"Where in the fuck are we?" Alec's brow furrowed as he scanned the surrounding forest, shadows lengthening beneath the canopy of ancient trees. "I've been in these woods many times and never ever came across any kind of settlement."

"You were not meant to find it," Ragger said, his scarred muzzle twitching. The mutts' gravelly words had an undercurrent of amusement — as if Ragger found Alec's confusion entertaining.

Stepping closer to my brother, I rested a hand on his tensed shoulder, feeling the corded muscle beneath his worn leather jacket. "It's not much further now." I indicated a series of deep gouges marring a nearby tree, the bark shredded and stained dark with sap. "See those claw marks? They're a signpost, guiding us to where we need to go. Dunno what big bastard made it, but it means we're almost home."

Alec approached the tree, eyes narrowing as he examined the vicious slashes rent into the trunk. Slowly, he raised his right hand out before him and shook it in a practiced motion, almost like a magician about to perform a feat of prestidigitation. And for my next trick...

I heard Lilly's sharp intake of breath as Alec's hand began to change, the flesh darkening to a rich, sapphire hue. His knuckles cracked and popped as the bones elongated, fingers stretching like taffy pulled to its limit. The meat of his palm swelled grotesquely, growing wider and thicker until it dwarfed his other hand in size. Two additional pinkies burst forth from the side of his mutating hand, the skin splitting open to birth the new digits. Across the back of his transformed appendage, iridescent patterns shimmered into existence, their mesmerizing whorls and spirals seeming to dance before my eyes.

Alec glanced back at us, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth as he noted our slack-jawed expressions. "What's the matter? I thought you lot were fine with this."

"Knowing about it is one thing," Shanta said, her voice quavering slightly. "Seeing it on a video feed, detached from reality. But witnessing it in the flesh? Your... patterns. There's something about them that unsettles me on an instinctual level."

"Ah yes, the mark of the Destroyer," Ragger growled. "The Destroyer's influence manifests as either unwavering loyalty or visceral revulsion. Your reaction intrigues me, Shanta. I would have wagered you'd be drawn to him like a moth to a flame, not repelled."

The child's violet gaze snapped to the grizzled dog. "And you? Do you feel that inexorable pull towards him?"

"On the contrary," Ragger replied, a snarl curling his lip. "The mere sight of those patterns ignites an urge within me to tear his entrails from his body and to feed these ancient roots with his blood. But perhaps my judgment is clouded." He flicked his torn ear, the gesture laden with unspoken history.

"Well, that's disconcerting," Alec said dryly. "But getting back to the matter at hand..." He pressed his warped fingers against the claw marks gouged into the tree trunk, and I felt a chill race down my spine as I saw how perfectly they aligned. All seven digits slotted into place like a key into a lock. "So little brother, you said your camp was close?"

I shook my head, trying to dispel the sense of unreality that threatened to overwhelm me. "Yeah. A mile, maybe?"

Alec tsked. "Walked right fucking by y'all."

He shook his mutated hand once more, and the unnatural growth began to recede. The additional fingers shriveled and were reabsorbed into the meat of his palm. The blue tint leeched from his skin, and his knuckles cracked as the bones compacted back to their original size. Within moments, his hand appeared completely ordinary once more.

He flexed his fingers gingerly, his face twisting in discomfort as he vigorously rubbed the limb. "Gah. It always itches. Like ants. Ugh."

Without another word, Alec strode deeper into the forest, his transformed hand still clenched at his side. I exchanged a loaded glance with the Lilly. What the fuuuuuck she mouthed at me. I shook my head and shrugged. This is what we signed up for.

She shook her head softly before following after Alec.