At that moment, the squeak of the cabin’s door handle turning cut through the pounding of blood in his ears, followed by thethudandbangof the door being slammed open.
“Poppy, no!” he yelled out as loudly as he could. “Get out!Run!!”
A wave of telekinetic force smashed him face-first into the ground, and he could barely lift his head enough to make out the blurry silhouette standing defiantly in the doorway, outlined against a blazing sunset that lit up the snowscape beyond in brilliant reds and oranges.
That can’t be Poppy,he thought blearily.Poppy wouldn’t be carrying a… a knife?!
He was pretty sure itwasPoppy, though. Almost certain. He could see the outline of her messy curls, the shadow of the purse she always carried, the way her posture was screaming bothterrifiedanddetermined.
Get out,he begged her silently.Please.
The fae, however, seemed to have other plans.
“Oh, how lovely!” he cried out in an ingratiating tone. “I’ve been waiting so long to meet you.”
He stood back from the door, sweeping his arm out in a gesture of welcome.
“Welcome to my humble abode, Aubrey Z.!”
Chapter 15
All things considered, Poppy thought she was handling the situation remarkably well.
First of all: she’d managed to make what she considered a reasonably impressive entrance. At the very least, she hadn’t stumbled when she’d kicked at the door, and the door had been unlocked to begin with, so she hadn’t had to call out and ask for someone to please kindly unlock it so that she could come in and threaten them with a knife.
Second of all: she hadn’t screamed or passed out when she’d seen Max lying bloody and motionless on the ground, bound to the wall with long, heavy-duty chains. Granted, that was probably at least partially due to the fact that all of the breath had left her lungs at the sight, so she couldn’t have screamed if she’d tried – but still, she was fairly sure she would’ve kept her cool and not screamed even if she’d been able to.
Part of why she’d managed to remain relatively calm, she knew, was that she’d heard Max calling out a warning to her as she’d entered, so at least she knew he was still alive. More than that, though, had been the strange feeling in her head just a minute before – it had almost been like Max was inside her thoughts, telling her to stay away.
She knew that it was just her mind rationalizing what was happening and trying to reassure her, but it had been so convincing that, strangely, she had justknownthat he was still alive. Or let herself believe it, anyway.
Third of all: that creepy guy from the woods was here, apparently having kidnapped Max, and yet she was standing her ground, knife at the ready. Her accountancy degree really hadn’t prepared her forthat, but her fingers were firm around the handle, her hand barely shaking.
There was just one thing –one thing– that was rattling her. One thing that she couldn’t get her head around. One thing that threatened to send this situation fromsurreally terrifyingtojust plain ridiculous, and loosen the perilous grip she currently had on her sense of control.
Unable to help herself, she blurted out, “Aubrey Z.?!” And then, “Thehell?!”
“Oh, don’t be so modest,” the creepy man cooed. “I’ve been following your work for a long time.”
“You’ve got it wrong!” Max yelled weakly, dragging himself to his knees. “I’mAubrey Z.”
“What?” Poppy exclaimed. “No, you’re not!” She paused, bewildered, before she added, “You hate Aubrey Z.! You said they had a pencil moustache!”
What does a restaurant reviewer have to do with literally any of this? Did Aubrey Z. slander this guy’s bolognese one time and now he needs revenge?!
The mysterious man rolled his eyes, sighing in irritation. “What youare,” he said to Max, “is an extremely annoying piece of bait. And do you know what happens to bait?”
The man’s oddly green eyes almost seemed to glow with malicious intent as he raised his arm, and suddenly Max jerked upright, his eyes widening.
The man smiled – a cruel, cold-blooded smile.
“It gets devoured.”
He twisted his fingers in a grasping motion, and in a movement so fast that Poppy could barely comprehend it, one of the chains flew up and wrapped itself around Max’s neck.
She watched, aghast, as Max gasped, eyes bulging, fingers clawing and scrabbling fruitlessly against the chain.
“Stop!!” she screamed – but the man didn’t stop whatever it was that he was doing, and Poppy stared in horror as Max gasped for breath.
