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Mor’s expression turned doubtful.

“There’s no time for introductions anyway,” Luc said. “I expected you to get herewaysooner, Trisencor. What took you so long?”

Mycra stole the opportunity to leave. She jogged off in the direction Cress and Dranian had gone. Mor followed her with his gaze, his eyes narrowing when she pulled out a short spear. He still didn’t look happy when he settled his brown-silver stare back on Luc. “The breadcrumb trail you left didn’t exactly make a straight line,” he said in a low voice.

“Breadcrumb trail…?” Lily glanced over at the Dracula coat in Luc’s hands. She huffed a laugh as it dawned on her why Luc had been tossing bread around the last few days.

“What in the name of the sky deities is going on?” Mor asked. Lily, and everyone else, stole glances at Shayne.

Shayne closed his mouth, snapping out of his daze. His throat bobbed, and he shook his head. “You can’t be here,” he rasped. “Mor… you need to go back!” Shayne took a step toward Mor and grabbed his arm. “This… This is….”

Mor frowned. “This is what, Shayne? Unexpected? After you strutted around in flip flops to fool us?” he said. “You’d better explain to me what you’re doing here, or Cress isn’t the one who’s going to throw a fit this time.”

Shayne tugged both hands through his hair. He paced around in a circle, his eyes glazing over like he was in another place. His breathing shallowed, and his lashes fluttered like he was going to collapse. He almost stepped right in the fire without realizing it, until Lily cut him off and grabbed his shoulder.

“Shayne,” she stopped him. “What in the world has gotten into you?”

Shayne looked at her like he wasn’t really seeing her there. He didn’t blink. After a moment, he rasped, “I can explain.”

“No you can’t. You haven’t explained anything since the start,” Luc stated. He reached his slender fingers into one of his inner pockets and pulled out a red paper crane.

Shayne’s eyes widened at the sight of it. He spun back to Lily and padded his hands over his own coat pockets even though Lily still wore it. She squirmed away as his hands flattened against her hips.

Shayne pointed to the crane in Luc’s hand. “That isn’t…”

“Yours? Oh dear. It is yours, isn’t it? How ever did I get my hands on it?” Luc answered.

“What does it say?” Lily asked.

Luc yanked the crane back when Shayne stepped toward him. The two were the same height, their silvery and blue gazes level as a beat of silence moved over the campsite. Only Cress’s shouting could be heard through the trees.

Luc tilted his head, a broad smile creeping across his mouth. “Lucky for you, North Fairy, I rather enjoy secrets. When I find one, it only makes me hungry for more, did you know that?” Without warning, Luc tossed the paper crane into the fire. It withered to ash in seconds.

“Wait!” Lily tried to kick it out of the flames, sending the last remaining bits of red floating into the air. She sprang back when her shoe caught fire, and she dug her toes into the dirt until the flame went out.

“What’s he talking about, Shayne?” Mor asked in his low voice.

Shayne and Luc seemed telepathic, having a conversation in complete silence. Finally, Mor stepped to them. He paused. Then he shoved them both away from each other. Luc staggered back into a heap of moss, and Shayne nearly tripped into the fire.

It was almost funny, except that Shayne’s reaction to Cress’s and Mor’s arrival had been so strange. Lily couldn’t shake the feeling that had been curling her instincts for the last twenty-four hours: that the current problem wasn’t that Shayne didn’twantto come back home, it was that hecouldn’t.

All it had taken was Luc waving around that red paper bird for Lily to know for sure.

It didn’t seem real. Lily looked back into the woods where she’d seen that shadow. Where something had been stalking them, and laughing at them, and singing.

Last night, Shayne had promised to her face that they would be home soon. That they would drink coffee together.

Suddenly it was so painfully obvious he was lying.

This wasn’t a manhunt. This was a hostage situation.

Shayne didn’t need to be found, he needed to be rescued.

Lily huffed at herself. She couldn’t believe she hadn’t figured it out until now. That the brothers Shayne had told her to avoid were holding him on a leash.

11

Luc Zelsor and the Thing He Did Right After His Visit to the Dark Corner