Page 24 of Crown of Wings and Whispers

I scrambled back, terrified. I hated heights. But mostly, I hated the idea of falling a hundred feet to my death. Griffon would just have to give me better instructions.

I turned around to see if anyone was after me yet, but the house was gone! The little spit of land the car sat on was now a tiny, towering island in the middle of the sea with nothing visible in any direction. Not a mountain. Not a seagull. Not even a fairy holding a little lantern.

She’ll never be able to jump, Archer had said.

No shit.

“He knew I couldn’t jump, so he gave me his car. Why did he give me his car?” I looked at the vehicle like it was the first clue to a treasure map, and the treasure was my life. I hurried to the door and climbed back inside, worried the car might disappear too.

Drive off the property, love. No matter what you see, follow the road and go. Trust me.

“Follow the road and go. Follow the road and go.”

I couldn’t just sit there and hope to drum up enough courage to do a Thelma and Louise, or Orion would be right behind me. There was no time. I had to trust that I understood what Griffon had tried to tell me.

I put the car in gear. “Boy, is he going to feel dumb if I crash on the rocks.” I let off the brake, screamed, and hit the gas…

8

The Burden Of Riches

Iclosed my eyes and braced for my stomach to fall along with the car, but it didn’t. The car never tipped, though the air pressure changed, and my ears popped. When I opened my eyes, I was speeding down a narrow lane with a colorful village, muted by darkness, coming up quick. A harmless looking bay sat a safe distance away.

Tenby. Just like Griffon said.

I wasn’t going to die…at least, not if I let up on the gas, which I did. And as I toodled down the road, I couldn’t help but feel sore from the mental whiplash of the last forty-eight hours. After the big ceremony in the backyard, I hadn’t slept much before the storm woke me, and I ended up in the war room with Flann, taking one last look at the boxes.

From there, I’d gone from Uncast to DeNoy in a matter of minutes. And as a DeNoy, my minutes were numbered. All I could do was choose who should kill me.

Thanks to Griffon, I’d gone from death’s door, into his arms, then on to his mother’s enchanted house where I’d helped make food for the wake of an enemy. I’d also faced yet another Carew who had recently wished me dead, only to be saved by him when Big Bad walked through the door.

And seconds ago, I’d had to drive off a cliff to escape. Now, here I was, alive and relatively safe again. All I had to do was stay out of Orion’s sight and sneak over to Ireland. Once I made it to the hotel in Dublin, I might just sleep and recover until Griffon came for me. No life-or-death decisions. Just eat, sleep, and pretend I was no one. It sounded lovely.

I kept a close eye on the rearview while I looked for a good place to leave Archer’s car. I was shocked that Muddy wasn’t on my heels, but I wasn’t going to waste time looking a gift horse in the mouth.

I made my way back to the brightly colored buildings that stood above a sandy beach. The bay wasn’t very big, and I realized there weren’t going to be any ferries leaving Tenby for Ireland. What I needed was a phone. Unfortunately, Kitch had taught me that a phone is the most dangerous thing to carry when you’re at war, so I was out of luck.

I turned onto Warren Street and looked for an empty parking space. I finally found one outside an ancient church and pulled in. Parallel parking on the left, with a steering wheel on the right was like parallel parking with your face against a mirror, and I drew way too much attention as I inched forward and back, forward and back, until I was safely off the street. I knocked the sun visor down in front of me and sat there, avoiding eye contact, until all the witnesses finally wandered away.

If it weren’t so dark, I might have thought it was my crazy hair that had drawn their attention and not my parking skills. And if I didn’t remedy the situation, anyone in town would be able to lead Orion straight to me.

Minutes dragged by while I pulled out all the little wires and leaves, undid all the twists, and finally ran my fingers through my hair. It was far from smooth and straight, but at least I wouldn’t turn heads. My dress was another matter. I grabbed my bag and wondered if ancient churches might have a modern bathroom where I could change. I had to be prepared to never come back to the car.

Archer had said there was money in the glovebox. I glanced around to make sure no one was watching, then leaned over and unlocked it. I opened the compartment and slammed it shut, looked up and down the street one last time, and opened it again.

Stacks of colorful British bills and Euros had been stuffed inside. I couldn’t imagine why Archer would keep so much cash on hand. But I reminded myself that a two-hundred-year-old Fae’s attitude about money wouldn’t be close to mine.

Take it all,he’d said. You might be on your own for a while. Judging by the thousands that were there, he must think I was going to be alone for a year!

Sharp footsteps sounded on the pavement and brought me out of shock. I found the zipper on the duffle bag and dragged it open, then stuffed the money inside with the clothes Blath had recovered for me. At least twenty-five stacks with who knew how much in each. There was no time to thumb through one and make an estimate. If I wanted to hire a small plane to take me to Dublin, I could—but I couldn’t risk leaving that kind of a trail.

Once I was ready to go, I took a few seconds to sit and think, to remember everything Griffon and Archer had said before sending me out of the house. A quick glance proved I wasn’t leaving anything behind.

I tossed the keys under the seat, locked the doors, and got out. When I looked up at the church, however, I realized what an obvious choice it was. If Muddy found the car, he’d probably look in the church first, especially if the car was still warm. And since I was naturally drawn toward the beach and the center of town, I turned and hurried in the other direction.

Change first, borrow a phone, find a ferry.

The longer I stayed on the sidewalk, the more people would see my shiny costume and remember it, so I searched for a light on, an unlocked door, or a dark alley, it wouldn’t matter which. I made it around the corner, out of sight of the car, and relaxed a little. But when a shiver ran up my spine, I ducked into the first business with a light on. A solicitor’s office.

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