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Maybe my pasty white ass will scare away the hounds. Either that or act as a beacon that draws them to me.
“That’s it, Kid!” Ruby roars where she clings to the top of my head, her tiny fists clumped into my hair. I don’t even have the mental capacity right now to be affronted by her riding my skull like a jockey.
Shouldering my way to the front, I scan the faces of the terrified shadows, desperate to find Mack.
“Leave her,” Ruby demands. “Dragon boy will keep her safe.”
I don’t care what Ruby says. I’m not leaving my friend until I see her with Asher.
Mist swirls around our waists, so thick I can’t make out the ground. The baying of the hounds is growing louder.
Four shadows go down ahead, tripped by something.
“Jump!” Ruby shrieks just as the top few inches of a hedge appear in front of me.
Fueled on adrenaline, I leap, clearing the bush like an Olympic hurdler.
“Again!”
My heart pounds in rhythm to my feet as I sprint, leap. Sprint, leap. My need to find Mack overrides my urge to help those who have fallen.
As I’m forced to block out their cries, my hatred for the Fae surges into a searing inferno.
The garden gives way to a sloping lawn, and the crowd spreads out. Someone calls my name behind me and to my right. Mack! She’s trapped behind a trio of three girls who keep tripping.
“No!” Ruby yells as I swerve to meet Mack.
Ignoring the enraged sprite digging her toes into my temples, I swoop next to Mack, grab her arm, and drag her around the trio.
Mack’s eyes are wide as she pumps her arms, struggling to catch up. “Summer! I thought—”
A roar splits the night. We both look to see one of the girls from the tree get taken down by a dark, hulking beast. My fear ratchets up a notch as I see how the wolfish creature tosses her around like a rag doll, too overcome with its predatory instinct to remember she’s mortal and therefore breakable.
“Lycan,” Mack hisses.
The shaggy creature is about to slip its chain around the girl’s neck when another fully shifted lycan slams into the beast. They explode into a violent brawl over the girl.
“Asher will find me,” Mack pants. “We just need to not get taken until then.”
The mist is growing thicker. The shadows are slowing, disoriented by the chaotic crush of bodies and fog. Screams pepper the air all around us as the Evermore begin picking off the stragglers.
“Ditch this herd of bumbling idiots,” Ruby orders.
I’m not sure when my drunken sprite became the de facto leader of this shitshow, but she’s right. I spot a path into the woods up ahead on the left. Grabbing Mack’s hand, I cut sideways, my bare feet pounding the lawn. Mack struggles to keep up with my pace, but I drag her along with sheer willpower.
The mist lessens inside the forest, enough that I can pick out the path. Moonlight filters down softly. The horrifying din of growls and cries fade until I can almost pretend it’s coming from some bad horror movie and not real life.
This isn’t happening. We’re not being chased by crazed half-shifted Fae and hellhounds on a Wild Hunt with chains.
That delusion gets ripped to shreds as the forest explodes behind us, followed by a howl so loud it shakes the trees.
“Faster!” Ruby orders, kicking her heels into my head.
A few other shadows followed us, and we all sprint down the trail as the hound gains on us. Branches scratch at my face and arms, brambles gouging my bare legs and tearing my dress. My bare feet slip and slide over mud and moss and rocks.
A sudden clearing opens up. A few feet in the distance, the earth gives way. A churning river burbles below the cliffs, the dark blue ribbon cutting through the canyon. The river ends abruptly . . .
A waterfall. A really high waterfall, from the loud roar of the crashing water.
