eating in bed.
“Nope. Not angel fucker,” Mossy whispers to me. Torfinn narrows his eyes at Mossy and then uses his legs to nudge the side of his horse, directing him out. Stormfire moves without my command, following Torfinn out of the stable and stopping at his side. My leg brushes against Torfinn’s as Poppy comes out next, followed by Alun. Alun leads the way, with Poppy and Torfinn following. I go last, mainly as my horse doesn’t move until he wants to. I look back to see Velia and Laelia holding each other. A mother comforting a daughter.
The way it’s meant to be for normal people. Just not me.
Chapter 8
Four hours later, my thighs are constantly reminding me this was a bad idea. Stormfire moves quickly down the winding paths in the middle of hills covered with trees and surprisingly, more trees. Let’s not forget the rock I saw an hour ago. That was the highlight of the day. Alun made four spheres of light that float alongside each of us, so it’s not completely pitch black out here, but the shadows still hide everything. The darkness looms quite easily around here.
“We are nearly there,” Poppy quietly tells me after slowing down her horse so we are next to each other. Despite riding all day, she looks pretty put together and refreshed. Maybe it’s just fear for what is coming up that is giving her energy. “Have you shadow jumped with a dark kelpie before?”
“I never even knew these were kelpie. Like the water horses from myths?” I ask her, looking down at Stormfire in a new light. I just assumed he was a normal horse, like the ones the humans have, just a lot bigger.
“Yes and no. The myth the humans have suggests the kelpie live in water and come out of their depths to drown humans. Actually, their homes are in the shadows, and usually, the bottom of a lake or river is quite dark,” Poppy explains, patting the side of her kelpie. “The humans misunderstood them, that’s all. They aren’t murderous unless they are hungry.”
“Sounds like me as a teenager,” I joke. Poppy laughs along with me. I’m starting to like this girl, and that’s weird for me. I’ve never had a friend who is a girl—or a real friend at all. Getting close to people was always a big risk, one I never thought was worth it except for that one time. And I don’t think about him anymore. I have a bad feeling Poppy is going to attach herself to my side and not let go.
“Back to the topic I started with. The only entrance to the city now is through kelpies after the queen locked all the gates and pathways about ten years ago,” Poppy tells me. “So Stormfire will take you through the shadows and bring you out in the city.”
“I hate travelling through shadows,” I groan, and Poppy nods her head in agreement.
“Same. It’s easy to be seduced by the darkness and get lost,” she replies. “But don’t worry, Stormfire is your kelpie now and will come when you need him.”
“The shadows don’t call to me,” I tell her, and Mossy hits my ear with his hand, reminding me to shut up, when her brow furrows in confusion. I tap my legs against Stormfire’s sides, and he moves forward, stopping at Torfinn’s side. He doesn’t look my way, though his body tenses up when I’m close.
“Why are you here, demi-god?” I say. “Did you just fancy hanging out with us reapers? Do you like the dark side, Finn?”
He turns and looks down at me, his eyes full of questions. “What I do, and who I am, has nothing to do with someone like you.”
“You’re a bad-tempered demi-god, aren’t you?” I reply around a laugh. His eyes narrow, and I let out a sigh. “I think we got off on the wrong foot. Want to say sorry?”
“Fuck no,” he replies.
“Language!” Alun shouts back to us, clearly eavesdropping, and I grin.
“Yeah, Finn. Your language is just fucking terrible,” I say, holding in a laugh. I swear I see Finn’s lips tilt up, but I might be imagining it.
I look forward, seeing a pit of darkness right in front of us just as I hear the sound of drums. Torfinn stops his horse, as do Alun and Poppy, and Stormfire just slams to a halt, jolting my whole body, and I nearly fall off his back.
“Get them out of here, Alun!” Torfinn commands, and his