Chapter 60

“Avery,” I yelled as I helplessly watched her fall three feet from me. But I was too far away to save her. To do anything. I pumped my legs faster, passing up Xzander who ran beside me.

Malcolm laughed. Fucker was going to regret touching Avery. I flung myself at my cousin. Before I could reach him, a phantom fist punched into my chest. I flew backward into a tree. Pain lanced up my spine and the back of my head.

This isn’t my cousin. I had to tell myself over and over as I stood, ignoring the pain and marching forward. This was the dark Fae king who had been exiled here thousands of years ago— the one Xzander told me about.

“Get to Avery, I’ll keep him busy.” Xzander's magic sailed across the clearing.

I hobbled over to her side and knelt beside her. Blood covered her neck and more pooled in a puddle around the dragonroot. Its skull blossoms were crimson, and my throat clenched. She wasn’t breathing.

Behind me, magic thundered as Xzander and that thing pretending to be Malcolm fought. I laid my sword down and gently turned Avery over. The gash along her neck was deep. My magic wouldn’t be able to heal her—not this much.

“Xzander! She’s hurt! Come heal her.” I held her in my arms, sending all the healing energy I could muster into her. Wouldn’t be enough to heal her, but it might buy us some time. Keep part of her anchored here so she could find her way back. My throat dried and I pushed aside the terror of losing her. I couldn’t. I’d give my life for her. Why wasn’t the damn Unseelie coming? “Xzander!”

Another boom vibrated the trees and ground around us.

Malcolm’s laugh sounded like he had gone insane and ice water filled my veins. Was Xzander all right?

I glanced over my shoulder to find both amber and black magic sparking between them. Xzander strained, his face scrunched up as he fought off a barrage of black spikes aiming for his head. Xzander's magical amber shield grew duller with every strike.

“Avery needs you. I can’t heal her.” Though I hadn’t been much good against the dark Fae wannabe king either. I couldn’t get the words out that she wasn’t breathing. That it looked like she’d bleed out entirely. How her flesh was ashen and how it felt like my heart had stopped along with hers.

* * *

Avery The barrier lay before me, except it looked different now. Shadows flickered on the other side and everything, even where I had stood next to the dragonroot, looked gray. And a pulsing black line marked the barrier into the shadow realm.

Maggie. She was somewhere in there and I had to find her.

I walked past the barrier. A tingling sensation like a thousand pinpricks hit my skin.

“Avery,” a familiar voice called.

I spun. Malcolm stood a few feet inside the barrier with me and I flinched.

“No, it’s me.” He held his hands up and I could see through them like he was a ghost.

Still, I hesitated. What if this was a trick? “What are you doing here?”

“I’m in limbo, so to speak, while that bastard is using my body. Why did you give in to his demands? Don’t you know that he’ll kill us all?”

My gut or ghost gut believed that this was the real Malcolm. I could sense the difference between the two now. Malcolm with his intense gaze made me shiver with anticipation every time I saw him. The intelligence mixed with compassion in his expression or even the way his lips tightened when he wanted me safe and thought I was being stubborn… like he was looking at me now. How did I fall for the fake one before? I shook my head. And the monster had said that living Fae couldn’t cross the barrier.

“It’s really you.” I threw myself into his arms. Even his scent of ginger, sandalwood, and a hint of orange enveloped me, and I inhaled deeply before pulling back.

He kissed me lightly across the lips. “Gods, I’ve missed you. Let’s get the hell out of this abyss."

“I have to find my friend.” I stomped around him and deeper into the shadow realm. “And how the hell did you get tangled in something like this?” Though I knew why. Malcolm had tried to stop the Fae demon from kidnapping and killing any more women. I shivered, wrapping my hands around myself. Had he brought them all here and killed them to see if their blood was the missing Fae queen’s? And I’d given him exactly what he wanted.

“No, Avery.” He jogged up beside me as I hiked. “It’s too dangerous. We need to get you back to your body.”

“Stop.” I held up a hand. “This is my fight. He took my friend… he took all those innocent women. I’m getting Maggie back and then I’m going to make this asshole wish he’d never met me.”

He stepped in front of me. “The barrier is broken, every nasty thing in here is free to terrorize anyone in their path. We need to get you to safety— figure out what to do to stop this fiend from unleashing terror across all the realms. Thousands— millions will die.”

I laid a hand on his chest, surprised that it felt real and firm just like when we were both alive. “No, Malcolm. I have to fix this and I’m not leaving without Maggie. Don’t you understand? She saved me.”

All the air rushed out of him. “How do you mean?”

“When I was grieving over my mom’s death and being transferred from foster home to foster home, she was my friend and sister.” I blinked back tears. How was it that I felt like I was crying when I had no one? “We were both foster kids. And she’d suffered nightmares all the time of ghouls and monsters and stuff no one believed was real. When an Abhartach tried to kill us my fourth night there, I stabbed it with the bedpost. Then Maggie looked up how to keep it dead and we buried the monster upside-down in the park at two in the morning. Ever since I’ve trained, and she’s been my Alfred.”

“Your what?”

“Never mind.” I wave a hand at him. Even though he and his cousins owned three bars, they didn’t hang out Earthside enough to enjoy the finer things like superhero movies. “Point is, I’m not leaving her here. Would you leave Darrius or Simeon?”

He opened his mouth to protest, then closed it. “All right. Let’s do this quick.”

I nodded. Finally, he was talking sense. Just because I had to get my friend, didn’t mean I wanted to hang out with Fae nightmares any longer than necessary. Worry about what we’d find in here gnawed on my determination. Concentrate on Maggie.

We headed deeper into the dreary-looking bog. The trees were hollowed-out inside like wooden skeletons. No flowers or animals anywhere.

A screech echoed in the forest around us and my insides twisted.

My wings fluttered like they had before. Not good.

Heavy footfalls sounded and I spun. Three Barghest rushed straight at us. They looked like rabid, starved wolves, but they were anything but. They gorged on flesh and never fattened or grew full. I clenched my fists.

We had no weapons and no way to fight these things.

The first Barghest crashed into Malcolm and they both hit the ground.

Two circled me, but I kicked whenever one snapped at me. My attention was divided between these beasts and the one Malcolm wrestled with. His hands kept the sharp teeth from his skin.

I glanced around for something to ward off these creatures. They didn’t like churches or sacred graveyards, but we were fresh out of those at the moment. Fuck! Why didn’t the Fae have anything useful in their underworld?

The Barghest closest to me lunged and I didn’t move fast enough. It bit my calf and pain shot up my leg. I screamed. Fucker wouldn’t let go. I slammed my fist over and over onto its head. Then the second one clamped down on my arm.

I jerked, trying to them off me, but fell to my knees.

A black blur zipped up the closest tree near me, then dove off the side and onto the Barghest biting my arm. Hisses and fur fluffed up, Tinder howled like a demon cat.

I blinked, unable to believe what I was seeing.

The Barghest yelped in pain, letting go of my arm. It backed away, spinning in a circle, trying to dislodge Tinder off its back.

I jammed my fingers into the Barghest gnawing on my leg and it snarled at me but let go. I kicked it as hard as I could with my good leg, and it leapt toward me. I rolled out of the way, coming up into a fighting pose.

Then Tinder jumped on its back and the creature shrieked and spun.

“Malcolm.” I ran over to him and kicked the Barghest in the stomach to get it to focus on me instead of him.

The wolf-creature yelped but lowered its head to attack. I snatched up a broken tree limb from the ground. Then it dove for me. I rammed the branch into the Barghest’s belly.

Its black blood bubbled from the wound.

The other two Barghest raced away. I moved toward Malcolm, wincing with each step, and kept my arm tucked to my stomach. Both my leg and arm were bleeding like crazy and the throbbing pain made me ache all over. How was it I still had blood after dying in this place? “How is it that I’m bleeding? Aren’t I dead?”

Malcolm frowned. “You can be killed twice once in the physical realm and here. But… I think someone’s kept a doorway open for you between the living and the dead.”

“Then why do you say that like it’s a bad thing?”

“Because if you die again here, we die with you. All of us that have tied our heart to yours.”

“What? No freaking way.” I inhaled a sharp, stinging breath. I didn’t want Darrius, Malcolm, or Simeon to be hurt. Or Xzander if I was being honest with myself— though part of me wondered about his motives and if he ever really loved me— or if it had all been a rouse.

“Just be grateful Tinder came to help.” Malcolm wrapped his arm around me, and I leaned into his touch. “He’s able to cross back and forth over the barrier just like they can a witch’s magic protection circle. And having nine lives helps too.”

“Who knew black cats could be so lucky,” I said.

“When we get back, I’m going to buy him all the tuna and salmon he can stomach.” Malcolm gave me a weary smile, then looked down at the cat. “Would you like that?”

Tinder hissed, arching his back. But instead of going after whatever he sensed like he’d done with the Barghest, he backed away. Then took off running.

A twig cracked ahead of us and I froze as the shadow of whatever was coming was at least eight feet tall.