Zoey hadn’t realized how much the dancing had exhausted her. Once Caynin was gone, he had taken all the thrill with him, and she quickly fell asleep. She woke at noon but could not summon the motivation to get out of bed – the weight of Caynin’s hurt still lay heavily on her shoulders. She lay there for another hour and tried not to think about the previous night. Yet, the more she tried not to think about it, the more she thought about it. She had said she was sorry, but she was certainly not going to beg for his forgiveness.
Zoey sat upright as she realized she had been so carried away with Caynin she had forgotten about the trial. Abruptly, Zoey sat up in bed and wondered if she had passed. No one had said anything about it. She must get up, get dressed, and go ask…someone.
Once she was in the gardens, she decided she was not going to find Caynin to ask him. If he was still angry, she did not want to be around him. Because she had slept so late, she had missed breakfast. Rane might be happy about that.
If she had failed the trial, Rane would be one of the first to know, to gloat. She sought him in the kitchen but found it vacant, so she helped herself to bread. She ate as she walked and found Rane sitting on the edge of a fountain, apparently deep in thought.
“Rane,” she said.
He snapped to the present and got to his feet so that she had to look up at him. “Are you here to gloat? To demand respect?”
Zoey smiled as she realized what he meant. “I passed?”
“With flying colors,” he said through clenched teeth.
She almost hugged him out of happiness but then remembered he hated her. He looked tired, his hair was messy, although he had not been dancing all night. Had he reprimanded Caynin for dancing with her?
“Oh, what’s the matter?” she asked him. “Are you really this upset that I passed?”
“I don’t have to be upset. I know you’ll fail next time.”
She shouldn’t indulge in this petty conversation, but she could not stop herself. “Yeah? And why’s that?”
“Because you’re arrogant.”
She snorted. She wasn’t arrogant, she was constantly scared, and she tried to hide her fear by coming across as fearless, confident, and self-assured. “Arrogant?”
“Yes, after resisting compulsion from multiple Fata, you just had to eat one of the enchanted cupcakes. You might have a very strong will, and last night you were able to resist, but your arrogance will get the better of you.”
Zoey had not realized the cupcakes had been enchanted, yet Kismet had tried to make her eat one. She hadn’t thought it was about the cupcake but had assumed Kismet had merely been trying to compel her so that she would do what she was told and fail the trial.
She had eaten a cupcake, without being compelled, and from where she had been standing Caynin had a clear view of her. He had not tried to stop her, although he could have, which made her wonder if he had wanted to see what effects the cupcake would have. Yet, he had stopped her from drinking the enchanted wine. Why?
“Are you just going to stand there to annoy me?” Rane’s voice returned her to reality.
She took in his angry frown. “You better get used to it because I’m staying here for the rest of my life.”
She turned around and started to leave when he said, “Then it’s a good thing you won’t have a very long life.”
His words chilled her. He could be referring to her mortal lifespan, or he could be threatening to kill her, despite Caynin’s orders. She stopped and made sure her face was impassive before she turned around and said in a low voice, “My life will be a whole lot longer than yours if you don’t start treating me better.”
His shock was unmistakable, and he didn’t say a single word. As she walked away, Zoey could feel his eyes on her back, like a laser. Many of the Fata were staring at her. Was this because they had heard how she had threatened Rane or because they knew she had passed the first trial? She really was Miss Popular, and she hated it. It didn’t feel like she was a cheerleader at school, but rather as if she was the school’s freak.
She would leave the castle and go for a long walk in the Wandering Woods. Zoey needed to clear her mind, and she wanted to escape all the curious eyes. She hadn’t gone far when she saw a kitsune – a small white fox with three tails. The beautiful animal ran away quickly, as if she were a dangerous predator. As she went further and further, she heard strange, high-pitched cries. What kind of birds could it be? After a while, she realized they weren’t birds, but harpies – small blue faeries with wings instead of arms. They were flying around the edge of the Everwhite Kingdom, in the snow, before the flowers and heat of the human lands resumed. Zoey stepped out of the snow and studied them.
She was mesmerized and didn’t pay attention to where she was placing her feet. It came as a huge surprise when she took a step, heard a click, and then felt an iron chain close around her ankle and yank her into the air, upside down.
She hung there like a bat and tried to process what happened. She had clearly stepped into a well-hidden trap. Oops. Judging by the iron chain, it was meant for a Fata. She wiggled and squirmed but could not break free. Blood was rushing to her head. How long was she going to hang there?
“Stop squirming.” Now that was a familiar voice.
She twisted her neck so that she could look at Eric, and he lowered his bow and arrow when he recognized her. They said each other’s names at the same time.
Eric immediately released the trap, and she fell to the ground. Her landing wasn’t hard, and when she sat up, he was by her side and embraced her. She wrapped her arms around him as well and breathed in his familiar scent of wood, forest, and grass.
“I can’t believe I found you,” Eric whispered.
Those words meant he had been looking for her. All this time, he had been searching. When the hug ended, they remained sitting, close enough to kiss. Zoey almost thought there were tears in Eric’s chocolaty eyes but, then again, her vision was blurry from the tears that had formed against her will.
“Zoey, what happened to you?” He wiped at her cheek, although it was dry. His hands were so much rougher than Caynin’s – ironic, since Caynin was much deadlier.
Zoey wanted to tell him her whole story but couldn’t find a place to begin. She wanted to confide in him, and she wanted him to tell her everything was okay. But then she focused on his arrow which made her think of all the weapons he and his father had. She had assumed he was merely a normal hunter, yet he had obviously set this trap with iron, deadly to Fata, instead of rope. His arrow was iron tipped, and she glimpsed an iron necklace through his shirt. This couldn’t be a coincidence.
“You’re a Slaerie,” she whispered.
Eric was clearly surprised that she knew that word. There was no point in denying it. “Yes.”
He was one of the deadly humans Caynin had told her about – one of the humans who had murdered two faeries. Zoey instantly pulled away from him and ran a hand through her hair. “And your father is one, too?”
“Of course.” He spoke so calmly she could only wonder if he spoke to the faeries like that before he murdered him. How had she ever befriended this killer? How had she ever thought she’d be able to date him?
“For how long have you been hunting the Fata?”
“A long time.”
This was not really an answer, and Zoey’s throat felt tight. “Why?”
“They killed my mother.” This must be Eric’s deepest, darkest secret. “She never committed suicide – that was just the cover-up. She didn’t want to die; she didn’t want to leave me.”
Zoey saw the pain on his face and reached for his arm, despite what he was, despite what he’d done. He did not shy away from her touch. The Fata didn’t travel to the human lands which meant Eric’s mother must have been trespassing on their – a crime punishable by death.
“I didn’t know about the Fata for many years. My father kept me in the dark, to protect me, until I was old enough to learn the truth. He told me about the Fata a few years ago, and I decided to follow in his footsteps,” Eric continued.
A few years ago was when Eric became distant and when their friendship had started falling apart. All the time Zoey had thought it was because she had developed feelings he did not share. In truth, his focus was elsewhere. To a degree, she resented him for not telling her when she used to tell him everything.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” She retracted her hand, not bothering to hide her pained expression.
“I didn’t want you to get caught up in this world.” There was no guilt or regret in his voice, and she wished she had never trusted him.
“Too late now.” She laughed bitterly. This time, he was the one reaching for her, but she drew no comfort in his touch.
“Tell me what happened to you.” His voice was a whisper, as if he was asking her to spill her most closely held secrets.
Zoey did. She told him how she had looked for the Fluver-luzile and found it. She told him how she had been foolish enough to return to the forest and touch the Globetrot-tree, thereby cursing herself in the process. She told him about Rane and the intense dislike he and the Fata had for her. She told him about Caynin but purposefully omitted the kisses they had shared. When she was done, Eric was staring at the ground as if in shock. His hand on her arm was so light the wind might blow it away. “Eric, please say something.”
“You’ve been missing for weeks now. I’ve been so worried.” He looked away from the ground, into her eyes. “Does this Caynin have distinctive white hair?”
“Yes, how did you know?”
Eric inhaled deeply, as if he had a hard time talking. “Shortly after you disappeared, he came to my house. Back then, I did not know what he wanted from us. He did not know we were Slaerie; he did not know he could defend ourselves. We caught him by surprise when he came into our house, and we did not give him time to explain himself. We attacked him with iron and injured him badly. He ran off before we could kill him.”
Caynin was powerful and not just anyone would be able to hurt him. He had been furious was when he had found her iron knife. Surely, he had been as angry when Eric and his father attacked him. She felt that he could have killed them and liked to think that he had held back because he didn’t want to hurt her. He knew she and Eric were friends, because he had seen Eric when he was walking her home that day.
Caynin had come to her room, bleeding and weak. He had told her not to fetch Rane, because Rane would “kill them” for hurting his prince. If Rane killed Eric, it would break her heart, thus Caynin was protecting her. Zoey had helped him, but he had refused to tell her what had happened or where he had been. Now she knew he had been at Eric’s house, but what had he wanted to do there?
“I didn’t know what he wanted at first,” Eric said. “After you went missing, your parents were frantic. They were looking for you everywhere. But after that night, they calmed down and told me that you were visiting your uncle in London. They said you liked it so much there that you might move permanently. None of them were sad or heartbroken, not even Violet. It was not a normal reaction, and I knew their minds had been tampered with by the Fata. I knew that white-haired freak had come to my house to alter my memories so that I would not come looking for you.”
Zoey squeezed his arm, thankful that he had not given up on her. It was nice to know that there was one person out there who hadn’t forgotten her, although he hadn’t always been honest.
“My dad knows they have you,” Eric said. “He has called all of his friends. They’ve been staying with us, searching for you.”
“You’ve been searching for nothing,” she said. “I’m cursed.”
Eric’s face fell, and for a moment she thought he was going to give up on saving her, but then he said, “Curses have loopholes. There are ways out and around them. I don’t know much about Globetrot-trees, but I am going to look into it. I am going to help you.”
She smiled at Eric. “It’s okay if it does not work. I am doing the Three Trials so that I can live as normal a life here as possible.”
“The Three Trials?”
She explained to him everything she knew about the trials. When she stopped talking, he looked sick. “You’re trying to be a part of their world?”
“I’m trying to make the best of a bad situation.”
“You’re being fooled!” Eric’s voice was high pitched. “They are compelling you! You have no idea what they’ve done to you and made you forget. These things aren’t human; they are monsters who have no respect for human life. You say this Caynin is kind. I beg to differ.”
“Is that why you’ve been killing them?” Zoey asked, coldly. She thought of Nyla’s death.
Eric looked baffled. “I’ve not killed anyone. We mainly set traps close to the borders to try and stop the Fata from coming this way. We use bear traps and chains.” Zoey cringed at the idea that Eric had set the trap that Caynin had stepped in. “We don’t travel too deep into the woods, into their lands, because it is too dangerous. I’m not even sure where their castle is located.”
“Are you sure you’ve not killed anyone?”
“Absolutely sure.” Eric’s voice had an edge to it, but he had lied and kept secrets before…
“What do you do to the Fata you do catch?”
“I’ve never caught one before,” he said honestly.
“And your father.”
“He kills them,” Eric said.
Yet Nyla’s corpse hadn’t had any wounds caused by iron. If the Slaerie had not killed her, who had? She had to tell Caynin.
“What is it?” Eric asked her.
She shook her head and decided not to tell him that she was going to talk to Caynin. He wouldn’t approve anyway. “I have to start going back.”
“I wish I could take you home with me,” Eric said.
“I know.” She smiled sadly at him.
“Zoey, just don’t forget that the Fata can’t be trusted. No matter how kind or friendly they are. They are self-serving, deceitful things. Don’t be naïve.” Zoey studied the iron chain he wore around his neck – to resist compulsion. She nodded, as if she believed him. She didn’t believe all the faeries were as Eric claimed. Caynin wasn’t like that.
“Can you meet me here again?” Eric asked her.
“It’s risky.” Someone could follow her and then attack Eric. Obviously, no Fata would pass up the chance to kill a hunter.
“Please,” Eric said, and she could not muster the courage to say no.
“I’ll meet you here in three weeks,” she decided. “By then you would hopefully have learned something about my curse.”
Eric got to his feet, helped her up, and pulled her into a long hug. He held her as if to make sure that she was truly there, that he had really found her. When the hug ended, Zoey started back to the castle, but what Eric said next stopped her.
“Zoey…”
“Yes?” She looked back.
“I love you.” His voice was so calm, his eyes sincere.
Zoey had always loved Eric, but he wasn’t making her stomach flip like he used to. Their relationship had changed, as had her feelings.
“I love you, too,” she replied honestly and wondered if he knew his words carried more weight than hers.