didn’t.”
“Why would they camp here? There’s nothing here for them.” And then I remember Halim pointing to the map and the thick line of black within the Unknown. “Jason. He’s going to unleash what’s in the Unknown. That has to be it.”
Reece rubs his face and stares up through the tree limbs. “What is his problem? I get that his dad is a piece of work, but that little prick is going above and beyond the tantrum stage.”
“I don’t know,” I lie. This isn’t the time or place to confess how I abandoned Jason, leaving him in a panic buried within a tangle of tree roots. Some friend I am. I took a perfectly decent guy and made him into a raging psychopath.
“Wait here.” I scooch on my belly to the edge of the clearing. My nose is full of the loamy smell of forest debris. I quickly do a head count. It isn’t as large a contingent as I first thought—more than twelve, less than twenty—and they’re heavily bogged down with setting up the tents and arranging all the gear of camp life. There’s no sign of Jason, but when I glance toward the bridge, I see something that has me squinting to be sure—Signe and Bodog sneaking toward the bridge. It’s only a matter of time before the soldiers see them.
I hustle back to Reece, and when he sees me, he pushes to his feet. “What?”
I must look as panicked as I feel. “She’s with Bodog and they’re going for the bridge.” We scramble back to the clearing and hide behind some trees. I point to where I saw them, and a few seconds later we see them dart between the trees.
Reece ducks back out of sight. “She’s going to get herself killed.”
“I’ll deal with the soldiers.” I motion toward his shoulder. “How do you feel?”
He tests its mobility and winces. “Been better, but I’ll manage.”
“Okay, then.” I’m not going to argue with him. “You run as fast as you can and get Signe.” I nod at the sword he’s carrying. “Tell me you know how to use that.”
“In theory.”
I sigh, not at all surprised. “Don’t use it unless you have to. And if you find yourself in trouble, give it to Bodog.”
“You’re kidding.” He acts like I just told him Bodog is my half brother I’ve had hidden Quasimodo-style until now.
All Reece knows is Bodog the whimpering little man. He hasn’t seen what I have. “I’m dead serious. He knows exactly how to use it.”
Reece reluctantly gives me his word, and I nod. “Good luck. On three.”
Reece crouches, and I feel my muscles tense, ready to spring into action. “One. Two. Three.”
We both shoot out of the trees. Reece’s arms pump and legs spin in a mad dash for Signe. I barge right into the camp, pull out my sword, and slice into the first man I see. I dodge, then turn back on the next guy, killing him with one blow. Dodge and strike. Kick, spin, and jab. I make my way through the camp like an angel of death until I’m standing amid a pile of bloodied and broken bodies.
When I turn to find Reece and Signe, I don’t see them. Only Bodog stands, leaning on the stick that holds the spirit of Faldon. My grandfather’s face appears in the wood, and the scratchy dry words that crawl from the wooden lips make me feel sick to my stomach. “You’ve become quite the expert at killing, Dylan. Well done.”
I storm over to Bodog and point my flaming sword at Faldon’s shrinking face. “I don’t enjoy it. Not like you.” Then I round on Bodog. “Where’d they go?”
He strokes the stick as if he’s consoling Faldon, and glares at me. I’m beginning to think he’s not going to tell me when he points a long, knobby finger toward the bridge.
It’s like someone punched me in the chest. They went into the Unknown. Without me. “How are they going to survive?”
Never Let Go
Time. It slipped along, sometimes quickly, sometimes excruciatingly slowly, dipping into day and night at will, without reason.
How long Kera floated in the black abyss, reaching for dreams she couldn’t catch, she had no way of knowing. But finally, a dream came near and she latched on, falling into it with a sigh of relief.
When she opened her eyes, she was immediately aware of two things. She was dressed in clothes from Dylan’s realm—jeans, T-shirt, and tennis shoes. No pinching corset or uncomfortable shoes. And she stood in Faldon’s kitchen beside the long oak table with his chemistry tubes and vials hissing and dripping away. A sense of home washed over her weary nerves.
The last time she was here was with Dylan. If she closed her eyes, she could see him. When she opened her eyes, the room was empty, and only a lingering sense of Dylan remained. She felt a pinch to her heart and rubbed her arms as if to warm herself, though she wasn’t cold.
She stepped to the table and ran her hand along the old oak top, then looked around. Everything was as it should be. A bird stand loomed in one corner. A huge sink gobbled up the space of another, and between the two, a massive oven intruded into the square footage of the kitchen. Pots and pans and dried herbs hung from the rafters. There was the scent of life and death here, but that didn’t alarm her. Faldon had been their healer. His herbs and magic were sought by everyone.
She heard something, like a man clearing his throat. “Faldon?”
She took a step toward the door that separated the kitchen from the rest of the house. But for the makeshift laboratory, the house was achingly quiet. When she reached the door, a tiny mew came from the opposite side. Faldon was a great believer in rehabilitating creatures their world had damaged or considered dangerous. He called it his great social experiment. Always the scientist. She missed him terribly.
Kera opened the door and walked down the short hall to the living area. Peeking inside, she saw a fire in the fireplace and a man sitting in a chair. He sat at an angle that hid his identity, only revealing the swishing white tail of a cat he held on his lap.
Kera paused, somehow knowing it wasn’t Faldon. She must have made a noise, because the man leaned forward, and the cat hissed upon seeing her.
“Hush now,” Baun scolded, yet he swept his hand down the cat’s back before scratching the animal under the chin. “She’s no threat to you.” He set the cat on the floor and stood, waving Kera forward to a nearby matching chair. “Come in, please. I could use the company.”
He was dressed like a model from the human realm in a white T-shirt, jeans, a dark-brown leather jacket, and a pair of casual shoes. The only thing ruining the look were a few strands of white cat hair clinging to his pants, but he quickly brushed them off.
The white cat looked suspiciously similar to Lucinda, and it gave her a sudden chill. Lutines were crafty creatures and never to be trusted. Giving the cat a wide berth, Kera approached Baun. “Who is that?”
“I found her curled by the fire when I showed up. She’s quite an affectionate piece of fluff. She jumped in my lap the moment I sat down.” He motioned Kera to the chair beside his. When she sat, he smiled warmly. “I am glad to see you. You are far more interesting a companion than a purring dust bunny.”
“Thank you.” She tucked her hands beneath her thighs and nervously swung her feet. Though
“This is my home. My true home, remember? Faldon is my father.”
“Of course.” She felt silly now. “Has much changed?”
“Nothing, but this is Teag. Change comes to us on broken wings.”
She stopped swinging her feet and tilted her head, unsure how to respond.
“It is a metaphor. We have so many miraculous things, but lack the technology the human realm worships. If only we had both.”
“The speed at which the humans live life…it’s exhausting.”
“It’s exciting.”
“And damaging.”
