Page 75 of Witch Unbound
“And how will you escape their clutches?” she asked.
Fuck. I hadn’t thought that far. “The rift we came through is gone. Do you know of a rift close to the tower?”
“No, but you can open one with the right key.” She fixed her attention on Lauris and once again a sly look crossed her face.
He frowned. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
Wait…A key. Shady Lane. “Lauris, your key to Shady Lane.”
He frowned. “What has that got to do with anything?”
“I can sense its power,” Minerva said. “It opens doors that are not there.”
“Not to Faerie…” Lauris trailed off. “I mean, Shady Lane is…”
“A place in between,” Bramble finished for him. “It could be a pocket of Faerie.”
Lauris reached in his pants pocket and pulled out the key. “You say this can open a rift out of Faerie?” He didn’t look convinced.
“Does it get you to and from this Shady Lane place?” Minerva asked.
“Yes.”
“Then it will work,” she said with confidence.
“We should test it,” Rune said. “To be sure.”
“You can’t open a rift here,” Minerva said quickly. “This place is protected; opening a rift will damage that. I’m sorry, I won’t allow you to do that.”
The lights buzzed closer, surrounding us in a mildly threatening manner. I couldn’t blame her for wanting to protect her haven.
“We won’t do that.” I gave Lauris a pointed look, and he sighed and tucked the key away. “But we do need to test the key before we go into that tower.”
“The mirror will transport you close enough to the tower for you to avoid the perilous journey, but not so close as to be detected by those within. You can test your key before you venture forth. But remember, the rift you open won’t remain so indefinitely.”
And if it didn’t work, we’d be stuck. Could I jump us away from the tower? It hadn’t worked earlier, but maybe that was the forest’s doing. Even if I managed to make a jump, I had no directional references when it came to this world and no people I could anchor to. Coming back here would disrupt their boundaries. Fuck. We’d have to cross that bridge when we came to it. There was no way I was leaving now that we were so close to our goal.
Minerva turned to Bramble. “I implore you once again to remain here with us. You must not risk your life on this quest when there are bigger battles for you to fight.”
Bramble’s brow furrowed in annoyance. “And I toldyou, I don’t abandon my friends.”
Minerva took a shuddering breath. “Your loyalties are skewed.”
“And you’re expecting too much.” Bramble stepped away. “Thanks for saving my life. You asked me to hear you out and I’ve done that. Now I have a mission to complete.”
There were witches and children to save, darklings to slaughter, not to mention this other force. Yeah, it was time to find out who was pulling the strings with this changeling operation.
Wren climbed up my leg and onto my back. The others flanked me as I approached the mirror.
I closed my eyes and stepped through the glass.
* * *
We materialized behind a grassy knoll.Thunder rumbled in a stormy gray sky, and icy air snapped at my skin. This was a different side of Faerie. A side unafraid to vent its rage. The atmosphere was electrically charged, raising the hair on my body.
Rune clambered up the hill. “I see the tower. It’s a ten-minute hike, if that.”
“Lauris.” I lifted my chin, urging him to act.
