Kenna
I blink. I blink again, confused about the sudden rush of night air against my right cheek. Evander’s voice is nearby, distorted and hazy. Sparkles cover everything… or maybe that’s just my vision coming back.
“Kenna? Goddess, Kenna? Are you okay?” Evander sounds frantic.
I reach over and try to pat his hand, but I suddenly lurch forward. The sound of metal on metal erupts in my ears, causing them to ring. I scream, and then I’m thrust back into reality.
We’re moving at what feels like the speed of light. I’m in a car. The window at my side is shattered, and the door is crushed inward. By some miracle, I’m okay. I’m covered in glass. The windshield in front of me is splintered but intact, and on the horizon, the lights of the port come into view.
We’re barreling toward a private dock. The ferry sits at the very edge of it, but it’s raising its ramp.
We’re rear-ended again. Evander grabs my arm. “Are you okay?”
“I’m okay,” I rush out, reaching up to wipe tears from my eyes. “What happened to Flynn? He’s out there all alone!”
“He can handle himself. Don’t worry,” Evander says through gritted teeth.
I feel like I’m in a daze. I’m just sitting here, watching us sped closer and closer to the dock. The ferry is pulling away. We’re not going to make it, but Evander isn’t stopping.
He can’t, I realize.
Wolves are running along each side of the car, and behind us, two trucks are swerving back and forth, trying to ram the car.
I look at Evander, realizing the situation we’re in. “They’re here for me,” I say. “There must have been a spy in the castle. They knew we’d be taking this route.”
He nods.
“You have to stop the car.”
“I’m not going to do that.” He revs the engine. We’re closing in on the dock with each passing second.
“Evander, please! We’re going to go into the water if you don’t stop!”
“We have to jump, Kenna.”
Fear chokes my senses. I’ve never spirited before. My dad tried to train me, but I haven’t been able to tap into those powers if I even have them at all.
“I can’t,” I cry out, terror ripping through me. “I can–If you stop, I can use my powers on the wolves–”
“Have you ever killed anyone, Kenna? Because that’s what we’re going to have to do if I stop this car.”
“You’re going to kill us both if you don’t stop!” I shout. We bound onto the wide planks leading up to the dock. The ferry blares its horn. People are running along the deck of the ferry, waving their arms in warning.
“Kenna!” Evander shouts. “Do it! You have to do it now!”
“I CAN’T!” I scream, tears streaming down my cheeks.
Evander grunts with effort as he lays on the gas, giving it all he can. I clutch his arm, screaming at the top of my lungs as the edge of the dock disappears.
Time slows to a crawl as the dock gives way to nothing but the horizon ahead of us. The first hints of sunrise cast light over the waves lapping the shore. For a few seconds, it’s peaceful.
“DO IT NOW, KENNA!” Evander shouts, and then the horizon disappears from view and is replaced by nothing but water.
Nose down, the car hurtles toward the waves.
“Evander!” I cry out, my nails sinking into his forearm.
My scream is the catalyst for something untapped in my soul. My mind explodes with light, and then I’m being ripped apart, hurtling through blank space and an endless, beginningless kind of time that makes me wonder if we went into the water, and now I’m drowning. Everything is slow and fast at once. I feel like I’m spinning, falling, and then–
The air is forced from my lungs as my back hits something solid and hard.
I smash through it, unable to scream as the sound of splintering wood echoes all around me.
I fall onto something soft this time, and the smell of hay penetrates my senses.
Something–several somethings–hit me in the face. Pop, pop, pop.
I can’t breathe. I try to open my eyes, but it’s so unforgivingly bright.
Flailing, I throw my arm out and connect with someone's chest.
“Ev–Evander?” I rasp, my throat on fire. My entire body is in agony as I clutch his shirt.
Evander groans and coughs just as my vision clears, revealing a hole in a shabby roof.
Shingles fall from the roof. One hits me on the cheek, and I yelp in pain and surprise. Dust and… and feathers? Yes, feathers. Feathers are drifting through the air all around us.
“Where are we?” I pant, unable to move. I’m afraid I’m broken. Something has to be broken. My legs? My back? Goddess forbid, my neck.
Something pinches my leg.
I squirm, giving whatever is repeatedly pinching my knee cap a gentle kick.
A squawk yanks me back into my body, the situation, and the fact I’m lying prone.
“Evander!” I screech, rolling over to face him. Four chickens burst into the air, making a terrible racket as I crawl to Evander’s side and take his face between my hands.
He looks dazed as he peers up at me. His pupils are dilated, and his eyes are unfocused.
Where are we? Oh, gods, what have I done?
I shake him. Nothing. Nothing but a groan. I give his cheek a gentle pat. Nothing.
Should I slap him? Would that wake him up? It’s only a matter of time before our enemies catch up to us, and we’re found.
“Evander, please,” I whisper directly into his ear. “Wake up!”
I give him another shake, and this time he blinks, sucking in a breath. His eyes meet mine, his pupils expanding to the point they take up nearly all of his emerald green irises.
I suck in a breath as his hand clasps the back of my neck–hard–keeping me fixed in place with my face hovering only an inch above his.
“It’s me,” I whisper. “It’s Kenna. We’re in a chicken coop.”
“What?”
His grip doesn’t slacken. My heart is racing, and I can honestly say it’s not because we just fell through the sky and through a barn roof. No….
He’s so close. My lips are nearly brushing his.
“I did it,” I say, giving him a wobbly grin. “I jumped.”
“To where?” he whispers.
The squawking of the chickens hits a peak, but they’re the last thing on my mind. I’m just… looking at Evander. My friend. The person I loved the most in the entire world before… before everything happened.
“Evander?”
His breathing is rapid, and I can feel his heartbeat racing since my hand is flat against his chest.
He suddenly lets go of my neck and gives me a little shove. I fall back on my ass, and for a moment, feel a shred of something heavy lacing its way through my heart. It feels like… rejection.
But, I don’t get a single second to process it.
Evander rushes to his feet but sways violently as four men scurry to the entrance of the chicken coop. I jump up, throwing my arms around Evander’s waist to steady him.
He raises a hand, motioning for the men to stop.
I don’t think they were going to even attempt to approach us, though. They look shocked, maybe even dumbfounded, as they look from us to the hole in the roof.
“What the hell?” one of them asks.
I raise my brows, unable to stop myself from smiling. Delirium is setting in, for sure, because I start laughing like a lunatic.
Now, Evander is looking down at me. In fact, everyone is looking at me.
“Say something else,” I beg the men. “Please.”
They look at each other. One of them has a hand on his knife belt. “Uh, which one of you fell through my fucking roof?”
The eldest of the men, likely the father of the other three, steps forward with a blade drawn.
I almost fall to my knees in relief.
His accent is thick and rumbling, and oh so familiar.
“We’re in Eastonia,” I choke out, squeezing Evander. “I jumped all the way to Eastonia.” I look at one of the younger men. “I’ve never done it before, you know.”
No one knows what to say. Even Evander is standing motionless.
A muffled female voice drifts into range, accompanied by the swishing of homespun fabric.
A pretty, but exceedingly surprised, woman comes into view. She’s shorter than the men by several inches, and her pale brown hair is piled on top of her head. She’s clutching the skirt of her apron–something sewn by hand and embroidered with delicate blue flowers.
“Oh my gods! Who are you?” she asks, her eyes sliding from Evander to me.
“My name is K–”
Evander claps a hand over my mouth. “I need to speak to your Alpha. Immediately.”
The man–possibly the woman’s husband, narrows his eyes. “Where did you come from?”
Evander ignores him completely. “I’m a warrior in Alpha King Ryatt’s army. My name is Evander, and this woman is my charge. We’re lost. Where are we right now?”
The family glances at each other. It’s the woman who speaks up first, “You’re in the Highlands. The village of Tiscoln is five miles south of our property.”
Evander looks confused as he lowers his hand from my mouth. Obviously, he doesn’t want me to say my name, but these people don’t seem like the murdering type to me. “I’m not familiar with a village called Tiscoln. Or the… what did you call it?”
“The Highlands,” the husband says skeptically. “Where do you think you are right now, boy? You’re a long way from the Roguelands.”
Evander takes my hand and yanks me behind him before moving toward the entrance of the coop. The family separates to allow us to pass through the threshold into the sunlight, into the fresh, mountain air.
I gasp. I’ve never seen anything like this in my life, and I live in the mountains. But this is… wholly different.
Towering, snow-capped peaks spread out as far as the eye can see. Huge mountains. Mountains bigger than anything I’ve ever witnessed.
I know where we are.
And the husband was right about being a long, long way from the Roguelands.
“This is the mountain range between Eastonia and Crescent Falls,” I say to Evander in a mere whisper. “I had no idea people lived here.”
“Me neither,” he says in a low, gravelly voice.
“This used to be within the veil.” I stand on tiptoes. The view is just… breathtaking. Everywhere I look are more mountains and valleys. There aren’t any trees this far up, but it’s still summer, and green grass stretches for miles over rolling hills. A stone house and barn sit nearby, chimneys puffing smoke. Cows and sheep graze lazily in a fenced in pasture, and a huge garden chokes several outbuildings.
I turn to the family, smiling. “This is incredible. Is this where you live?”
The woman nods, returning my smile with a warm smile of her own.
“Is that your garden?” I ask enthusiastically.
Now, she’s really smiling. “Oh, yes. I pride myself on my squash. It’s the best for miles. Are you hungry, sweetheart?” She looks me up and down from where her feet are firmly planted in the entrance of their nearly destroyed chicken coop. “Maybe a bit cold? What are those things on your legs called?”
“Uh, blue jeans.” I feel a blush creeping in.
She nods, but I notice Evander and the men are staring each other down. I nudge him in the ribs.
“Chill out, please. We’re safe.”
“I can’t mind-link with anyone, Kenna. We need to leave as soon as possible.”
One of the younger men steps forward, his brow furrowed. “Did you just say Kenna?”
Evander curses under his breath and reaches into his jacket, probably for whatever blades he keeps hidden in the inner pockets. I grab his wrist, digging in my nails.
“Yes. He did. That’s my name. I’m Kenna Westfall, Princess of Eastonia.”