Page 77 of Faerie Fate
“There’s been no account of what the pixies specialize in, or their magic, outside of the casualties both sides suffered during the Great War,” I replied hopelessly.
Poppy smeared the potion over her ankle. “No, there wouldn’t be, of course.
But something was definitely wrong. If her paleness weren’t enough of a warning, the way her fingers continued to tremble gave away her nerves.
“They also breed and train burrendiggers. Have you?—”
“What the hell is that?”
She smirked at me over her shoulder, and after a pause, said, “You don’t want to know. We need to get out of here.”
She didn’t have to tell me twice. The skin on the back of my neck tightened, prickling with alarm. My magic wound its way higher up from the well inside of me, ready to be used, and its appearance after so long was both a balm and a bane. The scar on my neck throbbed.
“I should be able to change into something and fly us out of here.”
“I’m too heavy. My powers will recharge in a second, as soon as the bone knits back together.” She ground her teeth. “I’ll carry myself. Why don’t you head out?”
“I’d feel better not leaving you behind.”
“Trust me, I’m not helpless. I know exactly how to take care of myself. Or in your words,I’m fine.”
She said the last bit in a passable imitation of me and for the first time since the cave-in, I grinned.
“You should really go into standup comedy.”
Poppy straightened and cleaned her hands on the front of her dress. “What’s that?”
A roar rumbled down from one of the six tunnels. Like a freight train barreling toward us and growing louder even as my heart picked up a devastating pace.
Dirt and rocks fell from above.
“Watch out!”
I glanced up in time to see Mike and Bronwen dance away from the destruction of the hole before they fell in too.
Poppy’s terror was palpable. For the first time since I’d met her, she looked as scared as I felt. She met my eyes.
“Burrendigger,” she whispered.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Poppy called up a glowing fae light on her palm. “Run!”
Her yell came at the same time as the force of her push, magic propelling me towards one of the black tunnels.
“Wait a minute!” I hesitated, confused. We had witch magic and fae magic. Why couldn’t we just fight whatever this thing was? Or I’d do as I said and shift into a big bird and carry Poppy out. The change tingled in my veins.
The sheer terror in her eyes landed like pieces of ice in my stomach. “We don’t have time!Run!”
No time to argue,either.
Instinct took over and the magic that would have changed my form now added an extra boost of speed to my sprints. The two of us took off down the tunnel with only the globe of magic light in her hand to illuminate the way.
A massive crash rocked the earth behind us, the ground shaking like a second earthquake, this one much larger than the one that destroyed the cabin.
The ripple effect sent a shockwave underneath us and we lost our balance at the same time. I fell forward, the air lost frommy lungs, and ducked and rolled to avoid crashing my skull into rock.
Shards scraped my cheeks. I recovered quickly enough to glance backward just as a massive stone crashed into the cavernous space where we’d fallen.
