Hekla and I were hiding in the trees, blades of moonlight scattered around our fae-clothed bodies. At first glance, the drop cells seemed to sit on a solid bank of gray rock. But as Hekla and I crept closer, it became clear how horrifying this fae prison truly was. The rock looked like a flat palm hanging over a drop. A glistening river flowed through a valley that had to be over one thousand feet down.
The chilly wind stirred the vine wings and longish hair of four fae guards who stood in front of the cells looking appropriately thuggish. Shuffling noises came from the first cell, but since the walls were mostly made of magically hewn stone, I couldn’t see whether it was Oliver—the Binder’s son—or Kaippa. Although not having to rescue more than just those two made this job easier, it wasn’t exactly comforting that the unseelie fae didn’t have a slew of folks captive. It only meant they did other things to those they captured. A fleeting thought about the meat we’d been served at the feast ran through my head. No, I told myself. They weren’t eating people. They probably just killed them.
You knew things sucked when being murdered instead of murdered and eaten was a comfort.
I handed Hekla one of the fae knives from my boot and tucked the other one into my belt. Lucus had Nora’s blade, and I kept glancing behind me to see if he would walk up, ready for this jail break. Where was he? It wasn’t like we had all night. Arleigh didn’t seem the forgetful type. She’d quickly notice we were gone.
After gritting my teeth, fearing every second Corliss or another freaky-ass unseelie would surprise us and slice our heads off, I finally gave into my impatience and waved Hekla around the long way through the forest. We followed a downward sloping path until we stood alongside the cliff face underneath the overhang.
Nausea swamped me. It wasn’t like I hadn’t been around high spots like this. I’d loved climbing the Muir Route on El Cap with Hekla last fall. We’d done plenty of high climbs. But we sure as hell hadn’t done them without gear. I was no North Face-sponsored Alex Honnold. And we definitely hadn’t been dealing with danger like this in order to save two people’s lives. It’d been a rush, a test of our skills, a challenge that had woken us up from the regular day-to-day monotony. But this was altogether different.
Hekla was studying the cliff face alongside me. If I ended up having to traverse and climb to the cells, I’d need to have a route picked out. Ideally, I’d have a long time and a bucket load more light to do this. A series of cracks on the rock’s surface would be fantastic, but thus far I couldn’t see one.
Please get here, Lucus, I prayed silently.
My chest went cold, and I grabbed Hekla’s hand, desperate to feel her warm fingers, to know she was alive and well. I wanted her—and everyone else—away from this shit show and back home where we could bake a rustic loaf of rosemary bread and stuff ourselves to bursting with beautiful, wondrous carbs.
Hekla gave me a sad smile. Her thick, ebony bangs brushed her eyelashes, and her blue eyes had lost their cornflower color in the pale light of the moon.
At any moment, we would be discovered and skewered or choked in vines. Lucus must’ve been stopped, and I had to get this thing going.
“Keep an eye out,” I whispered, glad for the rushing of the breeze through the dry autumn leaves at our feet.
My hands sweating like crazy, I started forward to see if I could find a good spot to start to traverse.
Hekla jerked me backward, away from the sloping mountain’s drop. “He’ll get here. Just wait.”
I looked up, watching for the shadow of guards moving on the moonlit trees. “We can’t stand out here all night.”
I had to do it. I had to get on that insane cliff face in the middle of the damn night and climb up to free a little boy and a vampire. I shut my eyes and willed myself to believe I could do it and that I wasn’t about to become a smear on the distant valley below.
Chapter 27
As I mentally prepared myself for a free climb—as if there were any way one could properly do such a thing—Hekla swallowed, looking like she might puke.
She eyed the rock face. “There,” she whispered, and pointed to a dish, a small indent in the stone that sat only a foot away from the sloping hillside.
After one last hopeful glance at the forest behind us, I tugged off my boots and socks and adjusted the fae blade at my belt.
“I could go back and try to find a rope, at least,” Hekla whispered, her hands on her knees as she bent over to talk into my ear. “This is crazy.”
“No time. They’ll kill us.”
Wincing, she turned her head. “I know.” Seemingly resigned, she patted my back as I stood.
Wind flew up the cliff face and tossed my braided hair as I reached over the drop to grip a tiny, diagonal crack in the rock. I stretched my foot out and set my toes in the dish, quickly searching for a crack for my other hand. I could almost feel Hekla’s fear humming through the night, hitting me in rhythmic waves.
The first of the drop cells hung directly over my head and cast a shadow over what would be the last part of the climb. My eyes would adjust though. Right? Sure. I was going with that. I pushed up from the dish and grabbed a tiny shelf, moving my other foot to find a new, higher spot to press into. The rock wasn’t sandy—a serious plus—but I did notice a waxy quality to it here and there as I made my way higher, closer to the first cell.
The metallic odor
