Only when the sun broke over the horizon and seeped through the dense forest did Hatter stop and throw down his bag. He breathed a sigh of relief and began stretching.
“What’s going on?” I grumbled. I was fit, but after what had to be at least twenty miles of walking, my legs ached something fierce, and skipping a night of sleep had made me grumpy as hell. “Did you hear something?”
“The only thing that changed was the Cheshire cat’s ability to find us.”
“What?”
“Cheshire cats can appear and reappear at any time of the day or night, but their magic is strongest in the moonlight. He’ll no longer be able to track us through the forest, like he could have during the night.”
“What about tomorrow? Will he be able to find us again as soon as the sun sets?”
“Thank the aether, no,” Dee exclaimed from where she was standing on a branch, her hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath. “Tomorrow, he’ll have to start fresh, if he wants to find us at all.”
And that was the question, wasn’t it? Was that Cheshire cat a free cat who I’d offended, or did he work for someone—an enemy?
“Are there lots of those? Cheshire cats?”
Hatter shrugged. “No one knows. Unless you can capture one, which is tricky, you rarely ever see Cheshire cats.”
“Capture one?”
“That’s how they are bound to a fae,” Dum explained. “Kind of like a familiar, except they never come willingly.”
“That’s not true,” Hatter said.
“I stand corrected,” Dum retorted, her lips pursed. Clearly she needed some sleep too. “They rarely come willingly—and even then, only to an aether-blessed fae.”
I’d have to think about that.
“Well, there’s no point in worrying about him tonight—or today, as it is,” I said. “Should we rest?”
Hatter shook his head. “We’re actually close to Coleti’s cottage. It should be only ten minutes or so that way.” He waved vaguely to our right. “Once we get to the cottage, we’ll be safe. She’ll have enchantments up, so we can rest then.”
“I guess we should be on our way—” I stopped to sniff the air.
My eyes opened wide, and a rush of adrenaline flew through me, making me feel more awake than I had in hours. There was a scent of smoke on the air, light, but definitely present. And it was coming from the direction that Henri had indicated.
Blood froze in my veins. “Henri, do you smell—”
But he was already on the move, sprinting through the woods.
Without thinking, I followed, noting with each step that more smoke was filtering through the trees. I caught sight of an orange glow not far in the distance, and my stomach clenched as I pushed my legs harder.
When we burst into a clearing, I gasped.
My hunch had been right. It wasn’t just a fire—the cottage before us was engulfed in flames.
“Coleti!” Henri yelled, and dashed into the blaze.
The aether-blessed fae . . . shit! I have to help him.
Calling on my powers of air, I created a buffer of fresh, breathable oxygen around my face before dashing into the cottage. It wouldn’t last forever, but I only needed to get Henri and Coleti out.
“Alice!” Henri’s voice boomed through the crackling flames and thick smoke.
I squinted and spotted a white flash in the far left corner.
“Over here!”
