What did you do? (Infatuated fae #2)

26. Present Day

26

PRESENT DAY

Caly

“ Y ou’re Fallen fae? Why are you helping me?” I asked wearily. “How can you use your powers inside the prison? I thought they were neutralized by the mountain?”

My legs pressed against the bars that separated my cell from Sid’s.

After the fire, the pair had returned to their cells, easily stepping around the last bar at the ledge like they weren’t dangling over the tallest mountain in Seelie.

“Our powers don’t adhere to any of the realms’ rules. It’s what makes us so scary,” he said with a wink. “I’m not supposed to use them here though. Probably why I got a little carried away, ya know? Just felt so good to use them again. And as for why I’m helping you, I have a feeling we can help each other.” He stretched his arms, resting his hands behind his head as he looked out into the orange sky.

“I can’t help you,” I mumbled.

“Aren’t you the one they thought killed Prince Mendax? Didn’t you build a bomb in his bathroom or something?” he chuckled, leaning up to look at me.

“It doesn’t matter. He’s dead,” I said, my jaw tightening. My stomach clenched painfully at the thought.

“You love him? Is that why you worked with him?” he questioned.

“I didn’t work with him,” I grumbled. “But I did love him. I was stupid and foolish and didn’t listen to my gut when I should have.” I turned away from Sid, pressing my back against the bars. Edin was asleep in the corner of her cell.

“So which side are you on? Guess I should have found that out first, huh?” I could hear the smile in his voice.

I let my heavy head drop down. “Neither,” I whispered, wiping a stray tear from the corner of my eye.

“Weren’t you supposed to marry the Seelie prince?”

“Yeah” was all the response I could form.

We continued talking as the sky turned deeper shades of orange and red, signifying that it would be time for the bird to arrive again soon.

“What if you rip out your own insides? Ya know, make the guards think the roc did its duty,” Sid said nonchalantly.

“I already tried. The roc, as you called it, stopped me. They won’t allow me to hurt myself. Besides, it’s likely that I’d pass out from blood loss before I was finished,” I replied.

“You two are fucked up,” Edin called from her cell.

Footsteps echoed behind us, getting louder the closer they came.

“Fuck.” The skin around Sid’s eyes tightened. “I hear claws on the ground, Puddle. I think they’re bringing you another creature again.”

Air filled my lungs and pushed out my ribs painfully. I tried to brace myself to watch another sweet animal die at my feet.

The cell door slammed open, hitting the bars behind it with a clang.

“You better fucking destroy her, or it’s a sun pellet between the eyes for you, dog,” the commander goaded.

A yelp and snarl sounded as he kicked whatever creature had just stepped into my cell.

Every part of me sank lower than I thought it could go. I couldn’t handle any more animals being hurt. My eyes blurred as I continued to stare at my hands between my knees.

The footsteps echoed back down the hallway.

I couldn’t take it anymore.

“The fuck?” said Sid next to me.

As I cried, the creature seemed to grow taller in my blurry peripheral.

“We really need to stop meeting like this.” A warm and soothing voice blanketed my skin.

My head snapped up as hope rippled through me like it was going to light my insides on fire. “Walter!” I gasped.

My gaze found the kindest chestnut-colored eyes. I tripped to my feet, unable to believe what I was seeing.

“You know, I do enjoy other activities, ones that aren’t always helping you escape from a dungeon,” he said with a broad smile.

I ran to where he stood and hurled my arms around him.

“Caly, outside?—”

“Mendax,” I breathed, pulling back to look into his eyes. “It’s not true? He’s not dead?”

Walter’s throat bobbed with a rough swallow as his forehead creased.

“I’m afraid it’s true.” He lifted my tooth necklace from where it now hung around his neck. “I was able to get his necklace from the queen’s quarters. Unseelie are still fighting, but the castle has been destroyed. Mendax was gone before it came down,” he said softly.

“That can’t be, Walter. He’s just hiding!” I bit out, looking at my tooth. It looked wrong hanging from Walter’s neck. It belonged on Mendax.

Walter pulled me into his chest.

“We both know he wouldn’t hide while his home was being destroyed. He’s gone, Caly.” Walter’s voice cracked with emotion.

“You need to leave Seelie.” I squeezed Walter tightly and inhaled the clean smell of his shirt. “Saracen is going to make Tarani queen. She’s been grooming her. No wonder Tarani is so awful. It’s a wonder Eli turned out as sweet as he is. I have to find a way to get to Moirai before my time runs out with my heart,” I said, feeling tears run down my face.

“If by sweet, you mean extremely tough and manly in a roguish sort of warrior way, then I agree.”

I froze.

The Seelie prince stood outside of my cell door. Blazing yellow light swirled from his fingertips and into the door’s keyhole. He pushed open the cell door and stepped in, pausing to look at me with sad eyes.

I ran to Eli and threw my arms around his neck. It felt so good to see familiar faces.

“Puddle? You still okay over there?” Sid called with a hint of concern in his tone.

“Yeah, Sid,” I replied.

Eli stirred. “ Puddle? Is he insulting you? Why is he calling you a puddle?” he asked, tensing under my arms.

“I don’t know,” I replied honestly.

“Caly, you need to see what’s outside.” Eli’s voice cracked as his eyes filled with emotion.

“We need to leave now. I need to find a way to Morai,” I responded flatly.

Eli laughed for a second before stopping when he realized I was serious. “Moirai? The land of the Ascended and the Fates? Why? You can’t get in without an invitation, Cal. There’s never been a way to get there unless they send for you,” he said gently.

My shoulders fell. “Then how do I get them to send for me?”

“What are you talking about?” The golden prince brushed my hair away from my face tenderly.

“I’m going to die, Eli, and you’re going to die too now because of the tie. I’m so sorry.” I bit the inside of my lip to stop from crying more. “You should have tied yourself to someone worth dying over. You?—”

My argument was cut short when Eli’s lips crashed down on mine.

Ripples of emotion surged through my body as I felt everything possible. Anger, happiness, sadness, love, hate—everything.

It was like a blanket cocooning me, every possible feeling contradicting one another as I kissed him back, until true realization slammed into my head.

I pulled away abruptly. “Mendax is gone.”

Eli held me tighter. “Yes, and I’m only sorry about it because it hurts you. It was for the best. You cannot be tied to me and bonded to him. One of us had to die. It went against the Fates for you to be connected to us both. I’m so sorry for what my mother has done, but we found it.” Eli smiled, glancing at Walter. “We finally found your heart. Turns out it wasn’t at all where I had been told it was. I was going to steal it for you before Mendax stormed the castle.”

He slowly leaned back down and kissed me with so much feeling and tenderness that my eyes began to water.

“You move quick. I guess with one dead, why not, right? Has she seen all her fans?” came a familiar voice from the open cell doorway. Tarani stepped into the crowded cell.

“No,” I whispered as I looked at the small princess.

I probably could have passed her in the street and not recognized her without her fancy dress on. Instead, she wore dark training breeches and a dark, long-sleeved top.

“Tarani’s going to help us,” Walter said with a nod toward the Seelie princess.

“Tarani, what are you…” Edin’s harsh voice sounded from the next cell.

“Edin,” Tarani stated with a nod.

“No, Tarani is being trained by your mother to take over as queen. She’s in on all of it!” I said as I pulled out of Eli’s embrace. “She’s bad, Eli. Saracen is already pulling her strings.”

I glared at the princess, refusing to take my eyes off her.

“It’s not what you think—” Eli started.

“She’s been working with Saracen! She’s not who you think. She’s been hiding everything from us,” I bit out.

“Well, she’s not wrong.” Tarani laughed. “Edin, team C is still at Unseelie. Be ready to make a move tomorrow night. Listen for the signal,” the small princess barked.

“Tomorrow?” grumbled Sid from his cell.

What the fuck?

“What is going on?” I felt as though my knees would give out at any second. I was attempting to put the pieces together, but none of it made any sense.

“It seems Tarani is a bit more of a leader than any of us knew,” Eli said with a tinge of resentment.

“What’s going on is not every child was fooled by Mother’s lies,” Tarani stated as she lifted her shirt to show a small black tattoo of a deadhead moth between her ribs.

“Honestly, we don’t need to see that,” said Eli, scrunching his face.

“What is that?” I asked.

“It’s the mark of the Fallen,” said Sid from behind us. He stood by the bars of his cell with his right arm raised high, gripping the iron bars. The same tattoo was visible on his underarm, just before his armpit.

“Tarani, you’re…”

“I am. I may not have been created the same way, but one of the two monsters still made me and tried to use me. It’s not right what is happening to the kingdoms. Seelie is supposed to be happy and full of sunshine and goodness, not trickery and lies. Unseelie is where the dark souls find peace. They are different, but there is no reason why we cannot live in peace as we once did.” She clenched her fists tightly. “They deserve to pay for what they did to the Fallen. Both sides deserve to pay, and what better way than having the Seelie king’s sister on your side?” She smiled at Eli.

“The Fallen were not who attacked the Unseelie castle, like Mother is saying,” Eli offered.

“I know.” My jaw popped in an effort to stop the tears that threatened as I looked to Walter. “She told me all about what her army did when she played show-and-tell with Queen Tenebris’s head…along with Mendax’s necklace.”

Walter’s round eyes looked so sad, I couldn’t help but go to him and wrap my arms around his waist.

“I’m so sorry, Walter,” I whispered.

He squeezed me back. “Was it only Mendax’s necklace? No body parts?” he asked. A hint of something in his voice.

“Yes, only the necklace,” I said, feeling hope warm through my system. “The one with my molar on it.” I pulled back abruptly to look into his eyes. “You think he could be alive, then?” I asked.

“No. Quite the opposite,” Walter said somberly. “He could have faked a wing or a body part, but he would never have let someone take the only piece of you he had left. I know him too well. I’m afraid he is gone, Caly.” He quickly brushed away a tear from his red-rimmed eyes as I nodded, chastising myself for having hope and finally accepting what I didn’t want to.

Mendax was truly gone now, and I had been so busy trying to please Saracen and the Seelie court that I had let the man who could have been my soul mate die.

The smallest flicker of anger came to life inside me.

“We don’t have time for this,” said Sid gruffly. “They will be coming soon.”

“He’s right. What’s the plan?” asked Edin.

“Take out the guards and get Sidney and Edin out of here. Get them to safety,” I said softly, feeling the flame inside me die before anything productive could come from it.

Tarani chuckled. “They don’t need help getting out. They were stationed here with the intent of being close to the castle when the time came to overtake it.” She gave a nod to Eli. “Which happens to be right now.”

“Walter and I found your heart, Caly, but it’s spelled. It will only be unbound by your own flesh and bones. Even with our tie, I could not pull it from the magic that guards it.” Eli smiled at the shifter. “It let Walter get way farther than me. I guess the tie can only do so much.”

“The Fallen will help capture Mother, and because I am her daughter, they have reluctantly agreed that she will be moved to a prison where I can hold her, instead of killing her, but we need your help and your word that once your heart is restored, you won’t use your powers against the Fallen,” Tarani said, chiming in.

“Fine. You have my word,” I said, turning to face the red sky.

“Caly, once we get your heart, you’ll…you’ll be able to do a lot more than you think. You could really change things here for the better,” Eli said softly.

My plan can still work… The thought niggled at me like a worm. It was something I had sworn I would never do, and it meant hurting Eli. I knew poor Eli would marry me and make me a true Seelie royal…

“Caly…once my mother is gone from the castle, Tarani will be announced as the new Unseelie queen by the Fallen. They have chosen her to rule those who are choosing to stay in Unseelie,” Eli said sadly. “Until we can establish that we are a peaceful realm once again, I will likely be under a lot of…challenges…and…” he rambled on, running his hands through his golden hair.

“He wants you to be his queen,” Walter said with a smirk.

I inhaled sharply as my mouth fell open. No! He couldn’t do this to me. I couldn’t do this to him. Butterflies danced in my belly. Maybe I could change the plan somehow. Maybe there was some way we could be married and he would not get hurt.

“It’s just that we are forever tied, Caly. It is unbreakable, whether we like it or not, and well, I will be nowhere near as strong as you, but you cannot ascend because you are tied to me anyway, and I know you chose Mendax, but…” Eli stepped close to me, the vision of Prince Charming.

“It would say a lot that you stood with the Fallen,” Tarani began.

“I’m not a mascot. Have none of you considered that I might not be very powerful once my heart is restored?” I asked as I wrinkled my brow in frustration.

“Artemi are unmatched in power, Caly. That’s why the Smoke Slayers killed most of them and went extinct, except for those who ascended to the Ancients. At least as far as we know,” Eli said.

My heart skipped a beat as it plummeted to my stomach. “The Smoke Slayers are the reason the Artemi went extinct? They are the reason the Artemi had to be hidden?” I whispered.

“To be fair, Artemi are the reason the Smoke Slayers also went extinct…well, now they’re extinct as far as we know.” Walter bit his trembling lower lip.

“Don’t be anybody else’s gun, Puddle, trust me. Be your own,” Sid muttered.

“Why do you call me Puddle?” I asked.

Sid’s tan throat bobbed as he swallowed roughly. “Because when you first arrived, you reminded me of a puddle: still and gloomy. You can never tell how deep or shallow a puddle is just by looking at it. All it takes is a bit more rain and the puddle becomes a pond, then a lake. It grows when everything else drowns.”

“That’s quite the glorification of a—” I started.

“I saw it in your eyes—the same fight I went through when Thanes turned me into a monster. You just have to decide what kind of monster you’re going be—the kind that makes puddles with their tears, or the kind that drowns the ones who caused them. You’re a weapon no matter what, just like us. You just have to decide who the wielder is,” Sid said.

“What happens to Unseelie now?” I asked as I looked back at Walter, wondering how he felt about the Fallen taking over.

“I will return to help Tarani in Unseelie as soon as this is sorted out. With both Mendax and Tenebris gone, there is no one else to claim the throne. I believe the Fallen’s intentions are good and that it’s time they finally had a realm or two to call home,” he said with a nod to Sid.

“Stay with me in Seelie, Caly,” Eli pleaded as he gripped me by the shoulders.

“No, I can’t. I have to go to?—”

“Marry me. Not because my mother ordered it and not because I’m begging or because it will make you a queen. Marry me because you love me as much as I love you.” He lowered himself to the floor and planted one knee as his warm eyes filled with emotion.

“I’m sorry.… Is he doing what I think he’s doing? In a prison?” Edin chimed in, sounding disgusted.

With horror, I looked to Walter, who only shrugged in answer. This would be the most monstrous and horrid thing I had done yet. I would deserve to rot in Tartarus…but the next part of my plan would happen.

“Yes,” I whispered. “But let it be known to all that I loved Mendax with every beat of my mangled heart. He may have been the villain to most of you in this room, but he loved me in ways I couldn’t comprehend—in ways I didn’t know a person was capable of loving—even if it was shown in a way most wouldn’t recognize. No doubt should ever enter the mind of anyone here how much I reciprocated that love. Even if I was unable to show it.”

Everyone gave a short nod.

The cool breeze off the mountain had picked up, whipping all of our hair violently. I looked to my hands and silently begged them to produce his smoke one last time. The smoke that would let me know he was still alive.

Just as every other time I sought out the obsidian wisps, it pulled at my heavy heart to see absolutely nothing across my skin but freckles.

“We need to go before it’s too late. Tarani and Walter have everything we need to perform the wedding ceremony. We need to be married so we can take the crown tonight,” said Eli with a soft expression. “I will never be sorry I’m the man that gets to treasure you. You were always going to be the last battle between Mendax and I, and I would have done everything in my power to kill him. I suppose at least this way, you will not hate me for being the one who took him from you. I will spend every day with you, my best friend as well as my soul mate.” His eyes were soft and full of understanding. He knew I loved both of them, and he was doing his best to be a respectful victor.

“Caly,” Walter said as he put his large arm around me and steered me out of earshot of the others. “I still consider you the sister-in-law I never got to have, and I will dedicate my life to making sure Mendax’s soul knows that I have kept you happy and safe. I know this is a lot and that you are not yourself right now, but I am still Unseelie. Say one word and I will pull a Mendax and kill every single one of them and get you out of here,” he whispered with a dangerous look to his dark eyes. “I have kept close tabs on all of them, and though Mendax would kill me for saying this, Eli truly is a good, wholesome man who loves you deeply. I have spent many a night wandering the Seelie castle, and I can attest that Saracen kept him completely in the dark—just as the rest of Seelie doesn’t know even half of what she did.” His knuckles went white as he clenched his fists at his side.

“It’s fine, Walter. I’ve known Eli since I was a child. I know that he’s a good person. I have always loved him—not in the way I loved Mendax, but I don’t really think that type of love can exist in the world without causing it to end.”

“One of them was always going to die over you,” he said solemnly.

“That’s not necess?—”

“It is, Caly. Your father has more pull than you can imagine.”

“What does he have to do with anything?” I barked at him, angry to hear my friend soil his kind mouth with talk of my father.

He looked at me in surprise. “You cannot be tied as you are to Aurelius and bonded as you were to Mendax. The tethering of souls can’t work that way, Caly. It would pull until there was nothing left of you. One of the three of you was always going to die. Only an Ancient could have made it last as long as it did.”

My eyes welled, burning my nose.

“We are out of time,” Tarani whispered breathlessly. She stared into the sky.

Curses echoed off the gold bars between our cells.

“Go. Take Eden and Sid,” I said hurriedly.

“Caly’s right, we need to get into the castle tonight, and I can’t have you and Sid mangled, with no strength before we need to make a move. It’s time. Grab the others. We take the crown tonight, and she will not be an easy victory.” Tarani’s back straightened and her chin lifted. “We are not strong enough to take Malvar and the castle on the same night, so do not get caught.”

How had I only thought of her as a delicate princess? I had done to her exactly what so many had done to me: judged her solely on her appearance, blinded by her fine dresses. She radiated a sense of command that seemed so natural, I couldn’t imagine her being anything other than a queen.

One by one, we fled the breezy cell and ran into the dark hallway. Where were all of the guards?

I swayed weakly, catching my balance against the rough rock wall of the hall. Another time, in another world, I would have been embarrassed being so sapped of strength. I hadn’t cared about anything enough to eat, and now I was paying the price.

My dirty hands trembled. I stared through the bars at the bloodstained floor I had just walked out of. Tucking a strand of hair behind my ear, my fingers trailed across the scarred, rounded tip.

The problem with using broken weapons is, they backfired. After Eli and I were married, as soon as I got to the castle, I would break the spell, pull my heart from the flames…and leave.

Little did the Seelie know that, by the end of tonight, their new king and queen would be dead.

A thousand times, I had prayed for death in the cell I was leaving. Every time the creatures were killed because of me, I begged and pleaded that I be taken instead, that I would just be allowed to die.

And soon I would be.

Heat bloomed inside of me, likely from the simple exertion after having been sedentary for so long in my cell. Regardless, my eyes snapped to my wrist, my chest filling with hope as I searched for Mendax’s smoke.

But again, there was nothing.

God, did I need to feel his smoke on my skin. Just one last time. It wasn’t in my mind tight enough. I hadn’t savored it the last time like I should have. What if I forgot how it felt?

I fought tears and looked up at the ceiling. A few strays dripped down into my ear. I was so tired of crying.

Warmth slid against my palm as lightly calloused fingers linked between mine.

Walter squeezed my hand. His brown eyes looked as sad as mine felt. He already knew everything about my plan, so I had no doubt he had figured out what I had to do now. I braced myself to give him some bullshit explanation or tell him something that would ease his worried expression, but none came.

Instead, he just held my hand tightly, letting me know he was there and understood.

Being a shifter of such pure blood, Walter had a connection with me that was different than anything I could have with the others. Even if my animal powers were minuscule, it was like he could peer inside of me and feel what I felt, understand it. The connection I had to animals, the way I felt whole in their presence, like we were a part of each other—that’s how I always felt with Walter.

He cleared his throat. “Caly shouldn’t be at the castle now. I’m going to take her to the human realm to hide.”

“What? No ,” I said with an angry look at Walter’s puppy-dog brown eyes.

I tried to pull my hand away, but he held it firm, giving me a stern look.

“You’re right,” said Eli. “It’s too dangerous for Caly to retrieve her heart with the queen still there. She’ll be out for blood and will try and destroy it before it falls into anyone else’s hands, including Caly’s.” The soon-to-be king turned around to face us, glancing at our clasped hands. “But she’s not leaving this realm. We will get my mother out of the castle while Caly waits in a safe location, and then she can come inside and get her heart.”

“Yeah, I don’t know how to tell you guys this,” I said as I tapped my pointer finger to my lips. “But I don’t take orders from either one of you.”

Eli scowled. “I will make certain your heart remains protected during the battle inside. I won’t let anything happen to it. I still believe I can release it from the flames somehow, and you are going to need it now more than ever with what is about to happen in Seelie. Being that we are tied, my soul flows through yours. If your heart is spelled only to release to you, it doesn’t make sense why I shouldn’t be able to collect it,” Eli said, a defeated look on his face, as if he had let me down. “If I cannot retrieve it for you, then I will at least protect it until you can get inside to it.”

The six of us continued down the hallway at a steady pace until Eli led us through a deep alcove and down a set of comically steep and windy stairs, the steps so small, only the very back of my heel could fit on each iron plank. This continued, all of us hustling down more stairs and more hallways, until it dawned on us.

“Where are the guards?” Edin asked, halting the group.

“I just assumed you guys took them out when you arrived?” I replied, looking between everyone’s frozen features.

“No, we assumed we got lucky and that they were all on another floor or something,” Walter corrected.

“They know we’re here,” Tarani hissed. “We have been?—”

“Listen,” Eli barked, tilting his head to the side, looking extra foxlike.

Distant rumbles and thuds were muffled down the hall, by the front doors of Malvar. Tarani gave a nod before Eden, Sid, and she left for another hallway.

Walter’s grip tightened painfully on my hand. “Go, now!” he shouted to Eli.

Eli’s eyes shot to Walter’s for a tense moment. “Please keep her safe. Do not leave Malvar until the guards reenter, and for sun’s sake, do not let her near the Seelie castle until it is cleared and I am king.”

“What is happening? Wait… I thought you needed me to be your queen? You can’t just leave me!” I shouted at Eli’s back as he ran down the hallway.

He stopped, whipping around to shout back, “Unlike Mendax, I do not need you to take the throne in order for me to become king. I need you as my wife…it just so happens that makes you a queen.”

His words knocked the air from my lungs. When I reopened my eyes, Eli was at my face with golden wings spread wide.

“If I fail, and this is the last moment I get with you…” His eyes looked glassy. “I’m sorry for everything I did wrong, Calypso.” Tears streaked his lightly stubbled jaw. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you more in the human realm. I’ll never forgive myself for it. In every part of my soul, I am filled with remorse that I played a part in your sadness. I despise myself for being so selfish in wanting you with me, that I allowed her to send you to Unseelie in the first place.”

“Aurelius—”

“Please, Cal,” he muttered as his head dropped. “Do not leave me with that name.”

“Eli,” I whispered, finally understanding everything he was saying. “You are a fool to think you could have stopped me from going. I’m not sorry about any of it.”

I stepped into his hard chest and slid my hands up his tan neck until the tips of my fingers touched his pale hair. “In every way, you have proven yourself to be my hero and friend,” I said, looking between Eli and Walter. “I have already lost someone and their love by not embracing my own feelings. I may never get over the love I had for Mendax, but I will never make the mistake of not allowing myself to feel again. I love you, Eli.”

“As much as I hate to interrupt.…whatever it is that’s going on, we need to get out of here now,” Walter remarked.

“You aren’t leaving me in another realm while you fight. We will all go to the castle together,” I argued.

“No,” both men replied at once.

Everyone gasped in surprise as the entire prison shook. The floor beneath us trembled like an earthquake, nearly knocking us all to the floor.

“Go!” Walter shouted at Eli with a stern look. “Help them!”

“Help who?” I yelled.

Loud, high-pitched noises rent the air. You could feel the desperate energy from inside the quiet prison. It sounded like a war had broken out.

“Take her to the crypt,” Eli said with a sad look at Walter before he sped off down the hallway once again.

“Geez, harsh way to tell your fiancée goodbye,” I grumbled.

“It’s where your heart is being kept. It’s in the crypt under the castle, guarded and spelled with blue flames and about every form of fire and magic block imaginable,” Walter explained as he grabbed ahold of my hand again. I couldn’t tell if he did it to comfort me, himself, or simply to keep ahold of me so I couldn’t run off. I suspected it was all three.

“That’s why you could feel it in the throne room…” I trailed off.

Walter looked at me appreciatively for a long moment. “Yes, your heart is directly under the throne room. There is a hidden door to the crypt behind one of the paintings.”

I pulled Walter’s hand in the opposite direction, to follow Eli.

“No, you cannot go out there yet, Caly,” he said, pulling me away from the battle sounds.

Only they suddenly didn’t sound like just weapons and fighting alone.

I heard snarls.

Heat singed inside my chest, and I snapped a look to my left, through the open prison cell next to us. The woman stood, staring out at the eerily empty sky.

The roc hadn’t come to feast on the prisoners. Where were they?

I inhaled sharply as my eyes snapped to Walter.

“Caly, no!” Walter shouted after me as I slipped my hand free and took off toward the doors.

He caught up to me in half a second, but he only tried to stop me with the look in his eyes—and something hidden within them told me he secretly wanted me to see whatever it was I was about to.

“I’m sorry” was all he said.