CHAPTER 64

"You okay?" he asked her.

"Yeah, but let me know if we come across a stream or something." The water in the land of the fae was supposedly safe for consumption—it was only food or drink prepared by the fair folk that might keep them trapped. "You... still have water to drink, right?"

"Hmm? Oh, right." He stuck his hand into his pocket and pulled out a small, copper tube.

"What is that?"

"Meant to tell you, but forgot about it when we were about to get murdered." He unscrewed the cap on the tube. "Ratu let me borrow it. Holds ten gallons of water, so if you're—"

She snatched it out of his hands and tilted it up. Cold water ran along her cheeks as she spilled some of it, but she didn't care. After drinking her fill, she handed it back to Mike and let out a sigh. She was already feeling a lot better.

"I've also got a few of those weird food bars from Zel in case you're hungry." He held one out and Beth took it.

"It doesn't... I mean, what's in it?"

His cheeks turned beet red as he retrieved another. "Nothing weird like that. The centaurs have been mass producing them while getting their gardens up and running, so that's mostly nuts, berries, and maybe eye of newt. Each bar has your calories for the day, but it won't fill your stomach very well."

"Thank you." She pocketed the bars he offered, and watched while he drank from the tube. "So any idea about where we go next?"

"Nope." He rubbed his belly. "My danger sense is absent, so we pick a direction and go. The fae court lies at an intersection of rivers, so we can always do that."

"I feel woefully unprepared."

He nodded. "The expectation was that we would at least land somewhere with some locals and go from there. I don't like the fact that we got dropped in the middle of nowhere."

Beth looked around at the surrounding woods. It did seem a little too convenient that an ambush had been sprung so soon after stepping through. "You think someone told the queen we were coming?"

"I'm suggesting somebody gave her a heads up." He narrowed his eyes in anger, but only for a moment.

She sighed. Sulyvahn didn't seem like the type to do such a thing, but her fascination with him was easily swaying her opinion. They had built the shed in plain view of the dullahan, and no doubt he had seen exactly where it led. It would have been easy for him to get a message back to the queen, and if that was the case, maybe it was better if they went home and came up with a different plan.

"Do you think we should look for a faerie ring to get home?"

Mike scowled for a moment, and then relaxed. "I mean... we can. Might end up somewhere random, but we can call Dana and have the rats come get us." He let out an exasperated sigh. "If she even receives the call. She's been spending a lot of time doing a project for the centaurs, and she's really the only one we can call. Do you know what that means?"

"I... no, I don't."

"Means we need to start a family plan or something. Get a phone for the house, one for Tink so she doesn't take apart the house phone, and maybe one for Yuki... wonder if Abella wants one? Gonna have to disable app purchases on all of them, though," he muttered, his brow furrowed in contemplation.

Beth laughed. They were in the middle of faerie territory, had just avoided being murdered by shadows that looked like birds, and he was worried about cell phone plans. "C'mon, let's pick a direction and start walking. We might get lucky, after all."

"I could use a little luck," he grumbled, but followed behind her with his hands tucked in his pockets. She tightened her messenger bag to keep it from bouncing against her hip so much and took the path of least resistance through the trees.

The further they walked, the more the forest came to life. Little white flowers grew amongst the mossy floor, opening to reveal multi-colored petals as the sun climbed higher into the sky. Tiny motes of light danced amongst the branches, but neither Beth nor Mike could communicate with them.

A break in the trees came, and when they stepped beyond the forest, Beth gasped.

Emerald green hills went for as far as the eye could see. The forest lay along the edges, and wherever the wind caught the grass, it looked like waves in the ocean. The sky was bluer than she had ever seen, as if a canvas had been soaked in paint. Along the hills, a large herd of white deer was spread out, each of the males adorned with a giant set of antlers.

"Wow," Mike whispered from behind her. "This place is amazing."

She nodded, her eyes brimming with tears. It was almost too much to look at, and she wiped her eyes with the palm of her hands. Somewhere, in the distance, she heard the sound of music, and the air smelled faintly of apple pie.

A distant hill shifted, turning in place to reveal that it wasn't a hill at all, but a hunched over giant with moss growing up its back. The creature took a few steps, then settled back down to blend in with the landscape. A couple seconds later, the air rumbled like thunder, the sound finally reaching them.

"Well, if I wasn't hesitant about crossing this before..." Mike just shook his head. "I hear music. Should we go check it out?"

Beth nodded.

They stayed along the treeline, the music gradually growing louder. It was a symphony of flutes, and harps, and definitely some drums. It was a familiar tune that she couldn't place her fingers on, and the louder it got, the more determined she was to find it.

They eventually wandered out onto the hills, and it was only after cresting a few of them did she find herself staring down into a large depression surrounded by a bunch of boulders. In the middle, a group of men and women who stood about three feet high were having a party, with a feast stretched out on a large blanket. They were dancing with each other, and drinking from large jugs of wine.