“You’re sure a fae will be waiting?” Lee asks.
“Yes,” I say, praying I’m not lying.
We pass the warehouse. I think this is the right location, but a thin line of trees separates the road from the bank of the river. At the speed we’re driving, I won’t be able to see the blur in the atmosphere. Too bad Sosch isn’t here now. He’d beeline straight for the gate and—
“There’s Aren,” I say, and my heart finally starts to beat easily again. He’s alive and he doesn’t look hurt, thank God. He’s standing on the bank of the river with two other fae. It’s not quite an army, but it might as well be. Kyol is here.
Paige slams on the brake.
Unbuckling my seat belt, I say, “We have to make a run for it. Fast.”
I don’t have to tell them twice. They open their doors the same instant I do, and we’re running, sprinting for the riverbank. I can hear the cops behind us, climbing out of their cars and yelling at us to stop.
I’m certain I can keep ahead of them—I have a little too much experience running for my life—but Paige doesn’t. She loses too much time looking over her shoulder. A particularly quick cop grabs a handful of the back of her shirt.
Ten years ago, I left her at Bedfont House, and she took the blame for our escape attempt. I won’t do the same again.
I stop so quickly the officer on my tail barrels into me. I have the foresight to drop to a crouch, causing him to flip over me. He lands spread-eagle on the ground, and I’m up again, sprinting toward Paige. I ram my shoulder into the cop holding her. Paige is fighting back. She’s able to get loose. I grab her arm and pull her toward the gate.
But we’re surrounded.
“Hands where we can see them,” a female officer yells. All the cops have their batons out.
Light flashes in my peripheral vision. I turn that way, see Aren and Kyol step out of two fissures just outside the cops’ circle. No one looks their direction. They’re invisible to normal humans.
“This way,” Aren says.
I start to tell Paige to run, but she’s apparently already decided to make a move. She leaps toward the small gap between two of the officers. The officers close in, one raising his baton.
Aren bats the baton away when the human swings, causing it to narrowly miss Paige. The second officer’s baton comes close to hitting me, but I duck. Then Paige and I are outside the circle, catching up with Lee, who’s doubled back to help us.
“Go!” I yell at him, but he waits for Paige, steadies her when she trips. Then they’re both running for Trev, who’s waiting at the riverbank.
I’m right on their heels, but an officer is nearly on top of me. I don’t slow down or look back, but there’s a thump when he hits the ground just behind me.
“Faster, McKenzie,” Aren says. There’s no doubt the fae can keep the humans off us. Keeping them off us without them noticing that their efforts are being sabotaged by an invisible force is another question.
But we’re lucky. We make it almost all the way to the bank without another problem from the cops. In fact, we’d probably make it to the gate and disappear from this world without another hiccup if Kyol didn’t appear in front of Paige. She grabs Lee’s arm and skids to a stop.
“They’re rebels!” she says, eyes going wide.
Shit. She knows more than I thought she did if she recognizes the jaedra tree etched into Kyol’s armor.
“I’m with them,” I hiss, shoving her forward.
“What?”
No time for explanations. The river is a good five feet below the bank we’re standing on. “Jump!”
But she’s still backpedaling. Aren grabs her, yells at Trev to open a gated-fissure, then he throws her over the edge. Her scream is cut off by a splash.
Either Lee doesn’t care whose side I’m on, or he’ll go wherever Paige does because he jumps into the river after her without protest.
Trev goes in next. I make a move to follow them, but I’m tackled to the ground, and not just by one person. There have to be at least three cops on top of me.
I slam my elbow back, try to raise my knee to one of their guts, but an officer punches me. Another one slams a baton into my ribs.
My breath whooshes out of my lungs. I manage to keep fighting, to get my arms between my chest and the man pressing his full weight against me. I shove with all my might.
And he flies off me.
I’d love to take credit for that, but Aren is there, knocking off a second cop. The third one still has me, though. I twist, throw my hip into him, and manage to get about half an inch away.
Flopping to my back, I bring my right knee up, prepared to ram my heel into his chin, but fae arms close around me. I’m wrestled away from the human. We roll toward the bank of the river, stop at the edge just long enough for the fae to press an anchor-stone into my palm.
I close my hand around it.
Meet the fae’s eyes.
“Hold on,” Kyol tells me.
I wrap my arms around his waist and tighten my grip on the stone as he rolls us one last time.
We go over the edge. I catch a brief glimpse of Paige splashing in the Thames beside the gated-fissure before Kyol and I fall into the slash of light. The In-Between steals my breath away, but the shock of the cold, empty nothingness is muted beneath another shock.
The British officers never once saw the fae because they’re invisible to normal humans. They’re invisible to normal humans, but Paige knew they were rebels.
Paige saw the emblem carved into Kyol’s jaedric armor.
Paige saw them.
Paige has the Sight.
SEVENTEEN
KYOL AND I roll into the Realm. Into Corrist. I hear a shout go up from the wall, an alarm being raised, but the fact that we’re both still breathing tells me we’ve fissured into a safe zone. Even if we hadn’t, Kyol is on top of me. His arms are braced on either side of my body, caging me beneath him. They’d have to kill him before having a chance of harming me.
Kyol doesn’t move immediately. Neither do I, mostly because the right side of my rib cage is killing me, but also because I can’t with him positioned above me. He stares down, and his silver eyes look bright framed by his dark hair. He’s looking into my eyes, which is totally understandable considering my face is right under his, but then—just for the briefest second—his gaze dips to my mouth.
Suddenly, I’m completely aware of our position, of the way the length of his body presses against mine. My right arm is around his waist. My left grips the tight muscles in his forearm and it’s as if my thoughts trigger my edarratae. Lightning licks its way into my palm, up my arm and shoulder, and I feel my face blush with heat. I break contact immediately, but Kyol still doesn’t move. He focuses on my eyes again, and doubt surges through me. Not doubt about Aren or the way I feel about him, but doubt about the way Kyol feels about me. I don’t know if he told me the truth when he said he was okay with our breakup.
A throat clears to my left. “I can take her now.”
Aren’s voice breaks through whatever’s holding Kyol frozen. He rises off me, acknowledges Aren with a nod, and steps back.
Aren crouches beside me. A frown creases his forehead as I slowly sit up. At first, I think he’s searching for a reaction, trying to pick up my feelings toward Kyol. I know it still bothers Aren, my ten-year pseudo-relationship with him. I haven’t been able to convince Aren that I would have left Kyol even if I didn’t have Aren. I left Kyol because I wasn’t myself when I was with him. I was careful with my thoughts, my words, and my actions. I tried to become someone I wasn’t all because I wanted to be worthy of him.