Out of the corner of my eye I got a glimpse of Jaden. He was just standing there. Right at this moment, I hated everything that being fae meant. He’d made a deal. He couldn’t go back on it. A whistle sounded in the air and I barely got my blade up in time to block a swing toward my neck. Multi-colored sparks sprayed around us. I blocked and jumped around an old well. Starren followed me. Wade started around the other side.
I blocked another thrust. Starren jumped forward and slammed her shoulder into my gut, flying me through the air and right through the big picture window in the front of the farmhouse.
It was almost surreal, flying through the air, glass shards exploding around me. I hit the wood floor inside and my whole body screamed. I stumbled to my feet, groaning, just as Starren jumped through the window frame, screaming like a banshee.
My right thigh pulsed, something warm running down into my tennis shoe. Shoot, was that blood? I glanced down and sure enough, I was bleeding all over, tiny cuts everywhere from the glass. I gritted my teeth as my body pushed little shards of glass through my skin, sending them tinkling to the floor of whatever room this was.
My movement was sluggish for a moment as my body struggled to heal so many things at once, giving Starren a chance to circle closer. This was not going to end well if things continued in the direction in which they were moving. I lifted my sword, nearly letting out a groan at how much it weighed right now.
This was where all the bad guys taunted the good guys in the movies, but Starren was strangely silent, a ferocious level of concentration on her face. The front door banged open and there was Wade. I almost ran to him. I’d take him over Starren any day, but she circled between us, moving me back into a corner.
Think, think, think. More thinking in the last week than in the rest of my life put together. I hated thinking. Something crackled under my feet and I looked down to see a bunch of leaves. The old farmhouse must have a hole in it somewhere. Wait. Leaves.
Wade had worked his way over to my left, Starren to my right. I swung the tip of my sword back and forth, first facing one, then the other. Time to get back to nature.
I shrieked, throwing Wade off guard and charged him, trying to knock him over. I just bounced off. He caught me, arms clamped like iron around my body. I thrashed around trying to get free, but he didn’t budge. I grabbed the last piece of glass working its way out of my skin and jabbed it into Wade’s arm. He let out a howl and dropped me, giving me the chance to get past him and jump back out the shattered window.
A glance showed Jaden, standing in the exact place I’d left him. Stupid fae blood. I ran to him and started dragging him toward the woods. He was stiff, but he was able to move with me jerking on him.
Starren and Wade were on our heels, not a surprise considering how slow we were going. Starren was right on my tail, so I turned back to face her. She slid to a stop, waiting for Wade to move around behind me.
“This is it. Just let us take you in, please Trisha,” Wade said. “I’ll make sure you’re happy in Faerie, I promise.”
“Not likely,” I snarled. “Get them,” I ordered.
Starren and Wade looked confused for a second, trying to figure out what I meant. Nothing happened.
Seriously? This was not the plan. Help us! I begged internally.
“Please?” I said out loud. Still nothing.
Starren’s eyes narrowed in my direction and Jaden was looking at me like I was crazy. So much for that plan.
That slight distraction only stopped Starren for a minute before coming at me again. I blocked, then a strange rustling went through the trees. We all froze, looking up in unison. The trees around us creaked and groaned into life, branches snaking toward us. Wade whacked a branch off with his sword, causing the stump to writhe away in seeming agony before being instantly replaced by another.
A pile of kindling formed around Starren as she whacked at anything that moved. I pushed Jaden toward the lane. We made it a few feet before the sounds of fighting stopped.
“Trisha,” Wade groaned out. I gave Jaden another shove and spun around. Both Wade and Starren were wrapped in branches, twisting tighter and tighter.
“Go on,” I told Jaden.
“No.”
I rolled my eyes and jogged back to Wade. “Okay, that’s good, you can stop now,” I told the trees. The branches slowed, but didn’t stop their sluggish creep, tightening their grip around their victims. I hesitated for a second, then reached forward and stroked one of the branches. “Really, you can stop. Thank you.”
This time the branch listened. It made me shiver a little. What was going on? What if the trees decided to listen to Starren instead of me? I had no idea why they were helping me. The groaning, popping and rustling stopped as the trees settled in. The only sound left was Wade panting, hard.
“What’s wrong with you?” I asked.
“Can’t…breathe…” he barely got out.
“Oh!” Now here was an interesting situation, as George Bailey would say. Nina made us watch It’s a Wonderful Life at least once a year. Yes, a girl didn’t find herself in this situation very often. Having this much control over a murderous ex-boyfriend. His face was starting to mottle. I sighed. “Fine. Please loosen up a bit,” I asked the tree. “But not enough for them to get away.” I didn’t know how specific I needed to be with a tree, but I figured more instruction was better than not enough.
The branches grudgingly gave them both a little breathing room. Wade gulped air. Starren just stared at me.
“What are you?” she asked.
Um, good question. Obviously this wasn’t normal or they would have used it against me. “Wouldn’t you like to know,” I said, even though I was in the same boat.
She snarled at me but didn’t have a comeback.
“Now tell Jaden he can go.”
“No.” She glared. I glared back.
“I will tell that branch to squeeze as much as it wants to. But only if you don’t tell Jaden he can go,” I threatened. “Otherwise I could just have it take care of you, and he would be free anyway.” Maybe I should. Maybe it would be better if they couldn’t interact with the human world.
Starren groaned and slumped forward, the tree branch dipping under her weight before bringing her back up. “Jaden, you are free from your word.”
“Thank you,” I said. I stared at them a moment, considering. Wade knew. I could tell by looking at him that he knew what I was thinking. Being crushed to death would be a horrible way to go, even if they did wake up fine in Faerie. I couldn’t do that to them.
“Who was that guy? Back at the gas station?” I asked.
Wade visibly slumped in relief. “A bounty hunter. The Council decided to start sending extra fae to help with the situation.”
I tipped my head, confused. “Then why were you fighting?”
Wade didn’t answer.
I glared at Starren and the trees seemed to know what I was feeling, because the branch began to tighten.
“Stop, stop!” she huffed out. “Vilan is known for getting results. How he goes about it isn’t always pretty.”
She didn’t elaborate, but I knew what she meant, even without her saying it. They had protected us. I didn’t know why, and somehow I didn’t think I’d get an answer for that question. But it didn’t really matter at this point.
“Thank you,” I said. I actually meant it, no matter what their motives had been. I turned and started up the lane.
“Wait!” Starren yelled. I paused. “Who are your parents?”
Right to the point. Typical Starren. I glanced back over my shoulder. “I don’t know. Why?”
She slumped without answering. But she’d finally just come out and asked. All the hinting before this was so obvious now. Was that the real reason I’d been ‘asked’ to join the team? It didn’t matter anymore, and I wanted out of here.
“Hey!” Wade yelled when I started to leave. “You aren’t going to just lea
ve us here, are you? How did you get them to do this? Tell them to let us go!”
“I’m sure you’ll figure something out,” I yelled back over my shoulder.
“You better never leave Sanctuary,” Starren yelled after us. “I’ll be waiting. The second you do, you’re done!” The gravity of what had just happened hit me. Never leave Sanctuary. No Dan, more importantly, no Nina.
Starren kept yelling threats at us. I ignored her and stopped at the next tree. “Hey, let them go after we’re out of here, ‘k? You know, a while after we’re out of here.” The tree shivered in response and I took that as a yes.
I made it to Jaden and drug him after me. “What was that?” he asked me.
I shrugged. “It isn’t normal?”
He looked at me like I was crazy. “Ah, no. Commune with animals, yes, and sometimes they will help us out. Plants grow a little better if there are fae nearby. Nature just obeying in general? No.”
I shrugged again. No use letting him know that I was slightly freaked out too. “Where are the moms?”
“I told them to take off when Jaime got back, but they’re the moms, I doubt they did.”
We followed the lane back and were most of the way to the road when a tree crackled in the underbrush and tossed something out in front of us. Whatever it was jumped up and charged at us. My sword was instantly pointed in that direction and up to face the human like figure heading our way. I was getting good at this.
“No, no, don’t do anything!” A frantic voice yelled as the figure slid to a stop.
I squinted, but whoever it was had been rooting around in the dirt too long, apparently. He was covered head to toe. “Cray?”
“Yes, now can I come over there?” He sounded like he was about to cry.
“Sure.” I pointed the tip of my sword down. Cray ran over and practically stuck his body to mine as he frantically pulled leaves from his hair.
“What is that thing doing?” he finally asked.
“The tree?” I put the tip of my sword to the ground and leaned on it.
“They like Trish,” Jaden added.
Cray looked at me in the same way he’d been looking at the woods a moment ago. Shoot. Out of everyone here I’d have thought he would know what was going on. Speaking of him being here. “What are you doing out here, Cray?”
He shook out his jacket and twigs fell to the ground. “I followed Starren and Wade in case you guys needed help.”
I just stared at him for a moment. He had to be telling the truth, but I couldn’t figure out why he would help us. Without the ability to lie, he had to be on our side, but it didn’t really make much sense.
“Are you sure that’s why?” Jaden asked.
Cray got kind of pale. “Yes?”
“And it had nothing to do with the fact that Starren knows you helped us in Chicago and now you need somewhere to crash?”
“Crash?” Cray blinked several times, looking like he was trying to process. “That means somewhere to live in human, correct?”
Well that pretty much covered why he was here, but why had he helped us in the first place? Not really fair to ask, I guess. Everyone was entitled to their secrets, as long as it didn’t affect me.
Now what? I didn’t even know what was going to happen to me, let alone him too. But we couldn’t stand around here, who knew how long until the trees got bored and let the dream team go. I sighed. Yet another complication. “Okay, come on.”
Cray’s face visibly brightened. “Thanks.” We left for the van, everyone quiet. Jaden was watching me, which made me really uncomfortable, and Cray stumbled along swatting at bugs. It was him Jaden should be watching. I liked Cray just fine, but I had a suspicious mind.
The trip back along the dirt road was much shorter than weaving back and forth through the trees trying to be quiet like on my way in. I was still studying Cray when the trees gave way to sky. I took a second to sheath my sword. No reason for the moms to see it out.
“Trish!” I was pulled from my thoughts to see Jaime bailing out of the minivan ahead and charging my way. I expected her to hit Jaden, but remembered she couldn’t see him just as she launched herself at me. I caught her and she wrapped her arms around me, nearly squeezing me to death.
“What’s this?” I asked.
“Thank you for standing between that scary girl and Jaden.” Shame washed through me at her innocent statement. The plan had been to turn him in. I probably would have if the Council hadn’t changed things with Starren. I looked over at Jaden, but he wouldn’t meet my eyes. Rebecca, Nina and Lucy piled out of the van and surrounded me too, almost enough to make me claustrophobic. Cray hung back behind.
“Are they gone?” Rebecca asked, gripping onto Jaime like she was never letting go.
“Yep, they’re gone. For good.” There was no way they would risk going against the Council again by breaking Sanctuary. We would be fine, as soon as we were back in the city limits.
She put out an arm and pulled me into a hug too. Kind of awkward with the three of us, but who was I to tell her no after what she’d just been through?
“I was so worried, those bad people were mad at you,” Jaime said. I squished her close, letting out a huge sigh and breathing in her kid smell. She wiggled out of my arms and launched herself at Rebecca.
“Trish is so awesome Mom, you should see her fighting with a sword. She took care of us.”
Rebecca turned to look at me. I just rubbed the back of my neck with one hand.
“How do you know about that?” I asked. “I told you to run.”
Jaime looked down at the ground. “I watched from the trees for a couple minutes, until I got scared.”
I closed my eyes. That could have turned out so badly. If I had been able to convince Starren I had brought Jaden there to turn him in…
“What’s he doing here?” My eyes popped back open at Rebecca’s question. She was gesturing toward Cray.
“He came to help,” I answered. He had come to help, even if he didn’t get to.
“Who is he?” Nina asked. Oh yeah, she wouldn’t know.
“A friend. He helped us in Chicago the day before you and I got there,” I said.
Nina walked toward Cray and stuck her hand out. “I’m Nina. Thanks for your help.”
Cray got wide-eyed but stuck his hand out to meet hers.
“Is Jaden here? Is he okay?” Rebecca asked, interrupting my eavesdropping.
“Yes and yes.”
Rebecca’s shoulders slumped in relief. “And you’re sure they’re taken care of?”
“Yes.”
“Why am I not convinced of that?” Nina interjected. “I seem to have heard it before.”
“For real this time. Starren and Wade got taken care of. And I don’t think anyone else is going to go rogue and come into Sanctuary. The Council does NOT like being disobeyed.” And I really didn’t think they would attempt anything close to Sanctuary again. When the Council found out they’d done this they were going to have enough to deal with. I felt almost a twinge. Was that sympathy? Nah, it couldn’t be, could it? Being around a family wasn’t good for me, I was developing too many feelings. But what would happen to Starren now? She hadn’t known Jaime was part fae and hadn’t meant to break the law, but that wouldn’t matter to the Council. Oh well, she could take care of herself. There was nothing I could do.
Rebecca grinned, a huge happy, relieved, full out grin. Good to see. “How did they get taken care of?” The grin fell off her face. She looked at Jaime. “You didn’t have to…”
“Ah, no. But it’s a long story,” I answered, nodding toward Jaime as if to say I didn’t want to go into it in front of her. Rebecca nodded. Jaden looked at me for the first time. I shook my head no. I wasn’t going to tell them what had really happened. Not a single reason I could think of to let them know how my freak factor had just doubled.
“That sword had better be done being used,” Nina was saying b
eside me. She pulled me in for a one armed hug and held me there. I wiggled, trying to get free but she just held me tighter. “Now that you have your son and I have my daughter, we’d better get out of here,” Nina told Rebecca.
Her daughter? I leaned into the hug a little bit. Maybe hugs weren’t all bad. And this might be the last one I got. I swiped my arm over my eyes, telling myself the misting there was because of the weather. Of course it was. I didn’t need Nina and Dan. I didn’t need anyone. I was really good at surviving on my own. Starren knew where I lived in D.C. Even if I didn’t stay in Sanctuary, I couldn’t go back with Nina. They were just going to have to take in some other mouthy foster kid.
The pain in my chest grew until I couldn’t even look at her.
Rebecca, Jaden, Lucy and Jaime headed for the car together. Nina stayed back to walk with me. Cray trailed behind. He really was going to have to get over being scared of humans if he wanted to stay with me. It was kind of annoying.
“So…” I tried to come up with something to break the awkward silence.
“So…” she copied me. “Don’t you ever do that again. I know you’re some kind of superwoman, but you’re still my daughter and I’ll kill you myself if you run off like that even one more time. I was about to come in after you.”
“No!” Just the thought was terrifying. What might have happened to her if she had? Just another hostage. Or worse, if they didn’t have any use for her. Would Wade have been able to kill her? She was only a human to him, I couldn’t see him caring at all. Or what if she’d seen all that tree stuff? How much weird could she handle and still love me?
“Well what was I supposed to do if you didn’t come out? I waited because I figured I’d be less than no help, probably get in the way, but I was about to try anyway.”
The thought sent a shiver through me. Starren would have used her just like she’d used Jaime.
“I didn’t want you to get hurt,” I admitted out loud. “And I couldn’t leave Jaime out there.”
Nina pulled me in, tightening the hug that still had not ended. “I know. But knowing that didn’t help me any when I was waiting back here with the doors locked and the van in drive.”
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