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Dranian frowned. “I’ve escorted frivolous royals less daft in the face of danger than you.”

Lily opened her mouth but paused as if she were trying to sort through his complex usage of words. “Did you just call me stupid?” she asked plainly.

Dranian stared. Blinked. He shook his head.

Lily made a doubtful face. “Liar.” She turned to continue down the path, tightening the straps of her satchel of belongings that would be utterly useless in just about every situation in the North Corner of Ever. Dranian exhaled. He continued to follow as she looked in amazement at every detail in sight; the velvety starbud bushes that stared right back at the strange human strutting by, the streams of colour on the horizon, and the golden honey bulbs dangling from the most generous trees along the path, tempting every passerby with the promise of their sweet taste and a raging army of silver hornets that would stab any fool dumb enough to try and actually taste it.

This was going to be a long day.

Yesterday had been a long day.

The day before that had been a long day, too, and the one before that.

Dranian had no trouble remembering the way to the House of Lyro, but the House was on the furthest cusp of the North Corner, practically on the border of the East, and in the exact furthest possible spot from the gate to the human realm. He exhaled again. With every step deeper into Ever that Lily took, he regretted bringing her more. He could already feel the wrath Cress would exercise upon him for doing such a foolish thing. He could practically taste the rocks. Mor wouldn’t even defend him this time, and neither would Kate.

He ran his tongue along his teeth like he expected to find grains of rock salt there already as he studied Lily’s back. Her useless satchel. Her parted mouth and tiny gasps at each new fairy thing she observed. He made a grunty sound. Lily missed all the most important things; the creeping vines following a short distance behind them, the threat of Jackson Frost’s fingers reaching through the air, the distant fae parties her weensy little human ears couldn’t observe the horrors of. And for that, he found he was in a mood.

“This place is unreal,” Lily breathed.

“It’s totally real. Real enough to drag you into a pit to be chewed up by cossbeasts and spit back out again,” Dranian muttered.

Lily turned and shot him a look. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were trying to scare me into going back home.” She folded her arms.

Dranian blinked. That was exactly what he was doing. He was beyond astounded it took her this long to figure that out.

“Stop being so grumpy. What were you going to do if I stayed home? Come here byyourself?” Her gaze flicked to his one bad arm, and he bristled.

“Luc said he was coming after he does his other thing,” Dranian returned.

Lily huffed and tilted her head. “You really still think he’s coming? Are you crazy, Dranian? He ditched us for good—that’s why we’ve been walking for days instead of airslipping to Shayne’s house in a matter of minutes.” She pointed to the forest. “That jerk is probably spying on us from a tree, happily waiting to watch us get eaten by something.”

Dranian opened his mouth to protest but found he hadn’t a thing to say. He closed it again when Lily turned and continued walking. He stole a wary glance up at the trees as he hopped after her.

“I had no idea you even talked this much. Do the others know you can run your mouth?” Lily raised a brow when he caught up. “Or is that a trait you saved especially for me?” She flashed a cute, yet painfully sarcastic, scrunched-nose smile at him this time.

Dranian grumbled a few indecipherable fairy curses and flicked an emerald leaf on his way past. He bumped Lily with his shoulder when she stopped walking. He thought to ask her why she halted, but he’d already been accused of talking too much and he figured she’d tell him without being prompted if he waited long enough.

As expected, she asked, “Do you hear that?”

Dranian followed her gaze to the forest. Cracks of darkness wedged around the trees beneath a roof of tangled branches blocking the light. Modest whispers leaked from the wood trunks, slipping around the grasses, crawling out of the flowers. Dranian felt a nudge to take a step toward it all, but he broke his stare and looked at the sun meeting the frosted mountain tops instead. He knew the things hiding in those woods. He knew better than to stare.

He also knew Lily couldn’t hear any of that whispery mumbo jumbo. She was probably obsessing over a singing cricket.

“We should get to a safe forest before sundown,” he mumbled. He decided to lead the way this time, rolling his shoulder and wincing at the shooting pain as he headed down the path. He heard Lily’s footsteps following him, but their rhythm was random like she kept turning to look over her shoulder as she walked.

They said nothing else for a while.

It took Dranian thirty-seven minutes to find a forest safe enough for sleep. He waited for Lily to fall asleep first. And he meant to stay up and keep watch, but after days of walking, it only took him sixteen more minutes to achieve slumber.

Dranian found himself on a vast ship. Restlessness bewitched a dark sky, and waves crashed up the boat’s sides onto the deck. The ship was sinking. How had he gotten here?

“Dranian!”

His faeborn heart tumbled off course, chasing hope without navigation.

“Are you here?” he shouted into the gloom. He did a full spin, but he did not see the girl with no name anywhere. “Where are you?!”

It had been well over a week since he’d met the girl in his dreams. She hadn’t sent word about Shayne. She hadn’t told him she was okay. She’d disappeared from him entirely.