I furrowed my brow. Okay.‘Logan, is this friend … a human, sorcerer, druid, or skyborn?’I quickly rattled off all of the supernatural species I knewof.
Silence again.‘Neither.’
Oh God. I let that go, because I couldn’t go there. I didn’t want to know what kind of Faery creatures had escaped before the land had fallen. Creatures that Isaac apparently had friendshipswith.
‘Okay, you want me to shift, which will alert Ardan, and then fly overIreland…’
‘Yes.’His reply wasinstant.
My mate was crazy, but if it would keep me from getting chopped up I was game. I knew Ireland was full of tales about mythical creatures, and I knew they liked to drink. Hopefully, if I did manage to make it out of here and fly over this place, any humans who saw me would be intoxicated and think they imaginedit.
Yes, I was going to go withthat.
I spent the next twenty minutes pacing my cell. How long had I been here without food or water? or the restorative energy of the Earth? More pressing, how long had it been since I’d flown? Would I even know how to do that when the time came? I thought I heard a noise and froze, staring at the staircase, wondering if Isaac’s little intruder friend washere.
“Psst!” said a tiny, high-pitched voice, no louder than a whisper. I’d barely heard it. My whole body went rigid as I pivoted towards the sound and zeroed in on thetiny...
Holy mother of littlefairies.
Standing between the bars of my large window was … a fairy. Like a legit, tiny, gossamer-winged creature that I expected carried pixie dust. Her face was like a painted doll’s, with porcelain skin and rosy lips, her hair short and jet black. She wore a tiny blue dress, with a bow and arrow slung over oneshoulder.
I didn’t know what to say. I stared with my mouth gaping open. My druid master and I needed to have a serious chat about his “friends.” How many more surprise creatures did heknow?
“Sloane?” she asked, in that tiny singsong voice. She had a mild Irish accent, which made her even moreadorable.
I nodded, mouth still agape. This is what I imagined tripping on acid would be like. But it was real. Without another word, she burst from her perch and flew at me, so fast I barely had time to move back before she was hovering in front of my face peering into my mouth. She was like a hummingbird on RedBull.
“You have nice teeth,” the tiny voicesaid.
Excuse me?Maybe thiswasan acidtrip.
“Thanks.” Ismiled.
She nodded, wings flapping, hoveringmidair.
“Isaac has spoken to you about the payment?” She scrutinized me, raising her tiny chin in mydirection.
No.
“Yep. All good.” Take my soul if it means you can free me from here. Whatever the payment was we would work it out. Logan would pay anything to freeme.
She looked excited and suddenly I hoped it wasn’t my soul Isaac had promised her. “Be ready to shift and fly,skyborn.”
She pulled an arrow from the small sling around hershoulder.
“Okay…” I stepped back and felt my dragon stir, ready for when I called herforth.
Please don’t let this be an acidtrip.
Without ceremony, she loaded an arrow into her tiny bow and it lit up with blue fire. I stepped forward, suddenlyinterested.
She loosed the arrow and it crashed into one of the steel bars at the window. The second it hit, the bar disappeared. I grinned, trying to contain my excitement. This freaking tiny fairy was totally breaking me out ofhere.
“Shift,” she told me as she loaded and loosed the next arrow, knocking the second bar out ofexistence.
The window was a high stone arch, but looked only about five or six feet tall. My dragon was at least eight feet standing. It was going to be a challenge to squeeze through, but I had no other options. I stripped my clothes quickly, feeling my dragon rushing to the surface. The thought of leaving my undies behind for Steven and Ardan repulsed me, so once my shift was complete I clutched the bundle of clothes in one of my taloned hands. My body bulked out, and my wings were pressing the edges of thecage.
“Let’s fly!” the fairy declared. She incinerated the final steel bar just as I heard footsteps pounding up the stairs.Ardan.
