“I do,” I said, quickly. “I’ll be there.”
“Good. Don’t get caught.”
• • •
Night and day were questionable concepts in Blind Michael’s sunless lands. I wound up hiding in the trees nearby until a rickety phaeton pulled up outside the house, the horses pawing at the ground and snorting. The driver dismounted and went up to Luna’s door, and I turned, beginning to move through the trees toward her father’s bonfire.
She still beat me there, horses lending speed to her journey that I didn’t have, but the door was locked when I arrived. I glanced through the trees. Luna was by the fire, smiling coyly at her father as he laughed. Playing the demure lady, then, father’s pet and best beloved of the firelight. It was a role I knew, if not one I had any skill for playing.
I retreated to lurk near the stables, waiting until Luna broke free and hurried around the corner, a heavy keyring in her hands. I stepped out of the shadows. She didn’t flinch or jump, just glared at me as she moved to unlock the door. “Last time,” she hissed.
I nodded my understanding and, as she eased the door open, stepped up to fill the gap, half-expecting her to shove me inside. “All of you,” I hissed into the darkness. “Come quickly. We don’t have time to argue.”
One by one, they emerged from the stable. If any of them had reached the point of cumulative time spent inside where the changes would begin, I couldn’t see them yet.
Dean was the last one out. He frowned at me. I met his eyes, expression defiantly calm.
“Medley moved the fire, so I guess we’re going on a scavenger hunt,” I said, keeping my voice low.
“Guess so,” he said, stepping past me.
I looked one last time into the depths of the stable, scanning for stragglers. There weren’t any. We might all be trapped here, possibly forever, but at least we were still going to be together, and that was better than the alternative.
As I turned away, I shut the stable door. None of us were going back there. Ever, if I had anything to say about it.
We couldn’t escape from Blind Michael’s land, not on our own, anyway, but we could make the time we had to spend here something he didn’t get to dictate. Terrifying as it was to contemplate, what happened next was up to us, and it was time to get moving. I was awake now. That meant taking responsibility for myself.
“Well?” called Dean. “You coming?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Be right there.”
It was time for us to go.