Jen flew as fast as she could, following Jerry. He knew she was there, despite her invisibility. The death watcher had a special kind of magic. He knew she was there, and he knew she was following him. Jen hoped that this meant that they were not too late, that Jerry would lead her to Nick.
Though she was invisible, Jen did not bother being careful at all. Her wings beat frantically and stirred up a great wind in her wake, rustling the leaves all around. No one would likely notice a breeze through the woods, but she was not taking her usual care when in the human world like this.
All that mattered was following Jerry. She knew better than most the importance of him, that he knew things others did not, that his sole purpose was the protection and prosperity of the fairy realm. He had always had a special attachment to Jennifer, and she'd never known why. But maybe this was it. Maybe Jerry knew that Jennifer had to find Nick. Well, in the beginning, it was Nick who found Jen. Rescued her from a hunter's net. Jerry brought them together. He'd known, somehow, that Nick had that tattoo of the palace tree. Jen brought Nick to the realm, and Jerry had led Bernice to the passage in the fairy history, revealing Nick's father as having been a fairy. Somehow, it was all connected. Nick was meant to be with Jennifer, and he was meant to be in the real. And to ensure that could happen, Jen had to find him and save him now.
Assuming she still had time to do that.
Knowing that Dane Majors was capable of killing a child when he was a boy himself, knowing that he had killed that newspaper man in cold blood…he may have been innocent of killing his wife, but he had beaten her more than enough times to prove that he was the most vicious sort of monster. And he had Nick. Jen knew that now, knew Jerry would lead her to him. She felt, somehow, that she would know if Nick had been killed. That a part of her would feel the pain of losing him, even if she did not see it happen. She was not too late, not yet. She had to believe that.
All of a sudden, Jerry stopped. He landed on a branch and let out a loud cry.
Jen was startled into stopping as well, only she did not land on a branch. She let herself land hard on the forest floor, causing the tree beside her to shake slightly. And as she did, she saw the terrible scene before her.
"STOP!" she shouted, removing her invisibility and human disguise as she did so.
In front of her, Dane Majors was looking up to where the bird had distracted him and now looked at Jennifer. He had paused in his systematic beating of Nick, lying on the forest floor with Dane's fist poised to hit him once more.
Jennifer stood there in all her warrior fairy glory. She knew the imposing vision she presented, knew the terrible beauty and crackling power that she portrayed. Her dress was gold with pink flowers, flowing around her in the breeze. Her enormous gold wings were spread behind her, making her entire appearance larger than life. Exactly what she wanted. And she stared Dane down with a fire of rage in her eyes. Her fingertips were buzzing with the power of her magic, barely restrained. She had never before shown off the full force of herself, but she did so now. She had never needed to call upon her immense power before this moment. If ever there was a time to test the limits of fairy magic, it was here and now. Jen did not know what she was going to do, but she knew one thing. All of this was ending here. Now.
"You must be Buchanan's girlfriend," Dane said, dropping Nick to the ground roughly and standing up straight. "Lucky you came by. He's losing his usefulness."
"Leave him alone!" Jen cried. Her voice cracked. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that Nick was bleeding and swollen and wasn't moving. Dane said he was losing his usefulness. He might already be dead. The thought caused her thundering heart to restrict in her chest, and sparks of magic danced between her fingers.
Dane stood up straight and approached Jen slowly, curiously. "I've never seen a grown fairy before. Are they all like you?"
"Stay back," Jen growled in warning. She didn't know what she would do to keep him away, but she'd figure out something. The magic was itching now, right on the brink of breaking loose.
"No, I think it'd be best if you let me come talk to you. Best if you help me," Dane sneered.
"Why on earth would I do that?" she scoffed.
Dane actually smiled. "If Buchanan can't help me, then you'll take me into the fairy realm and show me how to get your magic. I had a friend who tried once, but it didn't work. But we were kids. I bet you'll be more use to me."
"You murdered Joshua," Jen spat in disgust.
He laughed, belittling her outrage. "Did you know him?"
"He was the queen's son." She didn't know why she was telling him that, but it felt right that he should know the terrible thing he had done, the extent of his destruction.
But Dane Majors paid no mind. He did not care. Why should he? He let out a noise of interest. "Oh so you lot have got a queen? I look forward to meeting her."
"You never will. You'll never get to the realm," Jen vowed.
Dane reached into the waistband of his trousers and pulled out a gun. "I think you'll find I will," he said, low and dangerous.
"Don't go blindly into the dark!" Jerry cried from above them, echoing what he'd said to Jen before by the cabin.
Without a second of hesitation, Dane pointed his gun to the tree and fired. The sound, so close to Jen, was deafening. Even more than in the parking garage when Juliette Gardiner had been killed.
But despite her ears ringing, Jen saw the blur of black and iridescent blue and rich gold fall to the ground. Jermuth the death watcher had been killed.
Jen screamed to see the loss of her avian friend, but the sound of her cries mingled with the laughter of Dane Majors. Dane had walked back over to Nick, gun still in his hand.
"Shut up!" Dane shouted at Jen. "Now then, if you don't want the same thing to happen to your boyfriend here, you'll take me through the portal!"
The worst nightmare imaginable swirled through Jen's brain. The man she loved lay dying, threatened to be killed in front of her very eyes. But the safety of the fairy realm, of her home, of all her friends, her whole world, hung in the balance. She couldn't let Dane Majors into the realm. That was certain. But just as certain, in the deepest part of Jennifer's heart and now screaming and begging every part of her, was the knowledge that Jen could not live without Nick. She would rather die than be without him now. In this moment, with Dane Majors pointing a gun at him, Jen could not see any possible future life for herself that Nick was not a part of. She needed him as much as she needed her wings to survive. Her magic and her love for Nick were a part of her, inseparable from her very soul.
The seconds Jen took, standing there paralyzed in terror, were enough to frustrate Dane. "Fine," he said, "have it your way." He cocked the gun with a dangerous click and looked down at Nick to fire right into his head.
"NO!" Jennifer screamed.
And that was the last thing she consciously realized she did.
