Page 8

Satisfied that she had been swallowed by whatever was beyond the far bank, I stood. “Stay here. Goose and I will go in and scout everything. The three of you stay low; stay hidden in the reeds. Be here when I get back or I’ll come after you.”

Emerald turned dark, verdant eyes on each of us and stood with determination playing across her jeweled face. She took two steps beyond our safe, hidden nest before I caught her arm. We shared a look that needed no words. Hers said, “I’m going. Try and stop me.” And mine said, “Please. I can’t lose you. Stay where you are safe.” Our eyes moved between points of our faces as we communicated both needs. She caved first, nodding softly and giving the far bank a longing look.

“As soon as I know it’s safe. Okay? I’ll send Goose back after you three. He moves faster than I do.” I watched her as she sank back down into the trampled circle and huffed. “Okay?”

It took her a moment, but she finally, reluctantly nodded.

Goose rose, uncurling from around his charges like a brooding hen, following me as I set off. I stayed low, my head barely peeking through the swaying tops of the cattails as I crept along, looking for a way across the river. Step by step, Goose shrank until he was no larger than a particularly husky beagle.

It took me an hour and two rests to give my screaming thighs a break before I found a small bridge. It was just a shallow part of the river with flat-topped rocks extending out across the water into the low arms of alders dipping down into the dark, cool waters.

This was the dangerous part. There was nowhere to hide in the middle of the river. There was nowhere to slink in shadows and creep around unseen. The only choice was to be out in the open.

I hated it. So I put it off for as long as possible. Watching the other side of the river until my eyes dried and were nearly painful in their sockets.

“Any chance I can convince you to switch to kitty mode?” I asked to the black beagle at my side. Beagles didn’t generally come in that color, and it looked weird.

Goose tilted his head and snorted his disapproval before turning his back on me and sitting down on his tail as if to say I had offended him.

“Look big, guy—black beagle is super stinkin’ cute, not as cute as Big Boy Goose, though. But it’s a little suspicious looking. I know that the Fae don’t like kitty mode but it’s less suspicious. Please? I’ll give you scritchems?” He didn’t turn around, pointedly ignoring me in favor of chewing on his paw. “I’d offer treaties, but I have no clue what you eat, never seen you eat a damned thing but that spider to be honest. It’s a little fucked, my dude.”

The word spider perked his ears up, and he couldn’t help the thump of his tail.

“Really? Spiders? You eat spiders?” The tail went crazy, thudding in the soft mud. At my tone he turned finally and gave me an ugly twitch of his lip. “Fine, fine, no judgement. I have no clue where to get tasty, lil spoods for you buddy, but if I find one where we’re going, it’s all yours.”

That got him moving, and he bounced excitedly, each time slowly shifting into a more catlike form. By the time he was done, all that remained was the familiar cat shape he had taken when we first met. It made a shiver slide down my spine, remembering all that had happened while he was still masquerading as a cat.

We slowly crept across the river, trying not to seem conspicuous in case anyone was on the other side.

No one was. Though I could faintly hear voices drifting on the lazy breeze that swayed the boughs of the tree I hid behind as I scrambled up the bank.

My breath caught in my lungs and held there.

Before me in the hollow of a natural break in the tree line, where an ancient marsh had left a meadow, were dozens of houses. Humans wandered around, unbothered, unshackled, unmolested. I couldn’t tell from my distance if any of them had been altered but dotted among them were others who looked like they had been.

A whole village of humans walked around like it was the most natural thing to do. When I first came to Magh Meall it had been difficult to discern between the altered humans and the Fae of the palace, but by now I could pick out the telltale bearing of a human versus the unnatural grace of a Fae. No matter how they changed us, we walked and held ourselves differently.

Ourselves. Humans hold themselves differently than us Fae. I corrected myself. It was still hard to truly consider myself Fae.

“Goose, if this goes south, I want you to take the others and hide them. Try and find a way to get them out of Magh Meall if you can.” I turned to him and rubbed a finger under his chin. “No matter what happens to me, they need to be safe. I don’t care what it takes. Okay, big guy?”

Goose purred into my hand. I accepted that as an agreement and pushed up to stand. If they were going to attack, I wasn’t going to be caught creeping around. I wasn’t great at stealth, and I’d be more focused on not stepping on a twig than I would be paying attention to the world around me.

It wasn’t my style either. Bold as brass, I stepped out onto the well-worn path down the high embankment and toward the village with a slow gait. I’d give them time to see me, and me to see them. We could mutually decide what we would do with each other when we were finally face-to-face.

I expected to be met with bristling sabers, arrows, or some other medieval bullshit that would be protecting a place like this, but there was nothing. I walked straight up to the outer perimeter of the village and was not stopped until I passed the small picket-fenced gate. The woman who had been at the river was waiting for me when I came around the narrow dirt path into the center of the gates.

“Took you long enough.” Her voice was touched with a slight accent, the ancient relic of perhaps days spent on stoops in one of the many boroughs of New York City, but I didn’t know them well enough to pick out the exact district.

“Yeah well, I was busy fixing my hair,” I fluffed my disheveled braid, absently pulling a soggy leaf from its filthy depths.

The woman snorted and leaned on one hip. “So, since you’re shit at hiding, I assume you’re not a runaway. Are you here to trade?”

“I wouldn’t be so quick to decide that, love.” A familiar voice teased as a tall man fell in behind her. A pale, sun-scorched hand rested protectively on the woman’s shoulder as dark blue eyes watched me. Eyes I remembered like a distant dream I might have had in childhood.

“Rook?”

“Didn’t think you’d remember me, Cricket. When she said she saw a golden girl at the river, I thought for a second she was seeing things. Happens sometimes. A tiny sliver of me hoped it was you but never really thought it was.” He tilted his head, watching me from dark lashes like a bird sizing up its prey. “You here alone?”