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“No!” I screamed, as what looked like a glowing spear tore through the space where Pritkin’s body was outlined, erupting clear through the middle of the torso—
And then kept on going.
I stared in confusion as it exploded against a tree, sending it up like a Roman candle, while the Pritkin void it had just skewered simultaneously shattered, sending dust flying in all directions, like a sand-based firework.
But that was it. There was no body, visible or otherwise. One of the fey extended a booted foot to press into the pile of wet sand at their feet, but all it did was give further evidence that their prey wasn’t there.
Because he was here.
A nearby lump of earth was suddenly thrown back like a rug, and Pritkin’s full-color head stuck out. It was a little wild-eyed and a little sand-filled and more than a little red-faced, but very much alive. Like the rest of him, which emerged a second later and grabbed my hand, and then we were running in the opposite direction—
Right at an even bigger group of fey coming down the riverbank.
That would have been bad enough, even with a glamourie. But the one Pritkin had used to hide us had vanished. And then the fey caught sight of us, because of course they did—we were just standing there out in the open like a couple of crazy people!
A second later, those glowing spears were flashing into hands all around and my hand was tightening on Pritkin’s, because screw this, I’d rather deal with Cherries!
Only I wasn’t going to be.
Because my power didn’t work.
I tried again, and then again. But the result was the same, because I was still too tapped out from the massive shift it had taken to get here. And it didn’t look like Pritkin had another glamourie in him based on his expression, which was a little frantic and a little desperate and a lot scared.
And then amorous and passionate and naughty, in turns, as three more Pritkins suddenly ran past us, chasing three more Cassies. Followed quickly by maybe a dozen more. And then a second dozen, and maybe a third for all I could tell—I didn’t have time to count them. But there were a lot.
Because Pritkin might not be able to make more glamouries right now, but he didn’t need to, did he?
He had a whole crowd of them already.
A crowd we were now in the middle of.
Suddenly, instead of standing alone and exposed on the riverbank, we were surrounded by a large group of carnal clones. Half of whom were still trying to have sex with the other half, and the rest who were looking with lascivious intent at the fey. It was like Woodstock had come to Wales.
Until they broke, scattering in all directions, and we broke along with them. And I guess even fey eyesight had a problem telling one of those jiggling, bouncing, shrieking duos apart. Because they scattered, too, running after us, only that was the collective “us,” leaving only a couple on the right trail.
But a couple was more than enough, so we ran, too, straight down the bank and into the carnage. On all sides, fey were systematically slaughtering every happy humper they came across, including the ones wearing my face. I had the surreal sight of my own severed head bouncing back down the incline before it popped like a balloon filled with steam.
And then we were into the trees and under cover.
Chapter Eighteen
Running through a forest naked is not fun. Running through it naked with homicidal crazies after you, throwing energy blasts that turn trees into stinging rain, is terrifying. Although it really helps you to ignore the whipping branches lashing your skin and the stones bruising your feet and the fact that bark hurts like a bitch when you run into it.
But we pelted full speed ahead anyway, trying to get as far as possible while the fey were preoccupied. And it looked like we just might make it, because the fakes didn’t have adrenaline on their side, which slowed them down and made them easier targets. But that also meant they weren’t going to last long.
Which was why I pulled back hard when Pritkin suddenly broke to the left.
“No, no—this way!” I told him, because I didn’t know Wales, but I knew enough to run away from the fire.
But Pritkin wasn’t listening to me, which would probably be true even if he could have understood, because “stubborn” wasn’t the guy’s middle name, it was his whole philosophy of life, and that was usually really irritating but was now about to get us killed.
Like when a tree burst apart nearby, sending fiery limbs and pieces of trunk everywhere. And would have sent them into us if we hadn’t thrown ourselves behind an even bigger one. And then I stopped arguing and just ran, because anything was better than here!
We pelted behind the mill and then kept on going, splashing through the river, back toward where Pritkin had been when I first saw him. We were too close to the general mayhem for comfort, and the wind was blowing smoke the other way, making us a lot more visible suddenly. But at least most of the fey were on the other bank, since the ones on this side had waded across in an attempt to catch us.
And right now, if I never saw another fey, it would be too soon.
I finally figured out where we were going when we reached the ghillie suit and Pritkin’s abandoned clothes. I was surprised that an incubus would be shy, but maybe finding a place to hide would be easier if we weren’t flashing the natives. Only Pritkin wasn’t getting dressed. Pritkin was searching around under
