Page 139 of Faerie Hunted

Noren returned moments after Livvy snapped her fingers and the flames burst to life.

He approached the fire and dropped his prey at my feet, staring at me with his head tilted to the side.

“You’re so resourceful,” I said to him in an undertone. I smiled. “Thank you for this. I appreciate it.”

He’d caught enough food for us to cook over a makeshift spit, the flames crackling merrily beneath the roasting rabbit. Soon the air filled with the scent and moonlight glinted off the still surface of the lake.

Noren sat on his haunches beside me and leaned until I automatically ran my hand through the fur at the scuff of his neck.

“Someone will return for us soon.” Livvy paced on the other side of the fire with her focus a million miles away. Her hand remained at her mouth, her teeth worrying at the skin of her thumb’s cuticle. “Until then, the best course of action is to stay here and wait. Then everyone will be back together.”

I understood her reasoning even when my instincts screamed at me to go, to run, to keep moving ahead of the people who hunted us. Mike would not be able to track us if we left the lake and the ruins of the Abyss.

Bronwen would, but why make more trouble for her?

After a while, it hurt too much to watch Livvy pace, to wonder at the way her mind worked.

Neither of us had any idea why the spell failed. She knew of no way to contact Faerie to find out. At this point, we’d reached a dead end.

Another one in a long line of them.

I poked at the rabbit with a stick to judge doneness. It needed another little bit of time before being completely cooked but I wasn't willing to wait. My stomach growled and I busied myself with removing the steaming rabbit from the spit.

“Your pacing isn’t going to help,” I told her. “Why don't you come sit and we’ll have something to eat.” The heat burned my fingers and quickly dissipated.

“There’s nothing else to do besides sleep,” she groused.

A sense of the surreal permeated the moment when she settled herself cross-legged and accepted a bit of meat. It almost seemed as though I'd become the more responsible person here. Her nerves refused to settle.

I had them too. I’d have to be out of my damn mind not to be nervous right now but I had to channel them into something else besides movement. Or maybe my body was still reeling from everything that had happened over the last few days. Maybe it would take me the rest of my life to feel like my old self again.

I’d feel much better if Onyx were here.

At least then I’d have someone familiar, a peer, to speak to. Having my mom back was a miracle but I found it more difficult than I’d ever imagined to talk to her.

“This is good.” Livvy gestured toward the rabbit. “Your wolf is an asset to you, Tavi. I hope you understand how lucky you are to have him.”

“He is,” I agreed. “And I literally did nothing to the rabbit except coo it. I can't take any credit.”

“You sell yourself short.”

I scoffed lightly. “What else is new? Fighting against a tide tends to make you think of yourself as small but compact.” I tried to grin at her and found my lips failing me. I took a bite of rabbit and chewed thoughtfully, letting the heat seep into me. Warmth trailed down my throat and into my stomach, settling there.

“I don’t like to hear you talk about yourself this way. You’ve had some incredible experiences, yes, but they have all made you strong,” she said, licking the grease off her fingers.

“What if I’m tired of being strong?” I finally asked. “What if there are stronger people out there? Better choices.”

“There will always be stronger people out there. Who is on your mind right now?”

She knew. She had to know. “I…just feel like it might be a better situation if Onyx were with me.”

“Well, we have some time.” Livvy rose and wiped her hands on the front of her pants. “Why don’t we scry for him? The lake is placid and the night fresh and full of possibilities. It will give you peace of mind to know he’s crossed over. Wouldn’t it?”

I arched a brow at her. “I thought you were all about going to sleep.”

“We need to pass the time somehow, do we not? It seems the best use of time before we sleep is helping my daughter.”

“It’s fine, you don’t have to.” My mind immediately shifted toward the question I’d been pointedly avoiding for much too long.

---