I was standing in front of a giant forest. There was a giant, moving, evil-looking forest in front of me, it had Murphy, and I had no idea how to stop it. Hell, I couldn't even identify it, much less kill it.

Every instinct I had was screaming at me to run away. Yeah, I'm a wizard, but I'm a HUMAN wizard, and sometimes biology wants to take over. Also, there'd been a shortage in my training of how to handle man-eating foliage. Anything too big to run over with my car took some planning.

I have two strengths: kicking ass with limited structural damage when I'm well prepared, and blowing shit up when I'm not. Since I had rushed out of the house without so much as an outline, I was going to have to make due with option "B".

So I willed some power into my pentacle amulet, and guided by its pale blue light, I walked into the mouth of the forest

Now, I'm no poet, so when I say I walked in to the mouth of the forest, I mean just that. I stepped over rocks forming jagged teeth, and felt a breathy wind that carried with it the scent of decay. I couldn't hear anything except the occasional rustle of leaves. There were no animal sounds, no movement except the branches swaying menacingly above. There was an overwhelming sense of wrongness that got stronger the farther I walked in. I don't even want to think about what was causing the sickening squishy noises each time I crept forward.

Legend says that curiosity will kill the cat. Now, I don't know how true that is, but at this rate, it had a pretty good shot at getting me. I couldn't help myself. I looked down. With an almost professional detachment, I noted that blood covered in dirt clumps and pine needles looks remarkably similar to chunky tomato soup. Then I was very noisily sick off to the side.

After I managed to stop heaving, I took a second look, checking for anything that might give me something to work with. There wasn't much, and what there was wasn't pretty. The forest floor was carpeted in shreds of bits of pieces of what possibly could have once been people. However, I wasn't going to discount the fact that perhaps this was where all the fuzzy forest critters had gone. Or even local pets that had wandered too far. My stomach gave a weak quiver, but I managed to keep from gagging.

Then I heard the screaming.

I stopped myself from charging off half-cocked into the forest. Instead, I forced myself to crouch slightly onto the damp earth and dig out a circle in the earth with my staff. Pulling out the locket I kept hidden in a coat pocket, I took out the piece of hair I'd snipped of Murphy ages ago, and made with the magic.

I may not know much about man-eating forests, but I can for damn sure find somebody. It's a fairly simple spell. I just link the location of the person with my sense of smell. I could literally follow my nose to Murph, and whoever else was with her. Elegant? Not really. But it's effective, and I really needed a scent other than fresh corpses.

As soon as I broke the circle, I caught a whiff of Murphy's perfume. Taking another moment to make a complete turn, I headed off in the direction that was strongest.

It didn't take long to run into Murphy and her band of stragglers. They'd made their way into a clearing, and looked like they'd been through hell. Most of them were covered in dirt, and bleeding through what was left of their clothing; Murphy included. There were 10 of them total, the oldest maybe 16 and on down to what looked like a 6 year old. Stars and stones. They were just kids.

The group was moving in a loose pack with the youngest at the center and Murph standing in front, gun drawn, eyeing her surroundings with distrust.

I called to Murphy before I moved into the clearing, because she had a gun. And she was damn good at putting bullets where she wanted them to go.

"Murph, it's me."

Murphy hardly seemed to move, but in a millisecond her gun was trained on where I was standing, and her eyes narrowed, trying to see through the gloom.

I held my necklace aloft, and took a few slow steps into the clearing.

"Prove it." Murphy's voice was cold.

It took a moment of juggling my staff and light, but I managed to pull a penknife out of my pocket, and prick a hole in my thumb. See, demons don't bleed, and asking one to cut itself can often lead to violence, 'cause if you're asking for proof, they know the game is up.

Murph watched detachedly, until a few drops of blood welled up and dripped to the ground. Then she lowered her gun, and her shoulders slumped and she let her head fall forward for just a second, showing one moment of weakness. I ignored it. She'd worked hard to earn her tough-as-nails reputation, and didn't like to be reminded that she was, on occasion, in need of help.

"What's the damage?" I asked as I walked forward. The kids edged back behind Murphy.

Murphy gave me a weary smile. She looked tired, way too tired to have been here for only an hour or two. I checked my watch. Ok, 8 hours. Or 10. I glared at my watch as it sped forward through another hour, and then rocketed back 3. I turned my attention back to Murphy and decided not to mention the time loop yet.

"I found these kids right after I got here," she began. "Killed something, and we've been trying to find our way out since."

"No problem," I said breezily. "This way."

"Maybe you didn't hear me right, Dresden," Murphy said with a hint of annoyance. "We've been trying to get out of here for hours."

"But you didn't have this," I said, pulling out a bit of chalk with a flourish. "I marked all the trees I walked by. Let's get out of here."

"Lets," Murphy agreed. "C'mon kids. Follow the man with the glowstick."