Whitney was clearly weirded out the moment she saw us.
Cypher was sitting on the ground, staring blankly ahead like his soul had briefly left his body, while I stood a few steps away, facing the opposite direction with both hands covering my face as if that could erase reality.
"…Am I missing something?" Whitney asked slowly. Her gaze flicked between the two of us, brows knitting together in deep suspicion. The kind that said I just walked into something I did not consent to.
Panicking, my brain short-circuited.
"N-NO!" I blurted out way too loudly, immediately making things worse. "I mean—can you help him? He injured his leg and I need to—uh—check if we're really near!"
That explanation made zero sense. I knew it. Whitney knew it. The trees probably knew it.
Before she could ask a follow-up question—because she absolutely would—I turned on my heel and practically bolted forward, weaving through the trees with the grace of someone fleeing their own bad decisions.
