by Anthea Sharp
Great. Her dad was grilling the chauffeur about Tam. She thought back - had they let anything about Feyland slip while in the car? Just because George was as quiet as rocks didn’t mean he wasn’t listening to everything they said.
“Um, Tam had something come up.”
She wished she knew what it was, or if there was any way she could help him. He seemed too used to dealing with stuff by himself. Did he even know how to ask for help? Or that it would be okay if he did?
Marie came in to clear the plates, and Dad nodded his thanks at her. Then he turned his attention back to Jennet.
“I’m sorry to hear your friend won’t be coming over,” he said. “I’m looking forward to meeting him. Soon.”
Marie let out a sniff, as if to say he’s nothing but trash, but Jennet ignored her.
“He should be around sometime this week. Or maybe next weekend.” He had to be - next Sunday was All Hallow’s Eve.
Halloween. The knowledge sat like a cold lump in the middle of her stomach. One week. They had one week left to defeat the queen.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
“Isn’t Mom coming, too?” the Bug asked. He gripped Tam’s hand as they walked down the wide grey steps of the police station.
“She has to stay a little while longer.” Tam swallowed, dark worry sticking in his throat. “They need to talk to her and stuff.”
It was bad news, the system noticing their family this way. They had made him talk to a family counselor before they had let him see Mom. Basically, if she didn’t get herself together in the next couple days and promise to take her meds regularly, he and the Bug would be put in one of the state-run Homes. The counselor lady had made noises about eventually being placed with a nice family, if the system decided Mom was too unpredictable to take care of them. Yeah, right. Who wanted a sick little kid and his screwed-up big brother?
Not that it mattered, since there was no way he was letting the state suck them in. Which meant he and the Bug would have go to ground for a few days, until things shook out with Mom. The only place they could do that was deeper in the Exe. At least the cops wouldn’t bother looking too hard for them.
The only problem was, how would Mom find them? Assuming they let her out. Assuming she even wanted to find them. That thought cut his chest like he’d swallowed broken glass.
Figure the rest of the day, maybe tomorrow, to find them a place to hide out, get it stocked with everything they’d need, and then disappear. Leave a note for Mom, reminding her of their old signal system. Red flag in the window - danger. Yellow - things were ok. Then he and Peter would erase themselves from the system like missing pixels, blank spaces where two boys used to be.
You can’t live like that, part of his mind insisted. What about food? What about school? What about Jennet?
One thing was clear. He sure as hell couldn’t help defeat the Dark Queen if he were stuck in a Home. But they still had time. Hiding out with the Bug - that was only temporary. Until….
Well, until whatever. Right now, he couldn’t see more than a day or two ahead. His chest ached when he thought about Mom, so he stopped.
He squeezed the Bug’s hand. “How about an adventure?”
“What kind? I wanna go home.” Peter was looking up at him with big, worried eyes. The kid was too smart for his own good.
“Yeah, home first. But then we’re going to go exploring and, uh, build a fort.”
“In the forest?” A tentative smile crossed his brother’s face. “Like, in camping stories? Can we make a big fire?”
“No.” There wasn’t a forest around Crestview. The stand of woods in the park maybe, but it wasn’t big enough for them to hide out in. Anyway, they had to stay close, in case Mom…. He shook his head. “We’ll find a place in the Exe.”
“But Mom said we should never go there by ourselves.”
Tam stopped and bent down, so he was eye level with his brother. “Peter. We live in the Exe. Not in the middle of it, sure, but I go to school by myself every day after putting you on the bus. I go through the Exe all the time, and it’s fine.”
Liar. He went along the edges, like where their place was, and even there it wasn’t safe. But staying safe wasn’t an option any more. Only surviving. He’d heard stories about the Homes, and there was no way he was letting them get hold of the Bug. Or him, for that matter.
“It’s just for a little while,” he said. “We can pretend we’re camping in the woods. I’ll even get us some marshmallows.”
Sugar bribery. Good thing he had hidden some of Mom’s cash stash. He and the Bug would get through this. They had to.
It took the rest of the weekend to find them a bolt hole that wasn’t dangerously deep into the Exe, but far enough that the system would give up looking. Their hiding place was a low-slung building open on two sides, but there was a corner that was dry and out of the wind. Yeah, it was sketchy, and Tam knew it, but he couldn’t find anything better. There was some rank, weird smell coming from further down the block, and at some point rodents had taken over the building, but they were long gone now.
The hardest thing wasn’t getting their stuff there, or rigging up a couple of low-tech alarms - wires and cans filled with rocks - it was getting the Bug to keep his voice down. He was excited about their adventure.
“I want to show Mom our fort when she comes home,” Peter said from his makeshift bedroll, his voice rising. “Do you think she would let us build a fire? Hey, Tam—”
“Sh. It’s time you were asleep.”
“But we’re on holiday, you said so. I don’t have to sleep because I’m not going to school tomorrow. Can we go someplace fun? What about the park with the fountain, or the—”
“Peter, shush. We’ll talk about that tomorrow.” Another marshmallow would shut the Bug up, but it would only be a temporary fix. The sugar would keep him up even later. Tam let out his breath in a low sigh. “I’ll take you someplace fun, but only if you stop talking.”
“Ok.”
His brother lay still for a half-second. He pulled in a breath, like he was about to say something, then stopped - remembering just in time that he was supposed to be quiet. Then he started wiggling again. His feet swished back and forth under his blankets, moving like wings.
Tam snapped off the thin beam of his flashlight. It was better if they were in complete darkness, anyway. Nothing to give them away. He scooted down in his sleeping-bag, then slipped his hand under his pillow. The cool plas-handle of their longest kitchen knife was comforting against his fingers. Not the best weapon, but at least they weren’t totally unarmed.
Would his sword materialize if he needed it, the way Jennet claimed her staff had? He damn sure hoped so. Even more, he hoped it wouldn’t come to that. They would spend a couple of nights here and the system would let Mom go. They liked keeping families together, didn’t they? She would come back and leave the signal that it was safe, and they would go home.
Sure. Because everything always got better in their lives.
Tam squeezed his eyes shut. No way was he giving in to that hot prickle behind his eyelids. He made his breathing soft, and listened to the Bug’s feet moving quietly back and forth under the covers. Finally the motion got slower and slower, and Peter’s breath deepened into sleep.
The Exe was quiet. Well, quiet as it ever got. Random yelling from somewhere, too far away to worry about. The low rumble of motors and machines, and behind that, the hum of the bigger, better town of Crestview, bypassing the Exe. Going about its business.
Up on the rich people’s hill, Jennet was probably going to bed, thinking she’d see him at school tomorrow. But she wouldn’t. He and his brother had to be invisible for the next couple of days. Tam didn’t even want to turn his tablet on - everyone knew you could be tracked that way. Though at some point he’d have to message Jennet again, tell her not to worry. Too much. He could do that from the middle of the park, right before they left. Yeah, that would work.
He knew she’d worry. He could practically
see the frown hovering on her face, pulling her brows together above her blue eyes. She’d tuck a strand of pale hair behind her ear and press her lips together. If he were there, he could touch the softness of her hair, coax her lips back into a smile.
For now she’d just have to wait, and he was sorry for it, but there was nothing else he could do.
A low, shivering noise woke him. Keeping his eyes shut, Tam slid his fingers around the hilt of the knife. He gripped it hard, his whole body taut with listening. Was somebody there? Had their hiding spot been discovered? Nothing had tripped the alarms.
The noise came again, and this time, Tam knew what it was. There was no mistaking that low, mournful call. It turned his bones cold and made his mouth dry up. The eldritch horn of the Wild Hunt. Hell. How could the Hunt be here, in the real world?
He lay absolutely still, trying not to breathe as the sound swept over the Exe - the high yipping of dogs, the pounding of hooves through the night sky, the wild skirl of bagpipes. The sound flowed through the air, filling it with shadows and things unseen. Images flowed, unbidden, into his brain.
A menacing, horned figure silhouetted against pale trees. The impudent grin of a sprite. A woman more beautiful than midnight stars, her eyes dark as sorrow.
Finally, the sounds faded. Tam exhaled, and it felt like the whole Exe breathed out with him. They were safe.
This time.
CHAPTER THIRTY
“Marny!” Jennet called as she caught sight of the big girl in the halls. “Do you know where—”
“No. I have no idea where Tam is this morning, if that’s what you’re asking.”
Jennet’s spirits sank. She had tried messaging him about a hundred times, but could never get through. “I just was hoping that you knew—”
“Look.” Marny crossed her arms. “It’s great that you and Tam are friends and everything. You probably know more about him by now than me, ok? So don’t bug me. Anyway, probably half the Exe is sleeping late. It was a crazy night.”
A chill crawled across Jennet’s skin. “A crazy night? In what way?”
“In a freaky-noises-echoing-around-the-sky-like-a-nightmare way. I should be asleep right now, if I had any sense.”
“Did it sound like… hounds baying and sort of screechy music? A low, deep horn? Like that?” Jennet’s throat was tight.
“Yeah, like that.” Marny narrowed her eyes. “What do you know about it?”
“It’s complicated.”
There, Marny’s warning not to pry, right back at her. No way was Jennet going to try to explain the Wild Hunt, here in the middle of Crestview High’s halls. Even if Marny believed her - and Jennet had a feeling she might - it was safer for her not to know.
“Marny,” Jennet said, “if you hear that again…”
She shivered, she couldn’t help it. The Hunt was loose in their world. And she and Tam were their prey. Please, let him be safe.
“What?” Marny asked.
“Just, stay inside. And, um, make a line of salt under your windows and doors.” She wasn’t sure that piece of lore about protection from the faeries was true, but every bit helped.
“Salt. Uh huh.” Marny gave her a searching look, and then shook her head. “I’ll see you around,” she said as she walked away.
Jennet took a deep breath as she watched the girl turn the corner. Tam was fine, he had to be. Maybe a little late to school, but she would see him soon.
Soon.
But soon never came. In Ms. Lewis’ World History class, Jennet couldn’t stop glancing at Tam’s empty seat. She looked over there so often that stupid Rod Dermont thought she was flirting with him. He wiggled his eyebrows and pursed his lips into a kiss, so Jennet stopped looking behind her.
All right. She had to find Tam, which meant going back into the Exe. The Hunt didn’t ride during the day, did they?
The last bell echoed behind her as she hesitated on the steps. George would be here soon to pick her up. Could she get him to take her to the Exe? Or should she call him and tell him to pick her up later? The rule was she had to be home by five. At least Dad trusted her enough to do what she wanted after school.
Well, if the Dark Queen opened the gate to their world, it would hardly matter. They had four days. Which meant she had to go find Tam.
She had her tablet out, ready to let George know to come by for her later, when the screen lit up. Message from Tam!
Her legs suddenly soft as dough, Jennet sank down on the steps to read. It was terse, like all his messages, but at least now she knew he was alive.
:Jennet, don’t worry. Need a day or two. Don’t come find me. Sorry. Tam:
Relief blurred into anger. Need a day or two? A day or two? They didn’t have that kind of time. What did he think this was, anyway? Some delusional fantasy of hers? She jumped up and paced to the street. How could he take this so lightly? She could die. Thomas had said as much, and Tam didn’t even care.
Ok, that was unfair. She tried to hold on to the anger, but it started tattering away. Behind its bright red curtain was a darker shape. Fear.
Whatever was keeping Tam, it had to be serious. Even more serious than defeating the Dark Queen. She had no idea what kind of trouble could be that bad. Didn’t even want to imagine.
Tam powered off his messager and shoved it into his pocket. Good thing the regular part of Crestview had reliable signal. He’d kept his text short enough that it couldn’t be tracked - he hoped. Even if it was safe to say more, he didn’t know how he could explain to Jennet that his life had fallen apart.
He grabbed his brother’s hand. Time to get moving.
“Hey, Bug. Let’s go look at the fountain again.”
It was on the far side of the park, right where they’d catch the bus back toward the Exe. No buses went into their neighborhood, of course, but they could get close, and both he and Peter were used to walking.
His brother smiled up at him, teeth ugly from the chocolate-coated ice cream he had just finished eating. “I like the fountain! Can I go in it?”
“No. That fence is there for a reason.”
Not that six feet of wrought-iron would stop his little brother if he really wanted in. But they had to stay under the radar, which meant no climbing fences and playing in forbidden fountains.
They were watching the water shoot and spray when Tam heard the distant cry of sirens.
“Alright, time to go.” He kept his voice even. Everything was fine. The cops could be going someplace else.
“But we just got here. Can’t we stay a little longer? Please?” His brother looked up at him with pleading eyes. “Extra please?”
Tam tilted his head. The sirens were definitely coming closer. “Nope. We’ve been here all day, anyway. Come on. Race you to those trees.”
Laughing, the Bug took off, with Tam close behind. He could feel the sirens wailing, prickling the back of his neck. When he reached the safety of the woods, he glanced over his shoulder.
The sirens abruptly cut out as two black and white grav cars pulled up to the fountain, lights strobing. Tam grabbed his brother’s hand and ducked behind the closest tree. He was aware of every sensation; the rough bark at his back, the warm, sticky hand of his little brother clasped in his, the breath rasping in and out of his throat. The Bug stayed quiet for once, as if sensing trouble. Which he probably did. Growing up in the Exe, you had to have decent survival instincts.
Tam counted to a hundred, then back down. Nobody had come for them. Were the cops gone?
Slowly, he peered around the tree. Empty grass. The fountain, oddly cheerful under the late-afternoon sky. No cars. No cops. He blew out a breath.
The Bug tugged at his hand. “Is it safe?”
“I think so.”
He surveyed the area again. The faint call of sirens moving away shivered through the air. It sounded like they were going to the other side of the park. Probably the cops weren’t after him anyway, but with the luck he’d been having, he wasn’t going to take a
ny chances.
“Ready to go home?” he asked his little brother.
The Bug nodded. His eyes were wide, but not with fear, or excitement. Knowledge, maybe, and the good sense to not ask any questions. Had he heard the Wild Hunt last night? Tam could have sworn his brother slept through it, but now he wondered.
They stayed backed-up to the bushes until the bus arrived, then got on, no problem. It was a quiet ride to the outskirts of the Exe. The few other people who shared their ride didn’t pay any attention to the two of them, and the driver was supremely uninterested. The Bug didn’t make a ruckus of any kind, but as soon as the bus turned the corner out of sight, he started hopping on one foot.
“Ow, ow!”
“What?” Tam’s patience was melting like ice-cream.
“I stubbed my toe getting off the bus.”
“Can you walk? Because I’m not going to carry you.”
His brother hopped around a little more, then slowly put his foot down on the cracked sidewalk.
“It feels better. Can we go home? Not to our fort, but really home?” His voice tipped up, and Tam felt the yearning in it. It mirrored his own.
“Not yet. But tell you what. We can walk past it - as long as we stay out of sight.” It was too early to check for the sign that Mom was home and it was safe. But maybe….
“Do we have to go to jail with Mom for the rest of our lives?”
“Mom isn’t going to be in jail much longer. She’ll be coming home soon.” He hoped with everything in him that it wasn’t a lie. He put his hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Things are going to work out, Peter. Just a couple more days.”
He couldn’t promise that they were going to be fine. There was never any guarantee of that. Things were going to change though, one way or another, and he and his family were going to wash up on some shore. Whether it was a midnight faerie realm or the hard edges of the Exe remained to be seen.
They cut through the ragged alleys until Tam could see the ramshackle place they called home. See the empty window too. No point in getting closer.