CHAPTER 143

"How about running into your dead ex who gave away a part of her soul to protect you, only to ruin your life?" Yuki slumped in her chair. "On the one hand, I'm glad to know that it wasn't something I did. But on the other hand, she royally fucked everything up, and she did so in my name. Everything that happened was because of me."

"No, absolutely not true." Mike scooted closer and took her hand in his. "My mom used to get blackout drunk all the damn time and blame me for the dumbest things as a kid. How she treated me was the reason we kept getting bounced from place to place, and I was convinced for so many years that I was the problem. After several years of therapy, I was finally able to accept that her actions were not a reflection of me, and the same goes for you, Yuki. I know we don't have the full story yet, and most likely never will, but whatever she thought she knew was coming, she should have trusted you and the others with it and seen if you were up to the task."

"Hindsight is twenty-twenty." She blew an errant hair off of her face, then sighed. "For example, we shouldn't have come to the Underworld now that we know that Fido has a hard-on for eating people who shouldn't be here."

"I should have brought dog treats or something." He stood and brushed the dirt off his pants. "I'm thinking our best option is to run. I can tell if we are running toward or away from danger, and I'm guessing that the reason we ended up here is because our route home was cutoff. That damn dog can't come in, so we should find out if it wandered off first. If not, let's cut across to the other side and get a good head start."

"And then what?"

"Follow my gut." He patted his belly, giving her a grin. "It will take us home or somewhere equally safe. That's the hope, anyway."

"Ugh." She stood and tilted her head from side to side, then stretched. "Running seems like a stupid choice, but it's the only one we have—unless we want to try and send Daisy out. I don't know that she could even find her way back. At least you're a good runner. I was a bit surprised, to be honest."

"Yeah, that's a recent thing." He followed her to the back of the house, and they stood just outside the open gate. The woods were still filled with an ominous mist, but they were quiet.

They sent Daisy on a quick perimeter sweep. When the fairy returned, she informed them that there was no sign of the hellhound, and Mike hoped that meant that it had wandered off. With tentative steps into the mysterious wilderness, he felt no sense of incoming danger, and chanced a quick look back at the house.

Up in the window, Emily appeared briefly, her hand against the glass.

"Let's go," he said, then moved forward with purpose. Yuki kept up with no problem, and once they were far enough away, they stopped in between a pair of large trees to get their bearings.

Mike closed his eyes and thought of home first, and then Naia. He was part of the house, and even her, and he wondered if he could use that to guide him. It reminded him of the time Lily had tried to kill him in the Dreamscape, and his magical bond with the nymph had saved him then, so why not now?

He concentrated on Naia, and felt a sense of sadness overcome him. Had something happened at home? The world around him was eerily quiet, and he could almost picture her fountain in his mind. Except it wasn't just her that he saw. It was Lily, too, and Tink, and even Abella. They were all clustered together by the fountain, around Naia, their voices like faint whispers in the wind.

The sensation was little more than a tickle, but he felt it somewhere to the right and turned.

"This way," he said, and moved forward. Yuki followed him for a while, and then took point, her eyes scanning the mists. Dark figures wandered about as if lost, and the few times he came close enough to make out any detail, they simply vanished from sight.

"They are damned," Yuki told him, her nose wrinkled. "I can hear them calling to each other, but nobody answers. It's a bit unsettling."

"Then let's get out of here so you don't have to hear it." They continued onward for what felt like hours, and the tickle became an itch, right between his eyes. They said nothing, which helped Mike concentrate on home, and the itch was becoming a pressure in his chest now, as if his heart was being tugged on by strings.

"I think we're getting—" he started, but then a cold feeling descended on his gut, and he saw the dark shapes in the fog disperse and vanish.

Somewhere in the mist, heavy footsteps crunched on leaves, and the sudden intake of air through the beasts many nostrils was like nails down a chalkboard.

Mike pulled out his phone. Yuki put her hand on his shoulder, and when he looked at her, he saw the fear in her eyes.

Setting an alarm for sixty seconds, he looked around the forest, trying to track where the sniffing was coming from.

"What are you doing?" whispered Yuki.

"Buying us some time," he whispered back. "The alarm will go off and draw it in."

"Oh." Yuki pulled a card from her sleeve and took his phone. "Here, hold on."