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I tiptoed away from where I stood and slipped away. Blake rushed to where I’d been standing and I watched as he felt all around.
“Lacey,” he yelled again. I stopped and turned as he continued to search around for me.
His nose rose in the air as he tried to sniff for me and that’s when I knew I needed to get out of there as fast as I could.
I ran and never looked back, but I could feel him getting closer. I seemed to run around in circles, never getting away from his home.
I stood still for a moment, sensing him getting closer.
“I can smell you, Lacey,” Blake said, his voice not annoyed, only letting me know.
I crouched down and picked up deer poop from the ground, rubbing it around my body to mask my scent. I crept away from leaves crunching behind me. Cursing them for making a sound even though a coat of invisibility shrouded me.
The smell of the deer poop made me gag pitifully, and I held my hand over my nose and tried to only breathe through my mouth. But I realised there was poop in my hand and that made me retch more.
“I know you’re here, Lacey,” Blake said. “We need to talk.”
I never looked back but kept tiptoeing away, all the while my back waved upwards in a retching motion.
The forest floor dug into my legs as I zigzagged away, trying to spread my scent that I knew he could smell. Sharps shards of broken branches and acorns stabbed at my lower legs. And although my wild heartbeat and laborious breathing filled my ears, I heard water not far away.
I wondered how long I could hold the invisibility spell, but a spark of hope surged inside me at the smell of water.
His movements seemed closer, and I was close enough to be caught, so I hid behind a tree trunk and tried to compose myself. But the smell of the dense musky poop of the deer was too much and I couldn’t handle it anymore and knowing now there was a stream nearby, I ran as quick as I could in the direction before I gave myself away totally.
In no time, the forest gave way to a fast-running stream. I came to a stop on the bank of the water and peeked into the surface, and sighed, seeing the invisibility cloak had waned.
I jumped into the stream, trying to submerge myself in the shallow water and wash off the obscene stench on me, but as a sudden wind bristled through the trees and a branch snapped in the near distance. I swivelled and a roar of laughter came from the bank of the water, making small animals show their heads but then quickly scamper away.
Blake’s wings held high as he waded into the water, grabbing me by the waist and throwing me over his shoulder.
“Let me down,” I yelled as I bashed at his back.
“No, you’ll run and you need a shower to warm up. You smell disgusting.”
I sighed as fatigue caught up with me, making my limbs feel heavier and resigned, and as he held fast, I stopped straining in his arms. I didn’t care anymore. All I wanted was to curl up and sleep.
“You’ll leave when I know you’re ready,” he said.
At his words, I relaxed and with no further argument; he rose into the air and flew us back to his house.
Chapter 40
Kane
“Mummywillbehomesoon,” I said, wrapping a blanket around Aria, snuggling her into her sleep position. Seb kissed her forehead before I laid her on her cot.
“Goodnight princess,” I said. I glanced at my watch. Frowning because I was expecting Lacey home before Aria’s bedtime.
Aria had taken Lacey’s moniker, but then she was now the only princess, seeing as Lacey was now our queen. I turned on Aria’s nightlight, stared at her for a few moments and crept out of the bedroom. Closing the door quietly behind me as I joined Seb, who was strolling to the kitchen.
“Strange that it almost came full circle,” I said. “That the three of us started out together and finally the three of us have kept our shit together and this life, we’ve once and for all got it right.”
Seb nodded, somewhat hesitantly, and I knew he always tried to push away the past. He preferred those memories out of his mind.
I got it when we were here because of him.
But this life was different. It felt different. It felt like we belonged. I didn’t want it to end and soon we would be ready to make it permanent.
