He chuffed softly.
Confused, I looked back to the beach, knowing I’d left my belongings there. Luca scoffed at me again as if to say, “Don’t even think about it.”
“Okay, okay,” I said, then mounted him.
No sooner had my hands grabbed onto his mane then he bolted.
I held on tighter to Luca than I’d ever held on to another horse in my life, knowing that if I were still human, even if Luca was tacked, I would have fallen off.
He was a horse possessed as we crossed the land in record time, the sound of his hooves second only to the blood pounding in my ears.
Luca stuck to wide open areas where he could run free and only went into the trees if he absolutely had to.
Making our way through heavier brush only seemed to agitate him further, like every second counted. Righting myself as he picked his way through, I stroked his neck with long soothing strokes. “It’s okay, boy. It’s okay.”
He let out a sound between a huff and a whinny as if letting me know it most certainly wasn’t okay. Then when I went to soothe him again, he kicked out his back legs letting me know he wasn’t interested.
I kept to myself after that.
The second the treeline broke into meadow, Luca bolted at full speed. About halfway through the meadow toward another forest, Luca pulled up short and reared. The movement was so sudden he threw me. I hit the ground hard, narrowly missing a boulder.
Seething, I pulled myself up and whirled on Luca. “What on this gods’ green land is wrong with you?”
His eyes were wild, and his tail whipped in short, quick movements as he paced back and forth along what seemed to be an invisible line to him—looking utterly crazed.
Glancing around, I saw nothing.
Hands up, I carefully approached him, careful to avoid where he paced.
“Whoa,” I soothed.
Then I felt it—an energy stronger than I’d experienced before. The second I turned to face it, Luca settled beside me, tail still twitching as he watched what I’d do.
Taking a step closer toward the energy source, I reached a hand out to touch it. As my fingers brushed it, my mind flashed back to when Endymion had run his fingers along the dark dome that ensconced us.
“It’s a barrier,” I whispered, running my fingers across it in the opposite direction.
Instinctively knowing whatever Luca wanted me to find was on the other side of the barrier, I walked a few paces in each direction, confirming that it continued down the valley. We’d hit a border. Which one? I had no idea. The hardest thing to reconcile was the illusion the barrier spun that showed an entire horizon’s worth of land past it, land I doubted I’d see once I crossed over.
Placing my hands on the barrier, it rippled as I press against it with all my might, but nothing happened.
“Let me through,” I gritted before pounding against it.
Luca huffed, clearly just as frustrated.
Stopping to think of a better solution than brute strength, I took in a deep breath, and then it hit me.
Bile rose to the back of my throat, and I started to feel as panicked as Luca from the coppery bite of blood filling my lungs.
A lot of blood. And whoever it belonged to was on the other side.
Chapter 21
The Other Side
“Luca, calm down. I’m trying to listen.”
He snorted but stopped, his whipping tail the only evidence of his unrest.
