Page 71 of Faerie Fate
A sharp crack came from the area of the fireplace. When I looked back, the flames had grown higher, consuming everything way too fast.
“We have to find her.” Mike’s eyes glistened with panic and he passed behind me, heading for the area where the spell room used to be.
He yanked up boards and planks and plaster as Noren and I dragged Bronwen away from the destroyed cabin, working intandem. Every step we won magnified the agony in my leg and when I looked, fresh blood smeared the dress to my skin.
I shouldered Bronwen the same way Noren had to help me. Ignoring the fire. Ignoring anything that stopped me from getting us clear.I’ve been through worse, and there’s more to come.
Another crash sounded. My eyes blurred, tearing. One more step. One step after that and I’d be free.
By the time we got Bronwen safe, Mike had returned with Poppy, carrying her in his arms. One pale arm looped around the back of his neck and her head lolled as he stepped from the wreckage.
Together, we stood in what used to be her front yard and watched her cabin burn to the ground. The flames were unstoppable, magic and hungry.
From water to fire and everything in between, I knew. We were in terrible trouble.
“What actually happened?” I finally asked. “Faerie doesn’t have earthquakes unless something is very, very wrong.”
Mike shrugged. “Who knows, Tavi. Sometimes bad things happen when you least expect them.”
“When I first got here, you told me there were no thunderstorms in Faerie. My presence caused the land to revolt. Do you think?—”
“No,” he cut me off. “No, I don’t think. Please drop it.”
As if in response, Noren nudged my leg and looked off into the distance beyond the flame. The same place he’d stared at earlier before I went into the ritual with Poppy. He barked, a gravelly grunting sound, then met my eyes again.
Without words, I knew what he wanted to say. Smoke billowed on the horizon, blacker than the twisting trail from the wreckage of the cabin. It wasn’t from our fire.
There was something else going on.
“What’s happening over there?” I grimaced, jerking my nose in the direction of the smoke. “Maybe the quake caused more damage? The two things could be related somehow.”
Please. I needed the earthquake to be from a different source. Not me.
Poppy, now on her feet and inclining heavily against Mike, shook her head. “It’s something more. Big. The earthquake wasn’t a natural event. I felt Faerie magic in it. It’s not you.”
Bronwen inhaled sharply. Her eyes flickered back and forth, her pupils much too large. “Tavi?”
I lowered us both in a crouch and set her on the ground while she came to. “I’m here.”
“What happened?” She lifted her hand to her nose, winced, and dragged it through the dried blood. “Ugh. Is my nose broken?”
“Earthquake,” I replied shakily.
Bronwen paled, gasping, placing her hand on her chest. “The cabin?”
My shoulders lifted a fraction. “It’s gone.”
Poppy cut me a look. “It’s a miracle we all made it out. A miracle none of us are dead.”
“I wouldn’t use that word,” I added awkwardly, looking over our bonfire at the smoke spiraling into the sky.
Why had the earthquake hit now?
There was nothing miraculous about this situation. My gut sank lower than the Titanic. One step after the other wasn’t cutting it for me anymore.
Battered, drained, chained to a mate against my will… I needed it to stop. And I would have given anything for a get out of jail free card.
“Where do we go from here?” Bronwen sagged forward, swiping her hand underneath her nose again. The dried blood caked on her skin. “I mean…what should we do?”
