Page 54 of Into The Green

It flickered almost blindingly bright for a moment, flying suddenly over top a small cottage like its own personal little moon. With a little distance between me and the light, the glee, the childish happiness, slowly started to slip away, leaving nothing in its wake but dread. Again. I was tricked by a fae... again.

Christ, when Jasper found out about it, I would never live it down.

I turned, moving back a few steps, expecting to see him and Doyle. It felt like I'd only gone a couple yards. But they were nowhere in sight. My heart started to pick up speed, feeling like it was dead set on breaking free from the confines of my ribcage. I spun in a circle, not even sure what direction I had come from. And in woods that dark, if I took off running blindly, who the hell knew where I might have ended up. Into the Dark realm alone. Or, worse yet, back onto Winters land.

In front of me, the cottage was nestled back against a line of trees. The front yard had a soft-looking covering of moss. The flowerbeds and window boxes were overflowing with greens. They looked like herbs. Maybe it was the house of the healer that Doyle had gone to. If that was the case, maybe I didn't have anything to worry about. It was a normal cottage, small and brown with aged shingles. The roof was living, a beautiful cascade of greens and flowers.

And right in the center of the large front window, a single candle was flickering.

Welcoming.

Did I really have any other choice? If I stayed still, who knew what could happen along. Another faun, the twinkling light thing that seemed like it may have wanted to kill me some way. If I tried to go back, I could get even more lost.

Maybe I could play the changeling card again, act stupid. It almost worked on Jasper's family.

I took a deep, steadying breath, dropping a shield over my thoughts and slowly building my fireworks shield around my body. I wasn't quite so helpless anymore. So long as the fae couldn't like do that luring magic thing, I would probably be okay. My confidence slipped with every step I took. I climbed up the crumbling penny brick steps and raised my hand, forcing myself to knock quickly three times.

I counted to twenty.

Hearing nothing, and almost relieved at that, I turned and started to walk away.

But then the door opened.

--

Jasper

"Wake up," Doyle shouted, kicking my feet hard, making me jolt awake. His tone was nearly hysterical. Doyle was never hysterical.

"What? What's wrong?" I asked, squinting at the painful morning sun. How the fuck long had I been sleeping?

"She's gone," Doyle said, pacing, running a hand through his hair. "Cece is gone."

The words hit me, the sensation like taking a fucking Semi truck to the torso. I shot up to my feet, looking around as if it was possible that Doyle had just overlooked her somewhere.

"She was here around midnight. I heard her crying in her sleep. It woke me up."

"Why didn't she come over to me?" I asked, straightening fully, feeling the cuts on my back pulling painfully, straining against the motion, trying to heal.

"I told her to. She was being stubborn I guess. I figured she would calm down and do it anyway so I went back to sleep."

"It's not your fault," I said, my voice firm. It was my own fucking fault. If I hadn't been such a dick to her the whole day before, she wouldn't have even hesitated. She would have been cuddled into my side, pretending like she wasn't thinking about the night before when I'd had my fingers in her sweet pussy. She'd have failed and shit would have happened again. That was exactly why I had been being a fuck to her. We couldn't have that complication on top of everything fucking else we had going on. Did I want her? Fuck yeah. Did she want me too? There wasn't even a shadow of a doubt about that.

But that being said, we were in the goddamn Green where she was apparently catnip to every malicious fae around. We were on the run from my parents. Doyle was losing control of his urges with each passing day. We had to go into the Dark realm to find Jade.

It was the worst time imaginable to give into an attraction. We both needed to keep sharp, to focus on what was at our heels and awaiting us ahead. We couldn't afford to be sneaking off behind trees for a quick fuck or being lost in thought about doing one of those things and walking into a shitty situation.

It was better for the both of us to push her away.

As much as I hated that.

"Jasp..." Doyle said, tone low and worried.

"What?"

"It had to have been a Will-o'-the-Wisp..."

I closed my eyes, trying to think of any other explanation. Anything that didn't involve a spellbinding light that led helpless humans and fae into danger and often, death.