Page 21 of The Girl in the Forest

Perhaps that was why he was here, hunting for the wolf. Who was gone, now.

But scattered pebbles edged the turf, and the man-boy bent down, scooped enough to fill his palm, tested the weight.

Then he pulled his arm back, threw the pebbles as hard as he could toward the cave.

I skittered backward when the stones bounced against the magic, clattered to the ground. But the veil held, then cleared enough for me to see it was Levi, standing there.

He was shouting. “I know you’re in there, Noa! Oscar found you. Don’t ask me how. He shifted into his wolf, and he came here and wouldn’t leave for days. Hattie finally got him home.”

Levi picked up another handful of pebbles, cocked back his arm and pitched them. They fell harmlessly on his side of the veil.

“He’s not doing well.”

My throat tightened.

“It took both Mace and Fallon to get him to shift back because Gray isn’t here. But he wouldn’t settle down until I promised I’d come and talk to a damn pile of rocks if it made him feel better.”

I opened my mouth, but the sound that came out was a croak.

“Are you gonna’ come out or what?”

Levi braced his fists on his hips before he half-turned and scrubbed a palm across his eyes. The veil shimmered, turned crystal clear. Tension creased around his lips. Brown hair drifted recklessly across his forehead. He shoved it back, bent to pick up a final pebble.

My heart pounded.

Do not believe in fate, Noa!

“It’s my birthday today.” Levi’s voice choked. He stared at the small rock on his palm, and this time, when he threw the pebble, the magic let it bounce through the veil and roll toward my knee.

No fate, no fate, no fate.

I picked the pebble up and threw it back.

CHAPTER 6

Noa

As the veil vanished, I breathed in the piney air that smelled richer, fresher than the air in the wrinkle, despite Aine telling me it was the same air. The grass carried the summery scents that came from long, warm meadowy days. Levi stood across from where I sat, and his first words to me were, “You look like shit.”

“Happy birthday,” I said, shoving my fingers into the sand beside my hips. “How old are you?”

“Seventeen,” he sneered. “Did you forget already?”

“No. Time is different in the wrinkle.” And for Levi, months might have passed while I’d been hiding. He could be any age by now.

“What the hell, Noa—you’re in a wrinkle?”

He was yelling at me, and I couldn’t defend myself against him, when—from Levi’s perspective—I’d been the one who disappeared. Without saying goodbye or telling anyone where I was going. When I’d be back. No one knew if I was safe or not. I’d been sitting on my side of the veil without answering him—when, after I had saved him, and Laura, all he wanted was to save me from something he didn’t understand.

I glanced over my shoulder to see what Levi saw. Both Effa and Caerwen were gone. My cave would look ordinary to anyone but Grayson, who would recognize it on sight.

But I wasn’t sure how much I could tell Levi, or how secret Aine’s wrinkle needed to remain. The easier path would be to let him think I’d created a hiding place with the same magic I’d used for my grand exit.

“I’m… comfortable.”

Levi sucked in a tight breath. “Is the Green Man helping you?”

I picked up a water bottle, worked at opening the cap. “He’s protecting me.”

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