Page 78 of Witch Untold
Lauris looked down at her, silver eyes gleaming wickedly where they caught the light from the posts.
“Why, Bramble? Are you jealous?”
“Huh? Fuck off am I.” She crossed her arms and glared at him. “Come on, then, let’s get this over with.” She jerked her head toward the door.
“You both need to touch me,” he said.
“You wish,” Bramble retorted.
He chuckled. “A hand on my shoulder will do, if you can reach, midge.”
Bramble bristled and reached up to grip his shoulder, a little more tightly than required if Lauris’s slight wince was any indication.
I placed a hand on his other shoulder. “What is this? Some kind of entrance ritual?”
Lauris winked and slid the key into the lock. It turned with a soft snick. He pushed the door open and a gust of cool air drifted out along with the scent of an impending storm. We stepped over the threshold onto a snow-free cobbled street shrouded in a thick mist.
The door we’d stepped through was gone and a pillar made of gray and red brick stood in its place, smack bang in the center of this strange, cobbled street.
“What the fuck?” Bramble muttered.
Lauris pivoted to face us, arms out. “Welcome to Shady Lane.”
* * *
Shady Lane.Apt name.
The place was creepy as fuck, not to mention the shadows that lurked in the…shadows, and I was pretty sure we were being tailed as we wound through the narrow roads bordered by decrepit, dark brick buildings that seemed to lean into the street as if peering down at us. Doors painted black, window frames painted black, not a shaft of light slanting out of any windows. The place looked deceptively dead.
“What is this place?” Bramble asked the question before I could.
“A space in between,” Lauris said. “One of many, but not everyone can find them.”
“And you did?”
He shrugged. “I guess I must be special.” He winked at us, but there was something beneath the blasé expression that I couldn’t quite define.
I lengthened my stride so I was walking abreast of him. “Where did you get the key?”
“It found me.” He glanced down at me. “Look. I shouldn’t even be bringing you here, I might lose my key, but I get how important Jasper is to you. The fewer questions you ask, the better, okay?”
My curiosity was piqued, but I pressed my lips together. He was doing me a favor; the least I could do was respect his boundaries.
My scalp prickled as the thing following us drifted closer.
“Ignore it,” Lauris said. “It won’t hurt you.”
“What isitexactly?”
“A shadow sylph. It’s harmless. Just nosey,” Lauris said. “Got nothing better to do.” He raised his voice.
The flitting thing following us balked and then hissed softly as if in objection.
“Uh-huh, is that why you’re hanging about?” Lauris drawled.
Another hiss.
Lauris chuckled. “Yeah, whatever.”
