Chapter 5
I’D FOLLOW THEM.
One way or another, I’d rescue my family before they disappeared like Mom.
Luckily, I already had my phone, puffy coat, and winter boots.
Best-case scenario, I’d wait until they let their guard down, then sneak my family away without the fae even knowing it.
We could use one of their phones to call the police.
Let them handle it. Worst-case scenario, though, I’d need some kind of weapon so I wasn’t completely defenseless if I had to fight. Hopefully it wouldn’t come to that.
If I hurried, I could arm myself and still catch up to them.
Kitchen knife!
Even though it stretched something in my chest like a rubber band, I turned to slip inside the house.
I snatched the biggest one out of the knife block, shoved it into my pocket, and whirled back to the door.
It fell out as I moved, clattering onto the linoleum.
I gritted my teeth.
The blade was too light and the handle too heavy.
If I shoved it through my coat pocket, it might stay, but it’d probably also cut a hole in my leg as I ran.
Iron! I need iron!
Yanking the back door open, I left it that way, hoping it’d mess up whatever magical alibi the blue hulk had come up with.
The garden tools were made out of iron. Hopefully.
Running to the shed, I ripped open the door and grabbed the nearest tools. A small metal gardening shovel went into one pocket, and a matching weeder went into the other. Not as sharp as a knife, but they’d be heavy enough to knock someone out.
I snatched up a hoe leaning against the wall for good measure. The long wooden handle had a solid chunk of metal at the end. Even if it wasn’t made of iron, it could do some damage.
Hefting it, I turned and ran for the woods where I’d last seen them.
Every second counted.
It’d been more than a minute, despite my best efforts.
Panic gripped me. I shouldn’t have let them out of my sight! What had I been thinking?
The impending sense that I’d already lost them caused a ringing in my brain.
Late-afternoon sun trickled through the tall pines.
In some spots, the fresh snowfall had already melted to the point that I lost their tracks for a few seconds.
My heart spasmed.
I’d waited too long.
I should’ve followed right away. I was going to be all alone for the rest of my life, always wondering where they’d gone, guilt-ridden for making the wrong decisions under duress and—wait, tracks!
There, maybe thirty feet ahead and a little to the right, a splash of color peeked through the trees. Neon pink. It stood out amidst the brown and white. Olive’s coat.
I hadn’t lost them.
Gasping for breath, I slowed to a brisk walk.
I didn’t want to lose them but also didn’t want to get too close.
I gripped the hoe.
What exactly was my plan here?
Follow or fight?
To be totally honest, I didn’t think I could take them.
But if I waited, two fae could turn into twenty. Then my odds of rescuing them would decrease even further.
Swallowing hard, I figured following had a small chance of also leading to Mom.
So I decided to risk it.
We passed one landmark after another: first the little spring, currently frozen solid, then the small cave where we’d once hidden buried treasure—aka some cheap jewelry—and finally that thick tree where we’d carved our names once when we’d traveled the farthest we ever dared.
Supposedly, there were bears this deep in the woods, and the occasional hiker disappeared every so often. It hit me now that this was probably another cover for the fae.
Still the fae continued on.
The woods were quiet. Not even birdsong overhead covered the soft crunch of my boots through bits of snow and pine needles. Hopefully their own footsteps would keep them from hearing mine.
My phone said 4:27 p.m.
Keeping one eye on the flashes of pink and purple through the trees far ahead, struggling not to trip over roots and undergrowth, I tried to dial 911 again. The one still didn’t work.
Ducking behind trees slowed me down, but I couldn’t risk the fae seeing my ridiculously bright red coat if they looked back.
My fingers grew numb. I tucked the hoe under my arm so I could put a hand in my pocket while I kept trying to dial the one with the other.
This far out, though, reception would be spotty even if it did work.
Plus, if the police came, they wouldn’t get here quickly, so it was looking more and more like I was on my own.
An odd darkness fell over the woods, not the typical twilight before sunset but almost like something had covered the sun altogether.
Now, despite walking in the hardened trail they’d left behind, my footsteps in the snow sounded like punches.
The farther we went, the stronger my desire to turn back grew.
It was almost a need.
I wanted to follow my family more than anything, but for some strange reason, part of me also really, really didn’t.
The only thing that stopped me from turning back was the way the eerie sensation tickled the back of my neck just like the magic from Mom’s contract.
I fought it with each step, dragging myself forward.
A minute later, my ears popped.
It felt like a bubble had burst.
The sun came out from behind the clouds, and it got brighter again. The fog over my mind lifted as well, along with the urge to turn back.
I glanced behind me. The woods appeared unchanged. The tiny steeple of the town church rose above the trees, barely tall enough to be visible. Taking a few steps in the direction I’d come, the pressure in my ears built again.
Definitely magic.
I shivered, and not from the cold.
No time to figure it out now. The sun set early in the winter. Peeking through the branches, it brushed the tips of the trees. Dusk would come soon, and it’d be fully dark in another fifteen to twenty minutes. Maybe less.
Above the tree line, in the opposite direction of town, a tall tree caught my eye.
It rose high above the rest, like an ancient redwood, except we didn’t have redwoods in Selmo. How far had we walked, exactly?
When I dragged my eyes back down, I’d lost sight of them.
I broke into a run.
This far out in the woods, I felt small and helpless.
A fleeting glimpse of Rissa’s purple coat had me blinking back tears.
I squeezed the sides of my phone—hard. The pressure on the buttons made it unexpectedly light up, and at the bottom of the screen, where the cracks barely reached, a bright red button said, EMERGENCY SOS.
I gasped and hit it.
Nothing happened.
My eyes went to the top right corner—no signal.
Not even one bar.
I groaned.
Shoving my useless phone into my coat pocket, I gave up and gripped the hoe with both hands.
Keeping an eye on their flashy coats, I slowed when they stopped moving. Was this my chance? Had they seen me coming?
At the edge of a clearing, I hid behind a tree, trying to decide what to do, but I wasn’t fast enough.
One second, they stood at the base of that huge tree.
The next, they’d vanished.