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“That’s not true.”
Maddy looks him over, pursing her lips, swallowing back a gag. “It doesn’t matter, Caleb. I’m not about to let you go alone. You’re my mate, and we’re going through whatever portal the crazy Fae made. Together.”
* * *
They’re holdinghands as they step through the portal into the Faerie world.
Maddy draws herself to her full height and straightens her spine as the magic slides over her skin. She expects it to sting, and she’s not disappointed. At least it’s not stabbing pain, rather just stinging. And after being sucked into the magical prison with all the spiders, being completely conscious in her real body is better than being projected into another realm.
She’s still so dizzy and not altogether together after all that venom.
The murky sky feels closer, and scents Maddy doesn’t recognize waft through the air. Her ears prickle as though someone’s staring at them from the shadows. Muted sounds careen through the darkened tree trunks. The ground isn’t as cushiony as the floor of the spider lair, but it’s still different from their own realm.
“It was like a cave,” she murmurs with a full-body shiver. “A cave filled with spider webs.”
Caleb turns toward her and studies her as though he’s not quite sure what to make of her commentary. He squeezes her hand, ever the encouraging boyfriend. “Here, you mean?”
“No, no, back in the prison when you freed me. I think it must have been Spider’s lair.” She bites her bottom lip, relishing the sharpness of her teeth points in her lower lip, still struggling with what to do about Nim. They’d left her behind and come after Quinn instead.
“Are you feeling any better yet?”
“A little,” Maddy lies. She tugs on Caleb’s hand. “How are we going to find Quinn?”
“They were attacking Quinn when I left.” Grunting, groaning, and the sound of fighting comes from a point in the distance, and Caleb glances toward the noise. Bats, or maybe they’re birds, fly through the trees on the horizon. “We should check that out.”
“How could Quinn still be fighting?”
“Time passes differently here,” Caleb says. “Don’t worry. We’ll find Nim, too.”
She peers at him. “Are you sure?”
“The minute we can, we’ll save her, Maddy. First, we have to find Quinn because she has the obsidian. That’s what we need.” He stops to face Maddy, and he grabs her hands in his. “I need you to focus right now. It’s dangerous here, and we have to be together on this.”
Maddy lifts her chin, trying to pull her brave self together. Instead, their surroundings waver and threaten to spin. She shakes her head, but it doesn’t make it any better.
Caleb frowns. “Are you okay?”
“I don’t know.” Maddy pinches the bridge of her nose. “The venom is still making something weird for me. Maybe it’s the magic in my veins, disagreeing with my vampire blood. Or whatever the heck Alec was saying earlier.”
He makes a face. “You sure you want to search with me?”
“Yeah, let’s go. It's a residual reaction from the venom and the portaling, and I’m sure it’ll clear as we go. The sooner we find her, the sooner we can get out of here.”
They jog toward the loud noises, and Maddy blinks rapidly. The closer they get, the clearer her head becomes. They reach the edge of a clearing, finding Quinn’s hunkered down in the center of the pile of broken sticks and trees. Bird-bat things fly overhead, cawing and screaming as if to warn Quinn as Maddy and Caleb venture into the center. As they draw closer, Maddy can see that all the broken sticks and trees aren’t only sticks and trees…
They’re legs and arms and broken appendages. Blood of all colors stain the ground. It’s been more than a bloodbath here. It’s been an ongoing massacre.
Quinn leaps out with a long, sharpened stick hefted over her shoulder and Caleb instinctively shoves Maddy behind him. Dark stains cover the end of her weapon. “Get out of here! Didn’t you learn anything the last—” her voice cuts out. “Oh. You’re not Orion’s creatures.”
“No.” Caleb waves. “Hey.”
Maddy gives her a weak smile. “We came to find you. It’s time to get going.”
“Going?” Quinn echoes, her stick dropping as she looks around as if leaving was no longer something she considered possible.
“We have a portal open, and we need to get you out of here,” Caleb says.
Maddy doesn’t add anything. She doesn’t know whether to tell Quinn everything about needing the obsidian or any of the other things that have happened. Do they have time to give the everything-report?
