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Sucks, but I probably didn’t deserve one.
Closing my eyes, I wait for the all-consuming pain.
It, uh, it never comes.
Just when I expected my skin to start blistering or for me to pass out from holding my breath, a brisk wind blows past. Or maybe it’s not a wind that’s pushing through the fire, but the sudden absence of the hot air that makes it seem so much cooler.
What the—
Wiping my eyes with the back of my sleeve, I wait until they’re not stinging any longer before I crack them open slowly, afraid of what I’m going to see.
The heat is gone because the fire is gone.
Rys, too.
Not gonna question it. No more Light Fae looming over me,
a murderous glare twisting his once-perfect features? Yeah. That’s my cue to get the hell out of here while I still can.
I stand up. My legs are shaky as I rise. Too bad. I have to get out of here. It’s too much to hope that I imagined the way Rys dissolved into flames like that. And, now that he’s left me here on my own, I’ve got no one else to blame for the scorched grass and piles of ash.
So, yeah. Definitely didn’t imagine it.
Adrenaline starts pumping through my veins; it’s overwhelming, but it’s not panic, so I’ll take it. The fight or flight reflex is in charge right now. My limbs feel free and light, instead of every step being a chore. Okay. I can do this. If I’m careful, I can get the hell out of the cemetery before anyone figures out that I’ve been to visit Madelaine.
I don’t know what makes me look back one last time before I book it— but I do, and then I stare. I can’t believe what I’m seeing.
No—
I don’t want to believe it.
There’s at least a ten foot radius of damaged ground: flowers reduced to ash, charred grass, black dirt. It’s all dead except for one perfect circle of untouched green grass that survived the flames. I see the remains of the shovel: the handle unscathed on the inside of the circle, the blade a fiery shade of red.
And I realize that the exact spot where I huddled on the ground is the only spot that is still alive.
Because I’m alive.
Because, despite being a murderous fae who had his face slashed with the sharp edge of a shovel, Rys kept his word and didn’t hurt me.
Whoa.
18
I hate myself for it, and I would never admit what I did to anyone else, but before I left the Wilkes House for the final time, I checked Carolina’s pockets. I found some extra money that I shoved in my pocket with the scrap of paper she left behind, but no keys.
Probably a good thing, too, since I don’t know how to drive. I would’ve figured it out, though.
Anything to get away from there as soon as possible.
That same disappointment coupled with the frantic need to escape is rushing through me as I sneak out of the back of the cemetery. Rys’s fire had to have attracted someone’s attention. Sure, maybe the old caretaker is off duty since it’s the middle of the afternoon. This was prime visiting time. Someone had to have seen that.
A chain link fence surrounds the back half of the place. I have much better luck with this one. After landing with a solid oof, I start to run. It doesn’t matter where to. I just have to get away.
As I put Madelaine’s grave in my rearview, I realize that there’s a reason why I don’t know where I’m going. Just like when I finally left the sewer, it’s not because I’m lost. I literally don’t have anywhere to run to.
I can’t go back to the Wilkes House.
The Acorn Falls Cemetery? Not a chance.
