Towards the End of Chapter 8
After the Bridge
Just Before Dawn
Spoilers
Hayden loped through the trees, senses on high alert. A Human! They found a real Human, and she was marching right into the King's castle.
If it weren't for her kids he'd sling Jackie over his shoulder and sprint in the opposite direction. She didn't understand the risks. Besides, odds are those girls had already been turned.
Glancing to his right, he saw the firm set to her jaw as Jackie stomped through the frozen underbrush—bare feet bright pink from the cold. Knowledge of the danger wouldn't turn that woman around.
"You're Hayden, right?" Her messy ponytail lost a few strands as she turned her head to meet his eyes.
He nodded. Jackie's scent filled his lungs—mortal musk mixed with polyester and fear-drenched sweat.
"Back there. On the bridge." Jackie braced a hand on a tree before stepping over a downed limb. "Why did you catcall me? Chantia said Nymph's were terrifying."
What little carryover of Human warmth that still clung to his blood flooded his cheeks. To his right, River choked out a stifled laugh while Jude hissed with amusement.
"Yeah, Hayden, why?" Jude crooned.
He shrugged, putting on his best mask of nonchalance. "Nymph's are chill."
Chantia let out a breathy scoff. "Men."
Jackie bounced her gaze between the Pixie and and the Illuminati. "What?"
"You see," Jude began. "Nymph's sleep for a long time. Like—decades, easy. Centuries is definitely on the table." Jude paused, running the tips of his claws across the pad of his thumb.
"So?"
Jude's eyes sparkled as he remained silent. He knew Hayden would crack and answer.
"When they wake up they have a lot of needs?" Hayden looked her way, hoping to see understanding on her face.
He didn't.
"They're starving. Except they're starving for everything," Hayden held Jackie's stare, waiting for the pieces to click.
Her eyebrows shot up, before lowering as she scowled at Chantia. "You told me they were this powerful terrible creature! That everyone would be scared of me!"
"They are." Chantia smirked. "I didn't make anything up, I just left a little bit out. It was a need-to-know situation."
"You didn't think I needed to know that I was dressing up as something know to be down-to-clown?"
"Down-to-clown?" Hayden chortled.
Jackie huffed out her nose.
She was so short. Had Human's always been this tiny?
Even at age ten, before he fell into Faerie, Hayden had stood nearly eye-to-eye with his mamá. Of course, Beatriz only stood at a fierce five-foot-two.
The memory stung, but not as much as those that followed. His younger siblings—two sisters and a brother—the youngest still in diapers as they tore through the house following River and him.
His dad who worked in an office all week only to spend every free minute hiking outdoors.
His grandparents, sitting in their chairs in the living room, shouting at the TV in rapid-fire Spanish.
Under his scales, Hayden's chest ached.
The faces in his mind were hazy, their voices indistinct.
"Next time, I want all the details," Jackie said.
"Unlikely." Chantia laughed before landing on the Human's shoulder.
Overhead, the night blooming leaves were beginning to curl in preparation for dawn. Already, the green moonlight had dimmed while the horizon showed the first glowing impression of an orange dawn.
Yawns winked through the group like fireflies.
Hayden couldn't stop thinking about the two little Human girls. He knew how icy and putrid those dungeons were. He could still smell the stench and feel the appraising eyes of the ruling Fae. They were the kind of stares that made a child feel filthy just by being seen. He remembered cowering, while River and Jude did their best to shield him.
No. He wouldn't let that happen again. Those kids were going home.