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Shit What e dealing with? As andered farther into the flurry of white steale, and then the tinglinglike a leaf

"What’s wrong?" S Are you thinking abouth to tell everyone as happening "Anybody else feel it?"

Shade nodded "I do, but it’s not affectingyou"

Chase let out a short sigh "I feel soht be the cold"

"Hold on for a moment and let me suss it out"

We had stopped near a bench Trillian swept the snow off, and I gratefully slid onto the seat I pulled hter around me, then loweredaround in the fog?" The y clouded my focus, and I shook theinto its core, seek the central thread And there it isa cold thread, a dark thread, steeped in the energy of peat bogs and old forests and bonfires deep in the grove atthe strand, I sucked in a deep breath as it sang toout an ancient, keening reel Like a live wire scorching the inside ofwith s Silhouettes flittered here and there--sparkling with energy and yet the sparkles were shrouded in darkness

Evil? Not reallyand yet, not good

Red eyes glimmered at me fro, he waited in the shrouded night

Come, join my dance You know you must, sooner or later The Huntress must dance with the Hunter as the uardian of the Dark Moon

I shook out of the web being woven around me and realized that while I’d been in trance, I’d been warht under the stars I could still srant loalared, stark and unyielding, and I longed to join the su the catch out of y As foreboding as it was, I still longed to reach out, to touch it, to e in the dark

"What is it?" Delilah asked

I shook in There are several beings waiting down this path So And the Hunter, I think He’s old and crafty, waiting in the dark of the night I want to shedtoward it" I turned to Chase "Show us the portal, please"

Another fivein front of a shi blue field between two trees, off the sidewalk, to our left Chase had been right--the thing looked just like a portal, only it had a distinctly different feel from the ones ere used to Which meant it was either a different kind, or a mimic

I ic now that Morio was laid up, and he’d have a better chance of helping h

He leaned down and whispered, "This portal stems fros inhabit the woodlands of Earth"

S Shade as his lips neared ons didn’t do all that well in the saon like Shade had territorial issues, but on testosterone putup sputtering matches for several weeks As polite as Shade could be, he was still, beneath it all, part dragon, and that side had risen to the challenges Smoky had pushed forward

I took a slow step away from him to calm Smoky down Shade cracked a faint smile, and I realized he’d stirred the cauldron on purpose

"A real jokester, huh?" I mumbled, then turned back to the others "We can’t just walk through--we have no idea where it y of the Fae Queens written all over it, but I sincerely doubt they conjured it up They’d sunty if they summoned it at all"

"Thatobsidian skin, he was alht knohat it is What do you think about asking the the Triple Threat to come out here to help us wasn’t an easy decision As much as I respected Aeval and Titania, I equally distrusted Morgaine She ht be our distant cousin, but she was out for pure power--her own--and I wouldn’t put anything past her in her attempts to claim what she could

I slowly shook my head "I don’t know, but--"

"Do you hear that?" Chase interruptedas he turned toward the portal

"Hear what?" I listened but couldn’t catch anything different fro But Chase looked like he’d seen a ghost He wavered, his eyes taking on a glassy look, then began to bolt toward the portal

"She’s calling rab his arht shake off a leaf I knew dath to do that

I whirled to Sh that portal!"

Both Smoky and Shade rushed pastback as if he’d hit an invisible barrier Shade was struggling, his steps sluggish and forced

"I can’t move" Smoky’s hair lashed out at whatever the force field was, sparks flying every ti through it," Shade said, his voice strained

"Fuck! Coan to run It felt like I was running through mud, but at least I could move So could she

Trillian was on our heels, and he passed us by, faster than ere "Elder Fae energy--pure, crystal Elder Fae energy," he shouted over his shoulder

And then, the siren song envelopeddance that proasped, reeling from the desire to shed caution to the wind The wave of passion rolled over me like the scent of peaches, ripe on the vine Besidesound and dropped in her tracks, grasping at her throat