CHAPTER TWO #4
“Yeah, I guess.” With a soft smile, I started walking toward the parking lot.
Collith fell into step beside me, his elbow brushing against mine.
Birdsong floated through the quiet. When we got to the car, Collith opened the passenger side door for me again, flashing a small, crooked smile of his own.
That familiar, stubborn lock of hair fell into his eye, and as Collith closed the door and rounded the hood, I watched him rake it back in an absent, habitual gesture.
Then he got in and started the car, making sure the heat settings were how I liked them before he started driving.
I felt another soft sensation inside me, a feeling that made me think of petals unfurling.
As we began the final leg of our journey to the Door, the morning sun was drowsy.
It illuminated Collith as if he belonged in the light.
I kept my face turned toward him, acting like I was absorbed by the brightening sky.
Secretly, I mapped out the dips and lines of his profile.
A small voice at the back of my head told me to stop it.
To look away. But … I liked looking at Collith.
The admission should’ve been frightening, and maybe something inside me did flutter a little. Only a little.
Still unaware of my scrutiny, or at least doing a valiant job of pretending to be, the object of my fixation slowed at a stop sign and turned on the blinker.
It clicked into the stillness, marking every second that passed and neither of us brought up last night.
Not just the kiss but what had come after that, too.
Dracula’s phone call, and the fact that our lives were about to potentially turn upside down again.
I’d asked Collith all my questions last night.
The Order, it turned out, was a supernatural council formed of rulers from nearly every species.
Witches, werewolves, vampires, fae, even nymphs.
They only convened when it seemed like Fallenkind was being threatened or exposed.
The most dire of circumstances, Collith told me, his voice tight with worry.
Although neither of us had said it out loud, I knew we were both thinking the same thing—the meeting was about me. I was the problem. Why else would our attendance be required?
“Do you think they’re planning to kill me?” I’d asked.
“They can try,” Collith said, his eyes glittering in a way I hadn’t seen in a long time. These past few months, Collith had been a cool, calming presence in my life. Sometimes I forgot about the lightning that simmered beneath his skin.
The conversation floated through my thoughts for the next hour as we returned the rental car and made our way to the closest Door, which was through the bulkhead of an abandoned church.
Within seconds, Collith and I found ourselves walking through familiar woods.
Even now, neither of us said anything. Thick, green leaves rustled all around us and the air smelled like growing things.
After a while, the path became even more beaten, and the branches retreated.
A flock of geese appeared over the distant treetops, their wild cries echoing through the amber-tinted light.
Collith and I arrived at the edge of the forest, and then I saw it—home.
Emma was outside, tending to the flowers she’d planted around the barn.
She turned as if she heard us coming. It had been a good summer for Emma, despite how much she worried about me.
There hadn’t been any more health scares or trips to the hospital.
I wanted to keep it that way, so every time we came back from a crime scene, I never went into much detail about what we’d found. Emma didn’t ask, either.
While Collith and I finished crossing the yard, she got to her feet and brushed her hands off on the gardening apron I’d recently given her as a birthday present. “Good morning,” she called.
I felt lighter, suddenly, and some of the darkness that had been crowding in my chest began to dissipate. “Good morning, Ems,” I said.
She beamed at Collith as he walked over to her.
Her thin, wrinkled arms rose to embrace him like they had been separated for months, though I was pretty sure she’d seen him a few days ago.
Collith still bent to hug her back, just as he always did, and Emma’s voice was muffled as she said, “I made pancakes. Would you like to join us?”
Collith straightened with a regretful expression. “I wish I could, but there are some things I need to do.”
“What sort of things?” Emma demanded, and I pursed my lips, my shoulders giving a small twitch as I fought a laugh.
“Boring things,” Collith said with a warm smile. He lifted his head, and I felt another tiny flutter when his gaze landed on me. “I’ll see you in three days.”
The reminder caused a knot of anxiety to form in my chest. In three days, I would be attending my first—and hopefully last—meeting of the Order.
Not trusting myself to respond in front of Emma, I just nodded.
Collith walked over to kiss my forehead, then turned away.
As I watched him go, I felt a gentle prickle on my skin.
I turned to catch Emma watching me with that familiar, knowing look of hers.
I swallowed a sigh and moved closer to her.
“I know I’m not a cute faerie, but could I get some pancakes?” I asked lightly.
“Of course you can.” She wrapped her arm around me, careful as ever not to touch my skin, and we strode toward the door, moving into the building’s shadow.
The air instantly became cooler. I tipped my head back, taking in the familiar slope of the roof and the morning-tinted sky beyond it.
A breath slipped past my lips and the tension left my shoulders, a single word singing through me.
Home. For the first time in twenty-four hours, I felt safe.
But then I blinked, and our quiet barn became a scene from one of the murder houses.
Red and blue lights shone over the yard and reflected in the glass windows.
Uniforms swarmed everywhere and a faint, terrible scent clung to the air.
I stood there, staring at my worst nightmare with frozen horror.
Staring at the blood splattered on Nym’s bedroom window.
I made a low, choked sound, but I didn’t know if I was trying to shout or scream. Terror and denial raged through me like wildfire. No, this couldn’t happen here. Not to them. This was a dream, just a terrible dream.
I made another sound, my mind latching onto the thought. A dream. Of course! It all made sense now. None of this was real, and I was asleep. I commanded myself to wake up. Wake up, damn it!
My fingers twitched. I couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe past the panic—
“Fortuna?”
Emma’s voice broke through the high-pitched ringing in my ears.
I blinked, and suddenly the awful scene was gone.
The barn was exactly as it had been before.
Still, serene, lit by the colors of morning as if someone had painted the siding pink while I was gone.
Emma stood in the doorway, staring at me.
A faint line had deepened between her brows, and I recognized it immediately. Worry.
Tasting Emma’s fear on my tongue cleared my head, and faster than a blink, I gave her a weary smile. I trudged toward the barn as if I’d only paused from sheer exhaustion. “Coming,” I said.
Emma didn’t quite buy it, which was evident by how slowly she turned. But the older woman must’ve decided not to push me, because she went inside without another word. Trying to ignore a heavy sense of foreboding, I moved to follow.
My Shadow Court had sensed something, as well.
As I walked to the open door, I felt their silent questions.
The soft, hesitant touches that somehow felt like the barest brush of fingertips.
I sent reassurances back and withdrew. I knew if I lingered, they’d see right through me.
They would know how terrified I was. They would discover the truth that I had been keeping from everyone, including myself.
The truth that Collith might be right, and when the time came, I wouldn’t be strong enough to save them.
At the threshold, I stopped again. Emma’s footsteps sounded on the steps as I turned back and looked outside.
Maybe to catch another glimpse of Collith, or scan the shadowed trees for something that didn’t belong.
Holding my breath, I searched the stirring leaves and the waking horizon.
Nothing moved. Only birdsong drifted past my ears, followed by a gentle breeze that smelled like dew and freshly mown grass.
I exhaled and went inside.