“You must have pissed them off,” Danni says
“Killing members of their family will do that,” I snap.
The phone changes hands with a rustle. “Kian here, how can I help?”
“I have a herd of poenpoeth and a human woman who’s been stung twice. Are they fatal to humans?”
“I don’t know.”
I swear. No one knows anything. “Can you get some riders here and clean up the rest of them?” I give him the address.
“Yeah, but we’re a day away. What are you going to do?”
I glance at Megan, now limp in my arms. I’m not sure she even has a day.
Now that I have a way home and an excuse, I don’t want it. Not because I believe in waiting for some mystical spark, but because Megan never got a chance to agree.
“Fin?”
“The only thing I can. I have to take her to faery.”
“No, you need to do what you can against the poenpoeth.”
“She’ll be dead before you arrive.”
“She’s human let her go and do your job,” Kian says. “Unless…”
“Yeah,” I lie. It comes too easily. “She’s mine.”
When she wakes up in faery, she might disagree with that, but by then it will be too late for anyone to argue.
I hang up and lift her out of the bath. Her lilac dress is plastered to her skin and her cute little tiara is askew. She’s my fairy princess, and she’s right. This is my fault and I need to fix it.
I haven’t killed any of the poenpoeth gathered at the house, so hopefully when I return to faery the poenpoeth will also leave. I don’t know. I don’t want more humans getting hurt, but in truth I have no idea what kind of havoc they have been creating as they swarm the city.
There’s too many, even if I were to make a stand and fight this evening.
I should’ve called for backup as soon as I saw one, because where there’s one poenpoeth, there’s ten.
I hold her close and whisper in her ear. “I don’t know if you can hear me, but I’m taking you to faery, I hope they can make you better. I hope you don’t hate me for stealing you away from your life.”
Maybe she is my one, and I was drawn to the shop for a reason. I don’t know.
I don’t care.
I grab a dry towel and wrap it around her, then I go to the front of the house. At every window I pass there are poenpoeth. Their fat yellow bodies press against the glass and their eyes watch me. A few lift their stinger in warning. They haven’t forgotten what I have done.
My arm throbs and the fear of getting stung is far too close to the surface. I prefer to face things with teeth. No, I prefer to face nothing at all. I rest her on the kitchen counter and pull a knife free from my belt, then I slice the back of my hand. Blood wells immediately.
I slide the blade home, then where the poenpoeth can all see me, I press my blood to the pieces of faery I wear around my neck. Wood, metal, stone and blood. The world jolts and the vortex that forms around me threatens to rip Megan from my arms. I curl my body around her. There is no air to breathe.
Then the ground slaps my feet, my knees buckle, and I drop to the ground with Megan in my arms. I suck in a lungful of air. I’m home, but something tastes wrong.
I lift my gaze. One of the great trees where we live is on fire. Another is charred and broken. My eyes widen as a fresh fear takes hold. What have I come home to?
Is there anyone left?
