I place my hand in his, take the anchor-stone he offers me, then let him escort me into the In-Between.
I’m not fully prepared for the soul-numbing bite of the cold. When we emerge into my world, I’m shaking. I should have made time to drink cabus. This is my third time fissuring in a little over three hours. My body is so not happy with me right now.
My knees buckle, but Aren’s there. His hands are firm on my arms, steadying me while I convince my legs to hold my weight again. Aren’s touch helps chase away some of the cold, especially when his chaos lusters find their way to my skin, sending enticing, tingling pulses of warmth through my body.
“I’m not doing a good job taking care of you,” he says, as Naito and the other fae join us in my world.
“It’s not your job,” I tell him. I’m balanced enough now to step away and take in my surroundings. It’s night here. Or rather, early morning. A full moon is still in the night sky. It’s bright enough to see the individual pebbles beneath my feet. We’re on the western edge of Boulder, on a hiking trail that leads up into the mountains. The trailhead isn’t far away. A parking lot is there. It’s empty. Hopefully, that means we won’t come across any late-night hikers. They should all be asleep in the city below. It’s still and beautiful from this vantage point, each tiny light a pinprick that looks as innocent as a star, not like a piece of tech that can distract a fae and weaken their magic.
Naito seems oblivious to its beauty. He doesn’t give the city so much as a glance as he releases Trev’s arm and brushes past me on the narrow trail. I follow him. The fae follow behind me.
It’s not a bad climb at first. It’s gorgeous here, and the tall grass on either side of the trail seems to soak in the moonlight. The bright, vigorous green darkens when the trail veers left, heading into a copse of pine trees. Even though I know we need to be watching for vigilantes and remnants, it’s difficult not to be captured by the tranquility of the setting. The Realm is exotic and beautiful, but there are so many places in my world that are the same, so many places worth visiting.
I’m not sure how far we have to hike. Aren had to visit a stone-seller to get us to this location. The palace didn’t have one for Boulder in the archives. I guess we’re lucky it brought us to the west side of the city. If it had deposited us on the east side, we’d have a much longer way to go.
“We’re heading up there,” Naito says after a while, pointing up and to the left. Despite the size of the three-storied building, I wouldn’t have noticed it if the lights from Boulder weren’t reflecting off its tall windows. It looks like an old resort, one that probably went bankrupt in the recession a few years back. The green, sloping roof and wooden façade act almost as camouflage, making the building blend in with the deciduous trees surrounding it.
The path beneath my feet steepens. I’m in decent shape, but my legs begin to burn, and the thinning oxygen is making my breaths come in quick, shallow gulps. I concentrate on keeping a steady pace and distract myself by trying to spot the ground squirrels that I keep seeing scurrying through the grass or across one of the big white boulders that we pass. They’re marmots, I think, and even though they look nothing like Sosch, they remind me of the kimki anyway with the way they dart from crag to crag or sit on their haunches, blinking at us with mildly curious expressions.
I keep climbing, letting my sketchbook hang behind me. It knocks against my butt with every step I take until we finally hit more level ground. Nakano’s compound is about half a mile away. The building Naito pointed out from below isn’t the only one here. Two others, both smaller but with the same green roofs, are nestled side by side farther back from the mountain’s edge. Naito’s father chose a beautiful location for his compound. I have to give him that.
When we’re within a few hundred yards of the main building, I grow paranoid about the fae’s chaos lusters. They’re wearing long sleeves beneath their jaedric armor, but their faces and hands are uncovered, and even with the moonlight, the blue lightning looks phosphorescent and bright.
And it’s becoming more erratic the closer we get to the compound. Nakano must be running a ton of tech inside.
We walk along the edge of the tree line for as long as possible then Naito and Aren kneel in the foliage. The lights are off, and there’s no movement inside the building as far as I can see.
I crouch by Aren’s side. “Do you think we beat the remnants here?”
“It’s possible,” he says.
“But unlikely,” Naito adds. “They don’t have a city to defend. They could have fissured out the second Lee and Paige told them about the serum.”
“They would have to find a stone-seller to get here, too, though.”
Naito shrugs. “Their stone-seller might have had an imprinted location even closer than ours.”
I take in a breath, then slowly let it out. The only way we’re going to know for sure is to get in there.
“Will there be an alarm?” I ask, wanting to know just how fast this search of ours is going to have to be.
“I can get us in,” Naito says.
That’s not quite an answer to my question.
Naito straightens, then says to Aren, “You should stay here. My father has made this place unpleasant for fae.”
“We’ll be okay,” Aren says, standing as well.
“No, you won’t be. You’re already feeling the tech. You step inside that building, and you won’t be able to think. He has a low-level electric current flowing through the walls, and the signals he broadcasts—they’re designed to affect fae. The compound will let you walk in, but it might not let you walk out.”
God, he makes the place sound sentient.
“What if the vigilantes haven’t left?” Aren asks. “What if the remnants show up looking for the serum?”
“If the remnants come in, they’ll be just as crippled as you would be,” he says, turning his attention back to the main building. “And if the vigilantes haven’t left, McKenzie and I will take care of them.”
His voice is as cold as the In-Between, and goose bumps break out across my skin. I don’t have to guess what he means by “take care of them.” He fully expects me to kill a vigilante if we come across one.
Aren’s looking at me, watching for a reaction. I don’t give him one. I keep my expression and my voice carefully neutral, and say, “I have my dagger. We’ll be fine.”
“If you want to help us,” Naito says, “check out the residences.” He nods toward the compound’s other two buildings.
Aren doesn’t take his eyes off me. I’d feel more comfortable with him at my back, but I’m trusting Naito on this one. If he thinks going inside that main building is dangerous for the fae, then I don’t want Aren going in. If something happened to him…
Just the possibility causes my throat to tighten up, making it hard to draw in air. Losing him would crush me. There’s no doubt about that.
My fear is mirrored in his eyes.
“We’ll make it through today,” I tell him, and I don’t know if my words are meant to reassure him or to reassure myself.
His jaw tightens, but he focuses on Naito, and says, “You have ten minutes. Then I’m coming in.”