AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Rehan led them through the trees, twigs cracking, leaves crunching under their steps. The cries of the city had died away, the fleeing people long gone. The haze thinned as they made their way. Through brush and limbs, they could make out the shapes of Fae who’d gathered in smaller groups now. Occasionally, one would turn their face toward the woods as if they could sense the small group as they traveled. They probably could.
“Shelby told me that when magic is used it leaves behind a signature. He said a good warlock, or witch, should be able to identify who’d performed it there,” I whispered to Margo.
Her slender arm brushed my side as she kept close. Long black braids tickled against my arm. “I think I can.”
Margo was so strong…so brave for her age. She’d been closed off from the rest of the world for so long she had yet to understand that it was often cruel and heartless. This was her first test. One of many that would come and wear down her spirits. Ace sent off a little prayer that she’d never change, that the world would not dull her.
The three kept to the trees, trying to blend with bark and barren branches. Movement along the city borders stole their breath. A figure with features too distant to make out entered the tree line. Slow, casual steps kicked at the trampled grasses leading up to the forest’s edge. A light whistle, a solemn tune, carried on the wind. A stranger. Fae. A threat.
Adrenaline made their bodies light, jittery. Margo trembled as Ace pulled the girl to her. Ace’s spine aligned with the nearest tree, taking shallow breaths and trying to make herself as slender as possible. Rehan took one large step, hiding behind a tree trunk, carefully peering around it.
She and Rehan…they wouldn’t be touched. But Margo…Ace couldn’t live with herself if one of thesethingsgot a hold of her.
Ace closed her eyes. The steps drew nearer.Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.The debris of the forest floor broke under the Fae’s feet. Closer and closer. Until they stopped. Her eyes flung open.
Margo’s body pressed into Ace, tension pulling her straight as a board. The girl looked up. Her breath pulled and pushed at the makeshift mask. Pressing a finger to her lips, Ace begged the girl to stay still, to stay quiet. Rehan flattened to his tree.
The whistling continued.Crunch. Crunch.A few more steps as if the Fae was turning in a slow circle.
There was a brief pause in the song of the Fae, the purr of a zipper being pulled. He whistled again, this time the tune accompanied by the steady stream of piss as he relieved himself. A grunt. A growl of zipper closed quickly.
Crunch. Crunch.
Two steps. Closer.
Her heart was in her throat now. It beat too fast. Too reckless.
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
Ace swore she could hear the man sniff the air. She could almost imagine the way his nostrils would flare as he took long deep inhales.
What scent could they even leave behind? The smell of smoke clung to them too harshly.
Crunch.
One step. Farther.
Crunch.Another.
Margo began to relax as the steps finally faded away, though they stayed still against the trees even after they could no longer hear the whistling. Ace clung to Margo, waiting while Rehan poked his head out.
“Let’s keep moving.” He mouthed the words.
Ace tried to will her pulse steady, but paranoia left it racing while she continued to look over their shoulder, to watch the burning city wither away to nothing.
Rehan stopped. He held a calloused hand out behind him in warning.
Though she strained, Ace could hear nothing. Even Margo seemed to tip forward too, trying to find clues as to why he’d halted their progress.
Distance. We need distance between us and the Fae that remain too close to the forest’s edge.
If only she could read his thoughts.
She could? Couldn’t she? Hadn’t Rehan said that would be within her abilities?
Ace allowed her gaze to bore into the back of his head. She stared at his chestnut hair, pulled tight into a bun at the nape of his neck. She willed herself tobeRehan.
Focus. Focus.
