“You two should go,” I said.
They weren’t part of the hunt. I could feel it. If they left now they would be fine. Stay and they risked getting caught up in this.
“No, you just need to reach the road,” Inara said.
My laugh was grim.“I don’t think that’s how it works. It’s not some magic boundary to keep them off my back.”
“No, it’s where Caroline waits in a car. You’ll be much faster in that than you will be on foot,” Inara said flatly.
I couldn’t help the disbelief that filled me.
“Why would Caroline be there?”
Inara fluttered in front of me, seeming unconcerned despite the rumble of a threat in my voice.“I called her and told her where to meet us.”
“You did what?” I couldn’t help the upset in my voice.
“Don’t start with me,” she snapped.“You were supposed to stop the hunt. Not start it.”
“You didn’t want Niall or Cadell hunted.I’d say I accomplished that,” I shot back.
And boy had I. MaybeI’d done my job a little too well.I’d seen them out here with me, brief glimpses, but it was clear they’d been caught in the same web I had, only they were hunters, not the hunted.
I think one of them had even shot an arrow at me.
“Argue with me when you’re safe,” she snarled, weaving in and out of the trees as she led me through the forest.
She had a point. After that, I didn’t have time to argue as magic clamped me in its jaws once again, sending me mindlessly fleeing, the forest a blur around me as I ran.
Jerry rose from between the trees, his face blank as he raised an ax. I veered away, my heart thundering in my throat as I embraced my instincts, letting them guide me, even as others stepped out of the shadows.
They were herding me, the net growing close.
Dawn and hope lingered on the horizon. The stars above were gradually shuttering their faces and taking the moon with them.
I found myself on my hands and knees panting as the magic eased. It was like the ocean, pulling back only to swamp me with another wave. For the moment though, I was myself again.
Inara alighted on the ground in front of me, concern on her face.“You need to stop letting it take over.”
“That’s easy for you to say,” I told her.“You’re not the one caught in its grip.”
And I was so tired of fighting it. At least when it took me, I forgot the terror that crouched inside, forgot that many of my former friends were part of the hunt and would be only too glad to end me.
“How much further?” I asked.
Inara looked grim.“More than a mile.”
“Still?”
We were no closer than the last time I asked. I couldn’t help wondering if she’d lied to me.
When I was human, my best time was a mile in just under seven minutes. Now, exhausted, having been running off and on for half the night,I’d be lucky if I could run a mile at all.
“Yes, still. You keep going the wrong way,” she hissed, seeming like her old self. I was glad to see it. This morose woman wasn’t Inara. At least I knew what I was getting with the grumpy version.
“I can’t help it. The magic grabs me and I just run,” I said.
She didn’t look appeased.“You’re a magic breaker.Youcontrol its pull, not the other way around.”
