Night Seeker

road.”

I punched in Peyton’s number and left a message. Then I tried Kaylin. No answer. Sighing, I left my phone on and shoved it into my pocket. “Which way?”

Grieve glanced up at the growing light. “There-that’s east. We head to the west.”

As we started slogging through the snow, I began to notice that I felt odd. Odd in a way that didn’t feel sick, so much as…changed. Something had happened to me. I pulled the fan out of my pocket. More than once, both Lainule and Ulean had warned me against using it too much, and I hadn’t known why. Now I stared at it, wondering if I’d have the courage to ever use it again.

Chatter hadn’t given me back my knife, and right now I didn’t ask for it. Truthfully, the ferocity of my feelings scared the fuck out of me. It reminded me all too clearly that in another life I had been Myst’s daughter. I didn’t want to remember that, but every day it was becoming clearer that I was going to have to accept that fact and learn to use it rather than run from it.

Myst had been scared of me, when the wind and bloodlust from the obsidian were controlling me. And we needed her to feel fear. We needed her to hesitate, to falter while she thought things through. Every time we could put her on her guard, throw her off kilter, was one more inroad we had to destroying her.

As we plowed through the snow, my phone jangled. By now, it was obvious that morning had arrived, even though all signs of the sun were obscured by clouds. So Myst and her cronies were in hiding.

I pulled out my phone and answered.

“Cicely here. What’s up?”

Peyton sounded relieved. “I’m so glad you’re okay. You are okay, aren’t you? It’s been two days and we were beginning to worry.”

So we’d been in the realm of Faerie for two days this time. This losing time thing was a little intimidating. “Lainule-is she still alive?”

“Yes, she is hanging on-barely. Kaylin arrived back here with the heartstone a few hours ago. But Wrath says you must be the one to present it to her. Where are you? Are you near a road?”

“I don’t know…we’re walking west, in the woods. I have no clue how far we are from a road. Can Wrath fly over the Golden Wood to see if he can find us? He knows where the cedar is, though we don’t seem to be anywhere near that at this time. We came out a different way than we went in.”

Peyton’s voice echoed as she spoke to someone else. After a moment, she came back on the phone. “Yes, in fact, he’s headed out the door now. Stay put, out from under the trees so he can see you. The moment he sees you, he’ll land, and then you call me back.”

“Where are you? Did Luna’s sister make it in?”

“Yes, and we have some wonderful news. Well, potentially wonderful. But that will keep. Hurry and position yourself at a point where Wrath will be able to see you. As for us…well…we’re in Lannan’s mansion. Several things happened while you were gone and they weren’t all good. And Cicely-be careful. Leo and Geoffrey are on the move, and they aren’t going to stop hunting down you and Rhiannon. Be cautious.”

As she hung up, I glanced around. “Let’s get to open ground and then we wait for Wrath. And be careful. Watch out for any day-runners that might be Geoffrey’s or Leo’s men.” I didn’t have to warn them that Rhia and I were being hunted. They already knew that.

As we struggled through the deep snow, looking for a clearing, it occurred to me that Geoffrey and Leo were almost as dangerous as Myst. More so, because they knew we could kill them. I may have jangled Myst’s nerves, but for now she still claimed most of the game board for her side. Geoffrey and Leo, on the other hand, were playing from the place of “nothing much to lose.” And men-or vampires-who had nothing to lose were far more deadly than someone who had a reason to use common sense and caution.

Chapter 13

We’d been walking for about ten minutes when we found a meadow, with a large boulder in the center. We huddled near the granite slab, waiting, and within twenty minutes, I looked overhead and saw the great horned owl. Wrath. He’d found us. He circled high, getting his bearings, then slowly settled to the ground, turning back into the King of Summer as he landed. I ran over to him.

“We found the heartstone. But Myst almost caught us. Kaylin took the gem and dreamwalked out of there.”

“I know. He was there when I left.” My father stared at me. “He told us about the end fight. How did you escape Myst?” His gaze pierced into me and I knew I’d have to tell him what had happened. Everything, without censoring myself.

“The fan…it took hold of me and I became the hurricane. And then I used the obsidian blade to slaughter one of the Shadow Hunters. Myst and her other two guardians ran. She was scared of me.” My words came out in a rush as I realized what I was saying. But it was true. I’d seen her face, felt the shock in her. Myst had retreated.

Wrath pressed his lips together. He let out a long breath and then wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “Come, we need to get home. Lainule must have her heartstone and you must be the one to present it to her. I cannot touch it. We will speak of these other things later.” But under the steady tones of his voice, I could hear the thunder in the distance.

We were a mere ten minutes from the road, though the distance was some nine or ten miles from where we’d begun our journey two days back. I called Peyton and gave her my father’s coordinates and as we trudged through the snow, none of us said much. At least Kaylin had made it back. And it was daylight, so I wouldn’t have to deal with Lannan-whatever his state-until tonight.

We broke through the undergrowth, out onto the road without any interference and there was Peyton, waiting. She looked grim, as we climbed into the car, but gave me a weary smile.

“I’m so glad you’re back. Lannan’s been pissed out of his mind and he’s been raging around the mansion.”

“Why did you go there instead of stay in the realm of Summer?” I glanced at her, then Wrath. Both of them looked uncomfortable.

Peyton bit her lip. “The energy within Summer’s realm is like alcohol to my father. He was giddy on it, and one of the guards tried to goad him into drinking wine. Rex is a recovering alcoholic. He felt cornered, and when a werepuma feels cornered, the resulting tiff isn’t pretty.”

Wrath sighed. “Rex turned into his puma self and went after the guard. He didn’t hurt him-” He held up his hand when I shot up, worried that Peyton’s father might have been hurt. “Neither man was harmed. But it wasn’t an auspicious start and it seemed better to have them join Lannan in his mansion. Luna and Zoey went with them. I checked on them yesterday and they were fine, and Lannan-for all his foibles-kept them safe. The realm of Summer is an uneasy place for any but those of Fae blood, either half or full.”

I grumbled, leaning back, but kept my mouth shut. I had the feeling the guard had been deliberately baiting Rex, but there was no way to prove it, and really, what good would it do except to cause even more animosity? So I decided to leave it alone. We had enough problems as it was.

“Is Lannan angry at me for not showing up for two nights?” Better to hear what I was in for now, rather than be surprised when we got back to the mansion.

“Lannan is…shall we say…livid. He swore that if you didn’t come back in one piece, he’d go after Wrath and Lainule himself.” Peyton cleared her throat, glancing at Wrath in the rearview mirror. But he just shrugged.

“The vampire would stand no chance. We have more powers than he can imagine.” He glanced at me. “And some of us are letting our powers run wild.”

I shivered under his watchful eye. I knew Wrath was pissed at me for disobeying him about the knife. And Lainule wouldn’t be all that pleased by how casually I’d been using the fan, but too fucking bad. We didn’t have a choice. And I’d proven one thing: We could scare Myst.

Peyton wound through the streets. It was unnaturally quiet in New Forest, hardly anybody on the sidewalks, even though it was now morning.

“Did something happen?” I glanced around sharply. There was a feeling in the air of foreboding. I could practically smell the fear.

She cleared her throat again. “There was another massacre last night. A theater. The Vampiric Fae got in and