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“Did you forget how you almost died—twice—the day I met you?”
“Of course not!”
“You being so weak is no fun at all.” A sheepish expression takes over his face. “Plus, we could use a human to practice with. You move differently than us. Could help us prepare better for attacks from Dovenak.”
“So, you want to use me as a mock target.”
His face splits into a wide grin. “Can’t do it til you toughen up a bit.”
Of course it’s for their own benefit.
“Does Dovenak attack often?”
His eyes dart to the door then back to me. “Not exactly. But I’m afraid I can’t discuss official matters openly, little human. Sorry.”
I sigh, plopping the empty porridge bowl down on the table before us. “So you can ‘toughen me up,’” I say, with air quotes, “to kick my arse, but you can’t tell me why exactly you’re doing it?”
Ken grips his gut, howling with laughter. “Good gods you don’t quit. No one is kicking your arse. Let’s just get going—see for yourself.”
“Is Rainer going to allow me to leave the room?”
“Well, it was his idea to get you outside.”
Before I can overthink it, I bolt down the corridor, taking the stairs two at a time until I reach the ground level. I’m ready to test the boundaries. Behind me, Ken barks a laugh as he keeps up with ease.
“Where the feck are you running off to like that, little human?”
I make it to the foyer, sprinting over the grimly painted floors. Once I reach the massive doors, I grip the cool iron knobs and tug them open. They’re heavy, and the groan they make echoes through the foyer.
My lips turn up into a smile. I don’t know where I’m going, but as long as I can go, I’ll figure it out.
But as soon as I walk forward, I smack face first into an invisible forcefield.
Ken howls, trying and failing to smother his laughter behind his big hand. Shooting a scowl at him, I rub my nose and forehead where they smashed into the magic wall.
“Not again!” A tiny, high-pitched voice says.
I turn to catch a little creature no bigger than my fist hovering in the air a few feet in front of me. Its iridescent green wings move so fast that they’re a blur of color.
“Pixie?” I ask, dumbfounded.
It giggles, flittering away before I can get a response.
My eyes widen and I stare in the direction it flew, stunned silent.
They do exist.
“Is my nose bleeding?” I finally ask Ken.
He double-takes, eyes widening. But then he inspects me, and when everything looks okay, he exhales heavily and his shoulders relax.
“You should probably stop charging into the magicked walls like that,” he says. “You’re giving those big-mouthed pixies plenty of gossip fodder, you know.”
I huff under my breath, glancing out the front door at the rose-wrapped iron gates, and to the forest beyond. There, in the distance, a humanoid shadow wafts at the treeline.
A chill walks up my spine, and I suppose it’s for the best I can’t leave… yet.
I’m not mentally—or physically—equipped to handle whatever happens in those woods.
