Fever Fae - Meg Xuemei X Page 0,13

tight inside the green SUV, their eyes staring out of the windows nervously, still worried about the monster.

Emmett sat shotgun, grinning at me.

I pulled the van out of the driveway and sped down the street. I darted my eyes all around in high alert and constantly checked the rear mirror.

The Fae weren’t in the perimeter, and somehow I felt both relieved and disappointed. I shoved those feelings away. They didn’t matter. Nothing mattered except my siblings, and they needed a period of stability more than anything.

We’d only run when I was sure we were losing the battle against whoever came after us, and I hoped it didn’t come to that. I’d make the monsters see reason that they’d gotten the wrong family. If I had to resort to violence to kick some senses into their thick skulls, so be it.

“Don’t worry,” I said softly. “We got this. I got you. And we’ll get Mom and Dad back.”

Chapter 5

After I dropped off my siblings, I went straight to Costco and bought as much food as my credit card limit allowed.

Then I drove home. As soon as I veered into the narrow lane a mile away from my house, the hair on my neck stood up. Once again, I had the uncanny feeling of being observed.

I surveyed my surroundings, unleashing all of my senses, as Dad had taught me when he took me hunting.

“Never act like prey, princess,” Dad had warned.

That was the only time he’d called me princess. He never called my sisters that, not even Fawn.

Now in retrospect, I got it why Safiya was jealous of me. My parents spent most of their money on me to make sure I got the best of everything, especially all sorts of training and private tutoring, even though we kept moving around. They’d never trained my siblings, and I’d bitched about how they were too hard on me and demanded too much of me.

I’d been a rotten brat.

The van cruised down the lane, passing by a small vineyard, a junkyard, a farming pond, and the old woods no one dared to visit. Plenty of places for someone to hide.

After a quarter mile, I sensed that someone was still following me, though I couldn’t see anyone. My foot hit the gas pedal, and the aspen trees blurred beside my window. The stalker sped up as well. I couldn’t explain how I knew, except I felt their shadowy energy no matter how fast I drove. My senses seemed to have powered up since the incident this morning.

Part of me wanted to get out of the van to investigate, maybe catch my pursuer. But I quickly abandoned that idea. I might be a daredevil sometimes, but I still had a healthy dose of fear. And I wasn’t stupid enough to walk blindly into danger or a trap. Dad had taught me that much.

I didn’t let my foot ease on the gas until my house loomed ahead at the end of the alley. I passed the house, then slammed the van into reverse and zoomed into the driveway back end first, and killed the engine.

Unsheathing a hidden dagger from my boot, I scanned the road and saw nothing out of place. I exited the van as quietly as possible, dagger in one hand, keys in the other. Wind shuffled in the bushes near the white fence as I snuck up to the back door.

I slipped into the house as quiet as a cat, paused at the back door, and let my hunter sense take over.

There was no presence in the house, but I sensed that someone had invaded my space while we were gone. I glided into the kitchen and peered around. I couldn’t see any further traces of the visitor that had violated my family’s privacy. Just a gut feeling, and I knew I wasn’t wrong.

I exhaled long and slow. Once again, my instincts screamed for me to grab my siblings and run and never return.

We weren’t safe here. But logic also told me that we’d already been marked. Running would bring the hunters closer on our tails. After encountering a Nightling and two Fae, I knew our pursuers weren’t ordinary Joes. They were a supernatural force.

We’d be more vulnerable on the road, and no one could run forever.

I had to stay. We had to stay. All I needed to do was to show whoever stalked us that they got the wrong family, and then I’d make sure they left us alone.

Another thought trickled into the