Deny Me, The Nightshade Boy (The Heartwood Trilogy Book 1) by Mary VanAlstine

Author:Mary VanAlstine [VanAlstine, Mary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dreaming in Color
Published: 2023-09-07T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter nine

The Siblings

Folding into the shadows sent Andrew’s brain into somersaults. Chamomile’s grasp on him burned like fire but she dragged him along with her like the tail of a comet. The power plant, and then the river, and then the little road that snaked along the foot of the bluffs blurred beneath him as vaguely recognizable streaks of color. Then everything slammed to a halt. Andrew fell head over heels. Landing with a thump on his stomach, he groaned, clutching his head.

“Sacrilege,” Andrew said, peering through one slitted eye. “Did I already throw up?”

“Come on, it’s not so bad. Really, traveling in the shadows is a privilege not many humans get.” Her hot hands wrapped around his upper arm as she sat him upright.

When he climbed to his feet, his world spun. Doubling over, he dry heaved and spat out the acidic taste of coffee. “Fucking coffee.”

“I’m telling Micah you said that.”

He squinted against bright morning sunlight cast through the trees from a clearing just ahead. He was so unprepared for the dazzling light that it pressed into his skull like a vise and forced his eyes closed for a moment. He pressed the heels of his hands into his eye sockets, grunting. There was no more time to fuss about the light though. Andrew blinked and blinked until finally his vision regained equilibrium.

The underbrush surrounding them was tall and, Andrew thought dismally, likely rife with deer ticks. He made a mental note to check his skin when he got home. Chamomile gave him an impatient glare and started off. As he hurried after her and out of the cover of the grove of cottonwood and silver maples, the crumbling structure of the Lilydale brickyard unfolded before him. He’d seen photos in the history books, but they paled in comparison. The Folk took the wreckage of the failed brickyards and helped nature reclaim it, and what had once looked decrepit now thrived, wiped clean of the greasy thumbprints of humanity. The bricks had crumbled and fauna sprouted back up where the foundations had been laid. The limestone bluffs grew around the cobbled fence like a moat.

“Shit.” This had…probably been a bad idea. Unarmed, barefoot, without a plan, all he wore to protect himself was Micah’s blood ward. It had some leaves and berries in the vial, but it wasn’t made of iron. Who knew if it would even work on other Folk. After as much effort as Andrew had put into standing a fighting chance against the Folk, he’d just walked defenseless into Lilydale simply to spare Micah the pain of it.

Chamomile was two steps away, half turned toward him as she eyed him through hooded lids. “Nervous?” she asked with a flash of her jagged teeth.

“Obviously, yes,” said Andrew, annoyed. “I have no need for bravado.” But then his eyes accidentally drifted down to her pert nipples; she saw, and she cackled with cruelty.

The air just behind Andrew split with the sound of canvas tearing. He jumped and spun around.

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