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“I’m trying to keep us hidden.”
“You think she can’t see us?” he snapped.
“I think she is elemental and made of the mountain, and if you turn off the goddamn lights, we might get out of here in one piece.” I pulled Fen tighter to my chest, trying to ignore the throbbing headache pulsing behind my eyes. “That’s what I think.”
He glanced at me for a fraction of a second, not wanting to look away from the road any longer. Whatever he saw on my face, either the fear or the stubborn need to survive, it apparently moved him. The car slowed more, and he turned off the headlights, dropping the entire road into darkness.
The rain blotted out the moon, and Cade scooted farther forward in his seat, leaning close enough to the windshield his breath fogged the glass. His whole body was so stiff I thought he’d fracture like glass if we took one hard jolt. The ground vibrated, an intensely loud thump shaking the windows and setting my teeth on edge.
But the rock didn’t hit us, nor had it fallen in our path.
He cut another quick glance at me, like he was expecting me to say I told you so.
I wouldn’t dare. I was just thinking it really hard.
To be honest, I’d
need to have the ability to breathe if I was going to say anything to him right then, and my breath was caught somewhere in my chest. More small rocks bounced off the top of the car, but they were barely audible under the sound of the driving rain. Another huge boulder sent tremors through the asphalt beneath us, but it felt farther away than the last one.
We drove another hour in complete silence with the lights off, not seeing another soul, only the rain and the darkness. When we finally saw an exit with symbols for gas, food, and lodging, we abandoned the highway and made our way back into civilization.
Cade and I both knew we’d dodged a bullet.
What we didn’t know yet was how many more were heading our way.
Chapter Twelve
Another night, another shitty motel.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d slept in my own bed. My apartment in Seattle wasn’t much to brag about, but the mattress was soft and the water was warm. Sometimes that was all it took to make a place feel like home.
We parked in front of our room at the Sleepy Dayz Motor Inn in Loveland, Colorado, and I let out my first breath since leaving the mountains.
Fen was still curled in my arms, seemingly unbothered by the fact I was holding him tight enough to crush him. Cade got out of the car first, and when I was reasonably convinced I could stand without falling over, I opened my own door.
Or, more accurately, I tried.
I jiggled the handle and threw my weight into the door, but it wouldn’t budge. Cade, realizing I couldn’t get out, rounded to the passenger side, and his eyes went huge. He motioned for me to roll down the window.
“You’ll want to climb out my door.” He held out his hands, and for a minute I thought he was offering to help me out through the window, but then it clicked that he was waiting for me to give him Fen. I passed the fennec to him, and Fen immediately started wriggling in Cade’s hands, trying to get free.
“Don’t think I won’t toss you on the freeway, pipsqueak,” Cade grumbled.
Fen growled, none too menacingly given his tiny stature, but went still. He’d lodged his complaint with the situation, now he could relax.
I got out through the driver’s side and skirted the car to meet Cade. The back end had a smashed taillight and dented fender, but the reality of how close we’d come to death didn’t sink in until I saw my door.
The whole passenger side of the car had been pushed in a good six inches, with huge gashes torn into the metal of the door where one of the rocks had hit us. The rear tire wasn’t punctured, but the wheel frame had been warped, explaining the wobbly drag the car had experienced the whole way here. My door was so crushed I was surprised I hadn’t felt it from the inside.
“Whoa.” I touched the ragged metal, feeling the sharp points of the edges dig into my skin. I pulled my hand back and fidgeted nervously with the bracelet Badb had given me. Would it really have kept me safe if things had gotten worse? Would it have helped Cade, given his proximity to me, or would I have been burying him in a shallow mountain grave?
What had begun as a simple collection mission was becoming anything but simple.
I figured if I was going to die working for Seth, it would be doing something epic. Something worthwhile. Now both me and some kid of his were marked for death, and there was nothing we could do to stop it.
I just hoped I could find Leo before Manea did. At least with me by his side he stood half a chance.
That was if I didn’t make the target on his back bigger.
