I rolled my eyes but didn’t reply, instead continuing on as he hurried inside. The gap between our terrace and the next one was big enough to allow two cars to park, but at the back of the area, sitting in the middle of a fence that was more brambles than wire or wood, was a homemade gate. Obviously, those living in the street did not like having to walk the few extra yards around the corner to get into the park. The knives were pointing me in its direction, so I walked up to the gate, pushed it open with some effort, and stepped through. The path sloped upward and was a mix of stone and dirt that had multiple rivuletsrunning down into rapidly filling potholes. About halfway up the slope, just on the edge of one of those puddles, was a set of boots. Safety type boots. With no body attached. Even as I watched, the boots dissolved into the rain.
He was here.Righthere, and had obviously been unconcealed until I’d come through the gate. The fact that he’d chosen to fade rather than run said a whole lot about his character. Or more likely perhaps, his overconfidence. Either that, or he didn’t realize his disappearing trick wasn’t instantaneous.
I grabbed the wind and spun her toward him. While it was unlikely vapor could be leashed, surely at leastsomelaws of physics had to apply. In this case, I was hoping to disperse his body and save us the trouble of incarceration.
Unfortunately, it seemed the laws of physics didnotapply.
He did, however, laugh at the attempt. Then he ran—something I felt through the wind more than heard or saw. She might not be able to disperse him, but she could still feel his presence and location.
I ripped a knife free from my purse and bolted up the path after him, the wind at my back, pressing me on even as she spun information around me.
I raised the knife and threw it, as hard as I could, at the man I couldn’t see, using the wind’s directions as a guide. The knife flew straight and true, then abruptly stopped, hanging midair about shoulder height. Lightning spun out from the blade in all directions, and vapor became human. He stumbled, then reached back with a gloved hand and ripped the knife from his left shoulder blade. He ran on a few more yards and jumped—dove—into the ground and disappeared.
Or maybethatwas just an illusion. Maybe he was simply using the pectoral to make it appear he’d disappeared into the earth.
I recalled the knife and listened to the wind as I continued on, trying to figure out where he’d gone. She had no answers. The blade thudded into my hand, and I gripped it tight, closing in on the spot where he’d disappeared.
And discovered his disappearancewasn’tan illusion.
Itwasa hole in the ground.
One I fell into head fucking first.
Chapter
Four
Ihastily wrapped the air around me but had little time to do anything more than right myself. I hit the ground, bounced, and was flung into a wall so hard my air bubble burst and a jagged strip of stone scraped the left side of my face.
I dropped the remaining few inches to the ground and swore, long and hard. From deeper within the darkness that lay ahead of me came another laugh.
“Do not come after me, young pixie, or I will entomb you.”
His voice was soft, earthy, but held a brash edge that spoke of youth.
“And you, young Myrkálfar, have a lot to learn about us pixies and orders.”
I charged after him, using the fierce lightning emanating from the blade to light my way, but had barely gone a dozen yards when the ground under my feet began to shift, shudder,move.
Oh, fuck...
I turned and ran, as hard as I could, back toward the hole, which was already beginning to close over. I swore again, wrapped a leash of wind around my wrist and gripped it tight as I ordered it to haul me out. It obeyed so damn fast my head spun.As I broke back into the storm, I glanced down... just in time to see the earth lunge at me, a darkly liquid serpent desperate to drag me back. Then it fell away, and the hole closed over.
I released my leash and dropped back to the ground, staggering a few feet forward before catching my balance.
“I thought you promised to be careful,” came a rather dry comment.
I looked up and saw Mathi and his father striding toward me. “Well, no, I promised I wouldn’t go far. I never responded to the whole ‘be careful’ suggestion.”
He stopped in front of me, tugged a crisply ironed handkerchief from his pocket, and handed it to me.
“What happened?” Ruadhán asked.
I gently pressed the handkerchief against the wound. It stung like blazes, but it obviously wasn’t too bad, otherwise Mathi would have insisted I be taken to the fae hospital. “Our thief was watching from that pathway. When I shoved through the gate he started disappearing, then ran.”
“And you, of course, chased after him rather than call for backup,” Mathi commented.
“I would have lost him completely if I’d done that.”
