“Is it always this foggy?” I asked Hesper.
“No.” She bit her cheek.
“What does that mean?”
“I’m not sure. But it does mean we will have to travel the Irk and not into the Shadow Woods.”
“Your plan was to travelintoShadow Woods?” I asked in shock.
“We can hide in the woods. There is nothing to protect us on the road ahead. But if we tried to enter the Shadow Woods in this fog, we’d get lost immediately. And who knows how long it will last?”
“Don’t fae have great sight? Just see through the fog,” I said, rubbing my temples.
“I could have before…” She trailed off. “Dwindle has already waited long enough for us. We have only two days left before we are set to be there. We need to keep moving. Do you think you can walk through the night? If so, we can reach the village by midmorning tomorrow.”
I nodded.
Hesper gave me a few moments to wash my filthy dress and tired face in the seawater—only one of these was salvageable, unfortunately (and it was not my face). I had snagged a sliver of soap from the inn just in case. They also provided smallpackets of fresh mint for teeth cleaning, and I’d never been more thankful to be a hoarder of trinkets. Continuing this journey with vomit breath would have sent me over an edge I’d never come back from. Mercifully, my new linen tunic and travel pants were not covered in sick. I ducked behind a hollowed-out tree trunk and changed while Hesper stood sentinel. I stuffed the sad remnants of my Lore dress into my pockets and emerged, only slightly renewed but now vomitless.
I checked my travel pack before we entered the road. Everything was there, seed pack and all. At that moment, Edge and Warty flew overhead. Lucky bastards; if only we could sprout wings and fly the rest of the way. If only we had a beautiful mermaid to lead us through the living night that was Irk Road.
We kept putting one foot in front of the other, Hesper held firmly to me, and I hoped the mist wasn’t leading us astray. Irk Road was a straight shot to Dwindle, but that didn’t mean the fog couldn’t have expertly turned us around. Thankfully, no one else walked on the road with us. I guessed even the worst monsters stayed away from Irk in all this murkiness.
The tales of living shadows kept playing through my mind, and I convinced myself that I could see shadowythingscreeping along the edges of the road. But we didn’t dare light a lantern for fear of being seen.
And then, a murky shadow stepped out to greet us, confirming my worst fears. The hulking form burned the mist around it, holding a jagged-looking lantern, its clawed iron edges curving in toward the flame. The light illuminated several other shadows behind it.
Hesper whipped out a blade and shoved me behind her. But when I turned around, other figures were there, too. We were entirely surrounded on all sides.
“Hesper,” I whispered.
“I know,” she said.
Goddess, we were doomed. She could maybe have fought her way out by herself, but she had me to worry about.
I gritted my teeth, readying myself for a fight.
“Anything I can help you with, fellas?” Hesper said with such predatory calmness, I thought she might will their deaths with her very voice.
“Give us the girl, and we’ll be on our way,” something said through the mist. It sounded like a broom against harsh stone.
“And what good is she to you?” she asked. When the shadow didn’t answer, Hesper took the liberty of filling in the details. “Oh, I see. You’re the Prince’s little cronies, sent to do his dirty work while he shites himself in the shadows?”
“We work for no one and no thing,” a different voice growled from the darkness. “The Prince can rot in his broken castle for all we care.”
“Then whyever do you want a traveler covered in vomit?”
Previously covered in vomit, I’ll have you know.
“Can you not smell the magic reeking off of her? It fills up the entire road. Many things are crawling their way toward you.”
“She does reek, indeed.” And then Hesper began slashing.
I followed suit, making a mad grab for the clawed lantern. I startled whoever, or whatever, held it and grasped it in my hands. It was heavy, but I made do, swinging it upward and hitting the shadow in front of me right in the nose, or snout, or maw. Whatever it was fell back in surprise.
“Get her,” it yelled from the ground.
A swarm of shadows came for me. I swung my lantern wildly. An arm met my nose, and a loud crack sounded through my skull. Blood poured into my mouth, but I kept swinging. I could hear Hesper’s knife whipping through the air, the only proof she fought beside me.
