by Claire Luana
He kissed me back fervently, matching my own insistence, the two of us melded together in our own dizzying world away from the Faerie king and the FFR and the rest of the world.
“Get a room, why don’t you?” a familiar male voice spat out. I reluctantly pulled away from Orin and looked up.
Tristam and Sophia were standing there, and it seemed they’d been watching us the whole time.
20
I couldn’t find the energy to care. Let Tristam and Sophia know about Orin and me. Let the world know. I would proclaim it from the rooftops. I had fallen head over heels for Orin Treebaum, and there was no denying it.
I extricated myself from Orin and pushed to my feet, straightening my jacket. “This needs to end,” I said to Tristam, my voice low. “It’s getting out of hand.” I wanted to rail at the arrogant prince, to scream and shout, but I needed to try another tactic. Perhaps, he could see reason. Perhaps, he could influence his father.
I approached Tristam and Sophia slowly, with my hands out, like I was approaching a pair of wild animals. “The rules of the race have changed. Dulcina was forced to send a deadly spell at my mother. Orin almost died intercepting it. Don’t you think this is getting a little…extreme?”
Sophia looked at Tristam uneasily, and Tristam himself rubbed his jaw, his eyes on the ground. So, they did think it was getting crazy!
“Let’s end this,” I said. “If the four of us refuse to participate, no one else will get hurt. Let’s just be done. Declare a tie.” We hadn’t found the final anchor yet, but maybe if the race didn’t finish, the king couldn’t execute his final coup de grâce. Besides, after the hellhounds and Dulcina’s spell, I wasn’t sure we’d survive to find the anchor if we stayed in it.
Sophia narrowed her eyes. “Do you think we’re idiots? That we’d agree to forfeit and then you two can swing in and finish the race?”
“We wouldn’t do that. We just don’t want anyone else to die,” Orin said.
“The producers won’t let us quit,” Tristam said. “My father said they’re the ones who are changing the rules, tampering with the spells. For ratings. They won’t let us just walk off.”
My mouth dropped open, and it took me a moment to close it. “Tristam, that’s not true.” I looked sideways at Ruth’s camera, then at Tristam and Sophia’s camerawoman. I leaned in to Orin. “Can you disrupt the cameras magically for a moment, so we can talk to them privately?”
Orin scrunched his mouth in a thoughtful expression that just happened to be freaking adorable. “I think so.”
The sound of an FFR flying machine reached my ears, and I saw one in the distance. Come to get my mom, no doubt. We didn’t have much time. “Do it,” I said.
Orin closed his eyes briefly while I stepped closer.
“What’s he doing?” Tristam stepped back, alarmed.
“He’s disrupting the cameras so we can talk,” I said, closing the distance again. I hadn’t been this close to Tristam and Sophia since we’d been locked in the underwater cave in the Elemental Trial. But right now, neither of them looked particularly devious. They looked…scared.
Orin stepped in too. “One minute.”
“The race producers aren’t in control anymore,” I said, my voice low.
“Hey!” Ruth called. “Tha camera’s not werkin’.”
“Mine either,” the other camerawoman said.
I ignored them, continuing. “Your father is doing this, Tristam. He’s lying to you.”
“That’s not true,” he countered. “Why would my father care about tampering with the race? It’s supposed to improve human/faerie relations. It doesn’t do that if a bunch of humans die.”
“The race was never about improving human faerie relations,” Orin said. “It’s a cover. Your dad’s part of something called the Brotherhood. It’s a group of magicians who want to destroy the Hedge. Merge Faerwild and Earth.”
“That’s mad,” Tristam scoffed.
“Is it?” I said insistently. “Just think about it. Your father would be king over Faerwild and Earth. The humans would be helpless. Just tell me you’ve never seen or heard anything that made you suspicious…anything your father wouldn’t include you on?”
Tristam’s face was stony as he thought. I prayed I was right and that the king hadn’t been as good at covering his tracks as he could have been. Auberon had discovered the king’s plans. Surely, Tristam had seen something suspicious.
Tristam shook his head. “Why would he go to the trouble of something as public as the race if he wanted to do something nefarious? That doesn’t make any sense.”
“He needed access between Earth and Faerwild, to bring in supplies. Explosives. This was his distraction. There are five magical explosives hidden in Faerwild. The final one is somewhere in Elfame,” I said urgently. “Please, Tristam, Sophia, I know we don’t like each other, but this is bigger than our rivalry or the race. This is all of our futures.” I looked at Sophia, trying to communicate with my eyes how shitty this would be for humans if this went down. No more Instagram or hair straighteners or Lululemon. She’d probably die on the spot without any of those things.
“We’ve been trying to find the MED, the explosive,” I said. “But this damn board has had us running all over, and we haven’t been able to find it.” I’d been thinking a lot about it, and I finally articulated something that had been gelling in my mind. “I think the end of the race is the location of the final explosive. The other explosives were located at checkpoints from the other legs.”
“This is insane,” Tristam said. “You guys are nuts. You’re just trying to mess with us, throw us off our game because we’re winning.”
The FFR copter was landing now on the far side of the square. We were running out of time.
Orin shook his head. “It’s the truth. And a final sacrifice will be required, a human sacrifice.” Orin and I suddenly looked at each other, as another thought took form. The king’s haywire magic had been rigging the board in favor of Tristam and Sophia. If the final anchor point was at the finish of the race—and Tristam and Sophia won…it was just who the king needed. His son, who would never question his mad plan…and a human. Delivered right to his doorstep—faster than Amazon Prime.
“Ohmygod,” I said, my eyes widening in horror. “Sophia, you’re the sacrifice. The king wants you two to win this, to make it to the end.”
“I’m not listening to your craziness,” Sophia said, starting to back away.
A short, squat faerie with orange spiky hair was striding from the helicopter. “Mrs. Cunningham, we’re here to take you back to Earth.”
Tristam and Sophia were backing away from us. Our clandestine chat had done nothing but convince them we were fucking with them. How to convince them?
“Tristam,” I said. “Your brother is alive.”
Tristam’s blue eyes widened in shock, his tan features going pale. “You’re lying.”
“I’m not. And I can prove it.”
“Mrs. Cunningham,” the faerie repeated, beckoning my mother with an outstretched hand. “Now, please.”
I turned my attention to my mom, not willing to let her go without saying goodbye. I hugged her tightly. “You were so awesome, Mom. You totally kicked ass.”
“You saved my life from those dogs,” my mom said. “I’m proud of you. Be safe.”
I pulled back reluctantly, looking at her sweaty and dirt-streaked face. “I have some good news for you when I get home, okay?” I pulled her into one more hug. “I found her,” I whispered in her ear.
The faerie pulled my mom from me, towards the waiting helicopter. I could see the retreating forms of Tristam and Sophia running from the square with Dulcina out of the corner of my eye. But my gaze was fixed on my mother. Her eyes and mouth were open wide as she stumbled along, too weak with shock to resist. I smiled at her. “Say hi to Dad! Tell him I love him.” I waved, forcing a smile, praying it wasn’t the last time I’d ever see her. Because this race wasn’t over yet.
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21
When the helicopter disappeared from view, we were very much alone. The three of us stood in silence, each of us reflecting on the last hour of our lives. Ruth’s camera was now working again, but she made no move to pick it up and point it in our direction. I almost felt sorry for her. She hadn’t signed up for this any more than we had. She’d signed up for a stable week or two’s worth of work and a nice fat paycheck at the end of it. Instead, she’d run for her life, faced hellhounds who wanted to eat us, and a magical fight to the death.
To top it all, her presence here was basically pointless as the footage wasn’t even being broadcast on Earth. I had half a mind to tell her to put her out of her misery. At least then, she could leave and still get the paycheck.
I set off slowly towards the edge of the square. Ruth grumbled something about it being bedtime and her legs being too knackered for this, but I ignored her. I had a plan, and Ruth’s knackered knees didn’t figure into it.
She was nothing but a burden to Orin and me. She ran much slower than we did so that we constantly had to slow down for her to keep up with us. It made hiking across the board tedious. Well, it would have been tedious if it wasn’t for the constant fear of crazy monsters jumping out at us. Plus, with the chance that her recording could get back to the king, we weren’t free to strategize or plan what came next.
“Where are we going?” Orin asked quietly as we walked across yet another square. Now that we’d been playing a while and our pieces were all over the board, it had opened up to us much more. As long there was one of our playing pieces ahead of us, we were able to keep moving freely through the squares to get to them.
“I want to go and see Niall,” I whispered back so Ruth couldn’t hear me. “I just don’t want Ruth to know that, so I’m deliberately walking in the opposite direction.”
“What are ye two whisperin’ aboot?” huffed Ruth behind us.
“You know, I think I’m tired,” Orin said, stretching his arms out. “Let’s find a place to sleep.”
We’d walked into a commercial zone, so there were no more beds like there had been the night before, but Ruth didn’t seem to care as we opened a shop door and paraded in. The shop sold furniture, and although it didn’t have any beds, it had a couple of comfy looking sofas. Ruth barged past us and collapsed on the biggest. She certainly took her comfort seriously.
“I guess we’re sleeping here,” I said to Orin, taking the much smaller sofa. I nodded over to Ruth. She’d already gotten herself comfortable and closed her eyes.
Orin waved his hand and threw a ball of light at her head. Moments later, she was snoring softly. “Sleeping spell,” Orin said. “It should keep her down for a few hours.”
A few hours’ sleep. Oh, how I envied her. My body felt like a lead weight pulling at me, my muscles shaky with exhaustion from our flight from the hellhounds. But we had bigger fish to fry, and I didn’t see myself having the luxury of sleep in the near future. We left the store, pushing back into the faerie night.
Without Ruth holding us back, loping across the board was freeing. With the breeze in my hair and Orin next to me, I could almost believe we were on a date, instead of headed to see an alcoholic Brotherhood member, who may be our only hope of saving the world.
Orin grabbed my hand and pulled me into the shadows.
“What?” I asked, but he held a finger to his lips and nodded to the end of the street.
I followed his gaze. It was dark, and it took a while to see what it was that he was pointing at, but then I spotted it. A guard dressed in the palace uniform crossed the street. I held my breath as he walked in front of us, but he didn’t see us. I waited until he was completely out of sight before speaking.
“I thought this was a bit too easy,” I said, making a move to head back out into the street. Orin tugged me back, but instead of pulling me away from someone like he did last time, he pulled me towards someone. Him.
He was forceful as he pushed me back against the shop wall, falling right back into the kiss that Tristam and Sophia rudely interrupted. His hands were all over me, igniting senses that I didn’t even know I had.
I pressed into him, matching his urgency, my heart pumping wildly, on the verge of exploding with the thrill of it all. I’d been kissed before, but this was something else entirely. I ran my hands down his back, and then to his ass. His perfect ass that right at that moment, I wanted to take a bite out of. I wanted all of him, to drink him all in, to lick and nibble, and feel his skin against mine. If we weren’t in the middle of hell, I’d have ripped his clothes off right then and there, but we were and making out in the shadows, no matter how wonderful, was not going to get us out of here.
Orin reluctantly pulled away, his lips swollen, his breath panting. “We should get goi—” but he couldn’t complete his sentence because I’d snaked my hand around the back of his neck and pulled him back into the kiss. Yes, I wanted to save the world, but fuck, it could wait a few minutes!
It was the sound of footsteps that finally broke us apart. The guard who’d walked down the street was now walking up it. Once again, he passed by without seeing us, but it meant we needed to find a different route. I couldn’t help giggling as we stole down the alley away from the guard and headed onto the next street. There was something delicious about holding Orin’s hand and sneaking through the city in the dark after the most passionate kiss of my entire life. If we both managed to get out of this alive, I was going to enjoy kissing Orin a whole lot more.
The exuberance I felt as we crept through the streets never waned, the joy of it carrying me the whole distance to Niall’s square. It was only when we found the bar empty that reality set in.
“Where is he?” I asked pointlessly. If I didn’t know, then neither would Orin.
“He can’t have gotten far. There’s still some whiskey left.” He pointed behind the bar where rows of bottles stood, some unopened, some partially empty.
“It’s late. He’s probably found some nice place to sleep. The FFR must have made allowances for the playing pieces. They can’t expect them to sleep on the floor or have to find a place like we have had to.”
Orin nodded thoughtfully. “You’re right. They would all have been briefed on where to sleep, but all the pieces move, so they’d have to know the arranged sleeping spaces on each square. How many squares does a chess board have?”
I counted up manually in my head. “Eight across, so sixty-four.”
“Could you remember the location of sixty-four places to sleep?”
“Right at this moment, I can barely remember my own name,” I yawned.
“Exactly. There must be a marker or something. Something that sets the designated buildings aside from all the others.”
“A marker visible in the dark?”
Orin nodded. “Yeah.”
I’d been joking, but I supposed it made sense. The people standing in as pieces could easily have to make their way to their home base after dark.
Orin’s theory proved correct. Outside, it didn’t take long to find what we were looking for. One of the streetlights burned with a pale green light compared to the purple of the others. The house next to it was locked. The first house we’d found locked since starting the game.
“It’s locked by magic,” Orin said, pointing out that there was no keyhole. “I’m guessing it will only open to the playing pieces. It will have a memory charm on it.”
I tried the handle again anyway, but it wouldn’t budge.
“You’ll not get past a spell like that,” Orin said, but I paid no attention. I had another plan. Pulling off my jacket, I wrapped it around my hand and punched through the house’s ground floor window. I’d always wanted to do that. I shook the jacket to clear the shards of broken glass before putting it back on and reaching through the hole I’d just made to unlock it.
“I guess they forgot to put a spell on the windows,” I said, a grin playing on my lips as I slid the window up. Orin, looking suitably impres
sed, helped me climb up into the now open window.
Inside, the house was fancy and posh. It was a similar size to the faerie houses we’d already been inside, but it had been newly decorated to the highest degree. Sleek modern furniture filled the small living area, and I could just make out the ultra-modern kitchen through a door, all white granite and subway tile.
Orin pointed to the stairs, and I nodded. We tiptoed up slowly, although if he hadn’t heard the breaking glass, he was hardly going to hear our footsteps. He was probably sleeping off the effects of the whiskey he’d no doubt been consuming all day.
We found Niall in the bedroom in an oversized bed. The pillows had been pushed to the floor, and the thick duvet only partially covered him. Everything from the back of his thighs upwards was completely naked. I heaved a sigh of relief he was sleeping on his stomach. Though I didn’t particularly need the image of his flabby bum burned in my memory, either.
“Oy, Niall!” Orin shouted, making me jump.
“Hmmm?”
Niall turned to face us, and apart from a momentary expression of surprise, he didn’t seem too bothered that we’d barged in on him while he was sleeping. I turned, fixing my eyes on the corner of the room.
“I wondered when you’d be back,” Niall drawled, wiping the sleep from his eyes. “Want some chess advice, do you?”
“Can you please cover yourself,” I asked, indicating his mostly naked body. I wasn’t going to be able to concentrate on anything with that staring at me.
He pulled the duvet to his waist without the slightest hint of embarrassment. At least, one of us wasn’t embarrassed. I could feel my cheeks flaming red.
“Sorry. What is it you want? If you’re here to move me, you’ll have to wait a few minutes while I have a drink.”