Seeking the Fae (Daughter of Light #1) - Leia Stone Page 0,14
steered into the thick bushes, hiding from view.
Trissa and Elle pulled in behind me and cut the motor, walking the bike to where I stood and stashing it in the foliage. I peered through a gap in the hedge and gazed upon a yellow dilapidated farmhouse. Something kicked in my belly, signaling the object I sought was here.
“It’s here,” I whispered.
Trissa consulted her watch. “Different place than last night. They’re moving it every twenty-four hours or so.”
Nerves prickled along my skin. My mom died going after this crystal … and now I needed it to save Faerie. No fucking pressure.
Breathe.
Trissa pulled out a small vial of purple juice. “This is pricklewart juice. One drink gives you about sixty seconds of invisibility. After that, you will be seen, but it should be enough to get you in the room with the crystal, then you can jump out the window, where I’ll be waiting.”
My face scrunched up. Pricklewarts were nasty. Worse than nasty, they were literal warts that grew at the base of troll trees in the dark forest. They smelled like a dying animal, so I’d obviously never tasted one. But invisibility would be a decent tradeoff for drinking something nasty…
Triss looked impatient, tapping her foot. “Lily, I’m sorry to rush you, but we are on borrowed time.” She popped the cap off the vial and shoved it in my hand. “If they move this crystal again, it could take you weeks to find. Earth is big, you’ve never had to seek something that’s another country away. I knew it was in this city, so it was easy for you, but next time it might not be. Next time might be too late for Faerie.”
Shit.
Elle’s eyes widened and she looked terrified. Good, I wasn’t the only one. With Trissa’s stark warning ringing through my head, I grabbed the juice and put it to my lips.
Trissa’s hand came out to stop me. “I’ll take the back of the house, Elle the front, and you will be alone inside. Can you handle that?”
Fuck no.
“Yes.”
She nodded, seeming pleased with my confidence, though I was really questioning my mother’s decision making right now.
“I trained you well. I’m not worried,” she finally said, almost like she herself needed to hear it. “Scream if you need help, but these things are best done as a one woman show.”
Damn. My mom was like a Fae thief-assassin. Sneaking into Sons of Darkness strongholds and retrieving the lost crystals of Faerie. It was kind of badass when I stopped to think about it. “And don’t get any ideas about drinking this stuff all the time. More than one dose in twenty-four hours acts as a poison.”
Oh fabulous. Thanks for almost leaving that out.
Without wasting another minute, I pressed the cold glass vial to my lips and tipped it back in one shot. Foul smelling liquid poured down my throat and I gagged as the smell hit my nostrils, but the taste was surprisingly sweet and peppery.
“Good luck!” Elle whispered, reaching out to squeeze my hand quickly. I looked down at my body as it slowly…
Holy shit!
I’d disappeared.
“Go!” Trissa hissed.
Letting my wings burst from my back, I zipped across the large front yard of the farmhouse and right up to the front door. No one was manning the front, which told me they didn’t have a big enough group guarding the crystal to allow for outside security. Or at least I hoped that was the case. Zooming right up to the front door, I did one hard tap with my index finger. Maybe they would think it was a rock or something.
Fifty-two … fifty-one … fifty … I was counting in my head. Come on, you idiots. I tapped again because I could hear a muffled TV inside. Footsteps. “Was that a knock?” a deep voice called out.
“I didn’t hear anything,” another voice followed, this one less deep.
The door swung open and I braced myself for a hideous beast. But the guy that opened it was … normal looking, but for the fact that he looked like he had a small pair of brown horns on his forehead. It was one of them, one of the Sons of Darkness. Shaking it off, I tucked my wings flat down my back and slid right between him and the doorframe, slipping inside.
“No one there,” he called to two guys sitting on the couch. “I’m gonna have a smoke anyway. I’ll keep watch until we get orders on where to move the crystal.”