Page 52 of How Does It Feel?

He still held my hand as he guided me down yet another dark hallway, and I felt a sharp squeeze before he abruptly stopped. He turned to face me.

“Why would you know anything about that?” he asked me, and for the first time, I saw cold anger in his eyes, not unlike the horrible prince’s.

His jaw stiffened as he inspected me as though if he looked closely enough, I’d give a secret away.

“I saw one back home . . . and here. I think it may have tried to stop me from going into the circle of mushrooms—the portal. And when I was dying in the forest here, I saw two. I think the one was the same possibly? I-I think it saved my life after the prince’s men stabbed me. It cried on my wound, and-and I just came back with a fire in my veins,” I whispered.

Saying it all out loud felt so very different from what I heard inside my head. I still held solace in the thought that none of this was real, that I’d surely wake up in the hospital with a head injury any day now.

Walter dropped my hand. His eyes widened, and his mouth was open so wide I could see the back of his throat. Obviously, he knew about the fox.

“That can’t be,” he murmured as he stared at me with open shock. “You saw the fox in the human realm and in the Unseelie realm? You are certain?”

Goose bumps trailed my skin at the harsh look he gave.

“Is that bad? What is it?” I asked.

The fox couldn’t be that bad. It had saved my life and presumably had tried to keep me from the portal to the Unseelie realm.

A loud creak from the floor down the hall broke the silence that surrounded us.

Walter shoved me back the way we had just come as he grabbed my hand once more and began running us down yet another corridor I hadn’t even seen. He pushed me into what looked to be a linen closet filled with laundry. The room was small, the size of a nice human bathroom. Darkness cloaked the room as he pulled the black door closed behind him. There was a small light that softly illuminated the wall. Did they have electricity?

The black marble floor’s polish gleamed in the flickering amber light. The walls looked modern with a hint of a more traditional influence. All painted black with wainscoting trim and high ceilings. Almost too modern to be considered gothic, but a malevolent feeling hung in the air, something that shrouded everything, making it feel much more gothic than it initially looked.

Walter pressed in, holding the large black door closed. I stepped back to allow more space between our bodies, but a rack of fabric shoved into my backside. I opened my mouth to ask about their technologies upon seeing the light. At a squint, though, I realized it was a giant lightning bug that sat on a small bench upon the tiny gold platform where a lightbulb would have been. It was ten times larger than the lightning bugs at home. His face held a more sentient appearance. Of which I got to inspect further after it turned its head to me and held a finger to its mouth in the universal sign to be quiet.

I gaped at the fact that a lightning bug wall sconce had just told me to be quiet.

I looked up to see Walter chuckling as he watched me with glittering eyes. “I forget what a culture shock you must be going through,” he whispered.

“Tell me about the fox,” I whispered, not having forgotten.

I needed to know what was going on. Why would the fox seek me out? I couldn’t form a plan to get back home if I didn’t know all of the variables involved, and I had an odd hunch the fox was very much involved.

He immediately looked angry and stared at the wall opposite us.

“I tell you this as a friend.” He stiffened, and I swear I heard a small growl from inside his chest. “The only thing I know that can shift into a fox is an old line of Fae that I promise you want nothing to do with. I don’t know why they would have an interest in you, but I can assure you, it’s not a good thing,” he stated through a jaw clenched so tightly it looked painful.

Whoever the line of Fae was, it was clear he hated them.

“Why would Fae be in the human realm? It doesn’t surprise me that they showed up here, this is their home, but in the human realm?” I asked, still struggling to put the pieces together. It felt like a big piece was missing.

He moved from the door to step closer to me in the small room. Linen and soap fragrance wafted toward me with his move. It was a pleasant change from the musty dungeon scent.

“Quite the contrary. It’s significantly more unsettling that you saw them here, in the Unseelie court. They frequent the human realm as they were given passage. The fact that they set foot on Unseelie soil uninvited and then used their powers to heal you is unsettling, to say the least. It seems they have forged a plan that involves you in some way, which is far more dangerous than anything your human mind will comprehend.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. Was he telling me these Fae walked around with the humans?

“I can hardly believe there is anything more dangerous than being a prisoner of the Unseelie prince,” I whispered.

Something in the air seemed to shift. It was unsettling and caused my stomach to tighten.

“Oh, but there is. The only Fae that shift into fox are the royal children of the Seelie court, and by Seelie law, you are now tied to one of them with your life. You’re at their command until they decide to kill you,” he said before he shook his head softly. “Those bastards will never let you free. It doesn’t matter what realm you go to now, the Seelie own you. The only solace you have is that they did it on Unseelie soil, which violates a lot of rules.”

I clamored back as I tried to get my bearings and accidentally knocked a glass jar off the small table behind me. It crashed to the floor and shattered, quickly ending our hushed conversation.

I looked up at Walter, knowing I had just doomed us.