If you hear your name, don’t respond. Turn and walk away in the opposite direction.
Ice-cold dread lines my stomach.
And why’s that?I’d asked sceptically, when Briar told me the dryads did not interfere with the Bandits.
Because we don’t fall for their tricks, she’d replied.
They might not, but I certainly did – and what a cruel trick it was.
Blaze isn’t here.
Disappointment barrels into me, barbed and stinging. To my horror, tears of frustration prickle in response, but I banish them before they can fall.
Sheen scrutinizes my face for a long moment, then relaxes his grip.
I keep my voice light, trying not to wince as I rub my wrists. ‘You know, when I said I enjoyed being manhandled, this is not what I had in mind.’
He makes no reply, only rolls his eyes in disgust. Yet perhaps it’s just my imagination, but his smooth russet skin seems to flush a shade darker.
Slowly, we get to our feet. I clutch the stitch in my side, still panting. Sheen, meanwhile, appears barely out of breath.
‘Where’s Spinner?’ I ask, staring past him into the gloom.
‘She couldn’t keep up.’
My tone is accusatory. ‘So you left her behind?’
‘She can handle herself.’
‘And I can’t?’
Sheen shoots me a particularly withering look. ‘Evidently.’
I grind my teeth together. ‘Let’s go. We’ll find Spinner and head back to the Bandits’ camp. I’d rather risk another axe to the face than stay here with only you for company.’
‘And how d’you propose we do that?’
I gesture at the greenish orbs. ‘We’ll just follow the … thingamajigs.’
‘Will-o’-the-wisps.’
‘That’s what I said. Come on, what’re you waiting for?’
A muscle in Sheen’s jaw pulses. ‘Take a look around, Harglade.’
So I do, and what I see causes my heart to nosedive.
The flickering lights that lit my way are gone. Or rather, they’re now entirely indistinguishable. For they have been joined by countless others – hundreds of them – spreading out in all directions and casting ghostly shadows across the forest floor.
‘Ah,’ I say, grimacing. ‘In that case, you’ll have to flit us out of here. This counts as an emergency, surely?’
Sheen sighs. ‘Fine. Take my hand.’
‘I never knew you cared.’
‘Just shut up and do as I say.’
I shut up and do as he says. His hand is stiff in mine, as cool and smooth as marble. After the red-hot panic of my chase, it feels … soothing. Oddly familiar too – the tight rigidity of his grip, the grooves of his palm, though I can’t explain why.
