Eyes white, she seethed. “Come, girl, night approaches.” Avery reached out for me one last time, never taking her eyes off Puck.
He crossed his arms over his chest, white smile smug. “She’s broken the lunar tether. Cu Sidhe is fae again. No thanks to her Bean Sidhe fairy godmother.”
One solid huff puffed from Avery’s nose. “Does she know?” Puck tilted his head. “Who’d you use, eh? Someone she loves? Her brother?” She stopped, looked at me and back to him. “Oh, you… godshite púca.”
“I’m right here,” I said, finally sitting up. Chemical fog still weighed heavy on my head, but I’d gotten my wits about me. Quick in. Quick out. “Stop talking about me like I’m a damn child.”
Avery jammed her fists to her hips. “Did your boy come to you today?” Rusty. I nodded. “Say nice things about your old friend Puck?”
My heart flipped twice. “Yes.”
Avery looked at Puck, eyed him as if to force a confession. Puck shrugged, a sly grin curling his lips. “It’s what I do. It’s harmless.”
“Harmless? He’s a trickster, Lynn. He lies. He swindles. It’s what he does.”
My beast rolled and stretched. Still with some time left before true sunset, she stirred as fear and anger boiled inside. “What’re you sayin’?”
“Never trust a púca.”
Puck threw his hands in the air and groaned. “Oh, cry me a fucking river and drown in it.” He glared at her. “Too late.”
Avery’s hair blew back from her face, phantom wind billowing her dress around her legs. “Padraic O’Kain is a liar,” she declared like it would send him straight to hell. I had it on good authority that wasn’t how it worked.
A knot clenched in my gut. I looked at the clock. Hardly seven. Late August sun still blazed outside. She’d break out on her own soon if I didn’t willingly let her free. “Guys,” I croaked.
“Your duty is done. Mission accomplished.”
“She doesn’t belong to you.”
“You’re right. She’s a free agent.”
They argued. Bickering as if I wasn’t about to burst slimy green fur from my skin. “Guys,” I said again, louder this time.
“No, not free. She also has a duty. A mission,” Avery hissed.
“Death dog, got it. All I want is to be her friend.”
“Friend? Right. How’d that work out for Gwen?”
“What?” Pain stabbed through my center, doubling me over. Magic crackled over my skin. If I didn’t run, I’d be trapped in that house with those… people and there was no telling what I’d do to them. Immortal? I wouldn’t stick around to find out.
A whining growl rumbled from my throat. I jumped from the couch, shoving past them and out the front door. Bare feet slapped warm earth. She stretched, filling me to the brim.
Avery’s wails echoed among the trees, off the jagged rocks that lined the trail. She wasn’t far behind. Galloping followed. Heavy, quick. Hooves beat along with the pumping of my heart. My beast reared inside, recognizing the sound. The scent.
I looked back, desperate to see the animal that tracked me. A shining black stallion. Eyes, yellow lightning bugs. Its breaths came hard, steady. I’d never lose it at my pace.
The earth stopped underfoot. My legs cycled like in a Wile E. Coyote cartoon. Water rushed below. Hundreds of feet to fall, I’d never survive. My back arched, fingers splayed. Skin and hair and teeth erupted. Free from her human cage, the beast readied herself for impact.
We sunk deep, claws disrupting mossy soil as we shoved back to the surface. Strong, relentless, we defied the current. Sure strokes paddled the surface, hind legs propelled our weighty body to shore.
Alive. Both in nature and in spirit.
Golden sun spilled over the tops of the cliff, one last grab for daylight. The black steed stood at its edge, looking down at me. Avery’s screeching song called to the beast. She ignored the banshee’s words, staring up at the horse, daring it to jump.
“My apologies, old friend.” Puck’s ghostly voice floated across the water.
The beast dipped her head and let out one grunted snuffle. Indifference. She didn’t need Puck, or Avery; her burdens had been longstanding. Lynnie Russell, on the other hand, dreadfully needed an ally.
To be Avery’s duty, her penance for some unknown crime, or Puck’s friend, his pupil—his plaything. A choice I’d need to make fast. With the sheriff sniffing around my crotch—so to speak—I didn’t have time to weigh the options.
Allies
Always out yonder, never close enough to see her, Avery’s keening echoed. An eerie soundtrack for a green beasty stalking by silver moonlight.
We’d left the horse high on its perch before the sun was completely gone. Nothing to hunt, no wicked to be smote—smited?—we walked, padding lazily downstream, noticing the cooling soil squeezed between our toes. Night birds whistled, harmonizing with croaking frogs squatted on the bank. The wails of my Bean Sidhe guide faded, a distant rhythm lost in the raucous choir.
No longer bound by our lunar tether, according to Puck, my beast could come and go as she pleased. Which clearly wouldn’t do being that she was a big green monster. I’d live my fate, bear the burden, but I’d do it on my terms. Control was what I needed. Precise, concentrated control.
Inside my beastly prison, I breathed, focusing on every otherworldly cell from the tips of our fuzzy ears to the ends of deadly claws.
Stretch. Soft soil crumbled underfoot, claws curling into the earth. Back arched, ass in the air, our tail whooshed, slapping the water. Match struck.
Focus. One at a time, each clawed toe popped, pushing slender fingers from wooly paws. Fire ignited.
Change. Micro jolts of electricity zapped beneath our dense skin, tickling the barrier between us. Our long, thickly braided tail whipped around my front legs in defiance. Its. Ribs spread. My. Slick, slimy skin stretched. Tail retracted, yanking me from hands and knees.
I fell, face in the dirt. “Shit,” I cursed. Tingling crackles zipped across my toes, remnants of magic well spent. A grin spread wide. I rolled over to my back, staring up at the moon. “Hello, old girl. Miss me?” She stared right back.
Bathing in moonlight, I laid there, dreaming of the day I could come and go at will. Puck’s promise to help me learn who and what and how played in my head.
Rustling behind me caught my attention. I sat up. Naked, I crouched on one knee as I waited, watching the brush line.
The pain in my side was gone. I twisted to see, the black bruise had faded to a pale pink. Shoved out with the beast.
Twigs snapped in the darkest shadows. Yellow eyes glowed. Too small to be my stallion. I crept closer, inching toward it. “Come on out,” I called, curiosity a beast of its own taking me over.
I’d never been fearful of critters, big or small. As a beastly thing myself, I was anxious for access to their world.
“I ain’t gonna hurt you.”
A long black snout pushed from the berry bush. Two round puffs for ears. A bear cub. No bigger than a hound.
Smile wide, I couldn’t help but crawl closer. “Are you lost, little one? Or you got a mama out here somewhere waiting to gobble me up?” Could I call on the beast in time to protect me from Mama Bear?
The cub wiggled through the brush. I sat in the dirt, legs folded under me. Still. Waiting. Fearless, his little legs trotted to me. Slowly, I reached out, swiped a hand over his head. Wiry fur rougher than it looked. He moved closer, nuzzled against my chest, and plopped down in my lap, belly up.
“You’re certainly brave.” I scratched his belly, giving it a sweet, hollow pat. “I can’t wait to tell Garret—” I stopped short. He couldn’t know. I’d never be able to explain how I come up on it in the first place. “Guess you’ll be my little secret. One of them.”
He looked up at me, deep brown eyes locked onto mine. “M
y apologies, old friend.”
Waves of silvery light surrounded the cub. My heart stopped. I shoved it away, scurrying back until my hands hit the water. “What in the—?”
The light warbled, shifting, a blob taking no shape, but equally many. A single breath in time and snap.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I jumped to my feet.
Puck shook tufts of black fur from his shoulders. “That was an adventure.” White grin, hands planted on his hips. Also naked. “I thought we’d never ditch the harpy.”
“You’re,” I panted, “a goddamned bear?” The beast shouldered my insides in agreeance.
He tipped his head. “I’m a lot of things.”
I took a step back. “You’re the stallion.”
“You better believe it.”
Red flushed my cheeks. I wrapped my arms around my bits as much as I could. Puck didn’t. In fact, I think he poked it out toward me just a smidge.
“What do you want from me?” I moved into a shadow, away from the telling moonlight.
He shook his head. “Just to be your friend. It’s lonely. Earthly life. You may not feel it yet, but you will.” Blue light cast shadows over his face. Sad, longing.
“Why me? Why not… Avery?”
He laughed, one loud belly shaker. “You’re young so I’ll let that one go. Just know, we’re not close.” His bright grin glowed.
“Do you ever not smile?”
Shrug. “Why? Don’t like smiling?”
I did. Who didn’t? Just didn’t have much to grin over as of late. “Why’d you drug me? Trick me?”
Long legs stepped closer. “I couldn’t risk the dog getting loose.” I snarled at his remark. “And I’m sorry. I needed you to trust me and that was the only way.”
“Why him? Why Rusty?” His name hardly squeaked out.
“He was there anyway. He was easy. And you’d follow him off the end of the earth.” The last was cold hard fact.
“What’d’you mean he was there?” My somersaulting heart did a handstand.
“He’s always there. Just under the surface. Or is it above it? I’m not sure which. I digress.” Puck held his hands out in surrender. “I borrowed his voice, but I did it for you. If you hadn’t trusted me, you’d be in county lockup tearing the heads off those innocent deputies.”
More truth. I swallowed hard. “Can you see him?” The desperation in my voice made me cringe.
He raised his brows, creasing deep forehead lines. “Oh, Rusty, no. He’s just… there.” Puck shrugged, an exaggerated movement that wiggled most everything that was loose. I looked away. “Before we can do anything, you’re going to have to get quite used to your own body. All bodies, actually. Clothes are manmade; they won’t shift with you.” He chuckled and strolled around me. “In fact, once I had to walk naked through— Another day.” His hand swiped the idea away. “For now, this. You need an ally. A true guide. Not some keening woman pretending she’s something she’s not. You’re getting stronger. You’ll outgrow this place. When you do, where will you go? Who will be your people?” He stood behind me, resting his chin on my shoulder. “You are the most coveted creature in both worlds. Cu Sidhe hasn’t seen her home in centuries. I could make that happen for her. For you. I could show you the wo—that movie really undid that whole phrase.” His breath soft on my neck, he added, “There’s so much you don’t know. Let me show you.”
“How can I refuse an offer like that?” I breathed, slow and steady. Emotions controlled. Beast at ease. “What about Avery?”
“She’ll move on to more pressing matters.”
I chewed on my cheek. “Why does she hate you?”
He clicked his tongue and stepped away. “Hate is a human emotion. Loathing is a burden on a timeline such as ours. Indifference is far more palatable.” My beast knew that well. “Besides, her only reason for hanging around has little to do with you and me, and everything to do with saving her own ass. Meeting her quota. Doing her time, as they say.”
I was her punishment. “What was her crime?”
He sighed, looking up at the moon. “You know, it’s been so long, I’m not sure I recall. Perhaps one day she’ll spill those proverbial beans over a glass of rosé and girl talk.” He took two confident steps toward me. “Let me take you out of here.”
“I can’t leave. My family.” I let my arms drop.
He shook his head. “If not now, when? When you’re still twenty years old in ten years? After you’ve been caught, shot in the ass by a hunter or worse?” Hand wrapped around my chin. “After you’ve hurt someone you love?” I jerked my head away. “You can’t hurt me. Try as you might, babe. No man or beast. Not.” He tapped my nose. “Even. You.”
Losing Rusty should have killed me. Surviving after that was my penance. If something happened to Garret… I couldn’t stay in Havana. Loving them meant letting them be.
“No more lies.” I met his eyes. “No more bullshit. Truth. Loyalty.” He nodded. “I may not be able to kill you, but I’ll bet I could hurt you real, real bad.”
A cocky grin carved dimples in his cheeks. “Deal.” He spit into his hand and held it out to me.
I sucked my teeth. Choice? Did I ever really have one? Our spitty hands slapped together in solidarity. “Deal.”
Window-shattering, screeching howls silenced the night creatures. Glowing white fabric whipped, winding through trees, flapping over shrubs. “You’ve made your choice, Cu. Live in it,” Avery chortled, a sinister brook, bubbling over smooth stone.
I spun, searching the darkness for her. “I had no choice. I have to survive. They have to live,” I shouted.
“And live they shall,” she wailed, the last trailing off with the breeze.
“Shit. Shit. Shit.” I stamped my foot, slamming my heel into a jagged rock. “Fuck.”
Puck’s hands gripped my arms. Soft brown curls fell over his forehead. “Dra-ma-tic.” I scowled at him. “The banshee,” he assured. “Look, I can’t promise the decades will be easy, but they will certainly be entertaining. What more could you ask for?”
A normal life as a normal girl. “I’m not sure I even like you as a person just yet, Doc.”
Dimples. “The first thing we need to get very clear, don’t call me Doc.”
My eyes narrowed to Eastwood slits. “That was a lie too.”
“A suggestion. To live. To survive. Lies become necessities. The world’s changed over the course of my existence. We can’t hide anymore. We’re not feared anymore.”
“Maybe not you.”
Dark eyes moved over me, glancing down and back up again. “Touché. Like me or don’t tonight. I take time to grow on you.”
“Like a fungus.”
He closed the gap, lips an inch from mine. “Like a pair of perfect breasts.”
Breaths swirled between us. One. Two. “I’ll eat you whole.”
“Promise.”
“Dare me.”
Long Gone
Puck’s T-shirt hung loose around my shoulders. He didn’t have a pair of pants small enough for me, so I wore a floppy pair of drawstring shorts and my beat-up boots. I’d whipped my uncombed hair into a knotted bun.
My rusty, steel truck bounced along the potholes that dotted Nana’s dirt drive. Clay dust billowed out from under my tires like muddy fog. It was hard to see which way was up, but I knew where I was going. Stopping a few yards from the twisted old hawthorn, I put her in Park. When the dust settled, Garret’s motorcycle sat in front of Nana’s porch.
“Shit on a hot shingle,” I mumbled and considered backing out and screeching away.
The ratty screen door flew open and out popped my spitfire of a brother. His white undershirt made his bare arms look darker than they really were. Faded Levi’s and boots, he looked like my damn daddy barreling out the door hollering at me, except Daddy was usually hol
lering at Mama.
“Sharlene Carolynn Diamond Russell, you get your butt outta that cab and in this house, now. I been all over this county searching for you. You know you got the sheriff out looking? They’re wantin’ to talk to you about those girls up at Cove Lake.” Garret shouted all the way to the truck, flinging open the door. He grabbed hold of my arm, pulling me from the seat.
“I got it, Garret. Let me free.” I jerked my arm away. “Just ’cause you’re older than me doesn’t mean you get to play Daddy.” I was death incarnate; who the hell was he to boss me?
The loose bolts rattled when I heaved the door closed. Shoving past him, I stomped up the steps. His boots echoed behind me. He let the screen slam behind us.
“Lynnie, you better have a damn good story.” He spun me around by my arm and pointed a calloused finger in my face.
“You better believe it.” I grinned, calling on Puck’s confidence.
“I sure would like to hear it.” Nana wiped her hands on her apron. “Coffee’s on.” Calm, collected, she hadn’t been worried. She knew where I’d be, that I could take care of myself. Mostly.
“So would I.” Garret folded his arms across his chest. Biceps flexed, tightening his shirt sleeves.
“Don’t you have a sweetheart waiting on you somewhere?” I hadn’t truly been talking about Hattie. Garret always had some girl waiting on him.
“Hattie’s gone off to work.” The fact that he thought I meant her wrapped my heart in hope. “I called in sick on account of you. Where’ve you been? It weren’t no joke about that law. I wouldn’t play around with that sort of thing. They’re looking for you. Said you saved those little girls from that man. Said you’re some kinda hero, or maybe something else. What’d you go do?”
A lump of a lie bobbed in my throat. I’d thought it over and over on the drive from Puck’s to my truck, dug through each word on the way to Nana’s. It still stuck behind my tongue. “I had to do something,” I croaked. “Those girls… after Rusty… I couldn’t let my saved life go to waste. I just got lucky, Garret. Maybe it was God, I don’t know. But they’re safe and that’s all that matters.”
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