She held on for dear life as their bodies whipped back and forth with the impact. The vehicle spun and glass sprayed her side. Her blood rushed to her head; her mind became dizzied and disoriented. The sacks in the back flew through the air. Heavy objects peppered the inside of the cab. Something struck Daisy in the head and darkness rushed in.
A hard gripsettled around her ankles, yanking her awake. Her body slid against a bumpy surface, pulling with her a fuzzy blanket. She opened her eyes, but fabric covered her vision, a hood on her head or something similar. Her head pounded and parts of her body ached, as though she’d been flung around. There didn’t seem to be any serious injury, however.
Souls registered all around her, none of which she knew. Ten people in all.
The primal part of her wanted to kick out and struggle. To fight. That was the mild panic trying to eat through her logic—trying to derail her training.Allowing panic to control her, though, was a sure way to die quickly. She had to keep her head and ascertain the situation she was in.
The hand left her ankle and closed around her upper arm as her body followed her legs over the side. Her feet hit the ground, and her knees buckled. The weight of her limply dropping body tore at the grip. Fingernails sliced across her skin and caught on her shirt. Fabric tore, pulling out the seam and yanking at her neckline.
Her legs hit the soft dirt, then her back, and she rolled slightly so as not to hurt herself on impact. Then she curled to the side and made herself smaller in case a kick came, shaking to mimic cowering.
“Blight,” a man said, using the word like she might use “fuck.” Soles shuffled against dirt and rock before two hands grabbed her, hauling her up. “Stand, you stinky human,” he growled, jostling her as he dangled her on her feet.
He had no problem with her hundred and thirty pounds, and he’d nearly spat the termhuman. Not Chester, but human.
The image of the skeletal face materialized in her mind. She recalled the flying shape and wordless scream as the creatures had descended on the SUV, strong enough to knock the large vehicle off the road. She was either dealing with one of them, or someone they worked for. Fae, in other words, but not herkissing assassin. She still didn’t recognize any of the souls around her.
Well, that’s not good,she thought as she closed her eyes again and took a slow, deep breath.
In her nineteen years on this earth, this was the second time she’d been taken captive by an enemy. After the first time, Zorn had dragged her through countless practice sessions in case it ever happened again.
And look, here she was.
Just like in practice, his teachings came easily to the forefront of her mind.
The most important rule: do not panic. Panicking only wastes time and energy.
Very true. She took another slow, deep breath. The hood slid against her face, the musky, stale scent nearly making her choke.
Give them what they expect.Weakness can be your greatest strength if you use it properly.
Her feet remained close together and slightly askew, a stance no fighter would use. Fae thought humans were frail and useless.Less than. She’d play that part for now.
He yanked her around and pulled her forward. She half tripped, forced to stutter-step, and made herself shake even more. Dimming light appeared in the slice of visibility at the bottom of her hood, night falling.
Murmured voices lowered in volume the closer shegot. People—or beings—stopped their conversations as she appeared in their midst. The animals had been grouped off to the right, judging by the souls, probably tethered for the time being. The crackling of flame accompanied an occasional pop of burning wood, a fire probably newly started. They must’ve stopped for the night. Unless she was somehow already in a different realm, she’d lost a day from when she’d crashed until now.
“Seat her there,” someone said, and the being directing her shoved her downward.
She crumpled with a whimper and started pleading for her life. She babbled about rewards for returning her, how young she was, and anything else she could think of, most of the words lost to terrified-sounding sobs.
A hard object crashed into the side of her head to shut her up. Daisy grunted as she splayed onto the ground, her head pounding from the impact.Fuck, that hurt.Fuck those fucking fuckers!A boot, most likely. These assholes meant business.
She gritted her teeth against the pain throbbing within her cranium. Fae were supposed to be ruthless, but her kissing assassin had never laid a hand on her. Not in violence, at any rate. Only magic to keep her put. She’d misjudged how much she could get away with. Another mistake like that might cost Daisy her life.
“Get up.” The rough hand grabbed her by the hoodand hair, yanking her to sitting and making her squint with enhanced pain.
“Take off her hood,” the voice said, the one who had indicated where to place her.
She flinched when the top of the hood was pinched, and winced again when some of her hair was ripped away with it. The scene revealed itself within the folds of early evening, and she drank it all in as fast as she could.
You need to be ready at all times. You’ll never know when you’ll have to move.
Horses were tethered to a nearby tree. Covered wagons were stationed in a semicircle. They cut out some of the breeze flowing from…the east, if she had to guess. Eight guys with pointed ears all gathered around the modest fire. That was all as expected…except for how strange the guys—or possibly male creatures, in this case—looked. She’d get to that in a moment.
Trees scattered around with ample space between them. Away right, a meager dirt road cut through their thick trunks, sparse with branches. A smattering of stars were just making their night’s debut overhead, the same pricks of light that would be hidden in a city’s bright landscape. Night birds called out their presence, and off in the foliage, small critters worried the grasses. The area was remote, offering a sense of isolation. That wasn’t ideal. If she were to escape, she wouldn’t have a lot of cover or anywhere to actually go.
She might’ve lost a day from when the SUV hadgone off the road, but if they were going by horse and cart, they couldn’t be too far ahead of Lexi and the others. Lexi could find her in the spirit realm and direct the others to where she was.
