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There was a secret to the thing. It was magical, sure, obviously. But it felt like there was more to it than that. Whatever it was, it was enough to make the wicked witch of pixies salivate at the thought of getting her hands on it.
She’d said it was hers. Screeched it at me, actually. Which meant in order for me to find it in my mom’s box of junk, someone from my world must have taken it from her.
Wendy.
As far as I knew, she was the only person who’d ever made the adventure to my realm a round trip affair. My mind raced back through memories of the journals and stories, but I didn’t remember anything about a pendant. No trinkets. No amulets. Pixie dust was a thing in the storybook version, but the pendant was stone, not dust.
I was missing something. Probably something painfully obvious, but what? I mulled that over as the pendant lit my path while I moved through the trees. It was surprisingly easy to navigate with my eyes finally adjusted to the dim, but it hardly felt like progress.
Time passed the way it always did in the dark, at whatever goddess-forsaken pace it wanted to. Either it went crazy fast when you were sleeping well, or it inched by, one second-hand tick at a time. I couldn’t tell which was the case in that moment, but it definitely felt like the latter.
After a while, every muscle in my body began to stage a weak revolt. My thighs were bruised, that much was evident from the aching tenderness between them as I walked. Even my back and shoulders jumped into the fray eventually. Full-body fatigue bled through my system like a slow-moving sedative and the familiar cold that inevitably came after every harrowing situation sank in.
The adrenaline had finally burned off and the recovery crash was coming on fast. I gave myself a good, hard slap across the cheek. Sometimes that worked, sometimes it didn’t.
Better luck next time, Never.
I wrapped my arms around myself and checked my surroundings, spotting a hollow carved in the base of a tree that looked like it was born from some maniac’s twisted nightmare. “Not a chance,” I muttered.
Out of the blue, the fine hairs at the back of my neck came alive and I froze.
The forest had gone dead quiet around me.
I slid my hand to the hilt of my blade and waited, watching and listening for whatever threat was scary enough to shut the whole damned forest up.
A hint of laughter floated through the night air. Boyish, playful laughter, but not like elementary-age children tumbling around a jungle gym. It sounded more like a bunch of high school, or maybe young college kids having a tailgate party.
And it was getting closer.
My instincts told me to run or at the very least hide, which was confusing as all get out when the whole reason I was even in that psychotic realm was to find my teenage, junior-in-high-school brother. I glared at my surroundings, knowing full well my best option was the creepy black maw of the nightmare tree.
Nope. Still not happening.
I’d rather face the lost boys en masse than crawl in that hell hole. As if the thought had summoned them, three forms came crashing down the trail like drunk frat boys on their way back to their dorm after a night of heavy drinking.
Except I couldn’t tell if they really were boys.
Ducking behind a massive fern like the coward I was, or like a genius, depending on who asked later, I slapped my hand over the pendant and tried to block out the light. For a magical amulet, or whatever it was, it wasn’t very intuitive. “Could you please go dark again?” I whispered harshly. The words were barely out of my mouth before it winked out.
I sucked in a relieved breath, quietly, and kept my gaze trained on the path, not that I could see shit now. But wait, what the hell was that coming toward me in the darkness? My hackles hit high alert at the sight of the inhuman greenish-yellow eyes glowing in the black. It was just one set, but they were looking right at me.
24
NEVER
Shit, shit. Stay or run?
Every cell in my body voted for running.
I turned and took off through the woods as fast as I could, stumbling over shallow roots and rocks. “Light!” I hissed, without glancing down at the pendant. It bounced darkly against my chest without giving off so much as a spark.
Of course.
Branches slapped at my face and scraped against my skin, and I prayed to any god that would listen not to let whatever razor-sharp thorny shrubs were in my path take out my eyes. I squinted, keeping my hands up protectively and my lids narrowed to slits. I moved through the woods like a blindfolded kid doing a trust walk at camp. Except without the partner for guidance.
The boys’ hyena-like laughter faded, at least from what I could hear above my own hammering heartbeat, and I let myself slow for a moment.
Epically, stupid mistake, Never.
