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"That's the truth," I grumbled, thinking about all the people who'd erased me from their memory.

"I think that's why I don't mind. I mean, if I had to pick between revealing a secret and saving a life, I'd pick saving the life, and then it'd blow up.

My intentions might be good, but when the Huntsman had Aspen?

Yeah, I would've told him anything to make him let go. "

"That," Hawke said, "is exactly why we made the promise.

And yes, it was a fair deal. We got plenty back.

" He jerked his chin at Keir. "Like when she gave you detention with Rain, knowing you'd be there anyway.

Ms. Rhodes is a good one." And he gestured to a tree. "This is the first dot on the map."

The three of us spread out. I went around the trunk of the tree.

Hawke kicked at the leaves under it. Keir was the one who found the enchantment.

After almost fifteen minutes of looking, he pointed up at the branches and called us over.

"I think there's a gate attached to this tree.

See the edge that cuts into the lower branch up there? "

"No," I admitted, shifting a little for a better angle.

"Ah, yeah..." Hawke said. "See, Rain? Looks like someone cut into the branch and left a gouge."

"From a gate?" I gaped at him in shock. "What the hell?"

"They fit between two pillars," Hawke said. "We use door frames, usually. But if the tree grew the branch downward between the gate being opened?"

"I kinda don't get how gates work," I admitted .

So Hawke held up his hands, parallel. "They have to have supports on the sides.

The place they're made must be one we know.

Not just that we've passed, but somewhere we actually know well.

Typically, it's the sort of place you never really look at, but would notice if it had changed - like the door into the bathroom.

Once a gate is keyed in, it can be easily opened, but access must be given.

I can open a gate, but not create one from nothing. "

"Can Torian?" Keir asked.

Hawke nodded. "Aspen and Wilder too. The three of us?" He glanced at me, then Keir. "We're the weak ones in the court."

"Rain's not weak," Keir countered.

Hawke just lifted a brow. "Neither are we, Keir. That's my whole point." Then he pulled out his tablet and tapped at it. "So, one down. Only several hundred to go."

"Yeah," I muttered, reaching for my phone. "And I think I'm going to turn on my weather alerts. I just have a bad feeling about this."

I was tapping at that when a branch snapped.

Immediately, the three of us shifted, putting our backs together the way we'd been taught in defensive combat.

My phone was forgotten. Hawke's tablet was inside his hoodie again.

There was a strange sensation in the air that made me think magic - and then a foot scraped in the leaves. A girl giggled next.

I let out a sigh and relaxed just as Nevaeh came around the corner - and Hawke tensed. "What the fuck?" he snarled.

Nevaeh squealed in surprise. Immediately, Poppy Hawthorne rushed forward, revealing herself. The girl's hands were up and green light flared up between them, evaporating the moment she saw us.

"Rain?" Poppy asked.

"Why the hell are you out here?" I demanded.

She gestured at Nevaeh. "She said there's an enchanted item on the grounds that is calling the Hunt! She said she told you!"

Keir just huffed out a laugh. "So you're looking for it? Did she tell you who it's for?"

Poppy just lifted her chin and stepped forward, dispelling her magic. "I will have you know I choose the fae. Not Summer or Winter. Not even the sidhe. I chose all fae, and that includes wildlings."

Hawke finally relaxed, but his head tilted a bit as he looked the girl over again. "Your mother is a proud supporter of Summer," he pointed out.

Poppy rolled her eyes. "And she was here on vacation when the gates closed, but I've heard the stories.

I have friends who lost their parents." She gestured to Nevaeh.

"I know this isn't a seasonal thing. It's not even a power thing.

This? It's about our survival, and if we want to keep magic in the world, then we all have to work together, right? "

"Why do you care?" I asked her. "You've got an in. You could be one of the jesters if you wanted. Poppy, why have you always been nice to me?"

She laughed once, looking down at her feet in the process.

"Because you were nice to me, Rain. You don't give me shit for being in eleventh grade, or for not being cool.

You also noticed me. Everyone else calls me the little Hawthorne, thinking I'm just a carbon copy of my mom, but you know what? My dad raised me too."

"A human?" Keir guessed.

"Faeling," Poppy admitted. "He was born here, lived there, and then came back here. Dad called himself an adventurer, back when it was cool."

"When was that cool?" I asked, ready to crack a joke.

But Poppy just shrugged. "Like the eighteen hundreds.

You know, before they had the whole world mapped out.

But that's the thing, right? Once, there were things we didn't know.

Now, there are things we've been told - but my dad raised me on history.

Mostly Earth history, and I've seen these patterns before.

They never end well when one 'kind' is the best and the other should die. "

"No, they never do," I agreed. "So where have you checked?"

She pulled out her tablet and came closer. "We started after breakfast over here..."

Hawke woke his up and we did a little comparing. Then there was some planning. It didn't take long before the delegating started, and the strangest part was how they all looked at me.

I was used to being ignored, not relied on. Strangely enough, I found I liked the sensation. I'd like it even more if we found this damned Hunt sign!