chapter 3

I feel a crackle on my skin. Cac. Reinforcements are headed our way. I need to run for the border of the sìthein.

I'll be safe there.

We'll be safe there, I amend my thought. There's no way I'm leaving this injured human behind. I open the rear door of the Acura and push him inside, locking him in. He's too ill to resist. I grab the gun. The clip is empty, but maybe there'll be more bullets in his car. I dart over and there are, thank the Light. I snag them and the two doughnuts, too.

The crackling sensation is growing stronger. Time to flee.

I shove the doughnuts at the cop, telling him to eat. The sugar and carbs will help stem his shock. Then I put the car into gear and tear away. My skin eases as we draw away.

But the cop is not eating. He's crying now and his mouth is faintly blue. Taigh na galla. He's not going to make it to the border. But I can't heal him while driving, and if I stop driving, we'll be caught -

A new thought trickles into my brain. I can't heal him, but I can take on the binding so I can push energy into him from here.

I fumble in the cup holder for one of the things I always keep there. An iron nail. Simple, but deadly to the Aes Sidhe.

I'm not one of them. At least, not exactly. I'm a human changeling, stolen at birth to be raised in the sìthein.

These days, they steal from human orphanages, collecting children who are otherwise unwanted. I own my fairy foster parents a lot.

Magic, for one. I use my powers in the outside world, where they find it difficult to go. I'm their eyes and ears and legs.

And today I've stirred up a nest of dark powers in their lands, too many for me to deal with on my own.

I need this cop. I've never done this ritual before, but I'm a talented sorceress. I rip open my shirt, center the nail above my breast, and push.
He may have to ticket me for distracted driving. If he lives.

I don't need to say anything aloud. A tidy spellcaster doesn't. It's all in the will.

Blood trickles out of my shoulder and I draw out a thread of my power, feeling for the similar wound in his shoulder. It's not entirely unlike threading a needle. I frown, but then I feel the spell catch. Strength flows out of me, into him.

Soon he is sitting up and munching on a doughnut.

"What happened?" he huffs, but I don't have to answer him. I can just shove my knowledge of the Aes Sidhe through our bond.

"Oh," he says, "Oh," which I think is putting it mildly. We both chuckle, feeling amusement ripple through the magical tie between us.

"Those things are still coming," he says, grimly loading bullets into the gun. It's not a question. I can see several fuath in the rear view mirror, but my foot is down as far as it can go. He rolls down a window and the nasty creatures fall away. He is amazing. He can feel my admiration, and he snorts.

"Yeah, right," he says, and I can feel an old pain in him.

He takes out another pack of fuath. We're nearly there.

"Hey," he says, weakly. I can feel his distress. Something is not right. But we'll be there soon, I can do a proper healing once we're over the border.

I grind the car to a stop. Steel can't cross the border. I can feel my strength flowing out of me faster and faster. I'm afraid I may not have enough left for a healing. I open the car door and haul him out, flinging his arm around my shoulder so he's leaning on me heavily.

"It's not far, just a few yards," I coax him, but it feels like an eternity. I stumble, falling to one knee, and he falls too. He's too heavy to lift so we crawl towards the border. I can hear a baying like hellhounds behind us. Pain and fear flow between us, I don't know what's his and what's mine anymore.

I'm about to give up when I feel the invisible barrier of the border whisper over my skin. Safe. We're safe.

But the world is spinning away from me, and the last thing I see before I pass out is my foster mother's pale, calm face.