Wings Free with Bonus Material (18 page)

It took three more breaths before the knot came apart in her hands. But the rope was still trapped beneath the huge rock. Bracing her feet against the bottom of the river, Laurel heaved at the rock, trying to free the last loop of rope. Her feet slipped, and she kicked off the one flip-flop that had survived the icy plunge. Her toes searched the crevices of the rocks and found a better hold, and she strained against the rock, trying to roll it just a few inches. She felt it start to move and pushed a little harder. The rock shifted suddenly and Laurel’s feet slipped away from it. The river tossed her in its current, her arms lurching back as the rope stretched taut.

David’s white form rushed past, a slave to the current and out of reach before Laurel could even try to grasp for him. It was less than a second before he was out of sight, a tiny trail of bubbles the only fading sign of his presence.

David was gone and Laurel felt like an idiot. She should have planned that better. All she could think as she stared frantically into the darkness was that it had been a long time since his last breath.

Panic edged into her thoughts and Laurel tried not to let it overtake her. The lack of air had already begun to sting her chest, but it was far less uncomfortable than any of the other things she was feeling right now. Her feet were raw from pushing David’s rock, and her wrists ached where the ropes still dug in as she flopped helplessly in the current.

She closed her eyes and thought of her parents for a few seconds, regaining a semblance of calm. She would
not
let her mother lose her entire family. Hand over hand,
Laurel slowly dragged herself down her rope to the rock. It had worked for David, and it was probably her best hope. Because of the cold, her fingers were even clumsier now, and Scarface had done a better job than his companion. The knots yielded more slowly, and by the time she got them undone, her chest was screaming for air with an agony she’d never felt before.

And the hard part was still in front of her.

She found a decent toehold and pushed her rock, begging it to move easily.

It didn’t even budge.

She cursed in her mind and, even in the water, tears found their way to her eyes. She took a few precious seconds to move some of the smaller rocks in front of the one blocking her rope and braced her sore, tingling feet again. She pushed with all her might, and as darkness started to descend on the edges of her sight, the rock began to slide. Laurel shifted her hands and pushed again, expelling the last of the air from her mouth as she forced the rock another inch forward. Another, another, just one more.

Suddenly she was flipping through the water like a rag doll, with no concept of which way was up. She kicked frantically, trying to find some sort of bearing in the murky water. Her toe kicked a rock with agonizing force, and she bent her legs against it and thrust upward with every ounce of her dwindling strength. When she thought she could not last one more second, her face broke the surface and she gasped in a chestful of air.

The current was still dragging her along, and though she
kicked toward the shore, her body had been drained of its strength. Her feet scraped the bottom and she tried to stand, but her legs wouldn’t obey. The force of the water threw her down, and her arms and legs clattered against the rocks as she tried to gain control.

Then something looped over her head, pushing her under for a few seconds. Laurel whimpered, knowing she’d been found by the two thugs, now ready to finish the job they’d started. But when the heavy loop reached her waist, it yanked her upward and away from the water. Away from the unmerciful rocks.

“I’ve got you,” David said in her ear over the sound of the current. His still-tied arms were looped around her waist, and he slogged through the shallow water toward the shore. He dragged her a few feet out of the river and onto the reed-strewn bank before collapsing on the ground. His teeth chattered in her ear as they lay together, both gasping for air.

“Thank you, God,” David sighed as the arms around Laurel went limp.

IT WAS SEVERAL MINUTES BEFORE EITHER WAS ABLE
to move. David’s whole body shook with cold as he disentangled his arms from Laurel. “I thought I was never going to see you again,” he said. “You were under for almost fifteen minutes
after
I got my arms in front so I could see my watch.”

Fifteen minutes!
Laurel was instantly grateful she had freed David first instead of herself. He’d have been very dead after only five. “How did you get to shore?”

David smiled wanly. “By being very, very stubborn. I wasn’t convinced I was going to make it at all. But I kept kicking and taking a breath when I could and eventually I got into shallow water.” He leaned closer till their shoulders touched. “I had no idea where you were. I couldn’t have even found where you were tied because the river was so dark. I just kept walking up and down the shore looking for any sign of you.”

“And what if the two uglies had been waiting?” Laurel scolded.

“That was a risk I was willing to take,” David said softly. A violent shiver shook his whole body, and Laurel rocked slowly to her feet.

“We’ve got to get you warm,” she said. “You might get hypothermia after being in that water.”

“What about you? You were in way longer.”

Laurel shook her head. “I’m not warm-blooded, remember? Come on, let’s look for something sharp to cut this rope.” She bent over and started feeling around on the ground.

“No,” David said. “Let’s just get back to my car. I have a knife in there. That’ll take a lot less time in the long run.”

“Do you think you can find it?”

“I better, otherwise it won’t matter that we survived the river.”

They tramped wearily upstream for several minutes before things started to look familiar. “There,” Laurel said, pointing at the ground. She could just see her white flip-flop sitting serenely on the bank, the current lapping at the toe. “I must have lost it when Scarface picked me up.”

David paused, staring at the shoe. “How did they do that, Laurel? He picked me up in one hand!”

Laurel nodded. “Me too.” And she didn’t want to tell him just how heavy the two rocks had been. “The car should be this way,” she said, gesturing with her head. She wanted to leave the river behind and never come back.

“Do you want this?” David asked, bending to pick up her shoe.

Laurel’s stomach twisted as she looked at the scuffed white sandal. Her feet throbbed, but she couldn’t bear the thought of wearing that shoe again. “No,” she said firmly. “Throw it in.”

With no moon to guide them, they picked their way very slowly down the path. Twice they had to backtrack, but it was less than half an hour before David knelt beside his car, searching for the spare key in the wheel well. “I told my mom this was a stupid idea,” David said, his teeth chattering again. “But she assured me that someday I’d be glad she put it there.” He retrieved the silver key and held it in his trembling hands. “I don’t think this is exactly what she had in mind.” He slipped the key into the trunk and they both sighed as it clicked and the lid of the trunk rose. “I’m buying her flowers when I get home,” he promised. “Chocolates too.”

David dug clumsily into his roadside survival kit and pulled out a small pocket knife. It took a few minutes to hack away the thick ropes, but it was a million times better than trying to do it with a rock. He started the car and turned the heat on full blast as they slipped into the front seats, holding their hands up to the vents and trying to dry their still-damp clothes.

“You should take your shirt off and put on my jacket,” Laurel said. “It’s not much, but at least it’s dry.”

David shook his head. “I can’t do that; you need it.”

“My body adjusts to whatever temperature it’s in—always has. You’re the one who needs to be warm.” She watched
David’s face shift as he warred between his chivalrous ideals and his desperate need to warm up.

Laurel rolled her eyes and grabbed the jacket off the backseat. “Put it on,” she ordered.

He hesitated, but after a few seconds he peeled off his wet shirt and replaced it with her jacket.

“Do you think you can drive?”

David sniffed. “I can drive far enough to get us to the police station. Will that work?”

Laurel stopped David’s hand on the gearshift. “We can’t go to the police.”

“Why not? Two men just tried to kill us! Trust me, that’s what the cops are for.”

“This is bigger than the cops, David. Did you forget how those two men threw us into the river like we weighed nothing? What do you think they’d do to a couple of cops?”

David stared at his odometer but said nothing.

“They’re not human, David. And anyone who
is
human is just going to get hurt if they try to stop them.”

“So what do we do?” David asked, his voice sharp. “Ignore them? Slink home with our tails between our legs?”

“No,” Laurel said very quietly. “We go to Tamani.”

Relieved tears stung Laurel’s eyes as she passed the tree line and felt the familiar comfort of the forest envelop her. She pushed her tangled hair from her face and fruitlessly tried to run her fingers through it as she limped down the dimly lit path toward the stream. She was so exhausted, she could
barely put one bruised foot in front of the other. “Tamani?” she called quietly. Her voice seemed unnaturally loud on this dark, still night. “Tamani? I need help.”

Tamani fell into step with her so quietly she didn’t notice him until he spoke. “Can I assume the boy in the vehicle is David?”

She stopped walking and her eyes drank him in. He wasn’t in his armor tonight but a long-sleeved black shirt and fitted pants that blended almost seamlessly into the shadows. The night was so dark she could just see the outline of his face, every angle soft and exquisitely handsome. She wanted to throw herself into his arms, but she held back. “Yes, it’s David.”

His eyes were soft but probing. “Why did you bring him?”

“I had no choice.”

Tamani raised an eyebrow. “At least you told him to stay in the car.”

“I am trying, Tamani. But he was my only way to get down here tonight.”

Tamani sighed and looked back down the path where Laurel had left David in the car. “I have to admit—I’m mostly just glad you’re here. But the forest is full of faeries tonight—it’s not a good time.”

“Why are they here?”

“There’s been a lot of…enemy activity in the area lately. We’re not sure why. That’s all I can say.” He shot a quick look back up the path. “Let’s get farther in.” He took her hand and continued down the path.

The first step shot pain up her leg as a stick dug into her scraped foot. “Stop, please.” Her voice was a strangled plea, but she was beyond feeling embarrassed tonight. Tears slid down her face as Tamani stopped and turned.

“What’s wrong?”

But now that the tears had started, Laurel couldn’t turn them off. The panic and fright of the evening washed over her as tangibly as the current of the Chetco and she gasped for breath.

Then Tamani’s arms were around her, his chest warm despite the cold air. His hands stroked up and down her back until he touched the gash where she’d been cut by the window and she couldn’t hold back a groan. “What happened to you?” Tamani whispered in her ear as his hands pushed through her hair.

Laurel’s fingers clutched the front of his shirt as she tried to keep her balance. Tamani bent and swept his arms underneath her, lifting her off her aching feet and curling her against him. She closed her eyes, hypnotized by the graceful cadence of his feet that never seemed to make a sound. He walked a few minutes down the path and settled her onto a soft spot on the ground.

A spark flared and Tamani lit what looked like a softball-sized brass orb. Flickering light shone out of hundreds of tiny holes, filling the small clearing with a gentle glow. Tamani slid his pack from his shoulders and knelt beside her. Without saying a word, he placed a finger under her chin and turned her face one way, then the other. He moved on to her arms and
legs, murmuring at the scrapes and abrasions he found. Gently, he lifted her feet onto his lap and Laurel caught the familiar scents of lavender and ylang-ylang as he rubbed something warm into her tattered soles. It tingled and almost burned for a minute before cooling and soothing the stinging ache.

“Are you hurt anywhere else?” Tamani asked after treating all the injuries he could see.

“My back,” Laurel said, turning onto her side and lifting her shirt.

Tamani released his breath in a small whistle. “This one’s pretty bad. I’ll need to bind it.”

“Will that hurt?” Laurel said slowly as warmth from the small orb seemed to wrap around her body.

“No, but you’ll have to be careful for a few days while it grows back together.”

Laurel nodded and settled her cheek onto her arm.

“Where did you get these, Laurel?” he asked as his soft fingers worked on the deep gash. “Faeries aren’t known for being clumsy.”

Laurel’s tongue felt thick and slow as she tried to explain. “They tried to kill us. David and me.”

“Who?” His voice was soft, but Laurel could feel the intensity behind his words.

“I don’t know. Something ugly, inhuman. Men who convinced my mom to sell the land.”

“Ugly?”

Laurel nodded. She closed her eyes as she told him about her dad and Jeremiah Barnes, her words starting to slur.

“A toxin?” Tamani pressed as her eyes grew heavier and his voice seemed farther and farther away.

“Papers are supposed to be signed tomorrow,” Laurel breathed, forcing herself to relay the most important message as her skin tingled gently as if she were lying in the noonday sun.

A few seconds later an arm slipped around her and Laurel clung to it as Tamani’s cheek settled by her hair. “Go to sleep,” Tamani whispered. “I won’t let anything else hurt you.”

“D-d-david, he’s waiting…”

“Don’t worry,” Tamani soothed, stroking her arm. “He’s sleeping too. Shar will make sure he’s safe. You both just need to rest now.”

All she could do was nod as she nestled against Tamani’s chest and let everything else slip out of her mind.

Gentle fingers trailed through Laurel’s hair as she slowly stretched and rolled onto her back. Her eyes fluttered open and met Tamani’s.

“Good morning,” he said with a soft smile as he sat beside her head.

She grinned, then her eyes looked up at the star-filled sky and the small lamp still hanging from the branches above her. “Is it?”

Tamani laughed. “Well, it’s very early in the morning I suppose, but yes.”

“Did you sleep?”

He shook his head. “Too much to do.”

“But—”

“I’ll be fine. I’ve done worse.” His smile dropped away and his jaw squared. “It’s time to go.”

“Go where?” she asked, sitting up.

“To take care of the trolls before they finish killing your father.”

“Trolls?” She shook her head. Surely she’d misheard. She’d sat up too quickly, that was all. “My father? You can help my father?”

“I don’t know,” Tamani admitted. “But it won’t matter unless we take care of the trolls first.” Tamani tilted his head very slightly to the side. “Come on out, Shar. I know you’re listening.”

Another man stepped silently out from behind a tree Laurel would have sworn was much too small for him to hide behind. He had the same confident stance as Tamani and the same green eyes. His roots were green too, but the rest of his hair was light blond and long—pulled back away from his face. Shar had the same perfection she still wasn’t accustomed to seeing in Tamani; his face was rougher though, full of sharp angles where Tamani’s was soft. He was taller than Tamani—almost as tall as David—with long, wiry limbs and solid arms and chest.

“Laurel, Shar. Shar, Laurel,” Tamani said without looking at the other faerie.

Laurel stared, wide-eyed, but Shar only nodded and crossed his arms over his chest, listening as he leaned back against the tree he had just stepped out from behind.

“I should have realized it was the trolls trying to buy this land. The creatures you described can’t be anything else. We need to take care of them before those papers can be signed.”

“Trolls? Like real trolls? Are you serious? Why would…trolls…care about buying this land? Just because you guys live here?”

Tamani glanced over his shoulder at Shar before turning back to Laurel. “No. It’s because the gateway is here.”

“Gateway?”

“Tamani, you go too far,” Shar growled.

Tamani twisted his body back around. “Why? Don’t you think she, of all fae, has a right to know?”

“That’s not your decision to make. You’re letting it get too personal.”

“It
is
personal,” Tamani said, bitterness heavy in his voice. “It’s always been personal.”

“We stick with the plan,” Shar insisted.

“I’ve been sticking with the plan for twelve years, Shar. But trolls mere hours away from gaining title to this land and undoing everything we’ve worked for is not part of the plan either.” He paused, glaring at his companion. “Things have changed, and she needs to know what’s at stake.”

“The Queen won’t be happy.”

“The Queen has spent most of her reign making me miserable. Perhaps it’s best if the tide changes for once.”

“I trust you, Tamani, but you know I can’t hide this.”

A long moment passed as the two men studied each other. “So be it,” Tamani said and turned back to Laurel. “I told you once that I guarded something very special. It’s not
something I can pick up and move—that’s why this land is so important. It’s a gate to the realm. The only barrier over a gateway to Avalon.”

“Avalon?” Laurel breathed.

Tamani nodded. “There are four gateways in the entire world that lead to it. Hundreds of years ago, the gateways were open. They were still secret and guarded by those who knew of them, but the fact is that too many knew. Since the beginning of time, trolls have been trying to take over Avalon. It’s such a perfect piece of earth that nature is not the only abundant resource there. Gold and diamonds are as common as sticks and stones. They mean nothing to us except as decorations.” Tamani grinned. “We like things that sparkle, you know.”