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"Why don't we just knock them out?" Trevor asked.
I shot him a nasty glare. "You can try. I'll take your head off first."
He smiled at me, showing altogether too many teeth. "I'd like to see you try, little one."
Clearly, calling me little was an insult, which was fine. I didn't care if he insulted me, especially since I'd been insulted all my life. But Iwaslittle compared to them. As that thought crossed my mind I realized how challenging fighting them would be, and how true some of Thorn's words were. The thought of Thorn having even greater reach and potentially greater speed and strength as well, made the idea of fighting him again daunting, to say the least.
I turned to Wyn. "What do you think?" I asked quietly.
"I think Thorn's got a good point. We don't know anybody. We don't know how to survive in this world. I've been here a bit longer than you and I can promise you that this is not an easy place to survive. Yes, we could learn like we did before, but we're older. It's harder for us to get away with things that we could as kids. Plus, I know you hate to admit it, but maybe they pushed us into the veil for a good reason. We were bound to be found out at some point. Surely it's better to be found out by somebody who is fae and can wield magic than by the king's guard. Or would you rather your coworkers had found out that you were moon marked?"
She had a point. True, they hadn't known that it wouldn't kill us, but we had been found out. From what I could tell, Thorn may have put his own life on the line to bring me here. I didn't want to just give in that easily, though. He had hurt me. Not justfrom pushing me in the veil, but from how he had treated me on the road as well. Yes, I had asked him for it, but he hadn't had to be quite so enthusiastic about it.
"Fine, we'll come with you," I said, turning back to Thorn.
"Like you had any choice to begin with," he grumbled.
His words irked me. "Maybe. Maybe not. But I could have put up a hell of a fight if I wanted to."
"Ten gold coins say that you can't even control your body completely yet," Ronan snarked from off to the side.
"What do you mean?" Wyn asked, curiosity sparkling in her eyes. Always thirsty for knowledge that one.
"Look at her. She's bigger than she was. Her body won't land and move in the same way that it did. Her reach will be different. The distance from her center of gravity to the ground is different. All of those things have changed. She hasn't tried to fight like this yet."
My body flushed with rage. "Are you saying I don't know how to adapt?" I demanded, pushing to my feet.
"Not what I said at all," Ronan replied, raising his two hands. "I'm just saying you're different from when you went into the veil. Just like Wyn is."
I looked at my friend in the black marks that covered her face and hands. It wasn't just that, but her eyes had gone a misty brown that was almost a cream, one that made it look like she was constantly watching something in the distance.
They were right. I hadn't seen myself. I didn't really know how much I had changed. Of course they could see it more easily and Wyn had mentioned that I was taller, but that didn't mean I fully understood.
"Come on, let's get going," Thorn said as he hauled a pack up onto his back.
"Do you want me to carry something?" I asked sweetly.
Thorn snorted. "I wouldn't trust you with a feather right now, let alone a pack. You'd probably figure out some way to use it against me."
I couldn't help but grin at his accusation. "Maybe you do know me a little better than I thought."
"See, I told you she'd come around," Ronan replied.
"Oh, I haven't come around. I'm just plotting his murder quietly."
Ronan smiled at me. "And mine?"
"Once I have the perfect plan for him, I'll move on to you. Don't worry."
"Maybe I could convince you otherwise," Wyn said quietly, giving me a mischievous grin.
It made me raise my eyebrows at her as she pushed to her feet as well. "So how do we get to Sanctuary?" she asked.
"Follow me," Thorn grunted as he set off.
We walked in silence for a long time. Neither of us wanted to talk. Thorn led our merry little band, while Wyn and I followed directly behind him. Ronan was to one side and Trevor was behind us, leaving me exposed, which was fine. I knew if push came to shove, I could figure out how to defend us. Whether or not I had fought before in this form or not.
Eventually, Ronan spoke, "So is it what you expected?"
