"Here" Meghan handed me a pair of new iron daggers, I was aware they wouldn't do much against an Iron fey but they were weapons nontheless.

"Thanks" I examined them closely. They looked wickedly sharp, Good. I stuffed them in my backpack.

We were where Grimalkin had told us, waiting for my Dad and him. Kierran and Ash seemed in a deep man-to-man kind of talk.

The Iron Queen nodded. "It's the less I can do since I won't be able to help you this time" A heavy sighed escaped from her mouth "I remember when I used to do this. Ash, Puck, Grim and me in some quest to save the Nevernever..."

A huge crow landed next to us and then, in the blink of an eye, it was Dad standing there. "Yep, the old times"

"Are you ready?" Grim asked from a tree branch.

I bit my tongue to keep me from asking him how he had done that, maybe it was normal here, what did I know?

"Yes, they are ready" announced Ash. He ruffled his son's jet black hair.

"Let's get on the way then" The cat disapeared from the tree and reapeared on the ground a couple of feet away.

I waved goodbye to Ash and Meghan, and with Dad and Kierran, we followed the misterious cat.

After an hour of silent walk through the forest, the wyldwood changed, there were no more exotic flowers or tall and ominous trees, just a thorn maze.

"What is this place?" I asked glancing at Kierran, who didn't seem to care about the brambles. I was pricked and poked several times, but avoided making a big deal about it. If I hadn't come here, they wouldn't have to be doing this now, they didn't need me complainig about everything.

"The Briars, I think he will lead us to a trod" He looked at me with concern "Keep on not avoiding them or you'll just bleed more"

"Stick to them so that they don't prick me, that's so logical." I muttered, my voice full of sarcasm.

Dad chuckled. "Fey aren't, at least not the tradditional ones."

"Is this the only way to this Between?" I watched the hungry brambles warily. The Briars felt alive to me, they moved, along with the creatures I was sure inhabited them.

"No" Grim answered from the front of our group "but it's the safest. The trod will take us back to the Mortal Realm, and don't worry Goodfellow, " He wrinkled his nose "We will not go very deep into the Briars this time"

"That's good to know fur ball"

A sound came from my right and I stopped. Kierran looked at me"What?"

"Did you hear that?"

He shook his head and peered at the shadows casted by the bushes. "Nope"

"Well, I'm not crazy so -"

Dad spun around "Summer! Take out your daggers!"

All of suddenly Grimalkin was nowhere in sight and five winter knights were lunging ut us.

Crap.

I took the Iron daggers from my backpack as fast as I could and charged at the first faery in front of me.

He moved in a blur, but I was shorter and used that to my advantage ducking beaneath his guard. I could see his sword was too big for his arms so I went for them and made several non-harmful cuts. The fey stared at me wide-eyed noticing the iron which had burnt his skin, before raising his sword to take my head off. I arched my back and crouched to avoid the blow, slipping between his legs with my arms spread to hurt his ankles. Ballet lessons asshole!

That made him lose some balance, but the guy was tough. In the second it took for me to stand up again, he had recovered and went for my thigh. The pain sliced trhough me but not enough to lose my focus. Grinning wickedly, he kicked my gut.

It left me breathless, and not in the nice way, but I managed to stretch my leg and hook it around his already wounded ankle. I pulled, making him stumble and fall. Crawling towards him, with my daggers at hand, I didn't hesitate and stabbed one in his heart.

My body collapsed on the ground. I just killed someone.

I felt a hand on my back. "Summer are you okay?"

"Yeah, just give me a minute please" It was in self-defense, it doesn't make it right, but it makes it less wrong.

Kierran sighed. "You are hurt, let me bandage that"

The fight was not over yet, Dad was playing self-multiplying himself with the remaining knight.

I didn't want to get up. "It's just a scratch, besides, what are you going to use as a bandage?"

He didn't answer, instead, he just took off his shirt and tore a piece of fabric.

I rolled my eyes, sitting up. "You know you could've done that without taking your shirt off" I couldn't help noticing the scars that ran from his shoulder to his chest. I wondered how he had gotten them.

He smirked and started wrapping the fabric around my thigh. "I know, but your expression was worth it. Remind me to never piss you off, though, or you'll end up going all badass on me"

I shook my head and laughed. He knew I dind't like the fact of having killed someone, and was trying to distract me. His fingers worked neatly, and with confidence. He had done things like this several times.

"Hey you okay?" Dad sheathed his daggers into his boots.

"Yep, where's Grim?"

"Here" He purred appearing out of nowhere.

I couldn't stand it any longer. "How is that you can vanish and reappear like that?" The question left my lips before I could stop it.

"I'm a cat"was his only answer.