“Be careful.”
“Duh,” Randy grunted from the front.
Cillian settled in beside me and I glanced outside the window, the dark road, speed, and sleet made it impossible to see anything but dark blurs.
“I’m surprised there are so many vampires and cryptids in the area. You’d think that many non-humans would draw attention,” I stated.
“Only a handful live in the city or environs. Most of the guests you saw travelled to Sophia’s home for the party. They’ll spend a night or more at Sophia’s home or nearby hotels before returning to their domains.”
“How does someone like Tom and his fairy buddy manage to live without being noticed?”
“There are spells to hide their true face and shape.”
“Spells, as in magic?” I blurted.
“Yes.”
How awesome. “Cool. Do you have?—”
I never finished that sentence because the car hit a very slippery patch and went into a tailspin.
Before I could even think about puking up any blood, the vehicle careened off the road and began rolling down an incline.
Bang. Thump. Crash.
Discombobulated didn’t come close to describing the experience of being tossed around like a rag doll because I’d forgotten to buckle in.
When the car did settle—upside down—I found myself splayed in an ungainly fashion atop Cillian, who’d somehow managed to wrap himself around me when the tumbling started.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Yeah. You?”
“Fine. Let me check on Gwen and Randy.”
They turned out to also be okay, if bumped and bruised.
We’d emerged from the incident unscathed, however, as we exited the ruined car and stood by it, getting rained on by ice pellets, Cillian appeared grim.
“Why so glum?” I asked. “We’re alive.”
“And stuck at the bottom of a ravine, on a road rarely travelled.”
“So call for help.” I didn’t understand the big deal. I mean, yeah, the accident sucked, but he seemed rather more upset than the situation warranted.
“Can’t call. Either the nearest cell tower is down because of the ice storm, or the signal isn’t reaching us in this ravine.”
“Meaning we need to climb out.” I glanced at the hill and held in a sigh. My dress and shoes would be destroyed.
“Not we. Randy and Gwen will go while you and I seek out shelter from the coming dawn.”
“You don’t think they’ll get help in time? Dawn is a few hours away.”
“Would you like to take that chance?”
Barbecued by daylight didn’t sound fun. “Guess we’re looking for a hiding spot.”
And lucky me, it ended up being a stinky cave.
