Jason stifled a laugh,putting his free hand over his mouth,but as he took in the features around them and the exit close he clung close to Puck,politely of course but still. He held his hand firmly despite the pain it caused from his cracks. His breathing quickened and pupils turned to slits,tail now between his legs.

"This way," came Grimalkins disembodied voice up ahead. "Try to stay close."

The bristly walls of the corridor seemed to press in on them. Puck didnt release Jason's hand, but they had to walk single file through the tunnel to avoid being scratched. A couple times, Puck thought he saw a thorn or creeper actually move toward him, as if to prick his skin or catch his clothes. Ironhorse was faring well, as the thorns, much like the rest of the Nevernever, seemed loath to touch the great Iron fey, curling back from him as he passed.

Jason was so thankful that Puck didn't let go,or he would have fallen to a panic attack. He pulled his hood here and there from time to time to make sure that the full weight of the little ice dragons was still there. His tail was in tightly and his wings folded firm to his back. He was sorta thankful his horns where broken enough to avoid the thorns.

The tunnel finally opened up into a small hollow with tunnels and paths twisting off in all directions. Overhead, the canopy of bramble shut out the light, so thick you couldnt see the sky through the cracks. Bones lay here and there among the thorns, bleached white and gleaming in the darkness. A skull grinned at Jason from a tangle of brambles, empty eye sockets crawling with worms

Jason looked about to puke,strange for someone who could fight in rage and not even care if he had gore on his claws. He ripped his gaze away and tried not to pay mind to the fact that he couldn't see the sky. He stroked Shade's little head with a smile to the little dragon as he peaked over his shoulder,whimpering sleepily till he nodded off again,not aware thankfully of their locations for circumstance.

Grimalkin made a habit of appearing out of nowhere. The cat leaped atop a large skull and regarded each of them in turn. "We are going deep into the Briars now," he stated in a calm, very soft voice. "I would tell you what we might face, but perhaps it is better that I do not. Try to be silent. Do not separate. Do not go down another path. And stay away from any doors you come across. Many of the gates here are a one-way trip; go through one and you might not be able to go back. Are you ready?"

Jason would have said no but only his markings glowed brightly,lighting up the dragonic N and O at once. The N was by his collar bone and the O was by his jaw. He hid a little under those creamy white tips that only enhanced the elegance and regal detail that the white markings gave his features.

Grimalkin blinked and vanished down one of the tunnels.The Briars were never still. They were always moving, slithering, reaching for you out of the corner of your eye. Sometimes, if you listened just right, you could almost hear them whisper your name. Deep within the tangled darkness, twigs snapped and branches rustled as things moved through the brambles. They never got a clear look, just glimpsed dark shapes shuffling away into the undergrowth. It creeped Puck out. Big-time. The Briars went on, an endless maze of twisted thorns and gnarled branches, shifting, creaking and reaching out for them. As they ventured ever deeper, doors, frames and archways began appearing at odd intervals in completely random places. A faded red door hung perilously from an overhead branch, a tarnished 216 glimmering in the dim light. A filthy restroom stall, cracked and shedding green paint, stood near the edge of the path, so wrapped in thorns that it would be impossible to push the door open. Something lean and black slithered across their path and vanished through an open closet. As it creaked shut, Puck caught a glimpse of a childs bedroom through the frame, and a crib outlined in moonlight, before thorny vines curled around the door and pulled it back into the Briars.

Jason tried to keep his eyes down but it did no good,as he put a hand over his mouth to avoid crying out as the shape slipped over their path. His freckles and underwings pulsed with sick green and white no matter how he tried to pound it down with dark purple but the color dissipated quickly. He swallowed hard now and then,with his free hand quickly wrapping the neck bindings on again but he didn't dare let go of Puck.

Puck held on to Jason tightly, refusing to let go. Grimalkin never hesitated, leading them on without a backward glance, passing gates and doors and strange, random things stuck in the tangled web of thorns. A mirror, a doll and an empty golf bag dangled from the branches as they walked by, as well as the countless bones and sometimes full skeletons that littered the trail. Strange creatures watched them from the shadows, mostly unseen, just their eyes glowing in the dark. Black birds with human faces perched in the branches, observing them silently as they passed, like waiting vultures. At one point, Grimalkin pulled them all into a side tunnel, hissing at them to be quiet and not move. Moments later, a massive spider, easily the size of a car, crawled over the brambles directly overhead. Huge and shiny, with a splash of red across its bloated abdomen, it paused a moment, as if sensing warm blood and fluids were very close, waiting for the slightest tremor to betray its quarry.