Page 43 of The Iron Fae
"Does it smell?" I ask carefully.
"I'm surprised you can't smell it from there. I've been catching whiffs of rotting meat and dead carcass since I got up on this little witch’s front porch." Rowan waves his hand in front of his face.
I try to sniff again. I don't really smell much of anything. Probably, a good thing for now.
"Um, why would there be rotting meat or something dead?"
"It's pretty normal to bring some sort of a sacrifice for a seer. Not only does the blood help them to really conduct their sort of magic, they can live off the meat for a while and not need to leave their little holes to hunt." Kai bends, trying to get another angle to peer into the cave.
"What, uh... I really hate to ask this. What did we bring for a sacrifice?" My mouth feels immensely dry.
"Why do you think we brought Rowan?" Kai points at his brother.
"Ha, ha, ha. Very funny, asshole." Rowan throws a gentle punch at his brother. Kai fists it with a stern glance.
"Seriously, though?" I attempt to lean around the brothers to try and get a look at the dark cave. Hints of the meaty smell waft up to me as I try to ready myself for whatever sort of magical transformation is about to happen. Without a thought, my hands drift up and touch the amulet clasped around my throat.
All I can picture is this magical movie moment. My body will get picked up by a tornado of air, my arms and legs stretching behind my torso. Color will glow blindingly bright from the necklace as the seer chants some ancient language. In a snap everything will go dark... but then everything will be made new. I'll see things I couldn't before, smell things from farther distances, and get flooded with the gracefulness of the Fae.
At least that's what I'm guessing. I could be wrong.
"Seriously," Kai mocks my accent. "We don't need a sacrifice. She owes me a favor."
"She owes you... a favor? How do you get a seer in debt to you?"
"That's a story about a young Fae who did a lot of stupid things and found a friend who... also did a lot of stupid things."
Rowan crosses his arms, listening to his brother with a smirk. "Kai wasn't always such a good boy," he hums. "Now. Who's going first?"
"Briar is going alone." Kai nods.
"I'm what, now?" His words hit me in the chest, knocking the wind out of me.
"Neither Rowan or I can help you with this. This is between you and the seer. Tell her it's in fulfillment of my debt."
I touch the lip of the cave. The coming and going through the entrance has worn the rock smooth just in this one spot. Every other plane on the side of the volcano is bubbled. Black ash clings to my fingers as I pull away.
A flash of lightning makes light pour over the mountain range, the rumble of thunder quick to follow. I turn my face up to the sky. It's only taken minutes for the clouds to turn near black with the threat of a nasty storm.
Wind blows at my ponytail, sending my hair thrashing behind me. "Are you sure you don't want to come inside, even if only to avoid the storm?"
"This isn't for us to do," Rowan says loudly. "I agree with my brother even if I'm not entirely excited about standing out in the rain."
"You'll look like a drowned rat with those skinny little braids of yours." Kai says.
I can picture Rowan sopping wet. The short strands of hair around his face flattened against his skull and the few long strands braided behind him. He would truly look like a rat. I mean, I'd always considered the braids at the bottom of his hairline to be sort of like rat tails.
"Okay, I guess there isn't anything else for me to do but enter the cave." I clap my hands together.
And to work up the courage to you know... actually do it.
"Are you going?" Rowan says.
"Yes."
"Your legs aren’t moving..." Kai reminds me.
Assholes.
