The grad students gaped at the little imp and Felix. One even stumbled back, covering his mouth with a hand to stifle a shout.
Felix sighed and offered the grad students an apologetic smile. “Sorry about him, I told him to keep out of sight till we talked to the professor… but I guess since he’s missing, I can’t really ask him to stay hidden…”
Tyan tugged at Felix’s hair and nodded, leaning over Felix’s forehead to stare into one of Felix’s eyes. “I took a look around the area, saw some footprints. They were heading to the guardian’s pool. I’m not going anywhere near the guardian, he doesn’t like us.”
Once Tyan had settled back onto the top of Felix’s head, Felix glanced at Jason and the grad students. “Did you guys see a pool of any kind?”
The students all shook their heads, though two kept glancing up at Tyan.
“What… is that?” Alison asked, her eyes glued to Tyan.
The imp jerked his head up and leveled a look of annoyance at her.
“He’s my new familiar,” Felix said quickly, smiling. “This is Tyan. Turns out, I’m a mage, who knew? So because of my magic awakening, I attracted him and we have a sort of contract.”
“Magic isn’t real,” Jason replied, frowning.
“See, that’s what I said at first, but then I conjured fire, and well, I can’t really deny it at that point,” Felix said with a shrug. “Some other stuff happened, too, so I can’t deny the existence of magic… as much as I’d like to.”
Tyan tugged at Felix’s hair, making the feline wince. Felix reached up and gently plucked him from his head, putting him instead on his shoulder.
“Please stop tugging at my hair,” Felix muttered. Tyan huffed at him but settled on the feline’s shoulder.
Nikki sighed and tugged Dulvelan around the students. “Come on. The faster we get back to camp, the faster we can figure out how to find the professor.”
Jason agreed, though his eyes lingered on Nikki. Dulvelan noticed and bared his sharp teeth, moving to block Jason’s eyes from his feline. Nikki rolled his eyes, noticing how the two glared at each other.
“We are definitely talking to him when we get back,” Nikki muttered, glancing at Dulvelan. “I don’t need you two getting into a fight.”
Dulvelan shrugged, licking his lips. “It’s not like he can do any harm to me.”
“I did,” Nikki pointed out.
The demon chuckled and grinned at Nikki, “Yeah, and I healed in less time than it took you to claw me. I have a feeling that’ll come in real handy later…” Dulvelan leaned in closer, dropping his voice, “when I pump ya full of welps… I bet you’ll be a real scratcher…”
Nikki’s cheeks burned and pointedly did not look at the demon. “Shut up. What did I tell you about saying shit like that?”
Dulvelan shrugged again, a grin on his too wide lips. “Dunno.”
“Asshole,” the feline growled, his ears flattening. His steps never slowed, instead picking up the pace. He heard the others behind them, tramping through the forest trying to keep up.
Finally, the camp came into view through the treeline. Several rangers stood around three jeeps, talking to the students and into radios. One of the older students noticed Nikki and Dulvelan coming out of the trees first. The student shouted and raised his hand, waving excitedly.
“Do the rangers know you lived out here?” Nikki asked, glancing toward Dulvelan. The demon shrugged, that annoying half-smile on his lips.
“Can’t say I ever saw any rangers.”
Sighing, Nikki tugged the demon forward, heading towards the gathered group. Felix and Jason led the rest of the graduate students out of the forest, to the delight of several of the students.
“Felix!”
Nikki rolled his eyes and stepped out of the way, pressing closer to Dulvelan. The Felix fanclub.
The younger students, including one of the known bullies, rushed forward to make sure Felix was really okay. Most, however, drew back when Tyan hissed and swiped at their hands. The grad students ushered their younger fellows away from Felix, allowing the feline to extricate himself from the mob.
The rangers eyed Dulvelan, unsure what to make of him. Those same looks grew when they noticed Tyan sitting on Felix’s shoulder as Felix came to a stop beside Nikki.
“What… happened to you two?” one of the rangers asked, stepping forward to look between the two students.
Nikki rubbed at his neck, his ears and tail twitching. “I… went back on my own to get my water bottle… and I tripped and hit my head. He-” Nikki gestured at Dulvelan “-found me and brought me back to his cabin. He made sure I was okay, fed me, housed me…”
Felix snorted and crossed his arms, eyeing Dulvelan. “Nice and comfortable while I didn’t get any sleep at all looking for him. I found the cabin in question early this morning, just after dawn.”
“And… you found … that? While looking for your friend?” The ranger gestured at Tyan, an eyebrow raised.
Tyan flapped his wings and puffed up his cheeks, but Felix shushed him with a hand on the imp’s legs.
“Tyan. I found Tyan while looking for Nikki, yes,” Felix replied. “He’s pretty much attached to me now.”
Tyan nodded and grabbed Felix’s hair, glaring at the ranger.
“Right…” the ranger drawled, glancing between Felix and Nikki. “I didn’t know anyone lived out here.”
Dulvelan shrugged, cocking his horned head. “Is there some problem with me having a cabin in the woods?”
The ranger raised an eyebrow at the demon. “Other than it being government property?”
Tyan barked a laugh, shaking his head. “The forest doesn’t belong to anyone. It’s the guardian’s forest.”
The ranger’s eyes fell on Tyan, a raised eyebrow. “The… guardian?”
“Some kind of ancient forest spirit, from what I can gather,” Felix supplied, “and Tyan found the professor's tracks by the guardian's lair. I think it’s a fair bet that Prof found the guardian.”
“And what will this guardian do? We’ve never encountered any kind of guardian,” the ranger asked, clearly not believing.
Tyan huffed. “The guardian doesn’t hurt people if that’s what you’re implying… well, unless you hurt the forest. He protects the forest and the beasts that live here. It’s his domain.”
“What does he look like?” the ranger asked, indulging.
“Like one of those ancient, giant elks. Huge antlers covered in vines. Gold eyes that glow with night shine, even in the middle of the day,” Tyan said, “I’ve only seen him a few times, from afar. Getting close isn’t a good idea.”
“I thought you said he doesn’t hurt you unless you hurt the forest?” the ranger asked, crossing his arms.
Tyan shrugged. “Reasons.”
Felix let out a little chuckle as Tyan burrowed into the crook of his neck. “Well, I don’t know about the rest of you, but I am absolutely famished and thirsty as a desert. You coming, Nikki?”
Nikki nodded and followed after Felix, his fingers still firmly threaded through Dulvelan’s own. The demon grinned at the rangers - and cast an especially malevolent grin at Jason - as he trailed after the two felines.
“Shouldn’t we try to help Professor Bel?” Nikki asked as Felix climbed the steps of the mess hall.
“We gotta eat and get water first, then talk. See if there’s a need or if we can’t. Like, does he need a rescue?” Felix said, glancing over at Tyan with a raised eyebrow.
Tyan tilted his head, thinking about that. “I haven’t heard of the guardian hurting people without a reason. So unless your professor was like … willfully destroying his forest or hurting the creatures in it, I don’t think he’s in trouble.”
“Prof’s not like that,” Nikki said with a shake of his head as they strode inside the mess hall and headed for the kitchen.
The kitchen crew, however, stopped them from entering the kitchen. One of the crew directed them to the sandwich fixings on the serving bar instead and the tall orange coolers of water, lemonade, and iced tea.
“That’ll do just fine, thank you,” Felix said with a smile, then jumped on the offered food like a starving wolf.
Nikki let out another little sigh and followed, picking up a plate. Then he glanced down at Dulvelan’s hand, which was stubbornly clasped with his. “Hey… can I have my hand back? I can’t really make a sandwich this way…”
“No. I’ll be your other hand,” Dulvelan said, squeezing Nikki’s hand firmly. “We can pile everything on one plate to make it easier.”
The feline’s ears drooped slightly, his eyes boring holes into Dulvelan’s grinning face. But he sighed, relenting, realizing he wasn’t going to win this little argument. “Fine.”
Triumphant, Dulvelan snagged several pieces of bread and laid them out on Nikki’s plate. He started piling cold cuts onto the bread and Nikki just stared at the amount of meat.
“Really? Do you just want meat? What about, you know, mayo? Or something?” Nikki asked, setting the plate on the counter by the packages of meats, cheeses, and bread. The feline reached for the mayo and Dulvelan made a face.
“Nasty shit. If ya gotta use condiments, at least choose something with flavor,” Dulvelan sniffed. He reached for the dijon mustard and held it out for Nikki. “Like this. This has flavor.”
“I don’t like mustard, dijon or otherwise,” Nikki countered, holding up the mayo. “This has plenty of flavor. And they got the real stuff, not the fake mayo.”
“Sure, that’s a point in their favor, but come on, kitten,” Dulvelan countered, eyeing the mayo jar with distaste. “What about something else? Literally anything else?”
“You don’t have to eat it,” Nikki muttered, shoving Dulvelan with his hip. “Let me eat what I like, you eat what you like. If we’re going to be together, you can deal with me eating mayo or anything else you find gross. I’m not going to tell you that you can’t have mustard just because I find it repulsive.”
Dulvelan made a face but he nodded, adding mustard to two sandwiches worth of bread. The two of them built their sandwiches together, muttering to each other as they helped the other. Nikki tried a few times to extract his fingers from Dulvelan’s grasp, but the demon stubbornly refused to release the feline.
Once three sandwiches sat on their plate, Dulvelan snagged two cups, filled each with iced tea from the orange cooler, then carried the cups in one hand while Nikki carried their food. Nikki hurried to a table and set the plate down, then turned to help Dulevlan with the cups.
He needn’t have bothered; Dulvelan used his tails to set down the cups and grinned at Nikki.
“See, all good.”
Shaking his head, Nikki plopped down on a bench, yanking Dulvelan with him.
Tyan and Felix joined them soon after, though Tyan stayed in his small form to eat.
“So… this guardian… do you think the professor needs help?” Nikki asked, glancing at Tyan who was stuffing a piece of meat into his mouth.
The imp shook his head and swallowed the mouthful. “From what everyone’s said about him, nah. I doubt he’s in any danger. Like, maybe the guardian was bored or something, but unless the forest starts screeching or shaking, the guardian’s happy.”
One of the grad students - Peter, Nikki thought - poked his head inside. “Prof’s back! Someone’s with him!”
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