“Take off your shirt.”
I blinked, feeling my face heat. “Uh. What?”
“Shirt, tough guy.” She gestured to my blood-spattered T-shirt. “I don’t think you’re going to want it after this, anyway. Off.”
Her words were almost too flippant, like someone forcing a smile after a horrible tragedy. I hesitated, more out of concern than embarrassment—though there was that, too. “You sure you’re okay with this?”
“Oh, do as she says, human.” The cat thumped its tail. “Otherwise we will be here all night.”
Gingerly, I eased off my shirt and tossed the bloodied rag aside. Kenzie soaked the cloth in the pool, wrung it out, and crouched behind me in the sand. For a moment, she hesitated, and I tensed, suddenly feeling highly exposed—half-naked and bleeding in front of a strange girl and a talking cat. Then her fingers brushed my skin, cool and soft, and my stomach turned into a pretzel.
“God, Ethan.” She laid one palm gently against my shoulder, leaning in to examine the tears down my arm. I closed my eyes, forcing myself to relax. “These are nasty. What the hell was after you, demon cougars?”
I sucked in a ragged breath. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“Oh, I’m willing to believe just about anything right now.” She pressed the cloth to the jagged claw marks, and I set my jaw. We were both silent as she dabbed blood off my shoulder and wrapped the gauze around my arm. I could sense Kenzie was still a little dazed from the whole situation. But her fingers were gentle and sure, and I shivered each time they touched my skin, leaving goose bumps behind.
“There,” she said, dusting off her knees as she stood. “That should do it. Those first aid sessions in Ms. Peters’s class didn’t go to waste, at least.”
“Thanks,” I muttered. She gave me a shaky smile.
“No problem.” She watched as I reached into my bag and pulled out another T-shirt, shrugging into it with a grimace. “Now, before I start screaming, will someone—you or the talking cat or a freaking flying goat, I don’t care—please tell me what the hell is going on?”
“Why are mortals so boring?” the cat asked, landing on the sandy floor without a sound. Padding toward us, it leaped atop a flat rock and observed us both critically, waving its tail, before its gaze settled on the girl. “Very well, I will be the voice of reason and sanity once again. Listen closely, human, for I will explain this only once.” It sat down with a sniff, curling its tail around its feet. “You are in the Nevernever, the home of the fey. Or, as you mortals insist upon calling them, faeries. Yes, faeries are real,” it added in its bored tone, as Kenzie took a breath to speak. “No, mortals cannot normally see them in the real world. Please save all unnecessary questions until I am finished.
“You are here,” it continued, giving me a sideways look, “because Ethan Chase apparently cannot stay out of trouble with the fey and has used a token to bring you both into the Nevernever. More important, into my home—one of them, anyway. Which begs the question…” The cat blinked and looked at me now, narrowing its eyes. “Why are you here, human? The token was to be used only in the most dire circumstances. By your wounds, I would guess something was chasing you, but why drag the girl into this, as well?”
“I didn’t have a choice,” I said, avoiding Kenzie’s eyes. “They were after her, too.”
“They?” asked Kenzie.
I scrubbed my good hand over my face. “There’s something out there,” I told the cat. “Something different, some type of fey I’ve never seen before. They’re killing off exiles and half-breeds, and they’ve taken a friend of mine, a half-phouka named Todd Wyndham. When I tried to find out more…”
“They came to silence you,” the cat finished solemnly.
“Yeah. Right in the open. In front of a couple hundred people.” I felt Kenzie’s gaze on me and ignored her. “So,” I asked the cat, “do you know what’s going on?”
The cat twitched an ear. “Perhaps,” it mused, managing to look bored and thoughtful all at once. “There have been strange rumors circling the wyldwood. They have me curious.” It yawned and casually licked a foot. “I believe it is time to pay a visit to the Iron Queen.”
I stood up. “No,” I said a little too forcefully, though the cat didn’t even look up from its paw. “I can’t go to Meghan. I have to get home! I have to find Todd and see if my family is all right. They’re gonna freak out if I don’t come back soon.” I remembered what Meghan said about time in the Nevernever, and groaned. “God, they’re probably freaking out right now.”
“The Iron Queen needs to be informed that you are here,” the cat said, calmly rubbing the paw over his whiskers. “That was the favor—should you ever use that token, I would bring you to her. Besides, I believe she will be most interested in what is happening in the mortal world, and this new type of fey. I think one of the courts needs to know about this, do you not agree?”
“Can’t you at least take Kenzie home?”
“That was not the bargain, human.” The cat finally looked at me, unblinking. “And, were I you, I would think long and hard about sending her back alone. If these creatures are still out there, they could be waiting for you both to return.”
A chill ran down my back. I glanced at Kenzie and found her looking completely lost as she stared from me to the cat and back again. “I have no idea what’s going on here,” she said matter-of-factly, though her eyes were a bit glazed. “I just hope that when I wake up, I’m not in a padded room with a nice man in a white suit feeding me pills.”
I sighed, feeling my life unravel even more. I’m sorry, Kenzie, I thought, as she hugged herself and stared straight ahead. I didn’t want to drag you into this, and this is the very last place I want to be. But the cat’s right; I can’t send you back alone, not with those things out there. They already got Todd; I won’t let them have you, too.
“All right,” I snapped, glaring at the feline. “Let’s go see Meghan and get this over with. But I’m not staying. I have to get home. I have a friend who’s in trouble, and I have to find him. Not even Meghan can help me with that.”
The cat sneezed several times, curling his whiskers in mirth. I didn’t see what was so funny. “This should be most amusing,” it said, hopping down from the rock. “I suggest you remain here for the night,” it continued as he padded away over the sand. “Nothing will harm you in this place, and I am in no mood to lead wounded humans around the wyldwood in the dark. We will start out for the Iron Realm in the morning.”
“How long will it take to get there?” I asked, but there was no answer. Frowning, I glanced around the cave. The cat was gone.
“So,” she said brightly, turning back to me, “tell me about this place.”
I gave her a wary look. “You do realize we’re in the Nevernever, home of the fey. Faeries? Wee folk? Leprechauns and pixies and Tinkerbell?” I held out the food bar again, watching her reaction. “Isn’t this your cue to start explaining how faeries don’t exist?”
“Well, I’m a reporter,” Kenzie said, accepting the food package and fiddling with a corner. “I have to face facts. And it occurs to me that one of two things is happening right now. One, you slipped something into my drink at the dojo, and I’m having a really whacked-out dream. And if that’s the case, I’ll wake up soon and you’ll go to jail and we’ll never see each other again.”
I winced.
“Or two…” She took a deep breath and gazed around the cavern. “This…is really happening. It’s kind of silly to tell the talking cat he doesn’t exist when he’s sitting right there arguing with you.”