The Lightning-Struck Heart (24 page)

“Wind-rape hair?” Ryan asked my parents.

“It’s a thing,” Dad said.

“Gary’s very sensitive about it,” Mom said.

“Pete, can you go get his damn scarves?” I said. “He’ll never let me hear the end of it if you don’t. I can only imagine how the next six months will go.”

“Yes, Pete, be a dear would you?” Gary asked. “I
surely
wouldn’t want to be a bother to
Sam
. I’m only carrying his possessions
on my back
. I’d like the one with the star pattern, the silk one we got in Forakesh, and maybe the Hydanic one. But heavens, that one
is
more of a fall scarf, and we certainly wouldn’t want me to wear fall in the
spring
—”

“Gary!”

“Okay, fine! Pete. Just… grab them all. I’ll make decisions as we go. Though no one should ever have to make scarf decisions on the fly. That’s just preposterous.”

Pete went back inside.

Ten minutes later.

“A
ND
THE
adventure begins!” I said again. The crowd clapped. It wasn’t as jubilant as before. Fuck them.

We made it two steps.

“Did you pack the hoof pick?” Gary asked.

The crowd sighed.

“No,” I ground out. “I don’t
have
hooves. Ergo, it’s not my responsibility.”

“Well,
I
certainly didn’t think of it,” Gary retorted. “I was too busy doing lunges to make sure I was strong enough to carry
all of your shit
on my back like some common pack mule! And you
know
how my hooves get. I may be a strong, independent unicorn, but I have delicate hooves that must be properly taken care of lest they begin to hurt. And you
know
how I am with hurt hooves.”

“Trust me, I know. The bitching never stops.”

“Then why are you still
talking
about it?”

I ran my hand over my face. “Pete.”

“Yes, Sam.”

“Could you please get Gary’s hoof pick?”

“Yes, Sam. Sam?”

“Yes, Pete.”

“You should probably stop grinding your teeth. That’s not healthy.”

“Thank you, Pete. I wouldn’t have known otherwise.”

He walked away, muttering something about snarky apprentices.

Five minutes later.

“A
ND
THE
adventure begins,” I muttered. A few people clapped. Most just stared.

We made it three steps.

“Tiggy,” Gary called. “Oh,
Tiggy
. Did you remember to pack your pajamas? You know you can’t sleep without your pajamas.”

Tiggy’s shoulders slumped. “I forgot,” he said.

“Pete.”

“Yes, Sam.”

“Tiggy’s pajamas.”

“Yes, Sam.”

Seven minutes later.

“A
ND
THE
adventure begins,” I snarled. No one clapped this time.

I took a step.

Nothing.

And then another.

Nothing.

And then another.

Still
nothing. I breathed a sigh of relief. I held my head up and looked north.

“Oh shoot,” Gary said. “I forgot my—”

“
Gary
!” I shouted at him.

“Kidding, kidding. Jeez, Sam. Maybe calm down a little bit, huh? You’re looking a little stressed out. Maybe we should play a traveling game. Like ‘I Spy’ or something.”

“Gary, you don’t know how to play I Spy. Every time, you mess it up and say exactly what it is you are looking at.”

“I do
not
. Watch. I Spy with my little eye something that is the castle.”

“Gary.”

“Sam has a guess, everyone! The joy I feel is rapturous!”

“Is it the castle?”

“Yes,” he said beaming. “You are so good at thi—Wait.
Dammit
.”

“This is going to be a long trip,” I mumbled as I led the way to the gates of the City of Lockes.

“I’ll go again. I Spy with my little eye something that is that chair. You’ll never guess.
Dammit
!”

Six-Inch-Tall Angry Naked Men

with Wings

F
OUR
DAYS
later, Gary still hadn’t figured out how to play I Spy.

Ryan tried to explain the concept, but it was pointless. I didn’t tell him that because it kept him occupied and his attention off me. I still wasn’t sure if I was mad at him, even if he
was
a self-proclaimed Sam Girl. (I pretended that note meant absolutely nothing to me, even though I looked at it every night before I fell asleep—shut up.) I could feel him looking at me every now and then, but I stared resolutely forward, watching and waving to everyone that passed us on the Old Road. Many had already heard of the dragon taking Justin, but none had actually seen the dragon itself.

The first night we stayed at an inn in a little hamlet outside of the City of Lockes. Ryan was swarmed as soon as we got inside, people clamoring to meet him. Gary, Tiggy, and I ditched him immediately and made our way up to the room. Ryan stumbled in hours later, going for the empty bed, since Tiggy, Gary, and I were curled up on the other one, Tiggy’s legs off the end as he held us against his chest. I cracked open an eye and Ryan had a frown on his face as he glanced over at us. I didn’t know what that frown meant, but I took it as extraordinary judging that he was not allowed on the Cool Kids Bed and therefore was feeling sad and alone and wishing he had been invited.

That probably wasn’t it at all, but it sure as shit made me feel better.

The third night we camped under the stars. Gary tried to tell a ghost story but got distracted by fireflies and chased them. Ryan smiled quietly after him and I wanted to throw my jar of beans at his face.

The fourth day, we came to the fork in the road where the River Hermed (which bisected Verania from the tributaries in the north until it reached the sea) met up with the Old Road. The river itself flowed through the Dark Woods. If we followed it north, we’d hit Meridian City and therefore Old Clearing within ten days. If we took the long way around via the Old Road, it would be three weeks.

The others stopped behind me.

“Oh my gods, are we finally there?” Gary asked. “We’ve been walking for
weeks
.”

I rolled my eyes. “It’s the fourth day.”

“Tell that to my thighs,” he said.

“I don’t want to tell your thighs anything.”

“Rude. Ryan would talk to my thighs.”

“Not even involved,” Ryan said.

“Can we kick him out of the adventure yet?” Gary asked.

“I smash him?” Tiggy asked.

“No smashing,” Ryan said.

“Maybe later,” I said, distracted. “Time for a course change, boys.”

“Nope,” Ryan said, following my gaze along the river. “Not going to happen.”

I glared at him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were in charge here.”

“Funny,” he said. “I didn’t know
you
were.”

“Oooh,” Gary and Tiggy said.

“I’m the wizard here,” I said.

“Apprentice,” Gary whispered.

“And I’m the Knight Commander,” Ryan said.

“Of the Eighth Battalion,” I reminded him. “Which is the Castle Guard. We are not in the castle. Therefore, you are in charge of
nothing
.”

“Oh snap,” Tiggy said.

“I taught him to say that,” Gary said fondly.

“Morgan said to stay on the main road,” Ryan said, “for your safety.”

“I can handle myself.”

“Yeah, I’ve seen how you handle yourself,” he muttered. “Works out real well, doesn’t it?” He winced. “Dammit. I’m sorry. That’s not—”

“Go whatever way you want,” I said coolly. “We’re going along the river.”

I turned and walked away. Tiggy and Gary followed. I didn’t look back.

S
O
OF
course it was fairies.

I
hated
fairies.

One minute I’m cursing Ryan in my head even as he was following us with a kicked puppy look on his face that was
not
affecting me in the slightest, and the next I felt the whisper of magic that wasn’t my own.

I said, “Oh shit.”

Ryan said, “What?”

Gary said, “Yeah, we’re screwed.”

Tiggy said, “I don’t like this.”

Magic is cool, okay? It’s fucking
awesome
. I can do shit that people could only
dream
about. Morgan opened up my eyes to a wide world of things I never thought possible.
I can make things out of nothing
.

But you know what
sucks
about magic?

How easy it is to bind it. To confine it.

To trap it.

Vermilion root. Countermagic. Antimagic. The feathers of a phoenix. The blood of a dragon. Binding potions.

And fairies.

I
hated
fucking fairies.

Because they hated me. Well, one in particular.

And I could already feel my magic starting to dampen.

Gary and Tiggy could feel it because they were magical creatures. Tiggy’s blood wasn’t as potent as a full-on giant, but it still was more powerful than a human. Same with Gary. Since his horn had been taken from him, he didn’t have the strength he used to. But they were both magic in their own right so they could feel that same thrum that sizzled across my skin.

“We should probably run,” I said.

“That’s probably a good idea,” Gary agreed.

“Fast,” Tiggy said.

“What?” Ryan asked. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” I said, moving behind him and pushing him to get him moving. The shield he wore strapped to his back felt hot under my fingers. “Nothing at all. This is just the time in the adventure that we practice how fast we can run for no apparent reason whatsoever. It’s called the Super Fun Run. Everybody loves it. Now do it.”

He snorted and looked over his shoulder. “This is going to be the part where I’ll get to tell you I told you so about leaving the Old Road, isn’t it? It’s literally only been thirty minutes.
Literally
.”

“Nope. There will be no I told you so. None whatsoever. I am just worried about your cardiovascular health. We need to get your blood moving. Keep you nice and limber.”

Fucker was just pressing back against my hands. “And why do you need me limber, Sam?” he asked, sounding almost amused.

And of course my mouth went dry and I thought of sexy things like getting fucked up against a wall and telling him his smile would look even better if I was sitting on it. Somehow, I was able to restrain myself and instead made an inarticulate noise that came out somewhere between a growl and a moan. “I don’t. Just. Shut your mouth. And your face.”

“Sam,” Gary snapped. “Stop touching Ryan and start running.”

“I will punch your legs and leave you here for the fairies,” I threatened him, pulling my hands away from Ryan as if he’d burned me.

“
Fairies
?” Ryan asked incredulously.

“No,” I said. “No fairies. Just running.”

Tiggy was already taking off down the road, kicking up large plumes of dust. Gary followed him, the packs on his back rattling and bouncing.

“Fairies, Sam,” Ryan said.

I was too busy running to even think of something to say, but have no fear, it would have been witty and triumphant and he would have bowed at the word play.

That and the fact that I was still stuck on
limber
.

Like, how bendy was he?

Could he touch the ground with his hands without bending his knees?

That was an image that wasn’t going to leave my head.

It showed the true depths of my talent that I was able to multitask in such a way to be running from certain imprisonment while also fantasizing about Ryan saying things like “I’ve always wanted to try and do the splits. On your cock.”

Running with a boner is no fun. Trust me on that.

Fortunately for me, I didn’t have to do it very long.

Because I stepped into a fairy ring.

Like a
douchebag
.

“Goddammit,” I muttered, rubbing my forehead where I’d struck a seemingly invisible wall. I looked down and saw a circle of purple mushrooms surrounding me.

I looked farther down the path. Gary and Tiggy were stuck in their own fairy rings.

Ryan, on the other hand, had a large tree bending toward him, wrapping its limbs around his arms, holding them above his head. It’d happened so fast, he hadn’t been able to even reach for his sword.

“So,” he said.

“Don’t.”

“This is what it feels like to be captured with Sam of Wilds.”

“Shut it.”

“No, seriously. I wondered how quickly this would happen. I honestly expected it to at
least
take a full day.”

“I hope you get splinters in your wrist,” I told him. “Like big ones that get right under the skin and are a bitch to get out.”

“No, but does
everyone
want to imprison you?” he asked. “Because it sure seems like everyone wants to imprison you.”

“Yes,” Gary called back from farther down the road. “Everyone does. Sam has a tendency to piss people off when he talks. Or breathes. Or exists.”

“Hey!
No
. That is not even remotely true. I am
adored
. Maybe not universally. But by some people.”

“Like your parents,” Gary said.

“And me,” Tiggy said.

“
Thank
you, Tiggy,” I said. “You are a true friend and the feeling is mutual. Unlike, say, the feelings I have for the other two people on our adventure team.”

“Really?” Gary said. “Enlighten me, Sam. Just what kind of feelings do you have for Ryan?” A pause, a hesitation, the longest fucking three seconds in the history of time. “And me?”

“There are at least thirteen ways I could see your life ending in the next four minutes,” I told him. “Three of them involve lava.”