I drew back, grabbed my other stick from under the bed, and walked to the door, feeling his piercing eyes on me the whole way.
I half expected to find my door locked, despite Meghan’s assurances that I was a guest in the palace. But it opened easily, and I slipped into the obscenely bright hallway, lit by glowing lanterns and metallic chandeliers. The guards were still there, pretending not to notice me as I crossed the hall to Kenzie’s room.
Her door was closed, but as I lifted my knuckles to tap on it, I paused. Beyond the wood, I could hear faint noises coming from inside. Soft, sniffling, gasping noises. Worried, I reached down and quietly turned the handle. Her door was also unlocked, and it swung slowly inward.
Kenzie sat on the bed with her back to me, head bowed, her delicate shoulders heaving as she sobbed into the pillow held to her chest. Her curtains had been drawn, except for one, and a thin strand of moonlight eased through the crack and fell over her, outlining the small, shaking body.
“Kenzie.” Quickly, I shut the door and crossed the room, coming to stand beside her. “Are you all right?” I asked, feeling completely stupid and awkward. Of course she wasn’t all right; she was crying her eyes out into her pillow. I fully expected her to tell me to leave, or make some snarky comment that I totally deserved. But she wiped her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to compose herself.
“Yeah,” she whispered, hastily rubbing a palm over her cheeks. “Sorry. I’m fine. Just…feeling a little overwhelmed, I guess. I think it’s finally caught up to me.”
I noticed her keys then, glinting on the mattress, and a small photograph encased in a plastic keychain. Looking to her for permission, I picked it up, making the keys jingle softly, and examined the picture. Kenzie and a small, dark-haired girl of maybe ten smiled up at me, faces close together. Kenzie’s arm was raised slightly as if she was holding a camera up in front of them.
“My sister,” she explained as I glanced back at her. “Alex. Or Alexandria. I’m not the only one in my family with a long, complicated name.” She smiled, but I could see her trying to be brave, to not burst into tears again. “Actually, she’s my stepsister. My mom died three years ago, and a year after that Dad remarried. I…I always wanted a sibling....” Her eyes glimmered in the darkness, and her voice caught. “We were supposed to go to the lake house this weekend. But…I don’t know what’s happening to them now. I don’t know if they think I’m dead, or kidnapped or if Alex is waiting up for me to come home—” She buried her face in her pillow again, muffling her sobs, and I couldn’t watch any longer.
Putting down the keys, I sat beside her and pulled her into my arms. She leaned against me and I held her quietly as she cried herself out. Dammit, here I was again, thinking only of myself. Why had it come to this before I realized Kenzie had a family, too? That she was just as worried for them as I was for mine?
“You never said anything,” I murmured as her trembling subsided, trying not to make it sound like an accusation. “You didn’t tell me you had a sister.”
A shaky little laugh. “You didn’t seem particularly open to listening, tough guy,” she whispered back. “Besides, what could we do about it? You were already trying to get us out as fast as you could. Me whining about my home life wasn’t going to speed anything up.”
“Why didn’t you go back this afternoon?” I pulled back to look at her. “Meghan offered to take you home. You could’ve gone back to your family.”
“I know.” Kenzie sniffed, wiping her eyes. “And I wanted to. But…we came here together, and I wouldn’t have gotten this far…without you.” She dropped her head, speaking quietly, almost a whisper. “I’m fully aware that you’ve saved my life on more than one occasion. With all the weirdness and faery cats and bloodthirsty snake monsters and everything else, I would’ve been dead if I had to do this by myself. It wouldn’t be right, going back alone. And besides, I still have a lot to see here.” She looked up at me then, her eyes wide and luminous in the shadows of the room. Her cheeks were tinged with color, though she still spoke clearly. “So, either we get out of here together, or not at all. I’m not leaving without you.”
We stared at each other. Time seemed to slow around us, the moonlight freezing everything into a cold, silent portrait. Kenzie’s face still glimmered with tears, but she didn’t move. Heart pounding, I gently brushed a bright blue strand from her eyes, and she slid a cool hand up to my neck, soft fingers tracing my hairline. I shivered, unsure if I liked this strange, alien sensation twisting the pit of my stomach, but I didn’t want it to stop, either.
What are you doing, Ethan? a voice whispered in my head, but I ignored it. Kenzie was watching me with those huge, trusting brown eyes, solemn and serious now, waiting. My heart contracted painfully. I didn’t deserve that trust; I knew I should pull away, walk out, before this went too far.
A loud tap on the window made us both jump apart. Rising, I glared out the one open window, where a silver-headed face peered in curiously.
Kenzie yelped, leaping up, and I grabbed her arm. “It’s all right!” I told her, as she looked at me in shock. “I know him. He’s…here to help.”
“Help?” Kenzie repeated, glaring at the fey boy, who waved at her through the glass. “Looks more like spying to me. What does he want?”
“I’ll tell you in a second.”
I opened the balcony doors, and Keirran ducked into the room. “So,” the faery said, smiling as he came in, “Here we all are. I thought something might’ve happened to you, but if I’d known what was going on, I wouldn’t have interrupted.” His gaze slid to Kenzie, and his smile widened. “And you must be Kenzie,” he said, walking over and taking her hand. But instead of shaking it, he brought her fingers to his lips, and she blushed. I stiffened, tempted to stride over and yank him away, but he dropped her hand before I could move. “My name’s Keirran,” he said in that soft, confident voice, and I noticed Kenzie gazing up at him with a slightly dazed look on her face. “Has Ethan told you the plan yet?”
Kenzie blinked, then glanced at me, confused. “What plan?”
I stepped between them, and the faery retreated with a faintly amused look. “We’re leaving,” I told her in a low voice. “Now. We don’t have time for Meghan to decide to send us home—we have to find Todd now. Keirran says he knows a way out of the Nevernever. He’s taking us back to the mortal world.”
“Really?” Kenzie shot the fey boy a look, but it was more of curiosity than distrust. “Are you sure?”
The faery bowed. “I swear on my pointed ears,” he said, before straightening with a grin. “But, like you said, we should leave now. While most of the castle is asleep.” He gestured out the window. “The trod isn’t far. We’ll just have to get to it without anyone seeing us. Come on.”
I snatched my weapons, gave Kenzie a reassuring nod, and together we followed the faery out the balcony doors onto the veranda. The night air was cool, and the silver moon seemed enormous, hovering so close I could practically see craters and ridges lining the surface. Below us, the garden was quiet, though the moonlight still glinted off the armor of several knights stationed throughout the perimeter.
Kenzie peered over the ledge, then drew back quickly. “There are so many guards,” she whispered, looking back at Keirran. “How are we going to make it through without anyone seeing us?”
“These,” Keirran said, smiling as he turned back to us, “are gliders. They’re the quickest and easiest way to get out of Mag Tuiredh without being seen. You just have to know how to avoid the air patrols, and luckily, I’m an expert.” He scratched one glider on the head as if it was a favorite dog, and the thing cooed in response.
Standing beside me, Kenzie shuddered. “We’re flying out of here on giant bugs?” she asked, eyeing the gliders as if they might swarm her any second.
“Be nice,” Keirran warned. “They get their feelings hurt easily.”
“Master!”
A different sort of buzz went through the air then, and a second later, something small, dark and fast zipped by us, leaping at Keirran with a shrill cry. Keirran winced but didn’t move, and the tiny creature landed on his chest, a spindly, bat-eared monster with eyes that flashed electric green. Kenzie jumped and pressed closer to me, whispering: “What is that?”