Page 94 of Faerie Hunted

Even when I wanted to.

Even when I wasn’t sure why Ihadto.

I looked over to Mike and met his gaze, imploring him to do something. But it seemed even he wasn't immune to the argument or the validity of our next steps. Just as it was clear he didn’t really want his mom to go with me.

He wanted to be the one to stand at my side.

All I wanted was to reach for him and find some time and place to be alone, to be in his arms and close my eyes. To pretend like there was nothing and no one else in our world and we were alone somewhere desolate.

Livvy nodded, the decision settled. “We head out as soon as possible, then. The next thing to do is get out of the city. It will be safer than remaining. Those shifters will still be on our trail.”

And what would stop them from finding us in the next one, I wondered. There was nowhere safe in this world. Not with Dorian Jade out there determined to see his goals realized.

I leaned heavily on Noren and Bronwen moved up to my side. Her thin smile lacked any real confidence but I appreciated her attempt.

Words failed me and my tongue shrank back to half its size. On leaden feet, I followed Livvy, leaving Mike and Laina to help Onyx on our way out of the city. The countryside wasn’t any safer but no one would listen to me if I spoke.

Laina drew on her witch magic to weave protections after us, to erase our tracks as we made them.

What did I expect, really? The thought of going back to the human realm filled me with something similar to repulsion. It had been my home, the place I grew up, back when I didn’t know how dangerous the world actually was.

Then my horizons expanded and grew even more dangerous and suddenly here we were.

I tried not to fight against what felt like a tide but there was no stopping my mind from conjuring up the worst-case scenarios and worrying about them like they were already real.

A savior?Me?I’d never heard such rubbish.

The sun arched overhead and the space between the buildings grew yet again. From the seaside to the city’s heart and out the other side, we traveled in near silence. Watching our every move and scrutinizing the crowd for signs of shifters.

Every set of eyes that turned in our direction was a potential enemy.

Livvy and Laina navigated. As though now that they’d decided on a direction, it was only natural for them to be the counselors with our group of wayward children. Even Noren fell into line.

None of this had turned out the way I’d thought, the way I’d planned.

Things had twisted from bad to worse.

I thought being accused of Madam Muerte’s murder was the worst thing to happen to me. Or being kidnapped by Kendrick in the middle of the Wild Hunt.

None of it compared to the trek out of Yelaine and the nagging worries of what would happen once we made it back to the human realm. It wasn’t a question ofif. The moms would find a way.

It also didn’t help not knowing exactly what kind of change would happen inside of me once Livvy unlocked my so-called witch powers.

Or the lingering fears that Livvy was entirely insane.

On one hand, I wanted to believe her. On the other…it would mean accepting that I was special in a way I’d never understand.

“We’ll stop here.” Livvy drew to a stop outside of a low rising hill. Boulders ringed the base. A pulse of magic maneuvered the stones out of their current positions and left a small black opening visible. “A faerie ring, built around a thin spot between the realms.”

“How did you know this was there?” I asked, my lips numb.

“The land speaks to me. I know its secrets and I know where it wants me to go. Our way has been guided.” Livvy stepped aside and once again motioned for us to head inside the cave. “Come. It’s safe here.”

The opening was small enough that I had to get down on my hands and knees to scramble inside.

The granite scraped the top of my head and my knees and for a tense moment I forgot how to breathe. Claustrophobia pressed in close and the walls tightened around me, my heart clawing at the inside of my throat.

Finally the tunnel opened up into a cave large enough for us to move about freely. The ceiling expanded so that even the tallest among us wasn’t able to rise on the tips of their toes to touch it.

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