Page 82 of When the Woods Go Silent

ROSE

Hot tears of confusion are sliding down my face, and my mind aches with the effort of rearranging my entire understanding of the world and how it works.

Kier has shown me something beautiful and fucking terrifying all at once.

“How is this possible?” I gulp back the panicked emotions, trying not to feel like I’m going insane. This is going to change everything, and my initial gut reaction is that I just want to go back in time ten minutes ago, to when life made sense. I miss the girl I was then.

Kier lets me hold the tiny tree, pulling my fingers over it to feel the incredible realness.

“Magic has always been real. Humans even used it, once. But powerful churches and frightened kings stamped it out over the centuries, until barely anyone remembers. But Earth isn’t the only world, and mine still has magic.”

“Fucking aliens?” I choke, shaking my head and dropping the plant like it’s made of poison. Absolutely not. He’s crazy. Delusional.

Kier sighs. “Not from space like your movies. More like an alternate world. Haret isn’t a planet in your solar system, and you can’t take an airplane there. It exists in a different realm. We were connected from the beginning - sister worlds - but greed separated our paths. Any of your myths and folk stories about supernatural creatures come from Haret’s magic.”

“Like vampires?” I joke, wiping my face on my sleeve and trying to stay cool about all of this. If he is a little deranged, the last thing I want to do is set him off before I can get safely away.

But then he fuckingnods.

“Vampires, shifters of all kinds, dragons. Mages. Mer. All of them are real. And Fae,” he says, holding my shocked gaze as his freckled skin begins to deepen to a deep forest green that blends into the shadowy woods behind us. My stomach drops as his features sharpen right before my eyes, giving him even more of that foxlike quality. He brushes his ginger hair back to show me pointed ears, and pulls up his sleeves so I can see a web of intricate black tattoos that look like writing in a language I’ve never seen.

My heart is pounding, but I’m frozen in place, reeling. I couldn’t run if my life depended on it.

“Fae,” I repeat dumbly, taking it all in but feeling like I’m the star of one huge prank show. The excuse of him being crazy is quickly crumbling, since my own vision is confirming the shift in his features. I don’t know of any way to fake that unlessI’mthe crazy one. “Like fairies?”

He gives me a wry grin. “Fae are nothing like fairies. But yes, those, too. And the creatures that humans call demons, Rose? Those have nothing to do with heaven or hell. Those are gobbelins.” The word hangs in the air, making my heart pound.

I suck in a breath as everything slots into place, making a bizarre sort of sense that makes me nauseous with fear. I’ve never been religious, but there’s no denying the presence of evil in the world. And he’s telling me it’s here in Clearwater.

“Goblin Market,” I whisper as the wall of denial crashes down and I see the truth looming behind it like a tangle of thorn bushes.

Kier nods. “That poem? The one about the goblins feeding the young girls and getting them addicted to goblin food? I don’t know if the author was human or Haretian, but it’s a good example of Haret lore finding its way to Earth. Gobbelin blood is worse than an opiate for humans.”

My head reels, and I don’t think I can take any more. How does he even know about the poem if he’s from some other world? Not that such a tiny detail matters in the face of everything I’m trying to assimilate here, but still. The bigger question is why is he here with me now, and what aregobbelinsdoing running a fucking restaurant in Clearwater?

“Ruby,” I whisper, suddenly remembering she’s all alone with Torrence right now. Torrence, who owns and cooks forGoblin Market. Torrence, who might actually have rows of sharp teeth and icy, pale skin and flashing fiery eyes.

My eyes haven’t been playing tricks on me, and Ruby’s camera is working just fine. My senses have been telling me the truth all along, and I’ve been discounting them, refusing to trust myself because I didn’t believe in something that seemed crazy just minutes ago.

At this point I’d almost rather be going crazy. At least there are meds for that. This? I have to fucking do something.

I’m on my feet before I can even form a plan, but Kier yanks me down, his hand locked on my arm like a vise. I try to yank away, but he’s incredibly, inhumanly strong.

“Yes, you have to keep her away from Torrence, but you can never tell her why, Rose. Magic isn’t the game she thinks it is. Not anymore. Certainly not between fae and gobbelins. You’re going to be caught up in this war no matter what. But Ruby doesn’t have to be. You can keep her safe, as long as she doesn’t knowanything.”

My stomach sinks farther with every single word, until I feel hollowed out and desolate.

“War?” I echo hoarsely, rejecting the thought immediately.

He nods, his fingers still tight on my arm as though he thinks I might run at any second. “The fae and the gobbelins are on the brink of war. Fighting could break out any day now, both in Haret or even here. There’s too much history between us, too much bad blood. It’s unavoidable, unless...” His voice trails off, and I shake myself out of the panic.

Forget about why he’s here. Why amIhere?

What does he want from me? In a flash, I understand that none of this - meeting him now - was ever a coincidence.

“Unless what?” I ask sharply, tension tightening every muscle in my body.

“Unless the fae can find a weapon that’s been lost for decades. I’m here hunting for it, Rose.”

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