The shock of the ledge below him almost made him lose his balance, but Vincent was able to hug the cliff face and save himself from what would have been a deadly fall. He found there were suitable handholds in the rock and dug in. Looking over his shoulder, he saw the glint of silver swaying in the branches a few feet away. Carefully, Vincent maneuvered himself so his back was against the cliff. His right hand had a firm grip in a rock outcropping. Then he made his second big mistake. He looked down.

A void stared back, branches of the trees waiting like skeletal arms, waiting to break his fall, waiting to break him. A wave of vertigo washed over Vincent and he forced himself flat against the wall, eyes clamped tight, stomach threatening to empty all that he ate the day before, all that he’s ever eaten. He tried to will his heart to slow, taking deep breaths. Cracking his eyelids, Vincent focused on the locket, paced his breaths with its slow sway. In time, he was ready to try again.

Eyes locked on the medallion, Vincent reached out just as the wind picked up, blowing it just out of his reach. He reset and waited for the breeze to die down. Reaching out again, he got a fingertip on it when it slipped from the branch it was on. Vincent’s breath caught in his throat as he watched his prize fall. He exhaled with force when it caught on a branch a few inches lower. He shot out his left hand, not giving nature another chance to keep the locket from him. His fist clutched around the chain and he pulled it quickly to his chest.

Vincent took a few moments to compose himself. If he could bury the locket into his chest, he would have. Instead, he pulled the chain over his head and buried it under his shirt. He shifted his focus to climbing the few feet to the top of the cliff. Vincent inched sideways to move away from the collapsed edge and climbed.

After he crested the edge, Vincent brushed the dirt from his jeans and straightened. He gave one last look out at the sprawling forest below.

“I beat you,” he whispered, his hand with a fistful of shirt and locket beneath. As he turned to leave, Vincent ran face first into a tree.

With blazing green eyes.

“Mine!” the green man roared and tore at Vincent’s chest.

Vincent tried to fend it off, slapping its branch like claws with abandon. He was not about to give the locket up without a fight. A hand-like branch shot out to Vincent’s face, sticks and leaves finding their way into his open mouth. He choked and struggled to keep the Green Man from creeping down his throat, the bark and decaying taste of leaves making it impossible to breathe. Vincent reached up with both hands, grasping the hand, and pulled with everything he had left. That’s when he felt the heat of the rent flesh of his chest, another branch hand clawing the locket from him through his shirt. Vincent gave one last lunge back, trying to free himself from the choking grasp.

The green man let go.

And Vincent was falling.

In slow motion, Vincent saw the glowing green orbs of the green man’s eyes recede. With a deafening crack, Vincent’s world spun. He wasn’t sure if it was a branch or a bone that made the initial thunderclap, but many more followed. And then there was darkness.

The sun barely peeked over the horizon when Megan entered the shine. A fog covered most everything, the dawn not burning it away yet. She could see enough to navigate around the stone megaliths to where she and Vincent entered the woods behind the shrine. She didn’t make it far before she saw who she was looking for.

“Vincent! Vinny, why didn’t you wait? You had me worried. I damn near sprinted up this mountain. Vinny?”

Vincent stood in a clearing just beyond the tree line, cradling something in his arms. Just above whatever the bundle was, a glint of silver shone in the growing dawn.

“Vince? Are you okay? What have you got there?”

Vincent raised his eyes to look at Megan and moved his top hand from what he was holding. It was a smoke gray cat. As Megan approached, the cat… growled. It hissed and swiped razor-like claws when Megan reached out to touch it.

“Hey,” she said, snatching her hand back just before the claws dug in. “Where the hell did that come from?” Vincent only smiled in answer.

“Well, I see you found your necklace. Let’s get out of here. This place gives me the creeps. Vince? Are you listening?”

Vincent gave the cat another loving squeeze and dropped it to the forest floor. It landed lightly and sped off toward the shrine. Megan watched it run. When she turned back, Vincent was inches from her face. She yelped and staggered a step back. Vincent slowly raised both hands and placed one on each side of her face affectionately.

“Vinny, are you feeling okay?”

“I feel great. I feel awake for the first time in forever,” Vincent said. Megan winced at his voice, a rasping that sounded like Vincent spent his entire life smoking cigars in between chain-smoking cigarettes.

“Well, you sound like shit. Let’s get you home,” she tried to take another step back and escape Vincent’s caress. But he held on, began squeezing. “Vincent, you’re scaring me.” She grabbed his wrists and pried them off. “Cut the shit and let’s go.” Megan spun on her heel and marched away.

The climbing sun shot a rogue beam through the canopy and shone momentarily on Vincent. His eyes flared in the brief instant.

Blazing an emerald green.

“Mine,” Vincent said, a wicked smile spread across his face.