'We'll hunt something,' Silas said, rising to his feet. Che joined him, and the two trotted off to look for game. Truth be told, I had no idea what exactly qualified as game out here. Certainly it wasn't just rabbits and rodents. Probably something purple (purple seemed to be big out here in Faerie) with extra limbs or wings or toes made of diamonds. It was all just … a bit off.
“You guys are having more of those private conversations in your head, aren't you?” Faith asked, looking between the four human faces in the group. It was actually fairly shocking that Jax was one of them; he seemed to prefer his wolf form most of the time, especially in a situation like this. Instead, he sat casually with one elbow thrown on a knee, palm splayed in the clovers as he leaned back on it to support his body weight.
“Just discussing our options for food and water,” I said as I stood up and padded over to the fallen log near us, leaning over it and looking at the cool, quiet pool of water on the other side. Surely not every body of water was harboring deadly creatures like the kelpie? “We're about as familiar with this landscape as you are.”
I moved around the log, creeping up close to the shore of the tiny pond.
“Zara,” Nic warned as he walked over to stand beside me. Tidus joined him, taking up my right side, and we all looked longingly at the still, silver surface, bathed in moonlight and lily pads.
“I think you should boil it first,” Faith supplied, which would be super helpful if we were all humans. Wolves, and most especially 'weres', had no problem with minor aquatic organisms or bacteria. I was worried less about stomach upset and more about being eaten alive by some dark faerie thing.
I dropped to my knees, feeling the power of the Forest Spirit whisper through me. As soon as I had a moment alone, I'd grieve for him. He was my father, and we'd just barely met, and now he was gone. I didn't know how to feel about that, but a deep melancholy rested in my lower belly.
Glancing at the tattoo on my wrist, I considered trying my newfound magic out on the pond. Could I search for creatures lingering in its dark depths? It was worth a try, wasn't it?
As I lowered my wrist toward the water, Nic stepped close with a growl, and cold, blue fingers curled up from out of the watery shadows. The boys hauled me back before I even had time to react, and then there she was, the rusalka girl, Karma, from back home, poking just her eyes out of the water like a crocodile. She pulled herself up just enough that her mouth showed above the surface.
“What are you doing here?” I managed to get out, my voice strong even if it was tinged with a thread of fear and surprise. I did not expect to see the dead Ebon Red girl this side of the Veil.
“This world and yours are much closer than you might think,” she whispered, her fingers digging into the soft earth at the edge of the pond. “This is as much my grave as the one you saw on Pack land.” Karma looked out at us with eyes the same color as Aeron's hair—black beyond black, not just a dark color but a lack thereof, a void. “You're safe to drink this.” She reached one hand back in the water and came out with a handful of small, silver fish, tossing them onto the shore. They glittered and danced like stars as I gaped at her. “Finish up here and hurry back. You won't want to miss the start of Rusalka Week.”
Karma dipped back beneath the surface, but even as I leaned over and peered through the clear depths, I couldn't see hide nor hair of her.
“What the hell was what?” Faith whispered from the other side of the log, and I looked up in time to catch the stark expression of fear on her face. All the color had drained from her cheeks; she was almost as white as I was. “There's a girl in there?”
“More like a dead girl,” Jax supplied which was most definitely not helpful. I gave him a dark look, and he glanced away, properly submitting to his alpha female, something that Che had still yet to learn.
“A dead girl?” Faith asked, and I could tell that as open-minded and outgoing as she was, that even she was being pushed close to her limit.
“Don't worry about her,” I said, gathering up the fish as Tidus crept close to the edge of the pond, watched the surface with shimmering gray eyes, and then snatched one of the fish out of the water with supernatural precision. We'd have enough food in no time. “Let's find some sticks and roast these. We don't know how long we have to rest here before we'll have to run again.”
“A dead girl …” Faith murmured, sitting down beside the fire. I was pretty sure she was in some sort of emotional shock. I felt bad for her, but we were in a sticky wicket here, and there wasn't much more I could do. “So, if dead girls are real, and werewolves are real,” Faith paused as I speared one of the tiny silver fish on a stick and handed it over to her. I could see the cogs of her mind turning as she mused. “Then vampires are, too?” She seemed way too excited about that. I was going to hate bursting her bubble. I mean, they were real—they just sucked some serious ass.
“Cook your fish and drink some water. I have no idea what tomorrow's going to hold.”
I knelt down, scooped some water in my palms and splashed it on my face.
It was going to be a long, long night in Faerie, wasn't it?
A scream snapped me awake, my wolf rising to the challenge with tooth and claw. My hackles were up, and I was standing over Faith as she looked up at me with wide, wide eyes.
Whatever was screeching, out there in the deep, dark distance, was the same thing that had scared us so badly when we'd first arrived. We were being hunted, that much I was sure of.
'Smother the fire,' I told Jax, noticing that all the boys had reverted back to their wolves. It was the easiest way to keep warm, to stay safe, and to guard Faith. I could tell she wasn't totally comfortable with it, but like I said, the girl loved wolves. She was having an easier time than most would have. A pang went through me as I remembered that sometime soon, I'd have to tell her about Notch and Mila, about … about Diya.
Now was not that time.
Jax and Silas took care of the fire while Nic and Che came trotting back to the group. They'd been on guard duty, circling around the camp, but the creature that had woken me so fitfully from my sleep wasn't close enough for them to see or sniff—not just yet. Tidus, Anubis, and I had been cuddling around Faith.
“What is that?” she asked, but I had no answer for her.
'Let's get up and get moving,' I told the boys, and we did, stopping for a long drink before heading out.
The landscape stretched out for miles on all sides of us, just fields of flowers and long, tall grass with the occasional copse of trees. In the distance, I could see the inky shape of mountains against an early morning sky.
Our wolf bodies were used to running for long distances, so it wasn't much of a strain on us, but when it hit early evening, when the suns had risen high and then dropped low in the sky again, and a heavy blanket of cloying heat hung in the air, I started to worry about Faith.
We'd stopped in a patch of shade to rest, and she'd basically tumbled off, lying in the grass with sweat pouring down the sides of her face, her body trembling as she rolled onto her side.
The boys switched the goblet around—as easy it was to hold, it wasn't fun to run with a huge metal cup in one's mouth—and then paused as Tidus stepped forward and nudged my bestie with a sandy snout.
'She's not doing so well, Zara,' he said, lifting soft, gray eyes up to mine. 'I didn't want to say anything before because I didn't want to slow us down, but the change is coming.'
'Fuck.' Just that one word, in wolfspeak, was like a distant buzzing in the back of my skull. I lifted my muzzle to the air and breathed in, tasting the scent of the wind on the back of my tongue. There it was, ever present, the cloying taste of rot.
We had yet to outrun our pursuer.
'Che, Silas, and I could go back,' Nic said, stepping forward, the comforting colors of his red-brown Ebon Red fur soothing in such a foreign landscape. It was like we were on an alien planet or something, and the part of me that was connected with Mother Earth didn't like that, not one
bit. Last time we were in Faerie, when I reached for that familiar connection with the earth, I couldn't find it. This time was no different in that regard, but I could feel the power in my tattoo, feel it in my body. We'd brought some of the earth's magic with us. 'We could distract that thing, whatever it is, and give you guys time to help Faith through the night.'
'We're not splitting up,' I said definitively, thinking of Monty, feeling sick for Monty, wanting him with every beat of my heart and every breath I took. 'We stay together, no matter what.'
“Zara, I think something was wrong with that fish. I feel so sick.” I shifted back to human form, so I could kneel beside Faith and push some hair back from her sweaty forehead.
“I need you to listen to me, and I need you to trust me. I know I haven't earned that trust, but—”
“What are you talking about? Idiot.” She squeezed my hand hard enough to hurt, and my throat closed up with emotion. I wasn't good with that, letting go and being vulnerable. My whole life, I'd been trained to rise above, to take charge, to be the alpha. I didn't know how to let loose and let my feelings show. “I know why you didn't tell me about any of this before. I would've thought you were destined for the loony bin.” I smiled as I crossed my legs and pulled her hand into my lap. “I trust you, Zara.”
My nostrils flared and my lips pursed.
I didn't deserve that trust, and she'd know that as soon as I told her how I'd failed to protect her family. But not just yet. First, we had to get through this.
“Malak, you remember him, right?” I asked, and Faith gave me a look. Even sick, she was capable of making faces that could convey a thousand different emotions.
“I slept with the guy, of course I remember,” she murmured, her eyes darkening slightly. “I cheated on Owen. I'm as bad as he is.” I chose to ignore that last part, at least for now. We could discuss it later, over a bowl of ice cream or something. Although secretly I hoped we were done with Owen Tiaffay forever. Wouldn’t that be some pretty silver lining?
“Faith, when a human sleeps with a faerie, bad things happen. He made you sick.”
“What? A faerie?” she asked, finally sitting up. It looked like the effort took a lot out of her, but at least she was able to manage it without passing out. “I mean, obviously I saw him wielding, like, swords back there …” Faith paused and then doubled over, holding her stomach. “I'm sick because I had unprotected sex?” she whispered, and now it was my turn to play the girlfriend card.
“You had unprotected sex?!” I blurted and Faith flinched again. I supposed the lack of oversight could be blamed on the Seelie prince's, you know, sex magic. But still. Faith had a t-shirt that said Condoms Feel Better than Vaginal Births on it.
“He was so handsome, and so charming, and Owen is such a … a …”
“Douche canoe,” Tidus whispered, shifting back to human form, and Faith laughed. She didn't even seem particularly bothered by his nakedness. I mean, his junk was precariously close to her face right then, too.
“Yes, exactly that, a douche canoe with dildos for oars.” Faith sighed and pushed some hair back from her face. “I know I shouldn't have cheated on him, but …” Tears sprung to her eyes, and I reached out to wipe one away with my thumb. I was not letting her get distracted by feeling bad about Owen. Shitty boyfriends aren’t worth a single tear.
“Faith, you were dying. For days, you laid in our den, and you got more and more delirious. There was only one way to save you.” She stared at me then, eyes wide, fear evident in her expression. How badly she was going to take this, I didn't know. “We …” My voice trailed off, and I had no idea how to put this gently. “We turned you into a werewolf.”
Faith held her breath for so long that I started to get concerned, and then she inhaled this huge, gasping, choking breath.
“Werewolf?” she whispered, staring down at the ground between us. Tidus and I exchanged a look before we turned back to her. “When do I … turn?”
“Tonight.” I didn’t have to ask Anubis for clarification. Now that I was standing there, I knew. Faith smelled like pack. Of course, she smelled more like the sunshine-y sandalwood and amber of Pack Amber Ash than she did Pack Ebon Red, but it was there, the very distinct mark of a werewolf. Something was off, though, and I couldn’t decide if it was because she hadn’t fully experienced the change yet, or if we'd always be able to tell she was turned.
“Tonight …” Faith trailed off, and then she flicked a gaze up to me that was half excitement and half fear. “Will it hurt?”
“It doesn't for us,” Tidus interjected, and I nodded my acquiescence. “But a human hasn't been turned in any recent memory, so we don't really know.”
“I don't have to forsake my family or anything like that?” she asked, and I shook my head, red hair swinging. It was still in a braid from the last time Monty had fixed it for me.
“Most definitely not.”
“Mom—” Faith started, but then a sound came from far off, the screech of a nightmare. No, no, now that it was closer … more like the screech of many nightmares.
'Alpha,' Nic said, drawing my attention.
Think, think, think, Zara! I told myself, rising to my feet. Faith was going to change, and it wasn't going to be pretty. Night was coming—and fast. And still no word from the Unseelie Queen. We were stuck in another world with no way of getting back. Even if we searched for, and found, mushrooms, there was a fifty-fifty chance at best that they'd actually work. More than likely, they'd be poisonous. This was Faerie, after all.
“We need to keep going,” I said, sucking in a sharp breath. “I know it's a risk with Faith's condition, but I'd rather deal with a rogue werewolf than whatever it is that's calling our name out there.”
“Your word is our command, Alpha-Red,” Tidus said, and then he shifted. I helped Faith onto his back, took a turn with the goblet in my mouth, and we headed out again.
We barely made it five minutes before a huge swarm of … things blotted out the sun in front of us. Our entire pack came to a skidding halt, claws kicking up clumps of grass and dirt as we tried to turn on a dime. But within seconds, the swarm had us completely surrounded.
'The Sluagh,' Anubis said, his wolfspeak voice quivering. 'The Wild Hunt.'
'The Wild fucking What?!' Che shouted back as the stench of rot and death overwhelmed us. I could hardly breathe, my body revolting against the smell. Jax seemed to vomit against his own will, and Silas howled with the agony. For an animal who relied so heavily on scent, this smell was like looking at wild strobe lights until you went blind or listening to music on such a high volume that you went deaf.
'Soul thieves,' Anubis choked out as I shifted and pulled the goblet from my mouth in one single motion.
'Sloo-ah,' Nic said, trying out the sound of the word Sluagh. ‘What the hell are they?’
'Also known as the Host of the Unforgiven Dead,' Anubis added, as Che turned and snapped in his direction, baring teeth, the whites of his eyes showing.
'That doesn't help, man!' he shouted, making my head ring.
The creatures swooped and dived above us, making that awful, awful screeching sound, their torn and tattered wings flapping. They had bony claws on their hands and feet, stringy hair that hung in thin clumps on either side of their faces, and long beak-like mouths with a curved hook at the end, much like a vulture. Meant for tearing flesh, no doubt.
There wasn't time to think, no time to consult with the boys.
Instead, I had seconds to act. Seconds.
I tore my own wrist open with my teeth, and drew a circle around us in blood, quickly creating the five points of a central star to make a pentagram. Witches used them for protection, so why I couldn't I?
Lifting the goblet to my lips, I took a drink from the red liquid inside, liquid that never seemed to spill no matter how the thing was carried or tossed around.
'Zara, wait!' Anubis called out, but it was too late. The magic hit me like a fucking freight train, throwing me back into m
y mates. I hit the ground hard as vines tore from my wrist, making me scream. It hurt like freaking hell. Like, well, a cluster of huge ass vines tearing through my skin.
The magic ripped out of me without pomp and circumstance, snaking around us and creating a cage of green, thorny vines topped with red and black rose blossoms. The edge of the blood circle I'd drawn marked the edges of the makeshift cage.
The Sluagh, apparently, had had enough, and chose that moment to dive, this reeking, rotting swarm of black that hit the wall of vines with so much force that I could feel it. My body screamed in pain, my back bowing, as the magic I'd absorbed with the Forest Spirit's last dying breath streamed out of me. It was as if I could feel every beak, every claw that scratched and tug and bit at the walls around us.
Nic rolled me over as I threw up, Anubis holding my hair back. I threw up until there was nothing left, and then I choked and gagged as the swarm pummeled our magical defenses over and over and over again.
This wasn't going to hold forever. Already, I could sense the power pouring out of me, emptying everything I had inside. I was going to end up like Silas, passed out, drained, unresponsive.
“Zara, we have a problem,” Tidus called, and I glanced over to see Faith having a seizure, her bones cracking and reforming, gray fur sprouting up from her red-brown skin.
Shit.
Shit, shit, shit.
We were trapped in a magical cage with a rogue werewolf that I didn't want to hurt, but that would most certainly want to hurt us. In the middle of Faerie with a swarm of soul-stealing rotten birds trying to do goddess only knows what to us. And I'd used my blood, which seemed to draw the sidhe royalty right to me the last time I'd tried it.
In the dirt in front of me, I found a map.
My eyes scanned the image, and I grabbed Anubis' hand, yanking him over to it, so he could memorize the damn thing. It looked just like the one we'd seen back home, the one Aeron had confirmed as indeed part of Faerie, each rose representing one of the courts.
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