Chapter Eight

In Which Three Days Feels like Three Years

Three days.

It should be nothing, but it suddenly seems like an eternity to wait. Maybe it was a joke. Just a piece of junk play coin she happened to have on her. It’s going to turn out she was just some random girl passing through, and then I’m going to…what?

What will I do if she doesn’t come back?

Stop thinking about her? Quit looking for her at the door every time someone walks in? Not dreaming about the noises she made when I was inside her?

I take all the extra shifts I can, just to keep busy, but of course, the rain keeps everyone away. Tuesday slowly turns into Wednesday. I take Zach's shift on top of my own Wednesday just to kill some time. The night is a little busier but not much. Randy leaves me alone with the club at nine.

“Text me if you need anything,” he says as he heads out the front door. All the seats at the bar are taken, but hardly anyone is here to see the dancers, which means it will be a long slow night. The bar guys come to chat, not to spend money, and will probably nurse a few beers each between them. I wipe down the counter for the millionth time, check my watch, then wipe it again. How I make it to two a.m. is beyond me.

Zane finds me at the end of the night, just as I’m about to put the night’s deposit in the safe. “Hey, do you still have Dad’s hunting rifle? We’re going hunting tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow? Don’t you have school?”

“It’s Spring Break.”

I run a hand over my face. My brain is fried. I should know that. He’s only told me two million times. “Yeah, come on. I’ll pull it out of the safe for you.”

We lock up, and then Zane follows me out back down the path through the brush. He doesn’t follow me in. Something seems to catch his eye, and he wanders off to the corner of the yard as I head back to my bedroom to the gun safe I keep under my bed .

I pull the rifle out of the safe and go back outside to look for Zane. It takes me a minute to find him in the dark. Way in the back corner of my clearing, I spot him squatting, his back to me.

“Zane, I found the–”

“Shhh,” he waves a hand in my direction without looking my way. “Come over here,” he hisses. “Look.”

I lay the rifle on the porch and walk to him. He’s squatting next to a patch of weird-looking mushrooms.

“I was going to kick them, so the cats wouldn’t eat them, but I couldn’t get close to them.” His voice is barely above a whisper.

I scoot closer to him. Six brightly colored mushrooms are spread out over about six feet of land. “What do you mean you can’t get close to them?”

Zane reaches out a hand to the closest mushroom, but his hand stops just inches away. “There’s something there–some kind of force field.”

“A force field? You’ve been watching too many alien movies.”

He rolls his eyes. “You’re the one with a cat named Chewpawca. ”

I reach out to touch the mushroom only to have my hand stopped by some invisible force just a few inches from the mushroom. I push harder against it, but there’s no budging it, whatever it is.

“How high does it extend?”

Zane shakes his head. “I dunno, bruh. I haven’t even checked.”

I stand up and find my hand sliding up the invisible barrier that seems to extend far beyond my own reach.

“Do you think that could be them ?”

“ Them ?” My brain can’t process it. Darla had said fae, but I imagined—actually, I don’t know what I imagined.

I kneel on the ground and try to get a good look at the mushrooms. It’s almost as if a haze is over them, but for a moment, I could swear I see doors and windows on each mushroom. God, I’m losing it.

Zane watches as I stand up and brush off my hand. His eyes search my face. “So, what are you going to do?”

I stare at the mushrooms, hoping for signs of life. Nollaig said three days. Maybe more are coming.

Maybe I’ll wake up in three days and find myself surrounded by mushrooms.

Maybe Darla set this up to teach me a lesson about messing around with the fae.

Maybe I’m crazy and losing my mind.

“I’m going to stand watch.”

Zane says nothing for a long moment. “You want company? I can skip the hunting trip.”

I shake my head. “Thanks, man, but I’ve got to do this on my own.”

He nods. “Call me if you change your mind. I can come back early.”

His words surprise me. I don’t give him enough credit. “Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.”

I end up laying out a sleeping bag next to the mushrooms. The night air is chilly, but I find that in partial shift I’m not as cold. It’s peaceful, and for the most part quiet, despite my proximity to the Wild Hare. At some point, I must fall asleep, because I wake up to Frigg’s body pressed against my back. Porshetta and Chad are spread out in a semicircle above my head. A soft snore comes from Frigg, so I try not to move.

I have no idea how much they understand, but they helped Zach’s mate, Red, when the trailer she was in got broken into, and they probably feel like they’re helping now, too. I close my eyes and let the sound of Frigg’s snore lull me back to sleep.