Instead of bright sun like I expected, jumping to Cali and all, here there was just a light glow all around us. Was it still sunrise here? How far behind us were they time-wise? I got my sight back, adjusting to the dimness after the bright white of the hallway. Great. Another woods. As if I needed a reminder to watch Wade. Things looked familiar, the kind of trees anyway. I’d been here before, a long time ago with my mom. Yosemite, or somewhere close. And here I thought we would get to go shopping after we were done taking this guy down.

Something crashed into my back. I jumped forward and twisted around in one move. Oh. Maybe I should have stepped away from the portal. “You okay, Cray?” His big glasses were askew on his face, his eyes wide behind the lenses. He pushed his glasses up on his nose and nodded.

Were glasses normal for fae? I had perfect vision, but was that because of the regenerating thing?

“I brought us in a mile from where you suggested, Cray,” Starren said. “I didn’t want to drop right in on him in case he knows we’re coming. There haven’t been any signs to indicate something else fae could be in the area, so it should be him. Can you feel anything?”

He closed his eyes for a moment, then they flew open and he nodded.

“Lead the way,” Starren said.

Cray looked nervous for a second, then moved forward.

I followed the team, not really paying attention to Wade or Starren as I studied Cray. Being able to sense fae energy would really come in handy, especially when you wanted to avoid fae in general. Not that I didn’t like the regenerating thing, but that would probably have been more helpful for me. I’d have never gotten involved with Wade in the first place. Never hung out with him, never started to lo-… nope. Not going there.

The amount of light was growing. We really must have hit here just at sunrise. Trudging through the woods, small sticks and plants breaking underfoot, the smell of the trees. It all brought back memories of the last time I went hiking. I glanced at Wade to see if he was thinking the same thing, but he wouldn’t look at me. That either meant he was, or he was so focused on the job ahead he hadn’t noticed. A thought made my evil side happy. We could trudge around in these woods all they wanted. Blisters. I was immune. How about these city fae?

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A mile on city streets should only take a person fifteen minutes. Out here where we had to dodge around rocks and massive trees, it was a good half hour before Cray stopped us, looking down into a dished valley.

“The energy is coming from that hill,” Cray said. It was the first time I’d heard him speak. His voice was surprisingly deep.

“Trisha,” Starren said.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Go be bait.”

“Be careful,” Wade said. Strange coming from the guy that had killed me last week. And I still wasn’t sure they weren’t trying to kill me now. Something seemed off about this whole situation. I ignored him, took a breath and started down the slight grade.

It leveled off after a couple minutes and soon after the trees thinned. Before they were gone I paused, staring at a strange hill in the middle of the forest floor. “I feel you, Atreyu. I hope this doesn’t turn out to be a giant turtle, I don’t want to get snotted on,” I muttered. I’d probably watched too many movies at the children’s home. Something about the two worlds in that one made me think about Faerie, thereby reminding me of my mom. I’d watched The Neverending Story a bejillion times. I glanced back at the trees, hoping to see Starren. For once, I wanted her to tell me what to do. They were gone.

“They’re probably just trying to get me killed,” I snarled quietly. If I didn’t know that the fae couldn’t lie, I’d be running the other way right now. It was get this job done or get dragged to some world I didn’t know anything about, with people I didn’t know. I’d had enough of that growing up, thank you very much.

A step. Another. Something sniffed. I froze.

I didn’t move for a few seconds, then almost laughed at myself. A sniff? Really? Was that Jaden’s new, unknown power, a super sniffer? I laughed at myself quietly until the sound came again, louder and longer.

Okay, no way that was Jaden. A bear? That would not be cool. I’d heal while it did the damage, but how long until it decided to let me be? Ouch. I backed a few steps away slowly.

The earth began to shudder, nearly knocking me to the ground. The little hill shook, dirt rained down as something stood up from underneath it, knocking the soil from its body. My fingernails bit into my hands. Maybe a bear wouldn’t have been so bad. This thing was massive, its stony looking head nearly as tall as the trees.

Without warning, whatever it was moved over to a small stand of trees and ripped one out by the roots. It paused to get its bearings, more dirt raining down off its greyish skin.

“Oh crap,” I whispered as its gaze finally found me. I had a bad feeling that I was about to die.