The Grove (Ravens #1)

xxi. turf wars

 Before long, the second week of October had arrived in the Grove forest, although the inhabitants knew nothing of the threat that was to come. There was one impending threat, of course: winter. But they were lucky enough that their forest was in the perfect climate for the upcoming season. It would never truly get cold, but it would soon get dry. Winter weather was more challenging for forest survival, but manageable. Manageable was all that mattered.

"I must be coming up on a year and a half now, right?" Kamai asked, turning to her newfound companion. This other girl had been travelling with her for about two weeks now. She was beyond relieved to have some company. The old Rogue who'd been sending her whereabouts to the City of the Forgotten had been killed about a month before. She'd missed having someone else to talk to, but she couldn't particularly miss him. He was a bore, and far too slow to understand any of her comedic genius. Of course, he didn't deserve to die, but that was the way of the world now.

"Since you've come to this forest?" her new companion clarified. Kamai now knew the girl's real name, but would never speak it aloud. There were too many wandering ears in this forest. She understood the value of secrets, and this was one. She had grown to call the girl Calypso, in honor of the Odyssey's seductive nymph. Initially, she'd called her Odysseus, but it became clear overwhelmingly quickly that a nickname of that sort would only feed this girl's hubris.

"Yeah," Kamai nodded, "Actually, it's probably less than that. Maybe a year and two months?"

Calypso smirked, "That's a big difference, you know. A lot can change in four months."

"A lot can change in two days," Kamai added.

At this same moment, Calypso's head shot up, having overheard some noise echoing towards them. Throwing her hair into her black beanie and tying the red bandana around her face, she whispered, "Someone's coming." Although she had no acquaintances on this half of the forest, she was always worried that someone from her past would end up walking by. She could never be too cautious in hiding her identity. In fact, part of her still worried about telling Kamai the whole story. But Kamai had ultimately saved her, had she not? She knew better than to think this girl her enemy.

The two girls crouched behind a couple of shrubs, as a group of five walked past. One boy was in the lead, relaying information into a walkie-talkie. Calypso could not make out a word of what he said, since she was soon distracted by her friend's reaction. Kamai had frozen, staring at the posse ahead. Holding her breath, she slowly began to take in exactly what she was seeing. She did not move again until the group was so far away that she could not see them anymore.

"Who was that?" Calypso turned to her, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Kamai muttered, "But this forest isn't."

"What are you talking about? Who were those people?"

Kamai muttered, "That boy in the front's name is Griffin, but everyone calls him Phoenix. He used to be one of my closest friends, before I left the city."

"Well, maybe he's like you? Those five could have ran away the same way you did," Calypso pointed out.

"Never," Kamai shook her head, "Phoenix is Harper's twin brother. He's the second-in-command. He's here on official business, important business."

"What, you think they're trying to conquer the entire forest or something?" Calypso smirked.

"That's exactly what I think," Kamai groaned, "You're underestimating them. They are armed and militant. We're a bunch of scattered Rogues that hate each other. They'll take us down in a heartbeat."