Maybe you shouldn’t have entered the
portal,” Willow told him bleakly when Declan cursed at another
vine.
    Declan whirled on her. “I didn’t enter the portal. I was shoved INTO IT! Big difference.”
    “If Bane were here…” Willow muttered under
her breath.
    “What was that?” He snapped.
    “Nothing.”
    Willow took back what she had thought earlier
about being in the company of Bane. He wouldn’t be complaining like
the big baby in front of her would. He would have accepted this
mission and helped her any way he could. But what she got instead
was Declan, even if, (every now and then), she would find herself
admiring his muscles from behind.
    They stopped to take in their surroundings.
Willow pulled out a water bottle and handed it to Declan, who
greedily sucked it down in one gulp. His back was sweaty from the
physical effort of chopping down plants and he looked miserable and
exhausted. They hadn’t slept or stopped for at least five hours
now. Willow felt like she was getting nowhere. The Everwild was a
winding labyrinth. Every now and then, it pushed them in a specific
direction.
    Sometimes, Willow would steer Declan a
different way, just by her feelings alone. Carmela must have been
wrong, though, because she felt no pull whatsoever towards her
talisman. Every tree looked exactly the same as the one beside it.
It felt like they were going in circles. Eventually, light streamed
through the trees-the dawn of a new day. It didn’t improve anyone’s
mood though. It was still dark; the thick canopy of trees blocked a
lot of light.
    “Where should we go now?” Declan asked
grumpily.
    “Shh,” Willow said straining, “I think I hear
something.” She zipped her backpack up and listened intently. She
heard Declan breathing and the trees’ rustling in the breeze, but
beyond that was the discrete sound of running water. Willow was
sure of it.
    A river! Didn’t Carmela mention a river? Past the water that falls to the river ….Yes! A river! It
must be the river! Left! It was coming from the