Claus

Twelve

Faryn's legs shook as she stood from the bed either from nerves or the caffeine. "Already?"

"Maybe they found Nick."

She ran a hand through her knotted hair. "No. We'd know." Did they ever bother checking behind some of Oxford's bars? Maybe he even wound up in jail. She rubbed her face before shaking out her hands.

"You okay?"

"I feel like I've been run over." Only a few hours ago, she'd been pressed against him and felt the warmth that had radiated off him. She hadn't known that she liked warmth so much, always having preferred the cooler seasons. But now thinking about how close they had been, she had trouble looking at him.

Peter's phone sat on the nightstand. There were no missed calls. Clora wouldn't change her number. Not at a time like this.

"When do we leave?"

"Peter's working on booking a flight for the morning. He wants to make sure those Elves have time to make their flight." Though with the state they had left them in, it didn't seem likely they would be making a flight anytime soon.

Even the guilt she felt at what they'd allowed Carys to do to the two Elves—taking away their freewill—couldn't keep away the slight bit of excitement of soon seeing where her lifelong friend called home. Over the years, he had told her stories, but now she would get to live them herself.

After her conversation with Cassian, the day refused to end, dragging on as if it found some sort of entertainment in watching Faryn suffer from anticipation. Peter challenged her and Cassian to a game of billiards, not a game she had any skill in. She spent twelve games aimlessly chasing the balls around while Peter made almost every shot into a trick shot. Cassian simply struck the balls with the cue ball and let them roll into the sockets, no glitz and glamour needed.

When the morning finally came, it didn't take them long to be packed, and Peter had one of his employees drive them to Eppley Airfield. Sleet City was in the Arctic Archipelago and would require two flights and then a boat ride on an Acurial ship. Any type of Acurial travel was undesirable for Faryn and Cassian but Peter assured them his cousin would make sure the operator let them on board, no questions asked.

Flying out of Nebraska, the three of them sat in one row, with Peter in the middle and Faryn taking the window seat. They hadn't seen any Acurials in the airport. The flight wasn't crowded—it was New Year's Eve after all. Most humans were probably already in the cities they planned to be in tonight.

"So, Faryn." Peter sat his phone down on his leg after spending the last half hour watching videos since he paid for the onboard WiFi. "What are your plans after all this is over?"

"You mean if I don't get thrown in a dungeon?"

His lips curled up. "Exactly."

On the other side of him, Cassian stiffened.

"I want to move to a city. Not one of ours." She wasn't going to specify that it was going to be a human one while on a flight surrounded by humans. "I want to work in the corporate world, I guess. I just don't know want kind of business yet."

"Why not one of ours?"

"I don't want anyone to know who I am. Right now is a perfect example of why."

"But an Acurial," he lowered his voice, "is who you are. Do you really want to step away from a world with magic?"

"I love magic, but I don't love our people, and they don't love me. It's for the best." She paused. "I guess if I ever wanted to see Cassian again, I'll have to get my teeth pulled."

Peter laughed. "Maybe you could buy some fake teeth instead and just put those under your pillow. Would that work, Cassian?"

The Fata looked as if he had a toothache just listening to them. "That would be a waste of my time."

"The fake teeth or seeing Faryn?"

She would have throttled Peter if they weren't on a plane.

"Faryn."

Thank you all so much for reading. Claus passed 1000 reads! A bit of fun Wattpad news: I'm meeting up with ellekirks, a Wattpad Star, for a writing session. Go check out her profile!

The next update will be Wednesday. Do you prefer the second update of the week to be Fridays or Saturdays?