Page 73 of Hunted By Fae

It’s a lame response.

“I don’t like it,” I confess. “I don’t like how they were just marching by us like that… Only one of them left their unit, and it was because Ramona shot him. Then the general called him back—”

“What?”

I blink at her.

“You said the general called him back. You understood that language?”

My nod is faint. “The general told that warrior to stop. ‘It is not yet their time.’” I hate myself for doing air quotes. “Then when he still didn’t go back to the road, the general said, ‘You will feed your bloodlust in the Great Return’.”

“The Great Return?” She makes a face. “The fuck does that mean?”

“I don’t really know. The Great Return,” I consider it, mull it over, “and the fact that they just walked by us. If Ramona hadn’t shot, she would still be alive.”

Tesni flinches at the reminder.

“The army wouldn’t have stopped on the road like that,” I go on, “and they wouldn’t have touched us.”

A bitter answer comes, “Yet.”

“Exactly. Yet.” That lures her gaze to me. “I think, maybe, they’re headed to the coast. If they did sail over the ocean, and they came from east coast of this continent, and they are headed to the west coast… what if, when they reach the shores, they go on over another ocean… or they turn back around—and start the return journey?”

Tesni’s face is pinched, quizzical, dubious. “So they sail across the ocean, just to walk this continent east to west, just to go back home? Their fucked up version of a marathon?”

My tongue drags over my bottom lip. “If I’m right… Then when they reach their destination, their turning point, they come back through, and it’s on thatGreat Returnthat they will push us out of hiding… and wipe us out. I think it’s a strategy to flush us all out.”

“Us…”

“Anyone who survived the plague… and the blackout… I’m guessing strategy—but make no mistake, Tess, the dark fae are here to end us.”

The distant sound of water running lures our gazes to the wall opposite. On the other side is the bathroom.

“Emily’s up,” she says, soft, distant.

I reach for the forks and ram them into the bowls.

The pasta should be cool enough to eat now.

Tesni turns a look on me, one that runs me over, up and down. I almost think she’s about to spear me with vicious words when, “Don’t tell her.”

I blink. “Emily?”

“We don’t know her, not really. And it’s dangerous for anyone to know that you’re one of them.”

“I’m notone of them, I’m of light.”

Tesni rounds on me. Her low tone is a warning, “I don’t think people will make that distinction.”

Before I can say anything, the door creaks open behind me, and Emily bustles in, blankets wrapped around herself, rustling over the linoleum floor.

Tesni gathers the bowls then carries them to the dining table, like nothing at all happened. She sets a bowl down in front of Emily, and I know she is right.

No one else can know.

Not even Emily.

Not Ramona, if she was still alive.