Page 90 of The Shadow Path
“Ah, the charms of London,” Laura said. “All the stories are true.”
Duncan snorted. “You show up anywhere at this hour and you’re bound to get the worst of a city. Joggers and drunks.”
As if on cue, two men in black running clothes passed by the end of the alley, heading toward Knightsbridge Road.
“We’re here now.” Cadell looked around the grey walls and paved streets with a glare. “How do you propose we find one woman in a city of over eight million people?”
Carys had already been thinking about that. “Where are the oldest existing forests in London?”
Duncan blew out a long breath. “Believe it or not, there are quite a few forests in London. Hyde Park you know, but there are parks and woods all over the place. It’s hard to say which one might be?—”
“Gorne Wood.” Laura piped up.
All of them turned to look at her.
She shrugged. “I remember because I looked it up before we left. I figured there might be a fae gate there. It’s right in the middle of the city, and it’s the last part of the Great North Wood that’s still standing. It’s been continuously forested for over four hundred years.”
Duncan frowned. “I’ve never heard of it.”
“It’s not really a park or an actual forest. It used to be an old scouting campground or something. It was just bought and preserved by a local foundation. It had been in private hands before, but it was all run down. After the scouts stopped using it, it kind of became a dumping ground. People sold drugs there. Lots of crime.”
Cadell looked at Carys, staring at her for a long moment.
“Cadell,” she whispered.
“What?”
“I can’t hear you.” She pointed at the buildings around them. “Brightlands, remember?”
“Ah.” He straightened and threw his shoulders back. “I was telling you that a secluded place that has been wild for four hundred years and has untouched earth would be exactly the kind of place a god might seek out.”
Laura said, “The article did mention that it might be dangerous because of the crime. It’s been fenced off, but I’m sure we can find a way to sneak in.”
“Where is it?” Duncan asked.
“South London?” Laura closed her eyes. “Brockley? Brockney? Something like that. I think they said it’s only six miles from Westminster.”
“Brockley.” Duncan nodded. “We should get a cab before traffic really gets going. This time of day, we might get lucky and get there in under an hour.”
“Old forests, seclusion, and crime?” Carys nodded. “Sounds like just the kind of place the Crow Mother might hang out.”
A half hour later,the black cab dropped them off at the end of Courtrai Road in Brockley, a tidy neighborhood in South London where neat houses lined up in straight rows, family cars lined the streets, and a children’s play area was set up at the apex of a dead-end road.
Gorne Wood wasn’t marked by anything remarkable. There was a chain-link fence set up in an attempt to keep trespassers out, but it was clear from the litter and churned-up grass on the other side of the crooked gate that it wasn’t as effective as the local activists probably liked.
“Gorne Wood.” Cadell took a deep breath in. “I don’t smell any fae.”
“You’re in the Brightlands,” Carys said. “You don’t have a dragon nose here.”
There was a metal padlock on the gate, but Carys was sure she could climb it. It had been a few years since she’d hopped fences, but it wasn’t that hard when you were short.
The men, on the other hand, might have a harder time.
Cadell frowned. “My senses are stronger in Baywood. I can usually sense fae even on the Bright side of the gate.”
“Thinner walls, remember?” Laura didn’t wait for them to gather attention from passersby. She promptly started climbing up and over the fence. “The gates in Baywood are more porous. You guys coming or not?”
“Right after you.” Carys started to climb the fence, only to freeze when she felt Duncan wrap his hands around her waist.
