your training.”
My hands fisted.
“I do find it necessary to add that you’re now wanted for murder,” Kael said in an icy voice, dousing some of the flames in my gut. “You have no job or home. If you stay here in the human realm, your life will turn to ash.”
“Okay, we don’t need to pile it on top of her, guys,” Finn said. “She’s had a rough few days. Have a little heart.”
“She needs to understand the gravity of her situation,” Kael replied. “We’ve been protecting her for the past few days, but we can’t stay in Manhattan after tonight. She’ll be on her own.”
On her own.
I shivered, despite myself. I’d had a sneaking suspicion that they’d been following me, watching me, but I hadn’t known what that had truly meant. And as insane as it sounded, I knew deep down in my bones that it was the truth. They’d tried to keep me out of danger, but the danger had only kept following me around. And I couldn’t fight those monsters, those Redcaps, on my own. And I’d certainly never be able to make Bree’s death right unless I learned to fight back.
I could learn to fight back.
I didn’t have to be weak anymore.
“Okay,” I said after taking in a long, deep breath. “I’m not sure I completely believe you. This still all sounds totally insane. But I’ll come with you to see your proof, if you have it. You have to keep your distance though. The second one of you comes too close, I’m gone.”
Finn pursed his lips in amusement. “She thinks she can outrun us.”
I opened my mouth to let out a retort, but Rourke held up his hand and shot Finn a sharp look. “Agreed. We’ll keep a reasonable distance.”
For a moment, I hesitated. I was so torn. On the one hand, it seemed impossibly stupid and dangerous to go with these four guys. On the other hand, I had no idea what other choice I had. Because they were right. I’d run from the cops. Monsters were stalking my every move, my step-dad never wanted me to step foot in my apartment again, and I had no job. No money. No nothing.
All I had was myself, someone who might end up being the impossible: a changeling fae.
I had to go to Otherworld. I just had to hope this all wasn’t some sort of trick. I had to hope it was real.
I would learn to fight. I would become a Hunter. And I would never again watch someone I love get destroyed.
Chapter Eight
The fae—if that was what they truly were—kept their promise. They led me through the city streets and into Central Park, never coming more than ten feet near me. They all stood tall and alert, their eyes darting across every shadow and passerby, as if they were on guard against unseen attackers. Maybe they were.
Within Central Park, they led me off the paved pathways that wound through the lush greenery. And my nerves began to falter. One thing I’d always learned growing up. Don’t go anywhere with strangers, and especially don’t go into the park after dark. And here I was doing both of them at once.
“Here we are,” Finn said in a cheery voice as we reached a clearing in a cluster of trees. It was pretty much a perfect circle, blooming red flowers lining the entire perimeter. The grass was perfect, lush, and a bright vivid green that almost glowed against the cloying darkness that surrounded us.
I hovered on the outskirts of the circle of flowers, unsure of what was supposed to happen next. “This is pretty and all, but I don’t understand how it’s supposed to prove that this whole faerie thing is real.”
“Step inside the ring,” Kael said in a soft, quiet voice that sent shivers down my spine.
“You mean, inside the circle of flowers?”
“That’s right,” he said with an eerie smile. “It’s called a Faerie Ring. When you step inside of it, you’ll see the proof that what we’ve told you is real.”
“You do realize that this sounds creepy as hell.” My feet were frozen to the ground. Logically, I knew stepping forward onto a patch of grass was not dangerous in the least. It was just grass. Those were just normal flowers. But my heart was pounding so hard against my chest that I could barely breathe.
Bree’s death still lingered in my mind, and a dull ache had filled my bones. I didn’t know how I could go