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“I’ve yet to see anything I should be afraid of. Someone shooting an arrow doesn’t really invoke fear, it just pisses me off.” Wait. “Unless you’re implying, I should be afraid of you.”
He tilted his head to the side, a cool smirk replacing his smile.
“A little fear would never satisfy me, puppet. I prefer copious amounts of terror.”
There was that word again, accompanying a rather odd yet intriguing admission. I swallowed and took a step away from him. If that was meant to seriously frighten me, he’d failed. Nothing could scare me more than I scared myself.
He managed to pique my interest even more, though, which was almost worse. And now that our whole group had just heard what I’m sure was a semi-concerning conversation to their innocently unaware minds, I began to walk towards the exit, nearly dragging Melantha and Gracelyn with me.
“Blight House?” Mel asked as soon as we were back outside, thankfully playing off that she’d heard any of my and Ciaran’s discussion—if that’s what it could even be called.
“Either that, or we stand here and hope some other sign gets sent our way.”
“Blight House it is then,” Grace avowed.
“We still don’t know who the crazy bastard is that’s toting arrows. Let’s not give them a reason to help us to find out.”
Selena exited the Visitor’s Center a few steps ahead of all the others, offering a timid smile and tucking a strand of red hair behind her ear.
“I’m going to stick with you three, if that’s okay.”
I’d already assumed this. “You don’t need our permission. We’re all going to the same place.”
“What if we don’t? Maybe some of us should stay here, just in case,” Abby proposed.
“In case what?” Charon asked. “Do you think some gallant white knight is going to come swooping in here to save us?”
She gave him a dirty look. “Someone will come across the shuttle eventually, if they haven’t already. And I can’t be the only one here with a family that will start to worry.”
“Eventually could be hours, hon,” Margo pointed out.
“For us to be found, someone would have to take the same path we just did,” Gracelyn said, twisting her long hair into a messy bun.
“I don’t have the patience to stand around and hope for shit to happen.
“You wait here if you’re so inclined to, we’ll be going.” With that put as bluntly as possible, Ciaran turned and began walking up the street.
I was with him on this one. She could do as she pleased.
I was going to keep moving until my ass was safely back home with my girls.
“Come on,” I said to them.
Abby started to protest, but no one paid her much attention. Not a minute later, the clicking of her heels began to echo behind us.
CHAPTER FOUR
This had to be how Alice felt before she descended into madness. Perhaps I’d surpassed that and gone straight to insanity. It wouldn’t surprise me.
The unknown reality of this situation had my nerves winding so tightly there was a physically painful ache in my gut. I did my best to focus more intently on what was in front of me, the things I could control.
With a small sigh, I ran my fingers through my hair for the millionth time, tugging on the ends.
“Picked the wrong day to wear sandals,” Mel grumbled.
“At least you’re not the girl in heels,” Gracelyn consoled.
I made a sound of agreement in my throat, taking in our surroundings as we walked. Whoever had done this, built such a place entirely off the grid, they’d spared no expense. The city was a collection of opulent buildings with roads clean enough for a queen to walk barefoot on.
A few store fronts were all set up like they were waiting to be open for business. Cars were parked on the sides of the street, all newer models. I had to go with what Kyrous said to do, suspend reality, because this kept making less and less sense to me.
My gaze went to the guy at the head of the group.
His movements were confident with a hint of caution, lacking all traces of fear. Dressed in predominately black—a V-neck T-shirt, dark jeans, and high-tops—he looked both criminal and powerful. His friends were dressed somewhat similarly, but I only had eyes for him.
We hadn’t said a word to one another since leaving the Visitor’s Center, but every so often he or one of his friends would glance back to check on us.
“Anything you’d like to share?” Mel prodded, gently bumping my shoulder with hers.
I tore my eyes off Ciaran and gave my attention to her and Gracelyn. For a moment I thought she was referring to the text I hadn’t told them about yet, which I needed to do. One toss of her silver eyes proved me wrong. They’d gone right to our unanimous leader.
