Chapter Seven

I pedaled hard to get to Wade’s apartment as fast as possible. I needed enough time to check things out and get back before Nina started to worry. I really didn’t need Dan driving around looking for me again. If Wade’s truck still wasn’t there, I was breaking in. I screeched to a halt in the alley, propped my bike against a wall and snuck around to check the parking lot. His truck still wasn’t here. Had he ran after that night in the forest?

Time for me to find out. I crept toward the door that led to the stairway to his apartment, until I felt it. I looked around wildly, not seeing anything out of place. It had been bad enough at school, surrounded by people, but here it was enough to make the fear from Sunday morning thrum through my veins, making me want to puke.

“Miss Penchant?”

The small voice behind me nearly scared me out of my jeans. I whirled around to face the owner of the voice and came eye to top of bald head with a small older guy. I looked down into his watery greenish eyes almost hidden by a bulbous nose.

I crossed my arms in front of my chest, sure my heart beating this hard had to be visible. Should I admit that was my name? Who was this guy? “What’s it to you?”

“Please drop the attitude, Miss Penchant. I’m here to offer you a job.”

My face hardened into that expression that Nina called the block, arms tightening even more. “I didn’t apply for any jobs.”

“No, but you are certainly qualified. Willingly or not, you will be coming with me and hearing what we have to offer.” He tilted his head, the sun reflecting off the giant bald patch on top.

“Oh really,” I snarled. “Is it you that’s been following me all day? And just how are you going to drag me off in the middle of an apartment complex with no one noticing?”

The dwarf sighed, loosening his red tie with one hand. “I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this. If you insist on continuing to be rude, we will have no choice but to do this the hard way.”

I raised an eyebrow in challenge, tensing up a little. No way this pipsqueak was making me go anywhere. Wade was a big guy and he’d had a hard time getting me down. Wade.

Coincidence that this guy found me outside Wade’s apartment? I didn’t think so. Curiosity was definitely one of my weaknesses, but I wasn’t ready to die twice in one week. Though, this could be my only chance to go after Wade. And what would it hurt to just see what the guy had to offer? If he tried to take me into a building or whatever, I could reevaluate.

With an absolutely serene expression, the dwarf lifted his wrist to his mouth. “Snatch is go,” he said, hopefully talking into something. If not, he was even more nuts than I’d first thought.

What were the chances this was connected to last week and ending up in the woods? Almost no doubt. “No, wait. I’ll go with you.”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“As you wish.” The dwarf moved his wrist back up to his mouth. “Cancel the last order, subject has agreed to come of her own volition.” He put his arm down and looked at me, not blinking. “Please follow me.”

He took off around the building, moving fast for the length of his legs.

I ran after him. I caught up when he paused at a brick wall in a secluded alley. As soon as we locked eyes, he stepped into the wall. Literally. The wall bowed around him and he disappeared.

Great. So much for being in a public place. I had a feeling he wasn’t just going to leave me alone if I didn’t follow. What happened if he tracked me down and confronted me in front of Dan or Nina? Not going to happen. Better to just get this over with right now. Plus the guy was starting to tick me off. Did he really have to be so rude?

I closed my eyes and jumped through the wall. It felt really weird, like the time I fell in quicksand at Yellowstone, before mom dropped me at the home. It held me out for a second more, then snapped me forward and spit me out, nearly sending me sprawling across the floor.

The dwarf was waiting for me on the other side, back lit by cool blue lights floating along chiseled stone walls.

“Stay close,” he said and bustled away.

“Where are we?” I asked, shuffling along in the sandy footing.

“Now is not the time for questions. Let me get the pleasantries out of the way, even if you don’t seem to be a pleasant person.” The dwarf spun around and faced me, then went into a deep bow. “I am Mr. Cumat.”

A giggle tried to escape. How did he take himself seriously? I held it in and gave him a polite smile. “Nice to meet you.” I dropped the smile. “Now where are we?” I’d been asking that question too much lately.

Mr. Cumat snorted at me, no doubt considering how rude I was being. “We are in one of the tunnels.” He turned and continued down the tunnel, apparently expecting me to follow.

“What tunnels?” I asked, staying only a couple steps behind him. “You can’t just say one of the tunnels and expect me to know what that means.”

As we moved farther in, the walls changed from stone to some building material that was such a bright white it was nearly blinding. The walls themselves seemed to be the source of the only light in the hallway, now that we were past the entrance and the little floating lights were gone. I’d definitely never seen anything like this before. The floor changed from the sandy footing of a cave to white tiles.

The dwarf sighed and pinched the top of his nose as he walked. “The tunnels that lead from Faerie to the human world. Do you know nothing?”

I was going to ignore the last part of that. And he’d just walked me through a wall, so I didn’t need to pretend I didn’t know about the fae. “You mean I could take this tunnel from my world to Faerie?” Doors started showing up along the walls. Lots of doors. I inched toward the middle of the tunnel.

“Not your world, the human world. You forget where you’re from.”

Oh no he didn’t. “I’m not forgetting where I’m from, that little ball in the sky called Earth, that’s where I’m from.”

“That is where you were born, but not where you are from.”

I crossed my arms and stopped walking, heat starting up my neck. “You aren’t taking me to Faerie, are you? This isn’t going to work if you think you’re going to get me to take one more step toward that place.” Faerie was chock full of liars, deceivers, and all other kinds of low lives that I really didn’t want to be around. Plus, there was all kinds of weird stuff there that would probably find a way to kill me. At least according to my mom.

“You will not be taken to Faerie right now, if you cooperate. And why do you seem to think that would be a bad thing? It is the place of your ancestors.” I glared down at him and he threw up his hands. “It’s useless to argue about this now. Shall we continue?”

“Not until you give me a better idea of why I’m here. I’m not going any farther until I know. Did Wade send you?”

The dwarf muttered something to himself. He looked like he was about to speak when a voice from down the hallway interrupted him.

“Hey Cumat, you need any help? Starren said to…”

That voice. I knew that voice. But no way I could be so lucky. I spun around to get a better look. Sure enough. He must have come out of one of the doors we’d passed.

Wade.