The Faerie Guardian

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen

I’m Underground. I’m pretty sure of it. I have that same uneasy feeling I got when Nate and I found ourselves in the labyrinth. There’s also the fact that I’m standing in a tunnel.

I don’t like tunnels.

I write a doorway onto the wall. It works. Good, at least I’ll be able to get out of here once I’ve learned something useful. I brush my hand against the sandy surface of the wall and take a few hesitant steps forward. Torches are set into the wall at regular intervals, their flickering green flames casting eerie shadows throughout the tunnel. Everything is dry, but it smells oddly like wet earth after a summer rain. It’s a smell I find comforting; all the more reason not to trust it.

A piercing screech. Wings flapping. I duck, covering my head with an invisible shield. I start drawing power, getting ready to defend myself, but the creature is gone.

Silence.

I stand and continue forward, faster now. I need to find that girl.

I find the room first. The entrance to it is narrow, blocked by an ornate but rusted gate. It doesn’t appear to be locked. I peer inside, hoping to see something other than hundreds of hanging vines. I hear the occasional chirp and hiss of animal sounds, but nothing more. I try to connect to the girl to see if she’s still in here, but without the tattoo to touch it doesn’t work.

Carefully, I slide the bolt of the gate back. It barely makes a sound. I push the gate, cringing as I wait for the whine of rusted metal. It doesn’t come. I enter the room. The smell of wet earth is stronger in here. The ground beneath my feet is soft and mossy. I turn to shut the gate behind me, but abruptly, as though torn from my hands, it slams itself shut with a resounding clang.

Crap. That can’t be good.

“Who’s there?”

I freeze. The vines rustle as someone moves toward the gate. Hide. Now. I slip silently between the vines. Looking back, I can see her now. She’s young, younger than me, perhaps, and beautiful. The kind of beautiful men would lay down their lives for. Her hair is one color—she’s not a faerie—but I can feel power emanating from her. She turns away from the gate and looks around, her eyebrows drawing together. She moves slowly through the vines, pushing them back, searching.

We both jump as the gate clangs again. The girl whirls around. “Oh, it’s just you, darling.” She laughs. The sound is captivating. “Here I was getting anxious for nothing.” Someone walks toward her. Male. Tall. I can’t make out much else between the vines. She loops her gloved arms around his neck and pulls his head down toward hers. That’s when I see his face.

Ryn.

A whoosh of air escapes my lungs as though someone just landed a punch to my stomach. What? WHAT?

After pressing her lips to his, she steps away from him. “How did it go at the Guild?”

“Not good,” he says. “They wouldn’t let me in.”

“They? There was only one, wasn’t there?”

“You know that’s not true. They have guards hiding all over the place.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter.” She waves a hand dismissively. “My boss has his answer now, so I don’t need you to go snooping around anymore.”

Snooping around?

“He has his answer? Already?”

She nods, looking smug. “It appears my spell proved useful after all.” She lets out a contented sigh and tilts her head to the side. “What a handsome face you have.” She runs a finger slowly down his cheek. “Beautiful eyes, and lips just begging to be kissed.” She stands on tiptoe, and I notice heeled boots beneath the many layers of her black skirt. She playfully grabs Ryn’s lower lip between her teeth, then kisses him again. She presses her whole body against him, weaving her fingers through his hair. He spreads his hands across her back and pulls her even closer.