Making a small cut next to the shaft, he tried to insert a finger so he could feel the length of the bolt. More cuts followed, until he could get two fingers in, but he still couldn’t reach the head. This thing’s at least a foot long, he thought grimly.
What followed was an hour-long ordeal. The goddamn cat proved his resistance to pain, but even the demigod grunted and hissed as Will was forced to cut ever deeper into his flesh to reach the wickedly barbed metal points. His arms and tunic were soaked in blood before he had the first bolt out, and by the time the third was removed, he might as well have bathed in the demigod’s vital fluids.
He stored the evil weapons in the limnthal, knowing how valuable the metal might someday be, and when he looked back he saw that the Cath Bawlg had already transformed, becoming once more the ordinary gray tabby Will had first met years before. “What’s your true size?” Will asked suddenly.
“You’ve seen the Shadowlands,” said the cat.
Will nodded, understanding the answer without truly being able to comprehend. The strange nature of the Shadowlands made things like size and shape into less tangible concepts. Kneeling down, he started to gather the cat into his arms, but the goddamn cat hissed and bared his teeth. “What’s wrong? Don’t you want me to carry you?”
The cat’s warning yowl slowly diminished, becoming less and less audible. Will eased forward and carefully collected his benefactor, ignoring the warning when the volume of the Cath Bawlg’s growl increased again. He’ll let me cut things out of him, or even ride him, but this is where he starts to get irrational, thought Will. He really is feral.
Holding the bloody cat close against his chest, Will began the short trek home. Since they were within a mile of the house, he soon began to notice familiar groups of trees and similar landmarks. He was on familiar ground. He’d grown up playing in the forest, and now he knew exactly where he was.
He approached Arrogan’s old hermitage from the front. He didn’t see anyone outside, so he stepped onto the porch and knocked on the door. After a few seconds, the door opened and his mother stared out at him, her eyes growing wide with shock as she took in his appearance.
Will realized his mistake immediately. “I’m fine!” he hurriedly reassured her. “It isn’t my blood.”
Erisa blinked and took a slow breath. Blood didn’t bother her, and she never lost her composure over wounds and injuries, but her son was an entirely different matter to her. Spotting the cat in his arms, she noted the bloody fur. “Is that?”
He nodded. “Yes. He helped me get here, but we got in a fight along the way.”
Erisa held out her hands. “May I?” Will handed the goddamn cat carefully to his mother, silently hoping the demigod wouldn’t lash out at her. The Cath Bawlg remained silent. Bloody cat in her arms, Erisa jerked her head toward the yard. “The tub is still around on the side of the house. Don’t come in until you’re clean.” Stepping back, she pushed the door shut with her foot.
Will stared at the closed door, fighting to hold back a laugh. Some things never changed, and his mother was certainly one of those things. He looked around at the porch, then began constructing his favorite cleaning spell. It took a few minutes, but once he was done he set the boundary to include the porch before investing his energy and releasing it. Might as well clean a little extra while I’m at it, he thought.
When he entered the house a minute later, his mother glanced up with a look of irritation. “I thought I told you to wash before—oh! Never mind then.”
Will was more surprised by what he saw. The goddamn cat was half bundled in a warm towel by the hearth, and Erisa sat on the floor beside him, a damp rag in her hand, which she appeared to be using to carefully wipe away the blood and dirt that had stuck to the demigod’s fur. The cat’s eyes locked onto his with an expression of longsuffering, but the Cath Bawlg said nothing. Maybe he won’t kill her, thought Will. “If it’s too much to bear, let me know and I’ll take you outside,” he said aloud.
His mother misunderstood who he was talking to. “Surely you haven’t been gone long enough to forget what I do for a living, have you?”
He chuckled. “Never. Where is everyone?”
“Shouldn’t I be asking you that question?” said Erisa. “Where has my son been all this time?” She never took her eyes off her patient, but Will could hear the displeasure in her tone.
“I’ve had a lot going on,” he said weakly.
“Too much to bring your wife to visit between school semesters?”
Ouch. “You’ve met Selene before—”
“And I liked her,” interrupted his mother. “Is she too important to visit now that she has you?”
He tried to process that statement. Was she implying that Selene felt she was more important because she had married him? That would only make sense from a mother’s point of view—no, it had to be the opposite. She thought Selene felt she no longer had to try. Maybe. He wasn’t confident in his translation. Will countered the multilayered question the only way he knew how, with honesty. “I don’t know what that question means exactly, but I have a lot to tell you. The first thing is that I haven’t actually seen Selene but once since we got married.”
Erisa stopped, then slowly turned her head to look at him. “Say that again?”
“She’s being kept hidden away. Even I don’t know where she is.”
“She was kidnapped?”
“No, it’s voluntary, to protect her from her father.”
His mother frowned, but returned to what she was doing. “But you’re safe in the capital? Wouldn’t the king simply arrest you if he was angry at her?”
Will decided to lie a little. “He’s afraid to do anything to me for fear of upsetting his daughter.”
“Yet she has to hide from him? William, you’re not making any sense.”
“It’s really complicated, Mom, and I don’t have a lot of time.”
She glanced at him sharply. “You just got here, and he doesn’t look like he’s going anywhere for a while.”
“I have to use Granddad’s lab again, then I’ll have to leave, whether he’s fit to travel or not. People are depending on me.”
“Sammy will be home in less than an hour,” said his mother. “If you leave without seeing her, she’ll be furious.”
Translation, Mom will also be angry, thought Will.
His mom froze then. “Wait, the laboratory, you don’t mean you’re going back to where the trolls are? You nearly got yourself eaten last time!”
He swallowed. “If I don’t, Tiny might not survive another week, and another friend of mine might lose an eye and half her face.”