“Yep, no sign of murderous wolves,” I said after swallowing hard. “That’s what I’m looking for, right? More of those wolves that killedBree?”
“Yes and no.” He stepped up beside me and peered out across the thick forest. “Redcaps are sometimes attracted to this place due to the presence of the Winter fae who reside here, but there are more creatures than Redcaps to worry about. Many of them are much, much moredangerous.”
My heart tripped in my chest, and I glanced up at him, horrified by his words. “Moredangerous than Redcaps? But they…they…”
“You’re right to be afraid.” He nodded. “And that’s why you’re here. You need to learn how tofight.”
A pause. “Obviously, I never knew anything like this place could be real, but in my imagination, I would have assumed a faerie world to be a lot different thanthis.”
He raised his eyebrows and cast me a strange smile. “And how did you imagine it, Norah? All puffy clouds and rainbows? Dancing and merriment? Everyone holding hands and singingsongs?”
“Well…yeah, actually,” I said, heat creeping into my cheeks. He made it sound so stupid when he put it like that, but itwaswhat I’d imagined when I’d thought of faeries. “I never would have thought it was a place full of dangerous creatures who went around murderingpeople.”
His eyes flashed, and something in his expression darkened. “There is much to love about Otherworld, but there is also much to hate. At one time, our world focused more on those things you imagined. The merriment, the dancing, the songs. We do still have that now, though not nearly as often as we used to. Otherworld is changing. Ever since we split our Courts, a darkness has begun to creep in. With it comes more violent attacks and much moredanger.”
Frowning, I glanced up at him. His eyes were locked on something in the distance, and his jaw clenched tight. Every part of his body was stiff and straight, radiating with pure tension. I thought back to my conversation with Finn on the way into the Academy. Four Courts. Four rulers. When there had once been only aQueen.
“You don’t seem particularly happy about the division of the Courts,” I finally said. “I thought it was the Autumn fae who led therevolution.”
He leaned forward, his fingers tightening on the bannister of the watch tower. “It wasn’t a revolution, Norah. It was…” He stopped short and sucked in a sharp breath through his flared nostrils. “It matters not. But you see those storm clouds on thehorizon?”
Rourke shifted behind me, took my hand in his, and pointed my finger toward a dark shape beyond the furthest edge of the forest. His touch was cold and electric, and it was my body’s turn to go tense. Why was he touching me? Why could I feel the caress of his breath on my skin? A whirlwind of scents enveloped me: crackling leaves, rotting wood, and deep damp earth. In my chest, my heart began toshake.
“See it just there?” he asked in a low whisper with his lips only inches from myear.
Swallowing hard, I ripped my gaze from where his fingers were curled around my hand and followed the line. “Yep, I see it. There itis.”
He let go, but I still stood frozen in place with my hand outstretched before me. I was losing it. Something about these fae guys had a strange effect on me, one that couldn’t be normal. Every single one of them was either irritating, annoying, or kind of weird, but they were all really getting under my skin. I mean, I was practically a trembling mess when Rourke had barely touched me. Not to mention the way that Finn had made me want to punch and kiss him at the same time. And Liam, with his deliciously fieryeyes.
No, I wasn’t having these thoughts. Not about these fae. It was just some kind of magical allure they carried around with them. That was the only logicalexplanation.
Rourke had begun speaking again while I’d been distracted by my ridiculous reaction to his touch, and I only tuned back into his words in time to add another terror to the increasingly-growing list of things to worry about inOtherworld.
“Those storm clouds were never there before, particularly not during the Summer season, as we are now,” he said with a deep frown. “But they’ve been increasing these years past. Sometimes, the storms are quite violent. We don’t know what’s causing them, but I believe it has something to do with what we did all those years ago. Otherworld was stable, and now it no longeris.”
A pause as I mulled over his words. “Finn told me it was traitorous to question the new rulingsituation.”
“Yes, he would say that.” Rourke sighed. “And truth be told, it’s best you don’t question it, Norah. If Viola got wind of a new recruit being rebellious, she could make life incredibly difficult foryou.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Who’sthat?”
But his answer was cut short when a boom shook through the night. We both turned toward the sound, only to get blinded by lightning that split the sky. As I frowned at the rolling clouds, something dark blurred in the corner of my vision. Something from within the forest. I lifted to my binoculars to my eyes. There, just between the trees, a small creature charged across the forest floor, its clawed hands kicking up bright green leaves. Its slick dark green skin rippled underneath the light of the pale moon, and its veiny, pointed ears flopped against its wrinkledface.
“I see something in the forest,” I said, though the little creature didn’t look all that dangerous. Just...kind of weird. “It’s probably nothing though. You said look out for furry things, and that’s notfurry.”
Rourke held out a hand, palm up. “Let mesee.”
After he held the binoculars to his eyes, he let out a low whistle. “That’s not nothing, Norah. It’s a pooka, and it’s been a long time since one has come anywhere near theAcademy.”
Shivers coursed down my spine. “That doesn’t soundgood.”
“Pookas thrive on mischief and trickery. Sometimes, they’ll transform into horses and carry riders to the nearest stream where they’ll drown and then devourthem.”
I blinked and tried to still the frantic beat of my heart. “Right. So, definitely adanger.”
He gave a nod and dropped the binoculars to the floor of the watch tower. “Interested in some one-on-one training? I can give you an up close demonstration on how to take care of apooka.”
My mouth suddenly went very, very dry. “I thought we were supposed to sound the alarm when we spotted something dangerous outthere.”
