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Austri tucked the coat under his arm. “Ready and go easy. I don’ need to end up on the cliffs.”

Revel knelt down on one knee and held out a hand. Austri placed his thick boot on his palm, and like a stone from a catapult, Austri arced through the air. Madigan laughed as Austri’s stumpy arms and legs helicoptered as if he was trying to stay airborne. He landed with a painful thud in the middle of some lush grass. He groaned as he got up to his feet. “I said a bloody boost. Shit.” He rubbed his backside. Revel took a moment to lean down to the river and splash cold water to wash the blood off his face.

Madigan took off without any fanfare, and, as if she had wings on her shoes, flew in a big arc over the water, landing on the other side with the airy grace of a feather floating to the ground.

Revel returned to me with an expectant brow raise.

“You can’t tell me we’re jumping across,” I said.

“We could try, but if you shifted at all in the air, we’d probably land somewhere right in the middle of that icy river. I’ll carry you across on my back.”

A dry, nervous laugh shot from my mouth. “Nope, nope, not happening.” I waved to my friends. “It was nice meeting ya all, but I’m just going to head back to my very dull human life.” I picked up my purse, but before I could take one step, Lyric landed back at my side.

Her green eyes were filled with worry. “You can’t go, Rafi. Don’t you see? You’re not safe here anymore. That attack yesterday … and today? They know you’re here now. You can’t stay in the human world. You need to be with us so we can protect you.”

“Who knows I’m here? I don’t understand.”

Lyric hugged me. “You’ll know everything soon.” She leaned back and took hold of my hand. “Trust us. Trust him.” She motioned her head toward Revel.

“We need to get going,” Austri called from across the river. He was still rubbing his bottom.

“All right.” My stomach instantly filled with fluttery nerves. “How are we doing this?”

“Hop on my back,” Revel said. “We need to go now.”

I hesitated again.

“You aren’t going to lose your virginity pushing your tits against my back, Whisper. I promise.”

I blew out an exasperated breath. “I’m not stupid, and maybe I’m not a virgin.”

“If you weren’t, then they’d already have killed you and been done with it,” he said darkly. “I either carry you across or give you a boost like I gave Austri.”

“Hold on, hold on.” I looked at Lyric for back up, but she was pretending to be interested in another dandelion. “You can’t just say something like that and not follow up with more information. That’s like a news anchor yelling ‘Breaking news! Breaking news!’ and then just sitting and staring into the camera with nothing more to add.”

Madigan seemed to take pity on me even if my bestie had fallen unusually quiet. “There’s a reason you’ve never been interested sexually in any human. You’re not human.”

“Yes, so I’ve been told. But who would have killed me? And why would they”—I held up air quotes—“be done with it?”

“You’ll learn more later, Rafi,” Madigan said. She gave an imploring look to Lyric, who finally felt ashamed enough to toss away the dandelion and join us.

Lyric took hold of each of my hands. “You just have to trust us, Rafi. Please. Let Revel take you across the river.”

“I’ll want a full explanation soon,” I said.

Lyric nodded. “You’ll have one.”

I stared down at my semi-long straight skirt. It was going to be like riding the world’s biggest horse. I put my purse on my shoulder and yanked up the hem of the skirt to the tops of my thighs.

Revel stared at my legs. “Hellsfire, Willow, what else are you hiding under that frump costume?”

I looked at Lyric with a wry head tilt. “Again, right, I’m the one who looks ready for a costume party.”

Lyric laughed. “It’s not her frump costume. It’s her invisibility cloak.”

“Lyric,” I said with a tight throat. “You really were listening.”

“Of course. Every word.”