Dark Matter (24 page)

Gibbit let out a gusty chortle. “Don’t
you think your being a bit dramatic?”

The dog didn’t seem to mind, and I
liked the name. It suited him. I reached up and petted him between
the eyes. I would need a stool to reach behind his ears. “We’ll
call you Cerb for short.”

Needless to say, we took him outside.
He was just too big to be in the house. The moment Cerb locked eyes
with what was currently the biggest of the group, he took off after
it. I didn’t bother trying to call him back. That animal was going
to do whatever he wanted. The rest of the beasts chased after the
two as if eager to see the bloodbath. I went back
inside.

When I turned toward Gibbit, he had a
funny look on his face. I couldn’t tell if it was admiration or
fear. I cleared my throat and asked, “So what now?”

He gave me thoughtful frown. “What do
you mean?”

I shot him a look. “We can’t just stay
here forever.”

He grunted. “I see no reason to leave
anytime soon.”

I started walking to my room, but spoke
to him over my shoulder. “I’ve already told you. I have to find a
way to help Zach.”

“
I know what you told me,
but you seem to be deaf. That lord is stronger than all the others
combined. He just don’t use his power very often.”

Now I was intrigued. I followed him
into the living room. He was having trouble climbing onto the sofa
so I grabbed his pants at the waist and lifted. He turned and
swatted at my hand.

I laughed. “Whose house is this
anyway?”

“
What makes you think it
ain’t mine?”

I looked at the sofa pointedly. “It
isn’t exactly your size.”

He shook his head, not answering me, so
I asked him the question I had meant to ask before I got
distracted. “Why doesn’t Zach use his power?”

“
Never asked
him.”

“
If you had to
guess?”

“
Fae do not
speculate.”

“
I’ve heard that excuse
already. Unless you have a better one, I’d appreciate an
answer.”

“
It ain’t none of my
business, and I don’t meddle where I don’t belong. You should take
a lesson in that.”

“
I’m willing to risk it.
Just answer me.”

He grunted derisively then let out a
gust of a breath. “Your Zach has been on top before, and I guess he
didn’t like it much. He was even supposed to become our first king,
but he disappeared before they could pin him down. No one could
find him for centuries. It wasn’t until recently that he even
started participating in the tournament of lords.”

I could see why they would want him as
their ruler. Reluctant kings are usually the best. The fact that he
had more power than the others didn’t surprise me much. The more I
was around the fae, the more I realized exactly how much restraint
he had taken with me. The only thing was Heath was now lord of
fire, and I wasn’t sure that Gibbit knew that.

“
Is he stronger than Heath?”
I asked with more than a little curiosity.

He didn’t answer right away and I was
beginning to think that he had taken to ignoring me, but then he
shook his head. “I can’t know that for sure, miss. If I had to
guess…” He gave me a mock smile then continued, “I would say they
are pretty equally matched.”

Great.

I walked over to the window remembering
the first time I had actually seen Zach. He was the epitome of self
assurance standing there as if he owned the world.

I gazed out the window, wondering what
my life would be like if I had bonded with him when I had the
chance. A tinge of regret thickened my throat.

The sky was dark with turbulent clouds.
Thunder boomed so loud that I ducked under the nearest table and
covered my head. Not that it would have shielded me from anything
major. It was one of those old-time parlor tables that was only
about as wide as my hips.

Gibbit laughed at me. I smiled
sheepishly and rose onto my knees, peeking out the window. “What
was that?”

He walked over to my side. His eyes
darted all around and a grim expression settled on his face. “Get
up.” I jumped to my feet feeling a deep fear sink into my chest. He
grabbed my hand, whispering, “Get us outta here.” Another crack of
thunder roared around us making me think it wasn’t thunder at
all.

“
Why don’t you do
it?”

“
No more questions. Just do
it!”

I closed my eyes and imagined a picture
I had seen of Hawaii, hoping I would be able to go somewhere that I
hadn’t actually been without a guiding hand. Whoever was out there
would probably think that I would go home or to St. Mary’s and this
was the best chance we had to throw them off our scent until we
could find a better place to hide. I didn’t give doubt time to take
hold and concentrated harder.

We materialized on a very crowded
beach. Someone screamed and another person cursed.

Fabulous, I had just exposed fae
existence to a bunch of tourists. I looked around frantically and
settled on the mountains in the distance, hoping no one would have
time to take a picture of us.

The only thing surrounding us now was
lush foliage. My body groaned from all the disorienting travel, but
we were safe. Gibbit let go of my hand and stepped away from me
with a little chuckle.

“
You’re full of surprises,”
he said.

“
What was that coming for us
back there?”

“
Looks like someone enlisted
the help of the royal guard. They are the only fae with the ability
to transport in and out of the borderlands.”

I frowned when he didn’t get the
obvious. “If that is true, how did I just do it?”

A look of pure awe dominated his
expression. “I don’t know, miss, I honestly didn’t think you could
manage it.”

“
What? But you told
me—”

“
It was worth a shot.” He
took his hat off, and his white hair fell messily around his
shoulders. “Boy, you just got me outta a whole load of trouble. I
owe you.”

He took my hand again, his beady eyes
shifting around the overgrown path we were on, his fingers
trembling. “She’ll kill me if she finds me.”

I stooped to look into his eyes to see
if this was his idea of a sick joke. “Aren’t you
immortal?”

He didn’t go into great detail, he just
said, “No.”

I breathed in deeply, trying to wrap my
mind around what he had said. “But I thought all fae were
immortal.”

“
Trolls live a very long
time, but we do die eventually. Technically, we ain’t fae, neither,
so we don’t really count.”

I fell to my knees under the load of
what that meant. His life was in my hands. It could have been Heath
or Tabitha after us back there, but the way my heart had raced, I
didn’t think so. I was pretty sure Ainessa had found a way of
tracking Gibbit, or me, in the borderlands which I had been told
was not possible.

I didn’t want to be responsible for
anyone. I didn’t want this burden, but it was mine to bear whether
I liked it or not. I reached out and touched his cold, scaly skin
which turned deep purple where my fingers rested. I wondered what
he was exactly, but I didn’t have the nerve to ask him. “I’m sorry,
Gibbit.”

He rubbed the top of his bald head.
“I’m not the one you should feel sorry for. I get to move on from
this life.” He stared at me for only a moment before he bustled
away. “We should get going. They’re sure to follow us.”

Speaking of someone stuck in an eternal
rut. “Do you know where Zach is?”

He shook his head firmly. “I will not
see you delivered to those…people. They are evil, miss.”

Hope blossomed in my throat. I let out
a gasp. “You do know where his is.”

“
I’ll not take you
there.”

I could try to drift on my own, but I
didn’t want to go alone anymore. “You said you owed me.”

He clenched his tiny fists at his
sides. “So eager for death, are you?”

Chapter
Seventeen

I hadn’t really considered that someone
might want me dead. How would that help anyone? “Why would they
kill me?”

“
They’d do anything to get
what they want. You are the key to unlocking the mysteries of
power, Rayla. Do not ask this of me.”

I felt the tiny compulsion as if it
were a pesky gnat. I scowled at him. “You are just like everyone
else.”

“
I am trying to protect
you.”

“
Gibbit, I can’t run
forever.”

He touched my arm. His cool fingers
were shocking against my skin. “You don’t need to run forever, only
five years…more like four now.”

“
Then what? Settle down with
a nice member of the Order and hope they don’t experiment on my
children? Whether I like it or not, it seems I am the only one that
really has the ability to change things.”

His hand dropped to his side as fast as
the resolve fell from his eyes. “If we are going to get you to that
island, we need to prepare.”

I bent to hug him, but he took my hand
instead. Suddenly we were underground again. My head banged into
the ceiling the moment we appeared. I dropped to my knees because
even stooping was painful.

I tried not to notice, but it was all I
could do to not cover my nose. The place smelled like
him.

Piles of junk were stacked to the roof.
The whole room started to close in on me, and I knew I wasn’t going
to be able to stay here for very long. Gibbit didn’t waste any
time. He dived into a particularly smelly pile of rubble and was
currently being swallowed up. A muffled but satisfied groan could
be heard before he wriggled free of the mass.

He held his hand out toward me with a
big smile eating up his face. “Here.”

There was no way I was taking the
disgusting thing writhing like a pile of maggots in his hand. It
looked like it had been moldering for a million years. I backed up
and ran into a mound of who knew what. I had to twist around to
keep it from falling. Once I was sure it wasn’t going to bury me, I
glanced over my shoulder. “I don’t know what that is, but no thank
you.”

He came closer and the smell of him
mixed with this new concoction nearly made my stomach rebel.
“Gibbit, get that away from me!”

He gave me a funny look, as though I
had just lost my brain. “You need to eat it, miss.”

My jaw fell slack, and I stared at him.
He couldn’t be serious, but he looked the part. He had a hand on
his hip and was glaring at me.

“
I am not putting that in my
mouth.”

“
What I if I was to tell you
this would cure your hunger problems?”

At the mention of food, my stomach
grumbled greedily. How had I forgotten about that again? My
insatiable hunger really would be a problem if I planned to do
anything more than faint on arrival. I could take fae food with me
to the island, but that seemed dangerous. It could easily be stolen
from me and then where would I be? If there was a way out of this,
I should do whatever it took. I poked the questionable item and
slimy goop oozed down my finger. “No way! There is no way I am
eating that!”

Unbelievably, he looked offended. “This
is a priceless delicacy where I come from. There isn’t much of it
left in this world. You can’t think to go to that island the way
you are.”

I swallowed hard, grimacing before I
plugged my nose. “What is it?”

“
Only a plant, miss. It
would be considered a fruit…” He stared at it and shook his head.
“I think. Basically, it has healing properties and it’s brimming
with vitamins.” He smiled big and shoved his hand closer to
me.

That was comforting. The thing writhed
more vigorously as though it was eager to escape. I gagged at the
mere thought of biting down on it, but I opened my palm.

Gibbit released a satisfied sigh and
tore off a piece. He sniffed it as though it were gourmet chocolate
and placed it gingerly into my palm.

It was cool and squishy and smelled
like something that had died last week. I could only imagine what
it would be like to swallow, but I didn’t want to go there. With
shaking fingers I picked it up and opened my mouth wide. I dropped
the writhing mass as far back in my throat as I could manage and
gulped it down.

A shock of cold spread throughout my
body, making me shiver uncontrollably then it just stopped. I
waited for the thing to crawl back up, but thankfully it was
behaving at the moment.

My stomach lurched and gargled.
Suddenly the sweetest, most heavenly flavor burst into my mouth. It
was unlike anything I had ever tasted, but if I had to compare it
to something, it was refreshing like ripe watermelon on a hot
summer’s day yet smooth like ice cream. I felt rejuvenated and
energetic and exuberant all at once. I just knew I could do
anything.

Was it some sort of drug? I didn’t
really care if it cured my addiction. “This doesn’t have any
adverse side effects does it?”