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freak land.” He shook his head. “It’s all my fault. I’m the one who convinced you guys to go on the hike. I’m the one who pushed Cedric. Because of me, you guys are sick from stupid berries, we’re talking with monkeys, and now we’ve been attacked by some Night of the Living Dead zombie wolves on steroids that probably just killed my dog.” The last words stuck in Gabriel’s throat.
    Brent tugged a dangling leaf from a branch above him. “Hey, it’s not your fault. You were only trying to help me when Cedric whipped that branch in my face. It’s not like you meant to push Cedric into the water. He’s a scammer, we all know that. He’s probably home right now. And Ziggy … well, she saved my life.” Brent hung his head.
    “She helped save all our lives. Some dog owner I’ve turned out to be.” Gabriel slumped to his knees, tears welling in his eyes. It felt like holes had been punched straight through his heart.
    Piper hugged him. “Don’t worry, Gabe. We’re all right. Brent’s okay. I’m totally over the berry thing. And Ziggy? I really think she’ll come back.”
    Gabriel’s mind swirled with flashes of glowing green eyes and what Zigzag must have faced.
    Finley pointed to a pile of leaves. “You must eep. Lie there.”
    Gabriel had a gazillion questions, but before he could get a word out, Finley jumped to a higher part of the tree house. “Eep, Gabrul, talk in morning. We good in ky. eep, eep!”
    Piper motioned to the leaves, and they fell into a heap together. “I think he wants us to sleep. We should really try, Gabe,” she whispered. “We’ll work this out tomorrow.”
    Work this out? Gabriel rubbed his forehead. My dog was just eaten by some half-lion, half-wolf creature. Hard to work that out. He searched the darkness from their tall perch, looking for Zigzag. Knife-sharp guilt jabbed him in the gut. He couldn’t lose his dog after already losing his mom. Gabriel’s thoughts drifted to his dad and how he was probably losing it right now, too. My dad’s alone. He must be freaking out—first Mom, now me.
    With heavy eyes, he mumbled, “I have to find a way back to Willow Creek.”
    ***
    Something tickled Gabriel’s face. He shooed it away, but in seconds, it returned. He opened his eyes to see Finley standing over him with a silly grin, holding a leaf.
    Gabriel bolted upright. “Is Zigzag back?”
    Finley’s face fell. “No Zigzag. Me orry, Gabrul.”
    Gabriel fell back to the leaves, stomach churning. “It’s okay, Finley. It’s not your fault.” He poked his friends one-by-one. “Wake up. It’s morning.”
    As the others stirred, Gabriel turned back to Finley. “What is this place?”
    “Valta, Finley home.” Finley frowned. “It be odd here now.”
    Ya think? “What’s odd to you ? ” Gabriel asked, remembering the tiger he saw in the crystal.
    “Creature odd now. Night longer … ” Finley pointed to the sky. “Ky odd color, it bad rain, and eeker everywhere.” Finley made a face. “Finley no like eeker.”
    Gabriel looked up at the mostly blue sky and narrowed his eyes at the dark, ominous streaks of orange scattered throughout. “So what’s the story with the eeker things?”
    “Not bad like gruock … me no think, but me no like. They eat our berry.”
    “There’s a few things here I don’t like,” Gabriel murmured, then said, “Finley, you said you have a master, right?”
    Finley nodded. “Master know many thing. Take care Valta.”
    Gabriel nodded back.
    Piper stepped beside Gabriel, and Brent sat up, stretching. “Maybe we should try to talk to this master guy,” Piper suggested. “Maybe he can help us get home.”
    “No,” Finley said. “Too danger. Master far away. Only come here one time in many, many eep.”
    Brent chuckled. “Just how many sleeps is that, dude?”
    “One hundred eep.”
    “One hundred sleeps?” they asked in unison.
    “We can’t wait one hundred days!” Brent tugged at his blond hair, like he planned