Page 39 of Hunted in the Shadows
A cruel smirk touched Gwen’s full lips as she leaned back, studying Cliff. “You look good, I’ll give you that. Still drowning your emotional constipation in the bottle?”
Cliff’s smile was downright icy, his gaze roving over the crowded bookshelves and reusable grocery bags neatly tucked by the door. “Says the woman who’s one glass of chardonnay from being some housewife cliché. What happened to you?”
Her eyes flashed—this had struck deep. “The same fucking argument. Retiring isn’t giving up, you know. You can make a difference without violence.”
“Next time I cross paths with a werewolf, I’ll be sure to invite it to the block party.”
“You’re talking mad shit for someone who’s buddying up with a non-human. Are you insane?”
Their combined stares drifted toward me, making me squirm uncomfortably, dodging eye contact. I would have preferred toeat in peace, away from the ex-lovers’ quarrel, but I brushed crumbs from my hands and eased forward to hover over the table.
“I may not be human, but I'm not a monster, either,” I cut in over Cliff’s retort. “And I’m not here to cause trouble. They’re just helping me travel west.”
“A hitchhiking fairy,” Gwen scoffed, turning dubious eyes to the boys. “You realize their M.O. is glamour and deceit, right? No offense,” she tacked on, sparing me a hasty glance.
“She saved my life,” Jon said. I became aware of his shadow darkening over me protectively.
“So, it’s a bargain.”
“So, you can shut up about her,” Cliff said. “She’s not glamouring us. End of story.”
Gwen arched her brow. “Now I’ve seen it all,” she muttered.
I was almost relieved when Hannah returned, arms laden with a skillet and a colorful bowl.
“Careful, love,” she said with a tight laugh as she served up four omelets and set one in front of Gwen. “There’s all kinds of local legends about having to be polite to the Fair Folk, you know.”
I looked over my shoulder, my gaze catching Jon’s in a brief, unspoken exchange. The dark gleam that had surfaced there perfectly mirrored my own curiosity. I turned back to Hannah, trying to school my desperate hope that those vague legends Jon had scoured online weren’t just whispers of the past.
“My threshold for rudeness must be high, seeing as I haven’t cursed Cliff yet,” I said.“What sort of legends have you heard?”
A playful, conspiratorial look crossed Hannah's face as she took her seat, looking around the table. “Half the folks in town will tell you they’ve seen flickering orbs of light over the bayou—especially on cloudless nights. My Tante Halle swore up and down that she saw them herself, dancing where the moonlight touched the water.” She smiled as she spoke, warmth bleeding into her voice that had me leaning forward. “Rumor was, if yougot caught watching, they would lure you in and entice you to wander off the path. If you strayed too far, you’d be lost to the swamp forever.”
Gwen chuckled dryly. “Fairies wouldn’t flaunt their presence so openly. Correct me if I’m wrong.” Her gaze cut to me for confirmation.
A beat of surprise rippled through our side of the table, and her expression fell as she realized her mistake.
“You’ve seen fairies before?” Jon asked, leaning in. “When?Where?”
Gwen gave him a funny look. “You didn’t hear about it? There was an incident some two years back. A fairy triggered a trap in the swamp. Outpost residents caught it and kept it caged under archivist study for months off-site, studying it until—” She stopped short, eyes cutting to me. Her jaw feathered, and I got the strange feeling that she was appraising me.
“It didn’t end well,” she finished, quieter. “People got hurt. Rumor has it that the off-site location was burned, and the fairy went with it.”
My head spun. More fairies entangled with hunters. That dank room beneath the old church flashed through my mind’s eye—the smell of charred wood and ash stinging my nose at the memory. At least that place was done for, abandoned.
“Are there any being held captive now?” I asked, my voice thready and harsh. My heart pounded in my ears. “Anywhere else?”
“I dunno aboutnow,” Gwen said. “I’ve kept my distance since calling it quits half a year ago. Didn’t like the way things were headed.”
I turned, trying to read Jon and Cliff’s stony expressions, but they were inscrutable. All I could think of now were those weakened monsters that hunters trained with in that enclosure—the Pit. Was it possible my own kind were among them? The thought twisted my gut like an iron dagger.
No—I wouldn’t let myself imagine it.
Jon broke the heavy silence, shifting his attention to Hannah. “What can you tell us about the car?”
Hannah gave him a nervous smile. “Oh, uh—it’s probably fucked.”
“No shit,” Cliff muttered.
