CHAPTER FORTY-THREE（Untitled）Grace

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

Grace

"What's this deathsleep stuff?" I ask.

"It's a vile concoction used only by cowards," Aurora says.

"Translation, she means the sluagh," Ashley adds from the unicorn's other side.

Aurora stomps the ground. "The ogres have used it against us as well."

"You're right." Ashley ties off another bird.

"That's great and all." No, it wasn't. It didn't tell me anything that I most needed to know, and impatience rang in my voice, no matter how much I tried to soften the words. "But what did it do to Drake? Why did Branikk yell to beware?"

"It's an herb that knocks out all fae except the sluagh for a hundred years."

"Filthy cowards," Aurora mutters.

"We have an antidote now, so it's not the hundred-years thing anymore, but if they knock out everyone…" Ashley's worried gaze flicks to the downed dragon. "Drake's scales will protect him for a while, but the rest of us will be vulnerable."

"Vulnerable?" Aurora says, her voice dry. "The rest of us will be eaten by the soul suckers."

I bag another bird, freeing that cu sith to rejoin the fight. And it's a lot more of a fight now that Branikk and Dravarr aren't shooting the net guns anymore. Why'd they stop? What could be more important? I squint their way as I tie the bird to the unicorn's saddle, moving on autopilot, now that I've done this task so many times.

Branikk shoots an arrow, and it arcs overhead, exploding one of the orange smoke bombs high in the air. Oh, so that's what they're doing. Yeah, that tracks as the most important thing to do.

Then I have an idea. "Can we take the antidote ahead of time, like a preventative thing?"

"I don't know." Ashley shakes her head. "Magic doesn't really follow logic."

"Tell me about it." I snort. "My power's the definition of ‘unpredictable.'"

"We also don't have enough of the antidote to waste even a single dose. The herb used to make it is really slow growing."

"Well, crap." There goes that idea. I hate this. I hate not having a plan, a way to fix things. A way to keep everyone safe. If something happens to all of us, the puppies will be in danger.

If something happens to all of us, then Branikk…

My heart cracks wide open, the last of its defenses falling away. Oh, god. I can't finally find someone to love, only to lose him! In the past, I protected myself by not allowing myself to love. But I do love. I love him so much. And what's really going to hurt is losing him to some stupid soul-sucking assholes before I get a chance to tell him, to find out if he could ever feel the same way.

No. I shake my head, refusing to go there. We will defeat the soul stealers. Nothing else is an option.

Branikk shoots another gourd high in the sky, and I grin to see the orange cloud break apart up where it can't hurt anyone. See! He's amazing. He's already countering the sluagh's new type of attack. We've got this.

Then pain jabs into the back of my neck, and I gasp.

I whirl in time to see the black bird that stabbed me fly back to a spot right inside the trees. Aurora, Ashley, and I stand near the end of the clearing, facing the open space, where we all expected the sluagh to attack.

But one's snuck in through the forest. More and more birds join it, flying from all directions from inside the woods. That's hella sneaky. And this sluagh feels horribly familiar.

The birds swirl down into the black-robed creature, its eyes blazing fire and malice. Yep. It's the sluagh from the first day.

"There you are." An evil smile bares blood-red, triangular teeth. It licks its lips. "Just as sweet as ever. I will enjoy feasting upon your soul."