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“You don’t know?” Cosette asked.
She was making me nervous. “Know what?”
“Time is slower here,” Van said.
“It’s almost nightfall out there,” Cosette said.
“Nightfall?” This was a disaster. Astaroth could be coming any minute now, and I was here, stuck in the Underhill? “We need to go. Now.”
The other fey girl stood up. I didn’t know either of their names, and that seemed wrong but I couldn’t wait. We’d do introductions later. For now, we needed to get back to Texas.
Van held out his hands. Cosette grabbed one and then mine. The fey girl with multi-colored hair grabbed my other hand. The redhead closed the circle. “Don’t let go,” Van said to me, and then everything went dark for a second.
I blinked and we were in the quad at St. Ailbe’s. My feet were on the ground but my head was spinning so badly it was like I’
d been on a tilt-o-whirl all afternoon.
My knees gave way and I sat on my ass. Hard. “That was super not fun.” I closed my eyes, and prayed that the world would stop spinning. It felt like forever since I’d had the pancakes, but I was still fighting the urge to hurl them.
“It might not be the most fun way to get around, but it’s effective,” one of the fey girls said. I didn’t want to open my eyes to figure out which one.
Tessa! Dastien yelled through the bond.
I’m fine! Just taking a second to get my bearings. I was going to have to get up, but when I opened my eyes, the world was still wobbly. Traveling with Eli had been disorienting at most, and only because I was suddenly somewhere unknown.
I felt like my legs were going to give out as I stood. I took a second to harness my chi before brushing off my pants. “How long does the feeling last?”
“Another minute or so,” Cosette said. “You get used to it after a while. Traveling barely registers for me these days.”
She was out of her mind if she thought I would ever travel that way with Van ever again, let alone enough times to get used to the feeling of it. That was so not happening.
“I’m going to have a chat with my friends here and then we’ll meet you inside,” Cosette said as they moved a little farther away from me.
That was fine. I was going to have to figure out where Dastien was and if we had a car here so I could meet up with him.
I opened the bond wide, seeing things from his perspective as he came closer. He was running down stairs, leaping down four stairs at a time.
Wait. I knew those stairs and they weren’t at my house. He was about to hit the door of the classroom building. Why are you at St. Ailbe’s? I asked.
When you disappeared, I freaked and called Claudia. She said you’d be back in time so we came back here for supplies. They needed more room, too, and Claudia didn’t want to brew in your mom’s kitchen. Something that Samantha said hit home with her. We figured Astaroth was gone, so it was safe enough to be here, at least during daylight. We’ve been working all afternoon on the potions. He didn’t stop running as he came out of the building. In a second, his arms were around me and he was inhaling my scent. Disappearing wasn’t cool.
That wasn’t my plan. I’d much rather have stayed with him. Even if the Lunar Court’s Underhill was amazing.
I know. He pulled back. I’m really glad you’re back.
Me, too. But Cosette’s house is spectacular. We have to see if we can get an invite to visit. I could’ve wandered around the hallways forever.
Can’t wait to hear all about it later, but you’re going to want to see what we’ve been cooking up in the lab.
Right. Astaroth. Potions. “Let’s go.” He gripped my hand tightly in his to be sure I wasn’t going to go anywhere and we made our way into the building. At the base of the stairs, a noxious smell hit me. “What is that?”
He winced. “You don’t want to know.”
“What are we going to do with it?” I asked.
“You don’t want to know that either.”
My stomach churned, and I was suddenly back to hoping I wasn’t going to barf all over myself. “We’re not going to have to drink it, are we?”
