“Yes, but I need the ladies’ room.”
He lifted his chin, exposing a nasty white scar on his throat. “Not possible.”
Okay, I knew how this would go. My light, trying-to-be-nice expression dropped into a deadpan stare. “Do you know how it feels to bleed for seven days—and survive? Once a month?”
Gawking, he shook his head, loosening his composure. “No?”
Straightening my shoulders, I leaned in. “I can show you.”
He grimaced, a flash of disgust painting his features as his eyes traveled up and down my existence. “Second hallway on your left, three doors down on your right.”
Perfect.When in doubt, talk about periods. Men are cowards. “Thank you.” I hurried through the door he opened but wanted to pinch myself as it shut behind me.
What was I supposed to do next? Panicked, I pivoted left and right, flinging my hands around like a confused traffic director in a horse jam.Bathroom? Go to the bathroom?I took two steps.No—pigs! Save the pigs! Third hallway! Third hallway!
Darting down the hall with wobbling ankles, I dashed to the wooden door, but the round iron wheel wouldn’t budge.Locked. I tried again; despite the fact my arms and muscles were puny, I thought maybe if I twisted hard enough it’d work. But nothing. I took a step back.Maybe if I study it from a different angle—
Stampeding footsteps roared from behind me, and before I got the chance to turn after nearly shitting myself, someone’s hand covered my mouth as we slammed into the door with a flash of light erupting behind us.
Did I die?
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
The door gave in and we sank into the ground.Wemeaning Laken and I, as I’d discovered, but he’d already jumped up to shut the door.
“What the fuck was that?” Remaining on my ass in the dirt, I waited. “Did you smuggle a fucking explosive elixir in here or some shit?”
Hastily, he reached out a hand to help me. “Lightning bug.”
“Lightning bug? What… you walk around with bugs crawling in your pockets? Since when can lightning bugs do that?”
He lifted me to my feet. “The Wraiths breed these, they’re different. If you have any more questions, please hold them till the end.” He nodded toward the pigs. “We have to go.”
The rancid smell of manure drew a gag from me. Looking down, my once-flawless gown had become filthy with mudand whatever else I imagined being in a pigsty. Dirt filled my shoes, and Laken’s outfit matched.
Searching the grounds, cage after cage lined the dirt, but all were empty—except one. Two round pink bodies trod along, eating out of their trough as though nothing had happened. Clear, sparkling wings fluttered on their backs while little grunts came from their noses. Swirly tails, folded ears, tiny tusks, and claws. These were definitely our piggly wigglys.
Without hesitation, we darted for the pigs’ pen. I could walk and talk. “Wait—how didyouget out of the auction?” He definitely didn’t tell them it washistime of month.
As he fiddled with the lock, I couldn’t tell what Laken struggled with more—the gate or talking to me. “Well, I waited for them to come looking for you, then I slipped out behind them.”
My jaw dropped. “I was your bait?”
“They weren’t going to let me through, so…” The lock gave.
The audacity, the treachery, the—“Laken Augustus, I could’ve been killed!”
“Not with me at your back,” he amended.
Except he wasn’t at my back, not for a little while. Long enough I could’ve had my spine ripped out and made into a necklace. That argument would have to wait for later—we had bigger pigs to wrestle. We took one step into their pen and the screeching started—like nails on a chalkboard. They didn’t trust us. And they didn’t like us. Probably for good reason.
The noise would’ve immediately alerted the entire mansion if sound traveled through those thick walls. But with the guards Laken had rendered unconscious, our time already ticked.
“Alright, McCarthen.” Laken bent his legs a bit, preparing to fight for this win. “Let’s see it.” He waved two fingers to the pig on the left—my pig, I guessed. The smaller of the two.
The pen wasn’t too big, a square with enough room for the four of us to chase each other like a game of cat and mouse. My heels sank into the mud with each step, my ankles rolled one way after another. The oozing between my toes sent a chill up my spine, but I steadied my focus. I focused. I focused… on the mud filling the gaps between my toes like jelly.
The shoes were done—gone for and never worried about again after I unlatched them.
