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Several nearby fey grunted, acknowledging the warning and reminding me that conversations around any fey were rarely private.
“Don’t worry about the people here. They’ll spread the word,” Ryan said. “And Matt and June already know they need to watch out for him. It’ll be fine.”
Fine? I fought to swallow my sputter and insane laughter. There was so much about the current state of things that was not fine, and Nat running around loose was one of them.
“Unless there’s anything else, we’re wasting daylight,” I said, not wanting to contradict Ryan further.
He flashed a grin at me.
“No, ma’am.” He turned to the fey. “We need three groups of about fifteen to twenty each.”
There were a few disappointed groans and movement between nearby houses. It wasn’t until then that I realized how many of the fey had gathered.
“Remember, no unnecessary risks,” Ryan said just before walking away to join one of the groups gathering by the wall.
Eden turned to the big fey behind her.
“Well, Ghua? Ready for a day of fresh air?”
“I would rather stay and—”
He grinned behind the small hand suddenly covering his mouth, and she shot me an apologetic look before he bent and picked her up.
“Have fun!” she called just before he jumped over the wall with her.
I opened the map and looked down at the locations Ryan had circled, then at the direction of the rising sun to orient myself.
“Ready to go house shopping?” I asked Turik.
He immediately lifted me into his arms.
“Tell us where to go.”
* * *
The turning laneleading into the neighborhood held promise. That sign of traffic likely meant we would find more than the handful of clustered homes we could see.
In the hours since our group had left Tolerance, we hadn’t found anything remotely like the settlements already established. However, our time hadn’t been all uselessly spent. While looking around, I’d marked the map where we’d found homes with wood stoves or solar panels or whatever other supplies anyone would find useful. We’d hit the jackpot in one home when we found a freezer loaded with convenience foods. I’d eaten a whole pizza for lunch—best pizza of my life.
Snapping myself out of my pizza daydream, I scanned the houses at the neighborhood entrance.
“If it extends back several blocks, it could work,” I said quietly. “Ready to explore?”
Turik’s gaze, which had been on the homes ahead, dropped to mine. Tenderness flitted across his expression, and he shifted my weight slightly. Except for lunch and a bathroom break, he hadn’t put me down. And I didn’t exactly mind since I knew I was far safer in his arms when outside Tolerance’s protective walls.
“We are ready,” he answered.
“Let’s go to the house with the reddish-brown roof and see what we can spot from up there.”
He grunted and took off at a sprint. I tucked my face into his chest and waited for the stomach-roiling jump. It didn’t take long. I felt us leave the ground, and a moment later, he landed with a soft thud.
I lifted my head to look around and froze at the sound of the unholy howl that echoed around us. It wasn’t the mournful cry of a wolf or the pleading song of a domesticated dog. This was a sound not meant to be heard by human ears. A sound that foretold of death or much worse.
And it was much too close.
The fey on the roof with us looked at the fey still on the ground, and my gaze followed. Not a moment later, infected flooded out of the house beneath us. One of the fey below disappeared under the wash of bodies, buried as they piled over him.
“Turik,” I said, pointing to where the lost fey had been.
