33. Lorraine

Chapter Thirty-Three

Lorraine

O scar’s laughter filled the air around me when Ash disappeared into his tree, and I spun around. Oscar was nowhere to be seen, and his menacing laughter sounded like it came from everywhere at once. I was alone now. Ash wouldn’t help me. My mind spun, but panic and fear made it hard to think straight. He kept telling me he didn’t know who I was. I knew he was mad at me, but pretending he didn’t know me was a new low—it was immature, ridiculous. I couldn’t think about that right now. I had to save myself if Ash wouldn’t, and I had no idea how to do that. Rowan. He was Ash’s friend; maybe he could help me. I wished I could reach out to a god or a goddess, but the only goddess I knew was Philippa, the goddess of friendship. I had no idea what she’d be able to do to help me. She’d introduced me to Artemis, but I didn’t know that goddess well enough to find her and turn to her for help. I didn’t even know how to find the goddesses in the first place. Instead, I started running through the trees again, calling Rowan’s name like I’d called Ash’s before. I couldn’t find him through any kind of bond, of course, and I didn’t know where his tree was. I just ran through the trees, heading toward the lake Ash had mentioned they all spent time at together, hoping to run into him. “Rowan!” I shouted as I ran. “Rowan!”

“What the hell is wrong with you?” a voice said next to me, and I jumped with fright. I stumbled and fell, catching myself on my hands. Rowan stood next to me, his white hair strange against his greenish skin. In a flash, he slipped into a human form as if his other form had never existed, and I blinked, wondering if I’d seen it at all. “What are you doing, running around screaming like that?”

You’ll wake up the whole forest.”

I sat back on my heels and studied my raw hands after the fall. When I decided it wasn’t too bad, I rubbed my palms on my jeans. “I’m in trouble,” I said to Rowan. He held out a hand, and I took it, letting him pull me to my feet. “What kind of trouble?”

I looked over my shoulder. “A madman is after me, and Ash doesn’t know who I am.”

“What?” Rowan asked. I was on the verge of crying again. I’d done a lot of that lately, and I was sick of it, but I couldn’t stop myself. “I don’t think he knows who I am. I mean, I thought he might have been pretending because we fought, but he refuses to help me, and I really think he has no idea who I am.”

Rowan shook his head. “He did it, didn’t he? That son of a bitch.” Rowan scowled, looking through the trees. “What?” I asked. “What did he do?”

Rowan opened his mouth to answer, but before he could, a man appeared in front of us. He wore black clothes, and when he smiled, it was a flat, broad smile that twisted his face into something ugly. “Dolus?” I asked, putting two and two together immediately. “What the hell?” Rowan said. The man laughed at me. “So, you know who I am.”

“Unfortunately,” I snapped. “What did you do to Ash?” Rowan asked Dolus. He wasn’t nearly as demanding as I was. Instead, he spoke with a sort of reverie that bordered on fear. Dolus looked scary, but hell, everyone around here looked scary to me. “I gave him exactly what he asked for,” Dolus said. “A new beginning.”

“A what?” I asked, confused. “You said you were going to take him away completely,” Rowan challenged, his respect still there. “I never said that,” Dolus said. “I specifically told him I wouldn’t let him know where he would end up.”

Rowan clenched his jaw. “You had him stay right here?”

“I just took away what bothered him.”

Rowan cursed under his breath. I stared at Dolus and then at Rowan, not understanding what was going on. I had no idea what to make of it. “You gave Oscar magic,” I accused. “He what?” Rowan asked. “Oh, that,” Dolus said with a nonchalant shrug. “Yeah, he seemed desperate, and who am I if I’m not there to help?”

“What did you take away from him in return?” Rowan demanded. “How did you deceive him?”

Dolus shook his head, his smile still in place, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “I’m getting really tired of everyone making it sound like it’s a crime just to be who I am. I don’t hide who I am; you all are the ones trusting when it’s a bad idea.”

Rowan thought about it before he nodded. “Fine,” he said. Dolus laughed, and the sound skipped around us. It was horrible. I fought the urge to run my hands over my arms to wipe away the sensation of darkness that clung to me like tar. Dolus shrugged. “You should be happy I let you know what’s going on at all. I could have left you to figure it out for yourself.”

“Yeah,” Rowan said. “You’re right. Thanks.” I wasn’t sure if the thanks was sarcastic. Dolus bowed his head, and in a flash, he was gone again. “What just happened?” I asked. “That was Dolus, the god of deceit.”

“He’s a god?” I asked, shocked. “I thought you knew that,” Rowan said with a frown. “You knew who he was.”

“I heard of him. I put two and two together when I saw him, but I had no idea who he was. Oscar mentioned him.”

“Oscar, the boyfriend who’s out to get you,” Rowan said, putting the picture together for himself. “Ex-boyfriend,” I corrected. “And yeah. He’s out there somewhere, and Dolus gave him magic.”

He wants me back, and he’ll do whatever it takes to get me back. Now that he has magic, whatever it takes is a lot more terrifying than what he did to me before, and that was already bad enough. Ash won’t help me—he says it’s bad to get involved in human business.”

“He’s not wrong. We’re not supposed to do that,” Rowan said. “Yeah, well maybe he should have thought about that before he locked me up here in the vale through the bond I hadn’t known about,” I said with a scowl. “Maybe he should have thought about that before saving me the first time. He didn’t know me then, either. Why did he help me then, but he won’t help me now?”

“I don’t know,” Rowan admitted. “What I do know is that Ash isn’t Ash anymore if he doesn’t know who you are. I thought he might have at least said goodbye…” The last words were more Rowan thinking out loud than they were aimed at me. I shook my head. “Well, whatever it is, I’m in deep shit now because I don’t have anyone who can look after me, and I don’t have magic to fight Oscar myself.” I looked around, wondering where he was. “Let me talk to Ash,” Rowan offered. Laughter sounded around us again, and a new wave of terror clutched at my throat. When I looked up at Rowan, the look on his face suggested he’d heard it, too. “That’s him,” I said. Anger welled up to replace the fear. Fuck Ash and what he’d done to me, and what he’d done without telling me. “Don’t bother talking to Ash,” I said hotly. “I don’t want anything to do with him.”

“What are you going to do then?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “But I’ve been in trouble without Ash before, so I guess I’ll just have to figure out how to escape again.”

Rowan wanted to say something, but I was too upset to listen. I turned around and headed back into the trees. I had no idea what I was going to do, but I would have to face Oscar alone, so I guess that was what was going to happen.