Chapter Twelve
ABBY
I’M BEGINNING TO fear my back may never recover from this trip.
I sit up, groaning as I rise from the park bench I slept on last night. It’s not any better than the ground, and I stretch my spine as I look around. The park remains empty, which I was hoping for. I don’t want any faeries to see me and report to the authorities that a homeless human is sleeping in the park.
I’m not sure where the faeries stand politically regarding homelessness, and I’m not looking to find out.
I run my hand through my hair, ensuring the strands are mostly in place. Almost all the women here wear their hair down and loose, and I want to fit in. I’m at enough of a disadvantage being a human, and I’m willing to take whatever win I can get my hands on.
I self-consciously pull at the ends of my sweatshirt as I rise, painfully aware that my clothing stands out here. The women all wear dresses, most of them long and flowy. My leggings and sweatshirt are a pretty drastic difference.
There’s nothing I can do about that, though. At least I have gloves.
I twist my palms around my backpack straps as I weave through the park, following the trail leading into the narrow alleys that make up the city. On the map Samuel showed me, Farbay was right on the border of the forest. The wall should be somewhere nearby.
Three children, probably around seven or eight years old, run down the path in my direction. They scream and shove at one another with loud laughter, their movements eerily smooth. I don’t remember Lill being this agile when we were young.
If this is how athletic faerie children are, it’s no wonder Lill always jokes that I’d be no match against a full-grown adult. I’m pretty sure these kids could easily kick my ass if they wanted.
I slow as the children approach, but they never break their fast strides as they maneuver around me and continue down the trail. Ten seconds later, two adult women come wandering in the same direction.
Being face-to-face with faeries still makes my heart race, but I’m slowly becoming accustomed to it. I’m also learning how to distinguish between them. When I first arrived, I thought everybody looked identical, with white hair and violet eyes, but spotting their individual features is becoming easier.
These two women, though, they look similar. Their facial structure is almost identical, and they carry themselves in a similar manner. Even the way they’ve pinned the front of their hair up is the same. They must be related. Probably sisters.
I can’t help but stare at their pointed ears. That’s new. Lill doesn’t have pointed ears, and I haven’t noticed any other faeries with them. Are there different types of faeries? I have so many questions.
The one on the left has a young child cradled in her arms, and she chats animatedly to her sister before peering down the trail where the children disappeared just seconds ago. I can still hear their loud laughter behind me, but it’s distant. They’ve covered a lot of ground.
The women and I grow closer, and I offer a polite smile as we make eye contact. They do the same, and I hold my breath until we’ve passed one another. Nobody’s gone out of their way to speak to me or ask what I’m doing in a realm in which I clearly don’t belong, and a small part of me is just waiting for it to happen.
Everybody knows I’m human, and I’m terrified somebody will take an interest in that. It takes only one inquisitive faerie to ruin my plans. I haven’t done anything wrong, but I’m pretty sure Lill, or more likely her mother, is a criminal. I’ve been thinking a lot about it, and that’s the only thing that makes sense.
The hiding, the secrecy, the absolute refusal to come here. I don’t know what the faeries would do if they learned I was associated with Lill, and I’m not going to find out.
I hurry through the park and onto the narrow, city streets.
Where to go now? I need to find the forest, but I fear asking for directions will look suspicious. I meander down street after street instead, hoping something will catch my eye. This goes on for the better part of an hour.
The forest will be on the outskirts of the city, but I fear I’m traveling in circles.
“I’ve been stationed at the wall,” a man on my right says. He’s large, dressed in all black with his white-blond hair tied at the nape of his thick neck. He’s speaking to a woman in a long, brown dress, and I hope I look nonchalant as I shift and place myself behind them. This is a conversation I want to hear. “I’m hoping to be home by third meal, but I’ll let you know if plans change.”
The woman sighs. “I don’t like that they have you there. It’s dangerous, and I’ve heard there have been multiple shifter sightings in the past few weeks.” She smooths her hands down the front of her dress. “There are rumors they’re looking for the princes.”
“I don’t like it, either,” the man says. “But this needs to be done. The shifters are taking advantage of us, and it’s about time someone did something about it.”
The woman beside him scoffs. “You’ve heard what they say about Prince Mason, though. I bet he’s working with his father to have Prince Kieran murdered inside that forest.”
They had me for a little bit there, but they’ve lost me again. I know who Prince Kieran is. Samuel said he wishes to speak to the god Zaha before his crowning, but he never mentioned a Mason. That must be the second prince, the one also traveling into the forest with Prince Kieran.
I assumed the two were brothers, but maybe not if they have different fathers. I’m so confused.
The man hisses. “Don’t say that!”
He sounds tense, and he quickly glances around. I’m directly behind them, and I lower my gaze to the floor just before he looks in my direction. I don’t want to be caught eavesdropping.
“We can finish this discussion in private,” the man continues. “I need to get going.”
He and the woman step aside to say their goodbyes, and I continue past. I’m planning on following this man, though. He said he’s stationed at the wall, and that’s precisely where I need to go.
My heart is pounding, and I instinctively move to wipe my palms on my pants before remembering I’m wearing my gloves. They wick moisture away with unnerving efficiency, and they’re so comfortable, I often forget I’m even wearing them.
I made another visit to the public park bathroom late last night, and I didn’t realize I was wearing my gloves until well halfway into washing my hands. Even with them on, I still felt the bite of the metal from the faucet handle and the shock of cool water as if my hands were bare. The fact that they blend in so seamlessly with my skin is helpful, too.
The only downfall is they take fucking eons to dry, so once they’re wet, I’m stuck walking around with bare hands for a good hour or two. I made that mistake last night, but now I’m extra careful.
I round the nearest corner and lean against the building, hoping the man will pass by shortly. He and the woman were headed in this direction, so I assume he will.
A minute passes before I spot his prominent figure walking past the corner I’m hidden behind, and I wait until he’s several steps ahead of me before pushing off the wall and following. I know I stand out, my clothing and the fact that I’m a human drawing attention, which makes following this man harder than it ought to be.
It doesn’t help that I’m not exceptionally skilled at following people, either. I have little experience with it. Still, it’s the best option I’ve got. It’s my only option. Besides, I’m not technically doing anything wrong. I’m sure it’s not illegal to conveniently walk in the same direction as a man.
The man appears significantly less on edge now that the woman isn’t beside him, and he doesn’t look around once as he weaves through the narrow alleyways. I still keep my distance, following just closely enough that he’s in my line of sight but far enough away not to draw attention.
It helps that there are several faeries out and about. They’re pouring out of the buildings, probably on their way to work. It seems they have similar day schedules to humans. Wake, eat, work, run errands, go home, eat, sleep.
The man is walking away from the growing bustle, though, heading toward the outskirts of town. I hope it’s the elusive wall he’s leading me to, and, sure enough, after a few minutes, I notice a tall structure off in the distance.
It’s made of dark brick, and it stretches well above the buildings surrounding me.
It’s a literal wall.
Now that it’s in my sights, I break away from the man. The foot traffic is lightening up and the tall, crowded buildings are growing scarce. It’s only increasing my already high chance of getting caught, a fact I’ve been painfully aware of for several minutes now.
My entire body relaxes once the man is officially out of my sight.
The wall grows larger the nearer I get, stretching high above the buildings and going on for as far as I can see. I’m not sure why I was expecting anything other than a physical wall, but I see no break in it. Is it a metaphorical break? No way.
I ignore the caffeine-withdrawal pulsing in my temples as I close the distance between me and the wall. My confidence dwindles with every step. Do I really want to do this? The shifters don’t sound like the friendliest people, and I don’t even know where, exactly, this delysum is.
I don’t even know what the plant looks like, for fuck’s sake. I’ve only ever seen it dried and crushed up into tea. Besides, even if I do get my hands on it, it’s apparently being cultivated into a fucking weapon. I’ll have to find a way back to the human realm with a weapon hidden in my bag.
If I get caught, if anybody sees what I’m smuggling… I’m not sure I want to know what would happen. What does a faerie prison look like? Will I ever be let out? Will Lill die, never knowing what happened to me? Will I die?
The rational side of me wants to give up, wants to run around begging faeries to take me home. I’ll eventually run into one who possesses enough magic to open a portal. The rational side of me also knows that that means Lill will die.
I can’t live without her.
I won’t.
I push back my shoulders, steeling my resolve. I may be delusional, and I may get myself killed, but I’m going to do this. I’ve already come this far, and I won’t turn back now. I just need to sneak into the forest, find and collect some delysum, and go home. Three steps. That’s all I need to complete.
I can do that.