Page 103 of The Fox Heir

The boulder fae knocks into a tree as it passes. The pine comes crashing down, pinning another fae beneath its branches. Its scream is cut short as more creatures climb right over the tree trunk, pushing it deeper into the mud.

“Get down!” Hunter tells me as he drags me into a crevasse made by two trees held up by a pile of tumbled rocks.

Instinctively, I reach into my core. My power comes easily as I call it forward, then push it out from my body in a protective circle. It folds around us in a glimmer of light, where we crouch beneath the toppled trees.

We listen to the thundering hooves and scratching feet as what must be hundreds of animals leap and crawl over our hiding spot. A weasel-like creature with a human face scrambles up to us. It cowers in front of our shield until another bear lumbers past, then it scurries away after it.

Slowly, the rumbling stops and the sound of the stampede fades into the distance. Until all I hear is our ragged breath. I release my power with a gasp. It eases back into its hiding place, deep in my sternum. Relief makes me feel lightheaded.

Hunter crawls out first, slow and cautious. I follow him, my hands and knees sinking into the slick mud left in the wake of the stampede. All around us, the forest is a path of destruction. It looks like a storm tore the forest to shreds. Trees are overturned and branches are crushed to pulp. Here and there, the remnants of creatures that were too slow or too small are scattered throughout the wide path. I turn away, not wanting to look too closely.

“Red!” Tristan comes running through the trees. When he spots us, relief washes over his face.

“We’re alright!” I call back.

He runs up to us as Hunter turns slowly in place, taking in the scale of the destruction. Tristan grabs my shoulders, pulling me into his chest. I breathe in the cedar and salt smell of him, and I feel my heart rate slow.

“Why are they running?” I ask as the truth dawns on me like a wave of icy water.

Tristan releases me, his face grave. “They’re coming.”

The Llwyn army. My father.

Hunter shakes his head slowly, his face etched in disbelief. “What were those things!?” His voice is tinged with panic. There’s a long gash in his hand, but he seems oblivious to the blood as it drips down his fingers.

I wonder if the shock has rattled him somehow. “Hunter, they were animals. A stampede.”

“No.” He shakes his head. “Not the deer and the … the bear … the things!” He gestures with his hands. “The creatures with spiny tails and human faces!”

“You could see them?” I ask, dumbfounded.

“What do you mean?” Hunter looks at me incredulously. “Of course, I can see them! They nearly trampled us to death.”

“But Nalina told me most people can’t see fae.” I look to Tristan.

“They can’t,” he says flatly.

“Well, I saw them.” Hunter stares in the direction the stampede fled, his expression laced with both wonder and fear.

I gesture to the Wolf. “The only other person I know who can see fae is Tristan.”

The Wolf shakes his head once. “No, I can’t.”

“W—what?” I stutter, confused. “But you told me you saw Moribund. With your sister …”

“I said Moribund killed Isadora in front of me. I saw her murder. I did not see her killer.”

I shake my head. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

His lips draw into a firm line. “In Annwyn, we coexist with the fae, but we cannot see them. We hear them. We sense them. We even make ill-advised deals with them on occasion.”

Goosebumps erupt across my skin. “Why do some people have the ability and others don’t?”

Tristan watches me intently. “It’s not that some people can. It’s that no one can. They’re invisible to the human eye.”

I blink, stunned. My eyes drift to Hunter. “No. Hunter can. I can. Clearly, some people can. Nalina said so.”

He turns to look at Hunter, who stands still as death. A drop of blood falls from the tip of his thumb into the muddy slush at his feet.