Happy Saturday, everyone! I'm thrilled to present another chapter to you, and one that has a little bit more action than the previous one. After such a long hiatus, it feels good to be able to get chapters back out into your lovely hands! And I'm thrilled to get this one out after I had to take the kitties to the vets for their new client checkup. They did excellently, and the vets said their coats, skin, teeth, eyes, and everything were beautiful. I am a very proud pet mama! However, they're not happy that they had to go at all, lol.

I've got two really pissed off Norwegian Forest cats here, so knowing that I was able to get another chapter out to you all made me happy. I hope you all enjoy the chapter, and we'll see you again in the next one! Stay awesome!

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Shion brushed his hair―completely dried from the shower he'd managed to slip in, which felt like an eternity ago―out his eyes as he and Nezumi hurried down the sidewalk in the opposite direction from where Safu would be sprinting. He widened his eyes in an attempt to keep himself from breaking down. The rhythmic pounding of his sneakers mixed in with the odd click of Nezumi's boots, and the sounds calmed him.

He couldn't remember much about the whirlwind of leaving the bakery. He'd stuffed a few assorted items into a backpack―his phone, his charger, a change of clothes for him and Nezumi, his debit card―but everything else he thought about packing felt unnecessary.

Shion hadn't stopped to say goodbye to his mother. He couldn't stand the thought. If he stopped in front of her, looked into her enchantment-glazed face and told her that this was probably the last time they'd see each other, he'd fall apart. His fingers trembled around the strap of his ratty blue backpack, focusing instead on the sensation of its weight between his shoulder blades.

"We'll need to take a car," Nezumi called softly over his shoulder. He'd abandoned the black armor in the dumpster outside the bakery. He seemed confident that any Unseelie messenger that came sniffing around would be too dimwitted to connect the dumpster's location with the bakery, and moreover, the steel composing the dumpster's hull would mask Nezumi's scent and the blood clinging to the armor.

He looked strange in the dark blue tee shirt and black plaid sleep pants Shion had loaned him, but no less dangerous than he'd always been. After his shower, he'd dragged his hair back into a ponytail, as if he couldn't stand to let it stay down a second longer. Only the boots from the armor adorned his feet, and Shion suspected it had more to do with the fact that something was better than going barefoot.

Shion wondered if Nezumi could smell the iron in the air as they walked quickly through the streets of Kronos. He peered into the dark line of trees, his heart hammering at the lack of eyes and little sprites that normally frequented them.

"I can't drive," Shion said back, grateful for something to distract him from his monstrous thoughts. "And aren't cars made of iron?"

"I'm aware." Nezumi traced the shape of the strange necklace that hovered beneath the neckline of his shirt. "The glamour helps, but as long as I don't touch the iron directly, it shouldn't hurt me."

Shion hurried to catch up with him. "Where are we going to get a car?"

"Plenty of places," Nezumi replied. It wasn't much of an answer, but Shion didn't have the energy to keep pressing. The cold night air tightened around him, and Shion couldn't help the waves of paranoia that clawed their way through him.

He didn't focus on their quick trip through the dim streets of Kronos. He didn't think about what Safu must have been thinking, arriving at the bakery and not finding him. He wondered what she would do when she looked into Karan's enchantment-drunk eyes. He couldn't remember if he'd turned his phone on silent; he hoped so. If it rang, he felt as though he wouldn't be able to stand it.

Nezumi guided them down a series of quiet, dark alleyways, and Shion thumped along behind him as the autumn chill settled in his bones. He realized too late that he hadn't even bothered with a jacket when he left. Goosebumps prickled along his bare arms, but Shion welcomed the sensation as a distraction from the screaming in his skull.

"Here we go," Nezumi announced at last, and Shion lifted his head. Nezumi had led them across Kronos―devoid of faeries, which made Shion's heart clench―and deposited them in front of a run-down bar nestled a good distance away from the neighborhood Shion called home.

"What are we doing here?" Shion asked.

"Stealing a car," Nezumi responded casually. He trotted toward the parking lot, where a sea of beaten cars rested. Shion's breath quicked as he watched Nezumi search through the windows, peeking through for a spare set of keys in the visor.

"What do we do if the owner comes looking for it?" Shion mumbled, though his heart wasn't in it. He folded his arms over his chest and rubbed some warmth into them. The chill seemed to have seeped into his bones.

Nezumi picked through several cars until he came to an old junker. "Bingo," he announced, and it was such a mortal term that Shion couldn't help the smile that tugged at the corner of his lips.

"You haven't answered my question," he said, slowly coming to stand beside Nezumi. Through the tinted glass, Shion could see that the car definitely wasn't a prize. While the front seats were clean enough, in the back seat, Shion could see wrappers and empty IPA cans. He wondered if the heater even worked.

"Don't concern yourself with it," Nezumi said. He quickly glanced up at the building where the bar sat―searching for cameras, which Shion knew there were none―and then went back to examining the car. "I'm going to break in," he explained. "I'll need you to stand guard."

Shion knew he should have been more concerned about the prospect of Nezumi stealing a car, but he didn't have the energy for such things. If he was honest with himself, a car was probably a better weapon against the Fair Folk than anything else. He didn't even know if Nezumi could drive a car, but he didn't want to argue. He nodded, murmuring, "OK," under his breath, and turned to regard the closed door leading into the bar.

Strange sounds came from behind him as Nezumi worked on the door lock, and Shion's curiosity urged him to glance over and watch. But Nezumi had asked him to keep watch, and while Shion felt sick at the thought of what he'd do if someone came out and spotted them, he found himself watching the heavy metal door itnently.

"Come on, you fuck," Nezumi spat under his breath. A few clicking sounds sent chills down Shion's spine, and then he heard Nezumi said, "Got it."

Shion glanced over, and Nezumi yanked the door open. He wrenched his hand back with a slight hiss, as if the car door was hot to the touch. Shion's stomach tightened, but a quick survey of Nezumi's fingers revealed that they weren't burned. "It's not too bad," Nezumi said, taking a quick look at the concern on Shion's face. "Like I said, the glamour stops the worst of it."

"OK," Shion murmured. He paused for a heartbeat and then said, pointlessly, "Do we have to steal the car?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, Shion knew it was a mistake. Nezumi peered at him from the other side of the vehicle, his eyes narrowed and haunting. Shion opened his mouth to take the words back, but before he could, Nezumi's expression softened.

He inhaled through his nose and then said, very gently, "A car will keep the Unseelie Court from catching up with us. We'll need to put some distance between us and whatever parts of their army are coming after us. The car will mask our scent. And if we cross paths with any of them..." He regarded the front end of the car, where Shion could see a series of dents.

Shion understood. He nodded slowly. "All right." He breathed in through his nose, tasting the stale air surrounding the bar, and then said, "Is it OK if I have a moment? Before we go?"

Nezumi's lips pressed together, but he said, "Sure."

Shion had never been more grateful than he did at that moment. He leaned back against the car door, knowing that there wouldn't be enough time for him to properly mourn the loss of his mother and Safu. In a matter of moments, his whole world had come crashing down around him. It was his own fault, his own stupidity for responding to a faerie's call for help instead of ignoring it like Safu's grandmother had trained him, but Shion's heart still cried out for his misfortune.

Tears burned in the corners of his eyes. He could feel them building, fogging his vision and burning in a way that made Shion regret dragging Nezumi down with him. Was this how it felt to be surrounded by iron? Shion felt gutted. Was this what he was doing to Nezumi, by keeping him in the human world?

If I'd just ignored him, Shion lamented, then neither of us would be in this situation.

Nezumi's wound had been terrible, but there was a chance that he could have survived long enough to crawl his way back to the Unseelie Court. If Shion hadn't inserted himself in Nezumi's business, then the Unseelie King wouldn't have turned against him. Nezumi would be a member of that miserable place, but he wouldn't have been on the run as a traitor, uncertain if the King who held his life in his hands was still alive or not. He exhaled, sobs shuddering through his chest. He struggled to keep them inside. If he broke down now, there was no coming back from it.

Something touched down on the streetlight above his head. Shion squinted through the haze at it―a crow? No, it was far smaller than that. The small, round thing could have easily fit inside the palm of Shion's hands. It looked avian in appearance, certainly, but its dark feathers glinted in the light like metal.

Shion blinked at the tiny creature as it warbled softly down at him and cocked its head. Two beady green baubles sat where its eyes should have been. Gemstones, Shion realized―two fat emeralds in place of where beady glass eyes should have resided on a human creature. His blood ran cold at the realization that a fae creature sat in his midst, and it saw him.

A second bird landed gently on the gutter above his head, its little feet tapping up and down to keep from burning on the iron. And another one, on a tree branch across the street, watching Shion's every move with its fierce gaze.

Shion took a trembling step backward, and one of the little birds landed silently on the roof of the car. Its talons were smeared with scarlet, and Shion's heart sank as its glowing green eyes stared intently down at him. It saw him. Of course it would have. But the worst of it was that Shion had stared back―had stared back at all of them―and they knew he saw them, too.

"Nezumi―," Shion choked.

Nezumi lifted his head, the silver of his eyes catching in the haze. He glanced sharply at the bird on the streetlight, then at the one on the car's roof. His expression remained muted and still, but in his eyes, Shion could see the steady rise of a storm.

"Shion," Nezumi said gently. "Get in the car."

"But―"

Another little bird landed on the ground, an inch from Shion's sneaker, and he sprang back into the passenger seat. He slammed the door shut as another one joined its companion on the streetlight, a series of bright green gemstones locking on Shion, Nezumi, and the stolen vehicle.

Nezumi jumped inside and hit the locks. They sealed behind Shion with a definitive click; safe inside, Shion exhaled and peered through the tinted glass. More had landed on the buildings surrounding them―the only other fae creatures Shion had seen in two days―and soon, a murder of them began to form around the parked car. Whispers filtered through the closed windows, carried on the crisp autumn wind, and Shion realized with gut-wrenching certainty that it was the birds making the sounds; tiny little warbles that sent chills down his spine.

"What are they?" Shion muttered under his breath. "Nezumi, what―what are those things?"

"Not now," Nezumi grit through his clenched teeth. He twisted the key in the lock, and the car roared to life beneath his hands. Shion clutched the edges of his seat as the heater clicked on and blasted a gust of freezing air into his face.

Nezumi cranked the heat down and shoved the air vents away from his face. The smell of metal wafted through the air as the heater rumbled to life, and Nezumi's face tightened. Shion's heart clenched, but before he could say anything, Nezumi spat out, "Hang onto something," and jammed his foot down on the gas pedal.

The car tore out of the alleyway and hit the street. Shion scrambled for the seat belt, clicking it into place just as Nezumi jerked the steering wheel to the right and straightened the car out.

Shion twisted around in the seat to try and spot the strange emerald-eyed birds. There were dozens of them zipping through the air, their metallic wings singing in the wind as they banked above the car. Their tiny bodies easily dodged the streetlights and treetops, hundreds of little green specks pursuing them from the darkness.

"They're following us," Shion whispered.

Nezumi angled the rearview mirror downward and cursed. His jaw clenched, and he gripped the wheel. He turned down a street on the right. Shion tightened his grip on the seatbelt, the sensation of the fabric digging into the creases of his fingers grounding him. Terror swirled in his veins like a disease, his mind blurry and his thoughts muzzy. He stared out the front windshield and tried to forget about the birds.

Nezumi zipped down the road at a speed Shion was certain would get him pulled over. In his state of cold horror, he wondered if Nezumi's honeyed words would be enough to convince an officer not to give him a ticket. The corners of his lips tugged upward at the madness of it all. Nezumi didn't see it. He glared out the windshield, his shoulders hunched and his whole body tense.

The birds didn't alight on the car; instead, they pursued at a distance, rising in Shion's periphery like a blackened dome. Everywhere Nezumi turned the car, the birds were there, angling down the road and avoiding the roofs of houses and crumpled buildings they passed. Shion blinked, realizing that they'd passed the city lines of Kronos a few meters back. He didn't venture out of town often, but on the few occasions he and his mother took trips to the next town over, Shion often found himself bemused by the long stretch of open land, forests, and run-down buildings that marked the way.

The road went forward in a straight line, and Nezumi's body tightened further as he sped down the street. He didn't take his eyes off the road, staring into the abyss that yawned open ahead of them.

As Kronos disappeared behind them, the streetlights went with it. There was no moon, only a handful of pale stars, and the bright headlights of the stolen vehicle casting forth to illuminate their escape. Nezumi never took his eyes off the road; they drifted past large stretches of forests, filled to the brim with Folk that Shion had never seen. He recognized them immediately as Solitary Folk―those whose alliance rested only with their own and not to a single Court―but his hammering heart didn't settle. Loyalty could change.

Nezumi pressed harder on the gas pedal, and really, it was a wonder they hadn't been pulled over by a police officer. Shion glanced out the window, squinting desperately into the darkness and searching for the birds. He couldn't spot their glowing green eyes among the stars, but that didn't mean Nezumi had managed to shake them.

Shion strained beyond the loud hum of the heater―it'd begun to kick in, and Shion hoped the stench of the iron mechanisms inside wasn't too unbearable for Nezumi―and then, after a few moments, he heard it: dozens of flapping wings somewhere overhead, the chilling whispers echoing in his skull like laughter. He sucked in a breath and tried not to scream.

Nezumi muttered to himself and pressed on the gas again. How fast were they going? Shion's stomach dropped at the realization that if something were to come sprinting out of the woods in front of them, they'd trash the car. His grip on the seatbelt tightened. Would it be enough to rescue him?

"Is your seatbelt on?" Shion said, with sudden urgency.

"No," Nezumi ground out; he sounded strained.

"Put it on."

Nezumi barked out a laugh. "I'm a little busy, if you hadn't noticed."

"You're going to get hurt if we crash."

"I'm not going to crash."

Shion knew that Nezumi's words should have been enough to console him. Even so, the thought of the front end of the car crashing into one of the snow-white deer with their glowing horns (covered in vines and moonlit flowers) and Nezumi hurtling forward through the glass made him want to cry.

"Please just put it on," he whispered.

Nezumi growled something out, but reached up with one hand, seized the belt, and clicked it into place.

"Thank you."

Nezumi leaned forward and peered into the rearview mirror. Shion wasn't sure what he could have possibly seen in the darkness, but now wasn't the time to ask. He sat back in his seat, trembling from head to toe, and tried to be quiet and still. He glanced out the window in his periphery, no longer searching for the glowing green eyes of the birds hurtling after them.

Shion didn't know how fast the car was moving, but he no longer cared. He let his mind drift. The sounds of the tires whirling on the smooth concrete lulled him into a strange sense of calmness. The world around him buzzed gray and blue at the edges. The world hurtled around him, far too fast. His knuckles had turned white, trembling around the belt.

Nezumi's fingers tightened. Shion imagined his knuckles would be white, too. He glanced out the rearview once more and cursed, much too softly for Shion's liking. He sounded defeated. Shion closed his eyes to shut out the stretching road that sped before them. As the car raced down the dark road, surrounded by the flapping wings of the pursuing birds and their metallic wings, Shion let the darkness overpower him and drag him down.

To Be Continued...