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Warmth consumed Grey after a meal of fresh baked rolls, cooked bacon, and fried eggs. Bags packed, and inn key left on the counter, he followed Noel to the supply shop for rations before they mounted the bike again.
Overcast skies darkened the bleak horizon, like an omen of worse things to come as Noel shot out of the compound and down the road before veering off the path. Grey tried to settle in for every bump, bounce, twist, and turn through the worn-down, beaten trails.
“Grey?”
He tore his gaze from the fields of tall grass and far-off trees. “Hm?”
“Did you dream about anything last night?”
Noel’s zipper track dug into his palms. “Um… Yeah, actually…”
“Was the obelisk in it?”
Grey huffed out a short, joyless laugh. “Yep. Did you?”
A sigh. “Unfortunately. What happened in it?”
He sank down a little further, his arms pressing against Noel’s sides like he might fall off. “Not much. The fair folk started whispering to me while I stood in front of my mark, and—” Grey bit off his explanation, recalling the quiet wails turning into urgent pleas for help as leaves crunched underfoot.
“And?”
Grey shook his head. “I heard my own voice crying for help,” he mumbled. “Like, a younger version of myself, I guess. By the time I got to it—me—I was in front of a sealed-off faerie portal at the base of a tree, and other me was sobbing on the other side…”
Noel cleared his throat, shifting his weight slightly. “Was there… anything else?”
“No,” he whispered. “It ended with me trying to dig child-me out with this horrible feeling that I was being watched.”
Silence pooled between them, hovering like they were passing through fog until Noel spoke. “The fair folk asked me to give you to them in exchange for letting me go after the Hunt.”
Grey’s stomach dropped. “What?”
“I told them to fuck off.” He brushed aside wisps of fringe. “But I figured you might’ve gotten the same offer too since it seemed like a way for them to make us turn on each other and let them have their fun.” Noel sucked in a breath as Grey stared down at the worn patches of his denim jacket. “And I do trust you. So, I hope you’ll trust me, even after this admission.”
“Is that why you decided to go find a map?”
“Mm hm.”
“Thank you for telling me.” Grey released his grasp on Noel’s jacket zipper and clasped his own wrists as he leaned forward. “Hopefully we can find a way out of this, so all this running isn’t in vain.”
* * *
Goldcrest was the polar opposite of its name. Grimy, tattered papers and sheets hung over the shipping container walls stacked three high, spanning out for kilometers in the depths of the valley it was confined to. Gates were left open, rather than closed, allowing them to simply roll on inside, not that anyone questioned them potentially being fair folk while riding a machine the creatures despised.
Other bikes rode past, their drivers readjusting goggles and jackets before they left or parking by porches of bars like they were hitching up horses. Grey shrank down against Noel as a man watched them from a second-story apartment balcony on the main street, tapping a cigarette against the railing.
“Relax,” Noel mumbled. “Act natural.”
They ventured a little further in, weaving through streets and alleyways laced with utter despair or exhaustion. Dread coursed through him when Noel began to tense, his head panning to take in his surroundings like he was on high alert.
“Where do you think we’ll be able to find anything here?” Grey whispered.
Noel hummed and sped forward. Grey smacked into his back in his overcorrection not to fall off. The motorcycle jerked to a halt outside another bar, and Noel nudged his kickstand into place. “Best place to ask around is the watering hole, right?”
He dismounted and Grey scrambled off. “I thought you wanted to avoid talking to people?”
“Yeah, but we have to in this case, or else we’ll be awkwardly wandering around for hours and earn weird, suspicious looks in return. Come on.” He jogged up the steps, striding through the propped open doors to dim lighting of the sparsely hung bulbs overhead. Mismatching wood and metal tables and chairs were crammed in as much space as possible, even crowding the bar before more patrons filled in within a couple more hours.
Noel scraped a coin against the bar top, tapping it with a finger as he ordered a drink. Grey stepped up next to him and rested his arms against the counter, eyeing the patrons watching them from the table tucked into the corner. He swallowed and tore his gaze away.
