Claus

Thirty-Seven + A New Cover

The two of them rounded so many corners that Faryn had absolutely no idea where they were. The passageway would be following the hallways of the castle. That's the most she could tell. In the passage, the presence of a door was much more obvious.

Clíodhna pulled open one that led into a wideONLYONWATTPADBENDERempty hallway. She pointed to a door directly across from them.

They'd only managed to get halfway when a guard rounded the corner. The Leprechaun sent her power after him, and though the Elf tried to turn and run, the fog slammed into him, pushing him to the ground.

That wasn't going to reflect well on Faryn.

While Clíodhna used one hand to control the fog, she used her other to motion for Faryn to keep going.

Faryn hadn't even taken a step when—

"I thought I heard a disturbance."

She whirled.

Aurelius stood at the other end of the hallway, and though his tone was causal, his face betrayed him as he stared at the Leprechaun who used powers so much like his own. As an Alkine, his sense of smell wasn't as keen as Faryn's, but surely even he could pick up on the notes of it. He looked afraid. Confused. And maybe even hurt.

Mist appeared around him, and Faryn's heart pounded as she reached for the door handle.

"Who are you?" The mist around him thickened into fog.

"No one to you," Clíodhna said.

Aurelius's power shot out, missing Faryn and Clíodhna by mere inches. As Faryn yanked open the door across the hall, she dared a glance back at her first friend. He nodded, and the next second the two women were out the door and in a garage containing six sports cars, all different colors. The walls here were painted an icy blue that seemed to shimmer and reflect the colors of the cars in smears. Instead of a garage door, there was a curved passage large enough to allow only one car through. There were two elegant doors at the end of it.

Peter stuck his head out of the driver's side window of a white car without a speck of dirt. Cassian was tucked in the back row of the car. The moment Clíodhna slid into the front passenger seat, and Faryn into the back beside Cassian, Peter started the engine with the push of a button before clicking a second button, this one above him. It opened the doors at the end of the tunnel, and he put the car into drive.

He didn't waste time driving slowly as he maneuvered the car into the tunnel and out into the night air. Before them lay the second bridge that attached the palace to the rest of the city.

They probably had minutes—if that—before Klaus and Jack learned what had happened.

The road over the bridge was covered in a fine dusting of snow, whereas the railing's snow layer was so thick, they could hardly see the stone underneath.

Franavik, where her mother hid, was in Greenland. From researching Ruhnerium when she was younger—when she still hoped she might call it home—she knew there was a small Human airport that had sprung up when towns, that had been only comprised of Acurials, had filled with Humans once they learned these places felt almost magical.

It was a relief their vehicle was electric rather than powered by gas. There were no gas stations in Ruhnerium, and she didn't know about the other towns. The charge they had would be more than enough to get them to the airport—if that was in fact where they were headed.

They couldn't take any Acurial train. Even if it was safe for them, the train ran on its own time, not theirs. Klaus and her cousin would find them before they even boarded. Which meant their only option was the airport. Even if Jack and Klaus arrived before their plane took off, they couldn't start a fight in a human airport—at least she hoped they wouldn't. Still, it was better they boarded a plane before her family had a chance to purchase seats on the same aircraft.