Finnegan"Move, fool." I prod Ted in his back. "Are you just going to stand there?"He hesitates, like a frozen child. "I don't know which way to go now."I sigh in annoyance. The path in the lava is unpredictable. There must be some sort of mathematical equation that's running it, but we didn't have time to stand around and wait to figure the pattern out.Which is why I sent one person ahead. The rest of the team—myself included—is standing in the grass while Ted scouts a way across the lava, which is sometimes solid and sometimes not."You'll be fine," I tell him.He's nearly shaking in his armor, though. I thought I'd picked the best team for this mission, but apparently, I made at least one mistake.A lot of the Silver Hunters are soft. They work normal nine to five jobs, spending their nights in Hunter chat rooms on the dark web and volunteering their vacation time to the cause. They show up at the trainings and meetings, and though they have a passion to eradicate sups,

WinterReflexively, I jump back. Alec bats at the animal, but he misses. The critter lands on the ground and makes a gurgling noise, almost like it's trying to talk."What ..." My jaw drops. "What is that?"It's not any animal I've ever seen. In fact, it's not an animal at all, is it? It looks more like it would fit in at Dyad Marketplace than the woods."It looks like a tiny goblin." Alec bends to study it but still keeps his distance.The tiny creature is gray green, with a face far too wide for its body. Its eyes are black as coal, and its hands and feet are large and round like a baby's, with long, delicate fingers and toes. It doesn't stand more than a foot tall."It might be a creature native to this pocket dimension," Alec says, eyeing the goblin warily.The creature starts to move towards us, and I take a step back. "Should we ... should we try to communicate with it?""I don't know," Alec says. "It could be dangerous."But the goblin doesn't seem aggressive. It's st