What is that?

  Davion didn't dare to speak as the shadowy figure approached. His feet remained rooted to the ground, unable to move. Turning his gaze to the dog, he silently begged for the dog to do something with his eyes.

  However, since the dog's back was to him, it didn't notice Davion's look.

  It abruptly darted to the left, leaving Davion standing there. In a daze, he could only watch as the dog disappeared from view. Once he could no longer see the dog, he panicked and glanced back at the shadowy figure. Fortunately, the shadowy figure turned coarse and chased after the dog. The moment he could no longer see the shadowy figure, he fell onto his butt. Davion breathed heavily, cold sweat dripping down his face.

  That had been too close for comfort. Even though he couldn't see who or what it was thanks to the fog once again, he was pretty certain it had been the huntsman based on its shape.

  What was going on?

  First it was the dog. Then it was the huntsman. Davion couldn't understand how the two managed to end up in the forest like he did. What was even stranger was how they somehow came from the opposite direction. If they had followed him there, they should have come from behind, not from the front.

  He wiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand.

  "Forget it. I should get out of here before the huntsman comes back," he muttered as he got onto his knees and crawled.

  Davion felt a bit guilty for abandoning the dog to the huntsman, but it had been the one to abandon him first. It had run off, leaving him to fend for himself. If the huntsman hadn't chased after the dog, Davion would have to face the crazy man alone.

  It left a bitter taste in his mouth.

  I can't believe it did that. Why did it just run without a word? Last time it protected me from the huntsman. I just don't get it.

  No matter how hard he thought about it, he couldn't figure out what the dog was thinking. Nothing it did since they reunited made sense.

  "Whatever," he muttered. "If it's going to be like that, then I won't care about it either. I'll get out of this forest by myself."

  Unfortunately, his plan to escape the forest by crawling was cut short.

  Unable to ignore the pain any longer, he stopped moving. He breathed heavily, his arms shaking and his nails digging into his palm. Davion bit his lower lip as his brows furrowed. His eyes burned holes into the ground. Then he looked up, studying his surroundings before landing on a nearby tree. With grim determination, he dragged himself to it and rested his back against it. After taking a moment to catch his breath, he glanced down at his legs.

  His pants were completely covered in dirt, and the section around his knees was particularly worn down.

  Sharlene is going to be so angry when she sees this.

  When he was ready to keep going, he tried to move his legs only to wince in pain. After a couple more attempts, he gave up and kept his legs in a position that hurt the least.

  There was no way he could move with his legs hurting so much. He had to wait until his legs got better or until someone found him. However, he didn't know how long it would take. Davion wasn't sure when his legs would recover on their own or if they could without help. As for someone finding him, the huntsman was the most likely person, which was the last person he wanted to see.

  He froze at the sound of rustling behind him. Davion didn't dare to move or speak, listening attentively for the source of the sound. The rustling grew closer, and he covered his mouth with his hands. Right as it was about to reach him, it abruptly stopped. He waited with bated breath, his heart pounding in his chest.

  Davion was sure that whatever it was was still nearby and refused to let his guard down.

  Suddenly, something popped out from the bushes behind him. His screams were muffled by his hands as he threw himself away from the thing. Pain shot through his whole body, with most of it focused on his legs. He scrambled to his feet, but he quickly lost his balance and bumped into a tree. Davion leaned against it for support and glanced back at what had appeared from the bushes.

  It was the dog. In an instant, his fear dissipated into thin air.

  The dog shook the leaves and branches off its body before turning to face him. "There you are." It trotted over, unaware of the chaos in Davion's mind caused by its appearance. "I'm glad to see you're okay. I was worried that the huntsman had gotten to you."

  He remained silent, his jaw slightly slack, and his eyes glued to the dog.

  Davion had thought the dog would never return considering what happened earlier. It had really seemed like the dog had left him as a distraction to save itself from the huntsman.

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  Had he been wrong? Had the dog actually been trying to protect him by distracting the huntsman so he could escape? But why didn't it say anything before running off?

  It could have at least warned him or given him a sign that it wasn't ditching him to save its own skin or fur in this case.

  How was he supposed to know what it was thinking?

  It was really giving him mixed signals.

  The dog stopped right in front of Davion as it asked, "Why aren't you saying anything?"

  He snapped out of his thoughts and said, "You came back." The dog gave him a quizzical look. "I really thought you abandoned me to the huntsman." After a moment's hesitation, Davion murmured, "Thanks for coming back."

  Unexpectedly, the dog asked, "What are you talking about?"

  "Huh? What do you mean?"

  "When did I abandon you to the huntsman? I remember clearly that we ran away together."

  This time it was Davion's turn to be confused.

  "What are you saying?" he asked, pushing away from the tree he was leaning on with a grimace. "We literally found each other earlier before getting separated again when the huntsman showed up."

  "That's not possible," the dog said, digging up dirt with one paw. "I only found you just now. I never even saw the huntsman."

  The dog's words stunned Davion.

  How was that possible?

  It had clearly been the dog. Even with the dim light, he obviously recognized the dog at a glance.

  After all, just how many big dogs were roaming around?

  "But I saw you," Davion protested.

  Its face wrinkled in annoyance. "Are you sure you weren't imagining things? Has the fog made you see things? Don't tell me you confused me with some random animal."

  Seeing how insistent the dog was, Davion had to concede that it really hadn't been the dog he met earlier.

  However, if that was the case, then who was the dog Davion had bumped into? Was there really another big dog roaming around?

  A stray thought crossed his mind that sent chills down his spine.

  What if it hadn't been a dog? What if it had been a wolf he encountered?

  Davion didn't want to believe it, but he had confused the dog as a wolf when they first met. It wouldn't be a huge jump for him to mistakenly think a random wolf was the dog.

  That was really close. I nearly got attacked by a wolf without realizing it. If the huntsman hadn't shown up, who knows what the wolf would have done?

  Then he recalled a very important detail that made his eyes pop out of their sockets.

  "The wolf," he blurted out, making the dog flinch. "I can't believe it. I really met the wolf from the story."

  "What?" The dog jumped onto Davion, knocking him to the ground. "What did you say?"

  He could only groan in pain, his head throbbing from hitting the ground hard. The dog continued to paw at him, completely oblivious to the pain it was inflicting on Davion, who struggled to push the dog off of him.

  Unfortunately, that was easier said than done.

  Ugh. Why is it so heavy? It feels like being dogpiled by a bunch of my cousins.

  His legs already hurt, and having the dog's full weight on them didn't help in the slightest.

  "Off." The dog didn't seem to hear, so he repeated, "Get off." There was still no response, and he had enough. "Get off of me!"

  His shout stunned the dog, giving him the opportunity to shove the dog off him. It rolled off of him as he rubbed his aching legs. The dog stared dumbly at him before rolling onto its stomach and standing up.

  "What was that for?" the dog asked.

  Davion didn't give it any attention, his eyes darting around. The dog seemed to understand something and scanned their surroundings. Once he was certain that nothing would pop out of the trees and bushes, Davion breathed a sigh of relief.

  He had been worried that the wolf or huntsman had heard his shout and had come running. Luckily, neither of them seemed to have heard him.

  Relief turned into irritation as he crossed his arms and glared at the dog. It pointedly avoided his gaze, its ears flat against its head and its tail tucked between its legs. After some time, it dared to glance up before quickly looking down at Davion's legs. It poked its nose at one of his legs, and he hissed. The dog flinched.

  "What happened to your legs?" it asked in a small voice.

  Seeing how despondent it was—and what a sight it was—Davion felt his annoyance falter. "A lot happened." Then he hesitated before asking, "Where were you?"

  One of the dog's ears twitched as it said, "I had wandered for a bit when I finally picked up your scent." At Davion's puzzled expression, it continued, "After we separated, I found that I couldn't find you. Your scent had completely vanished. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't find you."

  Davion was stunned.

  When the dog hadn't returned right away, he had thought that the dog had purposely left him behind and wasn't going to come back for him. It turned out that the dog couldn't go back to him.

  "How's that possible?" he asked.

  "I have no idea. You can't believe how confused I was." The dog shook its head. "There were a lot of confusing scents, but you really have a unique scent."

  "Are you saying I smell?"

  "All things smell."

  "Never mind. Anyway, how did you end up finding me?"

  "I actually bumped into an old woman. She was willing to help me out and pointed me in the right direction."

  He was about to ask how it managed not to scare the old lady away when he recalled the blind old woman he came across before. "Did the lady have glasses?"

  The dog tilted its head to one side and asked, "You mean those things some humans put on your face?"

  "Uh, sure."

  "Then yes."

  No wonder she didn't freak out at the sight of a giant dog that looked like a wolf approaching her. For all she knew, she had been talking to another person.

  "Did she say anything else?" Davion asked, not expecting much.

  Surprisingly, the dog nodded. "She asked me to give a message to her granddaughter if I came across her."

  "What message?"

  "She asked her to come home since it wasn't safe outside."

  That was a reasonable request. With a wolf and crazy huntsman on the loose in the dead of the night, it made sense that the old woman would want her granddaughter to hurry back home. He would honestly love to run back home and avoid them, but there were too many things that kept that from happening.

  Now that the dog's back, we can still go to the hospital and help Sharlene. We just need to find a way out of this forest. We also need to avoid the wolf and huntsman.

  His face wrinkled in displeasure.

  Davion tried not to think too hard about the difficulties, and his mind wandered back to the old woman. He wondered why she hadn't asked him to do the same or mention that she was looking for her granddaughter when they met, but he quickly shoved those thoughts away. It wasn't any of his business what the old woman did now that they had gone their separate ways.

  Despite this, he found himself asking, "Did she say what her granddaughter looked like?"

  Even if it wasn't his problem, it didn't hurt to ask. If he did bump into the granddaughter, he could pass the message on to her.

  "Actually, it sounded a lot like you," the dog said.

  He blinked. "Excuse me?"

  "She said her granddaughter was wearing a red cloak and carried a basket."