“Riley,” he hisses after me. “No!”
I ignore Nine. He’s bigger than me, and probably faster, but I want it more. I pull up to the tree seconds before I sense Nine closing in on me from behind. That’s more than enough time for me to prove that I wasn’t seeing things.
It’s Jason. And he isn’t moving.
Still as a statue, his big, black eyes wide but unseeing, he has one hand held out in front of him as if he was begging before he was frozen in place. The wispy, floaty candy floss that’s supposed to be grass is creeping up his legs, wrapping around his knees. He’s trapped.
I’ve got to get the hell out of here before that happens to me next.
I back into Nine, hitting his chest with my shoulder in a frantic attempt to escape the terrible truth in front of me. I bounce off of him, my hoodie and his jacket protecting me from another touch. He reaches for me. I dodge him easily, my gloved fingers trembling as I press them to my lips.
Jason. The goofy, smiling, optimistic guy from Black Pine. He always seemed nice, and he spent countless sessions detailing the big plans he had for what his life was going to be like when they finally let him back out.
He’s been gone from the asylum the last few days. I remember missing him at breakfast… what day was that? Sunday. Pancakes. He wasn’t there. He was missing.
No.
Not missing.
He’s in Faerie. With a certainty that I can’t explain, I know that’s where he is.
And, now, so I am.
12
“What happened to him?” The words slip out through the gaps between my fingers. I’m shaking. “What happened to Jason?”
Nine makes a rough sound in the back of his throat. Not a scoff, or a huff. It’s frustration mixed with fury and, despite my shock at seeing Jason like that, I can tell Nine’s not mad at me.
; But hell if he isn’t angry.
“You know that human?” he asks.
I nod.
“Then he’s a warning to you.”
What? “I don’t—what? What do you mean, a warning?”
“The Fae Queen. These are her gardens. She would’ve left him here for you to find him if you came to Faerie before she had you brought to her.” Nine’s silver eyes don’t seem so out of place in this otherworld. They shine in his face, a perfect match to the bark on the tree that shadows Jason. “He was in the asylum.”
It’s not a question. I nod anyway.
“How long?”
I swallow roughly. “I don’t know. A year maybe? Two. I didn’t really pay attention. He was nice, though. He doesn’t deserve this.”
“If he’s here, then you can be sure the human deserves a fate far worse than this,” Nine says coldly.
The iciness in his voice stings me. I flinch, then step away from him, balling my hand into a fist and dropping it at my side. “How can you be so heartless?”
“I’m not. My loyalty is to only one who has human blood.” Me. He’s talking about me. “Besides, he was as good as dead the first time he let Melisandre touch his soul. He belonged to the queen. To leave him in her garden as a statue is a kindness compared to what I would have done to the mortal if I discovered he was working against you.”
“Jason?” I turn to look at the statue again, trembling noticeably when it’s pretty damn obvious that he really is a statue. He hasn’t moved an inch. “He wasn’t working against me. I barely knew the guy. He was just another patient inside—”
“No. He wasn’t.” Nine glides easily around me, blocking Jason from my sight. “Don’t you understand? I needed you safe. I needed to put you somewhere protected before the Fae Queen sent her soldiers after you. But she did anyway. Not fae—you would’ve sensed them in your domain the second they crossed into the human world. But another human? You’d never guess they were on the side of the queen.”