Page 63 of Enticing Monsters

SERAFINA

We don’t find anything of value in the village near the portal, so we set off as soon as the first rays of light tantalize the ground.

Without a map, we’re flying blind, and a part of me wonders if this search is completely hopeless, especially as the morning edges on and nothing close to a hint crosses our paths. We don’t even know what we’re looking for, but I have faith we’ll find it.

Something here… It’s propelling me forward, whispering that answers are within my reach. Answers and a cure.

I wobble slightly but manage to catch myself, leaning my hands on my hips and taking deep, even breaths to force oxygen to my tight, tired muscles.

“Drink some,” Foster encourages, pressing a water bottle into my hands, his brow wrinkled as he studies me.

Apparently, he caught my little slip-up. I sigh but acquiesce, gulping down the fresh water, mildly cool from the metal bottle.

“If we had more time, I’d want to explore all the flora here,” Foster murmurs, pushing his glasses up his nose as he studies the large, mouthwatering-looking purple berries that bloom in the silver bushes off the overgrown path. “Xander promised the water would be safe for us, but studying the plants and animals here fell out of favor ages ago since no one ever expected to come back.”

“It makes sense.” I slip the water bottle back into the holder on his bag and then stretch my arms across my body as I try to ease the weight of my pack pressing into my shoulder blades. “It was probably hard enough for all the fae to learn about Earth and keep themselves hidden. Constantly focusing on a world they didn’t plan to go back to didn’t really make sense.”

“How much longer do you want to keep heading this way?” Kian asks, settling himself onto the stone of the path before rummaging in his bag and pulling out a protein bar. He hands it to me with a sweet smile. “Keep your energy up. You know Xander will kick our asses if anything happens to you.”

A pang hits me for a moment, thinking of the candy bars that Gage would always press into my hands, his gruff orders for me to eat always making me smile.

I miss him.

I chuckle, peeling open the wrapper and taking a big bite. “I’m not afraid of Mr. Tall, Dark, and Whip Obsessed,” I tease, even as I scarf down the bar.

Tristan wraps an arm around my waist and settles his head on my shoulder so that our cheeks press against each other. “Just because you’ll enjoy his punishments doesn’t mean the rest of us will.”

I giggle and rub my cheek against his.

Well, he’s probably right.I’m certainly not going to admit it though.

“Let’s go a little bit farther this way and see if we hit another path,” I decide, tucking away my wrapper. Faerie has been through enough; she certainly doesn’t need me littering and cluttering up her raw beauty. “It’s likely the roads lead somewhere—they wouldn’t have been built otherwise.”

Okay, so, maybe it’s reaching, but it sounded good when they all looked to me for a decision that morning. We have yet to find an offshoot path, spending our day hiking through colorful forests of flower stems and flowing meadows of what look like rainbow wheat.

A small part of my brain wonders if this is why I’m obsessed with glitter and color, all of this having been what I first saw and experienced as a child. There must have been a reason my birth parents came here, when there was so much of a risk to my life—to all of our lives—by exposing us to the virus. As an infant, I was probably even more likely to catch the disease. Something must have forced them to sneak me into this world and leave me alone for my adoptive parents to find.

Or maybe my biological parents have been here this entire time…

But no. That’s impossible, isn’t it? There are no fae left on this planet. They all died out.

My intuition causes the skin on the back of my neck to prickle.

They are all dead…right?

“Sounds like a plan, Lost,” Foster assures me.

Tristan laughs, tugging me closer against him. “That nickname is especially problematic in moments like this, dude.”

I press a hand over my lips, hiding my smirk. Foster merely ignores his friend and strides off down the path ahead of us. Tristan glances at me sideways, and though there are still shadows in his eyes, I can see a flicker of the boy I originally met.

The one I fell in love with.

Maybe being here in Faerie is helping us in ways I didn’t even think of.

Another hour passes as we walk, all of us keeping a close eye out for anything else like the shade that nearly got us on our first trip, but nothing approaches us. The bright colors all start to blend together, and I blink, hard, trying to clear my eyes. I’ve heard of going snow blind, but this is absolutely ridiculous.

A flash of white, so at odds with the colorful surroundings, makes me pause.

---