After dropping Nathan off at home, India makes his way to Castor’s house on Nebeski Lane. He sees a bike parked outside, guessing that it’s Cherry’s. He knocks on the door and Castor lets him in.

“Ok, so Cherry took care of the griffin problem. She was just trying to tell me something. Apparently the human who takes care of her and the other griffins went missing and they can’t find her anywhere,” Castor explains, supporting rivs weight with rivs cane. India sees rivs wheelchair by the couch, shards of shattered glass across the seat.

“Alright so how are we supposed to find this human?” India asks, wiping off the shards of glass from Castor’s wheelchair.

Cherry comes out of the kitchen, her hair up in a messy bun. “Well, the griffin mentioned the last place her human was seen was in the forest so we could start there. I’m worried she might be wendigo food.”

“Wendigo?” India asks.

“Wendigos are evil spirits that possess humans that have committed cannibalism. It makes them hungry and greedy and it disfigures their body to make them faster. They can never be full so they are always looking for new prey. If you’re spotted by a wendigo, chances of survival are slim.” India shutters at the description. “Luckily, you called the right person to help. My parents were monster hunters and so I know how to kill those fuckers.”

Castor sits down in rivs wheelchair and looks over at Cherry, as if expecting her to elaborate. “So, how exactly do you kill a wendigo?” riv asks.

“Glad you asked! Basically, you have to stab it through the heart with a silver blade of sorts and then rip its heart out, causing it to crush it into millions of pieces and then bury it in a silver box. You also have to burn the body. And only then will it maybe die.”

India and Castor look at each other with slightly horrified expressions.

“I’m in,” Castor says after a moment.

“Me too,” India seconds.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Both Castor and India are perplexed as to why Cherry insisted on driving them in her car until they get to the forest. She pulls out a bunch of hunting gear from her trunk and hands a silver dagger to India. She gives Castor a silver bladed sword and tells river to stay by the car so riv doesn’t hurt riverself walking in the forest.

“Hey, I can manage to walk in a fucking forest, ok?” Castor protests, crossing rivs arms.

“Ok but can you run? I don’t want you becoming wendigo food.” Cherry ruffles the celestial’s hair and Castor pulls out a crossbow from rivs backpack.

“Fine, I’ll stay here. But I’m no good with a sword. Give me some silver tipped bolts.” Riv hands Cherry the sword back and she hands river some silver tipped bolts.

“Be careful ok?” Castor nods and knocks a bolt, prepared to fire if necessary.

Cherry leads India into the forest, the freshly fallen snow crunching under their shoes. The forest is wrapped in a blanket of snow; from the trees to the dirt, it’s all covered in snow. Cherry suggests they stick together as the two of them stand a better chance against the wendigo together than just one. India is reluctant but listens to her idea, as she is very experienced and wise especially in this field. All India knows is how to steal, fight, drink hot tea, and lie.

While walking through the forest, India notices a woman hunkered down behind a tree. He slowly approaches her and she looks terrified. When she sees his face she looks relieved but she doesn’t make a sound. She’s covering her mouth with her hand and when India starts to speak she vigorously shakes her head, telling him to stop. So he does. He offers her his hand and she takes it.

Tangled in her raven black hair are twigs and leaves and her whole body is stiff. Her cedar brown eyes are wide in terror. There are rips in her clothes and scuffs of dirt covered her autumn oak coloured skin. She looks frightened but she maintains composure. As soon as she is on her feet, she doesn’t move an inch. And suddenly Cherry realizes why. The snow. The compact ice crystals make a lot of noise when you step on it. She hears movement from above and pulls India and the woman away from the tree.

Falling from above is a wendigo. It seems a little disoriented from the high fall. Over its face is the skull of a doe and its hair grows out and down, greasy and dark as mud. Its body is slender, its skeleton visible from underneath its skin. Its limbs are inhumanly long with long, blood-caked fingers and deer-like hind legs—which seems to contribute to how fast it can run. Cherry wastes no time pulling out her silver bladed sword. India quickly pulls out his dagger and nods at the woman to run. She stands her ground. To her it would make no difference. She knows that if she kills these two, the creature will be after her in the blink of an eye.

Before anyone can move any further, the wendigo lunges at India, scratching at him, wailing. He begins to bleed, gold staining the snow. India quickly stabs at the wendigo in the chest, slashing through its skin, the creature screaming and clawing back. Cherry manages to quickly sneak up from behind and stab it right through the chest, ripping its heart out with the sword, collecting the broken pieces in her hand. It seems to have little blood in its body. Its body crumples to the ground with a loud, ear piercing screech, gold ichor dripping alongside the small pool of blood coming from the wendigo.

“So… I’m Cherry,” Cherry says to the woman. “Sorry we had to meet this way. Also, we should head back to my car now so we can properly dispose of this thing.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A crossbow bolt flies past Cherry’s head. She quickly snatches it from the air and says, “Relax Castor, it’s just us. We killed the thing and rescued the griffin tamer.”

“Oh. Nice. Sorry for shooting at you.” Castor puts the crossbow back in rivs bag and goes to hand the bolts to Cherry when she tells river, “You can keep them. I rarely ever use crossbows, much less silver tipped bolts for them. You never know when you might need them, though.” Castor beams as riv puts the bolts in rivs backpack.

India sits on the hood of the car, exhausted. “So, we killed the fucker. You’re gonna dispose of it now?”

Cherry nods. She digs out a silver box and places the heart inside, then gets a jug of gasoline and douses the wendigo’s body with it. She then strikes a match and drops it on the creature. She then lets the wind carry the ashes away with it, off somewhere where hopefully its body won’t be able to regroup. Cherry feels a pang in her chest knowing that that creature was once a human person just like her.

“Hey,” Cherry says to the woman, “I still haven’t gotten your name.”

“Oh, I’m Aria,” she says, adjusting her glasses. It’s a miracle that they didn’t break at any point while she was in the forest.

“Well Aria, would you like to accompany me to burying the silver box with wendigo heart in it?” Cherry asks sweetly. “Though, we’ll have to go to a graveyard to bury it.”

“Sure.”

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The graveyard is empty except for a few wandering souls, the groundskeeper, and the two women, Cherry and Aria. India and Castor both went home so the two are alone, digging in the ground as they talk and learn more about each other.

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“Hey India. I need a favour.” Castor is standing on India’s front doorstep. “Nashira was called back to Space. She told me as soon as she got home. She already had everything packed for me and then dropped me off here. And while she told me to stay with you, I don’t want to. You’re a great friend but I have no interest in living under the same roof as you. So like, do you know if that vampire across the street is worth asking if I can stay with him? I’ve met him a few times, nice lad.”

“Nathan? Uhh I don’t know if he’d go for that, he already has a dog to take care of and… Ah fuck! We never got to go tea shopping!” India exclaims.

“This isn’t about you right now, I need a place to live.”

India groans, annoyed. “Sure, whatever, Castor. Go ask him.”

Nathan opens his front door and sees Castor standing there, supporting riverself with rivers cane, all of rivers stuff with river. Riv asks Nathan if riv can stay with him.

“Sure thing! Just as long as you don’t mind dogs. I remember meeting you a few times. You’re a fallen star like India is right?” he asks, letting Castor inside.

“Yeah, I am. So, I can really stay here?”

“Yup! Don’t mind Bean,” Nathan says, gesturing to Bean sleeping on her little dog bed by the fireplace. “She’s a puppy and very sweet. She shouldn’t be much trouble.”

Castor nods and sets rivs stuff down. “Thanks for letting me stay.”

“No problem! Now rest up. India told me about what happened today. Hopefully we can go tea shopping tomorrow.”

“India also mentioned tea shopping. Exactly what the hell is tea?”

“Let me show you.”