Page 45 of Faerie Hunted

“Look…” He paused, drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “I thought it would be a nice way for us to do something to release a little bit of tension. I know we’re both holding it in. We almost died, Tavi. We almost lost our lives a few days ago and we’ve been running on adrenaline and hope for the last three days. Maybe it’s just me but I’m at the end of my rope and I could use a little fairy glen magic.”

He made a good point and I felt horrible asking him to keep driving. Especially when my own fear, held inside my muscles for much longer than a few days, twinged in a reminder of its presence.

“Sure, we can totally do that,” I agreed. “As long as it doesn’t take too long.”

“I realize you’re anxious to get on the road again. Trust me, I know. And I agree. But we need a break. Come on.”

We were slow to pry ourselves out of the car. I opened the door wide for Noren and he automatically hopped out to stretch his legs again, his claws digging into the soft earth where we’d parked. I drew in the scent of night-colored air, moss, verdant greenery.

I lifted my gaze to the sky and drew in a deep breath to steady myself.

This part of Faerie belonged to nothing and no man except for the visitors to the fairy glen.

Even I had to admit the attraction was cute. We used a few bucks left over from our stolen stash to gain entry, only the two of us. Noren went off to prowl in the forest around us. A few trails lit by silvery fae light illuminated the path through the attraction. Here and there, magic arranged to automatically activate when tourists arrived burst to life.

Cute, yes, and a nice distraction for the thirty minutes it took to make it from start to finish.

Onyx kept close and I looped my arm through his as much for my comfort as to support him.

Once we finished and collected Noren, I slid behind the wheel and gunned it, pulling away from the side of the road. The forest became a wall of pure black behind us. The clutching sensation in my chest had eased slightly after our trek through the glen.

He’d been right. It was exactly what we needed despite the way we trudged through it, each of us bogged down by the weight of our respective ills. Me with my zombie disease—go figure—and Onyx with his chronic pain. We made quite the pair.

“Hey.” His voice roused me from my thoughts. “We’ve got a problem.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean we’re being followed. There’s a car behind us that doesn't have the headlights on but I see a glint of metal every now and then.”

Everything inside of me tightened. “You can't be sure they’re followingus.”

“It’s the same car I saw back at the Lacrnythos Crown. And the same one that drovepastus at the glen. Now we’re ahead of them, and I guarantee—” Onyx paused. “It’s no coincidence.”

13

We were in the middle of absolute nowhere.

What were the odds of someone else being out here, stopping where we stopped?

I trusted Onyx and his observational skills but damn it, we had nowhere to go—there was no one around to help and no other traffic on the road except for the single vehicle following us.

“What does it look like?” I asked him, dropping my voice low and somehow feeling foolish because of it. It wasn’t as if our car was bugged. Or had someone gotten in while we were distracted at the glen?

Crap, at this point, anything was possible.

“Look for other roads where we might be able to lose them,” Onyx urged, his face gaunt.

This road was about the size of a normal two-lane back in the mortal world but it seemed as though we’d somehow made our way into the heart of the wilderness. The same sprawling forests I’d seen from the air, on my way to meeting with the Claw & Fang, covered this part of the world as well, surrounding isolated pockets of towns.

“There’s nothing here,” I protested. “Did you see the maps at the glen? This road is the only one cutting through the forest. The best thing we can do is try to make it out of here and once we do, hope we can lose them.”

My knuckles went white, my skin broke out in a cold sweat, and Noren whined.

I had a terrible gut feeling that whoever followed us had waited until now to show themselves. On purpose. A calculated move. Whoever it was, they wanted us to see them.

I pressed my foot to the pedal and pushed the car to go faster.

Although their headlights were off, once I tuned in to the vehicle’s presence, they were easier to spot. They maintained the same distance behind us and sped up to stay within eyesight.

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