“Caelynn?” a sweet voice breaks through the tense silence.
My eyes light up as I shift my gaze past the defensive fae to the human girl behind them. “Ray?” I whisper. And I cannot help the smile spreading across my face. I release Rev’s hand for the first time, and I rush past the two fae, who relax quickly, and I throw my arms around Raven.
“You have no idea how worried I’ve been!” Raven cries into my shoulder.
“You?” I say, pulling back to look into her pretty brown eyes. “I thought you were—” I shake my head.
“I’m fine,” she says bashfully.
“How?” I whisper, eyes darting around. “What happened to you?” I face the two fae behind me. Blane, with his yellow eyes and sharp cheek bones, his blond hair in a ponytail. So much like Drake.
Next to him is a dark-skinned female with bright green eyes.
“What about you?” Blane asks calmly. “What the hell happened to you?” His amber eyes flit down to my torn clothing.
“And more importantly, how in the world did you get here?” the female asks. “We’re smack in the middle of the Twisted Forest.”
We are surrounded by bright green foliage. The ground is worn dirt covered in patches of moss, but the trail is surrounded entirely by twisted vines that remind me of the Wicked Gates, and the trees rise up high into the sky, creating a canopy of green leaves.
This forest is legendary. No one can travel through it without a fae with the magic to control the plant life. Only a Twisted fae can traverse these paths.
“The book told us where to go. The Ancient King brought us here.” I shrug.
“The what?” Raven asks.
I shake my head. “Long story.”
“Well, tell it, and we’ll tell you ours,” Blane says with a confident smirk.
Caelynn
The whole group sitsin a tight circle around the small fire, and we begin to share our tales.
We tell Raven and her friends—Blane and Aurora—how we managed to kill three of the four ancients against us. There is only one left. And we no longer have the power to defeat him.
Raven explains how Blane came to her school and eventually—sort of—kidnapped her. My chest tightens as I watch them. Raven is sheepish as she explains the situation. Aurora twists her lips in a guilty expression. Blane shows no emotion at all.
