Page 122 of Hunted By Fae

My hand fumbles with the window latch, breath tight in my pained chest, and I shove my weight into it. The shelves hold my weight with a loud creaking noise rippling over the wood—then it silences as I hoist myself up onto the window frame.

The wrist of nightlights is first through.

Then the slam of boots down on the cellar floor.

He’s in now.

Jumped down the length of the ladder like it’s nothing more than a step, not a drop to wreck the knees.

I drag myself through the open window onto the porch, then roll onto my side, and I kick the window shut. Not like it’s big enough for him to get through anyway.

I don’t wait around for his next move.

I scramble to my feet—and charge into the darkness.

Fumbling with the switch of the CB, I ignite the static again, and race in the direction of the lake—the way to Tesni and Emily.

But as I run into the dark, my bobbing nightlights moving with me, I know he’s already chasing after me.

TWENTY-SIX

TESNI

The rapid crunching of snow is loud beneath our boots, but I hardly hear it over the hoarse grating of my breaths.

The snow is ankle-deep but thick enough that our running steps are hiked, and we have to force our legs upwards too high for each propelled step.

The exhaustion is wearing me down.

Beside me, Emily sounds as though her airways have been dragged over cheese graters.

I wonder if she’s getting dizzy like I am, if her sight is warping with vertigo and stars are starting to speckle her vision. Our damaged lungs from the black plague work against us, but we still chase up the length of the lake—and I will until I either pass out or reach Bee.

It must have been thirty minutes ago since her panicked whisper came through the CB.

Not a peep since.

Not a word, not a signal, not a fucking breath.

Just static.

I don’t let the panic distort me.

I stay focused on the other sounds Idon’thear.

Screams, gunshots, the war cries of the fae.

I hold onto that, a rope in the dark, because if I let go of that tether…

I can’t even think about it.

Can’t consider for a fucking second what it would do to me if I lost Bee.

So I do all that I can with the distance between us.

I run.

I run through the tightness of my muscles, my thighs starting to strain against my movements.