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The Dark Prince’s cold monstrosity felt more enormous than normal as he took a step closer to Luc’s exposed back. Luc watched as his father’s shadow engulfed his in the grass before him.

“It’s a safeguard,” Reval stated in his sweet, icy voice, “so you can never turn against me, Son.”

Luc nearly dropped the sapphire clams. He grabbed a pot like he’d been intending to anyway, and he tossed each clam in one by one, keeping busy.

“Now, if I ever die, she will starve to death. You understand, right?”

Luc turned to face his father. They were the same height now, almost the same build. Reval’s power was treacherously horrifying but Luc had grown strong. Possibly strong enough to give him a good fight, maybe. Clearly strong enough to worry him.

Every ounce of Luc’s fairy flesh worked to put a broad, crystal-clear smile upon his face that could not be read as anything but assurance. “I would never betray you, Father.”

It was a lie. Luc would have. Right up until that moment, Luchad dreamt of the day he might grow strong enough or clever enough to outsmart and destroy the man who had ruined him.

But it seemed Reval had been more clever than Luc that night; had been one step ahead of him all along. That evening the young nine tailed fox decided he would run away instead. A plot of destruction transformed into a plan of escape in the blink of an eye.

It took Luc over two years to get the permission he needed to leave the Shadow Army’s daily routine to become a scout among the humans. Two years of hard work, lying, bribing, cunning strategy, being in the right place at the right time, placing bets, making bargains, and giving away large promises.

Two years before he made it to the human realm.

And there, he had hoped to be free of fox games forever.

16

The Girl with No Name

Lightning and thunder filled the cloudy skies on the dark evening the Mycra Sentorious sank to the bottom of the cold Twilight Lakes. The waters rumbled back at the heavens in response with the spraying and crashing waves. The wind screamed too, adding to the angry chorus. The chaos was so great that not even the sky deities would have noticed a young girl with onyx-black hair treading water in the middle of the lake. The force of the sinking ship tried to suck her down with it, but she was far enough away that she could withstand the pull. She had begun her swim at dusk, after all.

The raging waters had shoved her under more than once bringing back memories of a time when she’d nearly drowned in a river,and a sweet, soft-spoken boy had leapt in to save her. That day, she’d decided she would learn to swim.

She stroked against the pressure now—it was her versus the lake.

Her spirit nearly gave up, and she wondered why she had even tried until a tiny light appeared in the distance. The girl shed a tear in relief as a small boat struggled to stay right-side-up against the waves. She waved to it.

“I’m here!” she called.

The boat picked up speed, rattling the metal lantern hanging out front. It reached her with seconds to spare—the girl was sure she would have drowned if the boat had taken any longer to reach her.

A silver-haired Shadow Fairy gazed down at her curiously from the boat. After a moment, he said, “I had convinced myself none of this was real. But you are real, aren’t you?”

“Help me!” the girl called to him, reaching for the fairy with her last ounce of strength.

The Shadow Fairy smiled and shook his head in disbelief. He reached for the girl and tugged her from the lake in one great haul. The girl landed in the boat, coughing up water and weeds. When she caught her breath, she whispered, “Thank you for coming.”

The Shadow Fairy nodded as he turned his boat around and began paddling back the way he had come. “I don’t do favours for free,” he said. “You tricked me into giving you control of my slumbers, Siren.”

The girl climbed to her knees and held the side of the boat as the ride grew turbulent. “I’m not a siren,” she said.

“You have the power to deceive, and I found you floating in the dark waters. You convinced me to pull you into my boat. Sounds like a siren to me.” He was making a jest, but the girl didn’t have the will to laugh.

“I told you in your dream that I’d be here. I hardly think you can claim to have stumbled upon a siren in the water.” She wrung out her hair, but it did little as the air grew heavy with mist. Rain began to soak them all over again.

“I wonder what your story is, that you had to trust a Shadow Fairy to help you escape? My species aren’t known for keeping our promises. I could steal your memories, you know,” the Shadow said.

The girl thought about that for a moment as her breathing finally began to settle. “I need to find someone.” That was the only answer she gave him.

“That’s unfortunate,” the Shadow Fairy said as he stroked along with the waves. The current was moving with them now, rushing the boat toward the faraway shore. So, the fairy dropped the paddle into the boat and let the water do the work. He turned to the girl.

“Why is that unfortunate?” the girl asked.