Page 46 of Hunted
“I am sorry I cannot grant you more freedom right now, but this is the best thing for you. At least, as long as you are there, you are safe. I still need to continue investigating this creature, to see if there is a way to keep it from hunting you, and we cannot get you back to Arcadia for at least two days. Please… sit tight, for now. We will get through this.”
I nodded. “Okay,” I said. “We’ll wait.”
“Tell her about the treats,” I heard Pepper say.
“Right,” said Helen. “Your grandmother would like you to know she left some treats for you in the pantry, freshly made. Make sure to eat and stay warm. And if you need us, Tallin knows how to use that old rotary phone. Our number is written on the desk, next to it.”
I nodded again, even though she couldn’t see me. “Thank you… thank you so much.”
“You don’t need to thank us, dear. You are family, and we love you. We will be in touch soon.”
“Okay… bye, grandmother…”
I heard a strange sound, followed by a dull tone. “You can put that down, now,” said Tallin.
I set the handle down onto the phone, turned around, and looked at Valerian. “Did you hear all of that?”
“I did.”
“Then there’s nothing left to do but wait… and hope my grandmothers can get us to Arcadia in two days.”
“Suppose they can… what then?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. We’ve spent this entire time running and hiding from this creature, I haven’t even begun to figure out what happens next.”
“Probably best not to think about it, then. We should eat, and rest. It’s been a long day.”
“I, for one, am interested in finding out what those treats are,” said Tallin.
“You go and do that,” I said, “I’m going to keep exploring the house… see if I find anything else that might be useful.”
“Like?” Valerian asked.
“I’m not sure… I’ll be back.”
I made my way back upstairs, and when I found the bedroom window, I sat by it. I didn’t mean to explore the house. Really, I wanted to sit with my thoughts for a while. There were so many things to do, so many issues left to wrap up. I hadn’t even begun to consider what I would do when I got back to Arcadia, and Valerian’s question had left me a little uneasy.
But the worst part of it all, the biggest problem I had, was that he still didn’t know I was the reason he was here—that I was the reason he had been forgotten.
I needed to tell him, I wanted to tell him… but I had no idea how.
CHAPTERSIXTEEN
The cottage we were in was small, but with the fire going and the furry blankets we had available to us, it was also cozy. Though the wind and the snow outside buffeted the cottage, a constant reminder of the danger that existedoutside, I felt protected in here. Safe. As safe as I could have felt, given the circumstances.
How in the world was I supposed to get through all this?
As far as Fate was concerned, I was a round number, an anomaly that needed to be rectified. It wanted to fix this problem so badly, it had sent a creature made of shadow to hunt me down and end me. But it had also allowed me to keep my connection to Valerian, a connection I hadn’t known I possessed until very recently.
It was a contradiction. How could Fate want to destroy me, while at the same time making sure I could feel the bond Valerian and I had?
Because maybe it’s not Fate that’s trying to kill you.
If not Fate, though, then what? The crone? Had she perverted Fate itself, somehow? Had she perhaps been the one to summon this creature, and twist its motivations so that it would see me as an anomaly that needed destruction?
If she had the power to rewrite my past, my present, and my future, then maybe she also had the power to control this unrelenting monster that was chasing us across worlds. If that was true, then the only way to defeat the monster was to defeat her and make her undo what she had done.
I had to get to her. I had to find her, lay her low, and fix this. But first, I had to get to Arcadia, and that meant I needed to survive the next few days. In a couple of days, a portal to the Winter Kingdom would open, and my grandmothers would be able to send the three of us through.