The guard, who never once told us his name, picks up his flashlight and helmet, popping it back onto his head and looking like any other guard.
“Wait,” I call out when he moves. “Where is my uncle? I’m not leaving here without him.”
“There are a few male prisoners down this way and one reaper. Doubt he will make it long, he isn’t in good shape.”
With that unsettling news, the guard walks away, and I hear Poppy whisper thank you before she rushes over to me. “Lie down.”
“I’m usually the bossy one in our friendship,” I try to joke, and it makes Poppy grin as I lie down, every bit of movement hurting me. I lift my top up to my ribs, and Poppy pulls out a wet gooey liquid and rubs it across my cut. I expect it to sting, but instantly I feel nothing at all. It numbs me to the point I can’t feel the cut.
“Does it help?”
“Yep,” I reply, sitting up with much more ease. I feel a little dizzy, but hell, I’m ready to fight my way out of here.
Laelia picks up the daggers, and Poppy holds her hand out. “Daesyn and I will have those.”
My badass Poppy. I’m literally so proud.
Laelia grumbles, but she hands them to Poppy, and she offers me one. “Fighting with our hands tied to escape a Seelie fae castle. This is a new kind of test.”
“There has been more than one situation where I’ve needed to fight with my hands tied. This is just back to old times for me,” I reply, and Poppy rolls her eyes. “Now pop the door open. We need to get my uncle and get the hell out of here.”
Chapter 4
Breaking out of a lunatic’s home reminds me of my teenage years as a thief, but this time, I think I’m the prize I’m stealing from right under his feet instead of priceless jewels or money. Poppy and Laelia are right behind me as I jog down the corridor, searching the empty cells and a few cells that have skeletons in them.
And a bad smell.
The movies never tell you about that part. But dead things smell like shit.
Eventually, I pass a cell with someone in and come to a halt, looking closer. The man picks himself up off the floor and limps over, his long black hair so knotted and long it’s hard to make out many features. He is tall but nimble, and I spot purple eyes under the locks of hair and dirt. But I sense that he is Unseelie. “Want to get out of here?”
“Yes,” he croakily replies. Alright then. I shove the key in the lock, and it snaps open.
“Where is the reaper prisoner?” I demand, spinning my dagger in my hand.
The man bows his head at me. “I will show you.”
I step back as he passes me, limping his way down the corridor. We pass a few more men, who barely even look our way, or they are dead, before he stops. I look in, and my heart nearly drops in my chest when I see my uncle on the ground, blood pooling around him and his face beaten in. Rushing, I undo the gate and run in, falling to my knees at his side and touching my fingers to his neck. When I feel a pulse, I sigh and look back at Laelia and Poppy and the new dude.
“Can one of you help me carry him?”
“I will do this for you,” the new dude answers as he limps into the room. With strength he didn’t look like he had, he gently picks my uncle up over his shoulder and nods to me when he straightens up. “I am in your debt and at your service. Allow me to carry your friend from this place.”
“Keep close and we will defend you,” I reply, not touching on the whole “in your debt” thing. If I remember right, some fae take oaths like that really seriously.
“We should go,” Poppy states. “Come on, I will take the back, and you go in front of them both, Dae.”
“Got it.” I make my way out of the cell, clutching my dagger tightly in my hand as we all walk towards the door. There are no guards on this side as I sneak out the door and to the stairs. Every step echoes as we head towards the top, and I place my hand up when I hear voices.
Two shadows of guards step into the staircase, and before they even look down, I grab one of them by the helmet and pull him over the bannister. He screams as he falls, and I jump onto the next guard, slamming my dagger into his neck as we both land.
“There goes our element of surprise,” I say, roughly pulling the dagger from the guard’s neck and checking him for more weapons. He only has a sword, a heavy one at that, and I leave it on him, sneaking to the door. I pop my head out, searching the empty room where my blood and my uncle’s mark the floor, and the chair I sat on is nothing but ash. “Let’s go.”
I run across the room to the double doors and slowly pull one open, looking in at another much wider corridor. This one has shiny blue tile floors with gold lines making squares, and the walls are all white, making it bright. I count five doors and one staircase at the bottom of the corridor, with what looks like a servant’s hidden door next to it. I slip out the door, holding it for the others to come out before softly letting it shut. We all jog down the corridor, and just as we get to the stairs, a metal arrow flies past my head and imbeds itself in the wall.
“That was rude,” I chuckle, spinning around. Three guards stand in a line, each with a loaded bow and arrow.
“Don’t move,” one of them shouts.
I smile. Lowering my voice, I glance at Laelia. “Get to the blue boat with my uncle. Poppy and I will meet you there.”
“We’ve got this,” Poppy whispers, very slowly moving to my side. “How do you want to play this, Dae?”
“I’m going to run right at them. Just follow by the walls,” I reply, and then I run. Immediately they aim their arrows at me and fire, like total idiots. I watch the arrows closely and duck to my knees, missing the first two. The third is a second later, and I roll to the right, missing it altogether. The guards are still fumbling with the next arrows when I am right in front of them. I crash into them hard, knocking two of them to the ground and slamming my dagger into one of their arms. One of the guards punches me in the stomach with an impressive hit, sending me rolling across the floor off him in pain. He jumps on my back, wrapping his hands around my throat and pushing magic into me. Shadows drag in all around me, skirting their way across the floor as I buck under him, trying to push him off me.
I hear Poppy grunting and the crashing sound of metal in the distance just as I lift my leg and flip the guard off my back. I roll with the flip and punch him in his neck, making his magic disappear in shock and him gasp for air. I reach over, picking up a fallen arrow, and wrap my hands around it before slamming it into his chest with both my hands. Hot blood splatters my clothes before I stand up and turn around. Poppy has knocked out one of the guards, her cheek is cut and bleeding, but as she climbs to her feet, she looks steady. The other guard that I stabbed in the arm isn’t here, and that is concerning.
“He is going to raise the alarm. Run!” I shout at Poppy. We both hightail it down the corridor towards the door, just as a ship crashes into the side of the building. All I see is a silver fairy with large wings slamming through the brick before I dive out of the way. Poppy slams into my back, both of us rolling into the wall, and I look up to see Seb holding the ship wheel. Laelia is right behind him, and he looks down.
“Get the fuck on. We have a minute to get out of here,” Seb shouts. Despite everything, I drag Poppy to her feet and run to the side of the boat where three ropes lie hanging. I grab one, and Poppy gets the other as Seb pulls the ship out of the castle slowly. Alarm bells, an awful screeching noise, fill the air as I get to the top and over the edge. I stand up and help Poppy over, right before we both collapse on the edge of the ship wall.