Page 26 of Monsters in Love: Lost in the Underworld

“I feel like I’m gonna puke.” I wouldn’t normally admit it, but she gives off such warmmumvibes that the words just tumble out. “I’m fucking scared for Rose.”

“We won’t hurt her, I promise. She’sfamily.”

I don’t know how much more time passes. I can’t focus on the conversations, but I know the moment the sun sets, because everyone falls silent. I walk forward through the crowd as Rose appears on her porch, slowly growing brighter, ethereal and beautiful and my everything, the beacon that calls to my heart.

The place between worlds

Rose

I am flying.I’m falling upwards, being pulled to the sky. A little girl is far below, watching me with her gold eyes, and as I touch the surface I see it all at once, all the realms. The First, the Second, and this place, theUnder.

It is like this every time, and because it is, I know that I am about to forget it all again. Time passes differently here, and I linger in this place between worlds for a moment, observing,enjoying this small patch of time when I understand it all, when I know where I’ve been trapped, when I understand who has done this to me.

When I know what I am, and what I may become.

But the little girl’s magic is as insistent as ever, and I understand why; she’s just as desperate to escape this place as I am. I don’t know why she cannot try to free herself; there must be something that keeps her here.

She pushes me further, until I can see the world I am from. The house I once lived in, the garden I loved so much, now so overgrown.

I see a handsome green giant of a man, with pointed tusks and the world’s kindest eyes.My Zak. My love.

There’s others here today. Some that I’ve met before. Men — brothers — with gold eyes like the girl.Wolves.They’ve brought more of their kind to my house.

They promised to save me.

Wait!I want to tell them that I met a little girl like them, that she’sright there, but the veil is the same as always, sucking every thought from my mind as I am pushed through, and then I cannot remember what it was that I had to say.

“Zak is her mate,he can stand with her.”

“I disagree,” the High Witch snaps at Evander’s mother — her own granddaughter — as members of the werewolf coven pour bags of salt out onto the grass in a detailed circular pattern, interspersed with lit candles, surrounding Rose and I.

“With all due respect, you have not dealt with fae spells like this before.I have.I’ve felt it. The power of bonded mates —”

“He is an orc! There is nobond!Foolish girl.You don’t know what you’re talking about. But of course, youwouldput too much value in mates. That doesn’t surprise me at all.”

A warning growl rips through the air, Evander’s father looking murderous as he steps closer to his wife, and suddenly everyone is growling and snarling, the whole backyard filled with the sound, like a pack of menacing dogs. Rose whimpers and hugs me tighter around the waist, and I can feel her shaking.

“Hey!” I yell. I’m normally a pretty chilled out guy, but not when they’re upsetting Rose.“HEY!”

The growling stops as my booming voice echoes off the house. Sometimes I forget that Iama head taller than these wolves. I don’t have time for their bullshit right now. “Stop upsetting her!” I turn to the High Witch. “And I’m staying right here. I’mnotletting her go.”

The old witch snorts. “Well at leastsomeonehas a backbone,” she mutters. “Fine. Stay in the circle, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

In the endit’s not the High Witch that leads the magic, but the half-fae woman. Her name is Lylia, she’s over three hundred years old, andthe most powerful one of us all, according to Evander’s mum.

Her antlers look just like the ones I saw on Rose and Ellie’s heads. It’s pitch black now, clouds covering the moon and stars, and if it weren’t for Rose’s glow and the candles, I wouldn’t be able to see a damn thing. Lylia’s pupils shine in the faint light,round and reflective like a cat’s as she speaks to Rose and I softly.

“You are the first person to have ever made it back to this realm from the land of the fae. That alone is amazing.”

“But I’m not back, I’m not really here, am I? And I have no memories…”

“Fae magic and trickery is very powerful. I would know. We’re going to open the door between the world here and the world you are in, and pull you out. It’s not without risks, and there are a lot of unknowns, but I have long had a theory that they are keeping changelings like you and I in some form of stasis on their side. They have some way of manipulating ageing and lifespans. I know that was a concern to you, that you might come through and immediately be a hundred years older and pass away, but I want to reassure you I don’t think that will happen. I think you appear here in this form because that is your form on that side. Now, is thereanythingyou can tell us about any of this? Even the smallest details may be of use to us here.”

“Last week she said it wasunder,” I say as Rose shakes her head. “Like an underworld, I guess.”

Lylia nods, waiting. When we say nothing else, she gives Rose a small smile. “Well, let’s bring you back up to the surface. It’s time to set you free.”

The werewolf coven is already standing in place around the salt circle. Lylia steps back, taking her place between the High Witch and Evander’s mother. The gathered members all link hands, a low humming chant starting in a language I don’t recognise. The salt at our feet glows gold, the pattern lit up to reveal ashining moon and stars. I catch Evander’s eye from outside the circle and he gives me a reassuring nod. He’s half-werewolf, but it’s clear from this that he’s very much a shifter in the eyes of this coven, and like his father and brother, he’s been quietly observing the werewolves this evening.

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