The cadence of Pierce's breath shifted, and I woke. Eyes flashing open, I searched the dim confines of the hole. It was silent, a soft glow of natural light showing where the ventilation hole was and that the sun was up. Pierce's stubble, too, said it was tomorrow. I was still lying beside him, his arm over me protectively and one of my legs atop the blanket. It had gotten warm. Pierce was awake and listening, and when he made a soft sh-h-h-h of sound, adrenaline shocked through me.
"Morning," he whispered, eyes on the ceiling. "Someone's in the woods."
My breath came fast. Stiffening, I stared at the ceiling, remembering my panic last night and trying to relax. "Trent?" I whispered back, and he shook his head, not moving.
"No dogs or horses. I think it's..."
The hum of dragonfly wings grew from a muffled hesitancy to a full clatter, and Jenks dropped in from the far corner of the ceiling, shedding glittering sparkles to double the light. "Rache! Glad you're... Tink loves a duck!" he said, wings clattering. "It stinks of sex in here. God, woman. I leave you alone for one night, and you're humping the ghost."
I sighed, and Pierce finished sourly, " ...it's a pixy."
"Jenks, show some class," I said as Pierce sat up.
The pixy flew over the confines of the hole in three seconds flat as he took inventory. "You know me, Rache. I ain't never been to get no schoolin'. I don't have class."
Pierce got to his knees to reach for his clothes. He was still naked, as was I, and seeing him, Jenks shot to the ceiling, gold sparkles falling from him to make a puddle of light. "Oh! God! Naked witch!" Then he hesitated, his altitude slipping. "Hey, dude, I'm sorry about that."
He was laughing, and I frowned, seeing where Jenks was looking.
Pierce snatched his underthings, sitting on the corner of the blanket as he put them on. "He's just tired, little man. He had a busy night."
This was so not how I envisioned my day starting. Wincing, I sat up, blanket held tight to me. I was a mess. "Jenks, in this case, it's truly what you can do that matters."
Jenks was waving his hands at me, hovering backward. "Oh God! Shut up!"
"Then you shut up," I said, eying my clothes, abandoned in the corner. I didn't want to put my leather pants back on, but I didn't want to walk out of here in a blanket either. Stretching, I reached for a sock, feeling its stiffness before dropping it. No way.
Pierce looked at Jenks with a dark expression and, rubbing his thicker stubble, said, "Can we get out of this hole, master pixy?"
Clearly in a good mood, Jenks dropped to alight on the peg holding Pierce's still soggy coat. "Yeah, the woods are clear. Ivy's in lockdown at Cormel's - "
"What?" Suddenly I was a lot more awake.
"She's fine," he soothed, his glow dimming as his wings quit moving. "The coven's on the scout for you, and Rynn won't let her out for her own safety. She is so pissed."
"I can imagine." I glanced at the ceiling as Pierce, now wearing at least his thin shirt and trousers, grabbed his hat and crab-walked to the far end. Good thing I kept the elven porn. I'd never get it back from Rynn Cormel and not get caught. How we were going to run the end of this without Ivy might be tricky. Plans were going to have to change.
With a sifting of earth, Pierce slipped the locking bar out of the trapdoor and opened the hatch, carefully shifting it to the side to keep the moss from being damaged. Sun and noise spilled in, shocking after so long a silent existence. Birds were singing, and a flickering sun made shadows on the earth floor. I had to get out. The fresh air only highlighted how nasty it was down here.
Pierce stood up through the opening, eclipsing the light until he levered himself out and the sun beamed in again, unimpeded.
"Don't worry about it, Rache," Jenks said as I gathered myself to move. "There's something about a hole in the ground that just turns a person into an animal. Every time I got Mattie alone in one of the back tunnels - " He hesitated, then smiled, his head down and his wings still. "Tink's titties, I miss her."
I could only smile sadly with him, but I wished I could give him a hug. I was surprised he was talking about her already. Maybe the pixy psyche was like that, live hard and fast.
Jenks darted out and away as I wrapped myself in the blanket and shuffled to the opening. Standing creakily, I blinked in the sun, relishing the fresh air and being upright. Pierce was under a huge oak, hands on his hips and doing some kind of nineteenth-century exercise that looked stiff and about as effective as toast, though seeing him doing them in his un-derthings had a certain appeal. The chatter of the unseen river was obvious. Jenks was a hum of noise beside me, and gazing at Pierce, I whispered, "Don't drive him away. He's a nice guy."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Jenks perched on a fern, looking like he belonged, his bright red bandanna catching the sun. "Did he make sparkles sift from you before or after he told you his lies?"
"Sparkles sift from you" was nicer than "porked you," or "boinked you," or "had crazy monkey sex," and I smiled. "After. Not that it's any of your business." Jenks's wings dropped, and I added, "I know he uses black magic. So do 1.1 like him even if he's a pain in the ass, and he makes me feel less evil, okay? I'm not going to be stupid. I know it's not forever." My thoughts flashed to Kisten, and I sobered.
The pixy didn't say anything, just looked sad as Pierce approached, looking rejuvenated and a little less rumpled. He extended a hand to me, and with his help, I scrambled out. My bare feet touched the moss, and it was as if I was reborn, new again with hope.
"Thank you," I whispered, meaning about six dozen things. Thank you for last night, for thinking I'm worth sacrificing for, for holding me when the dogs came, forgiving me hope, for not leaving...
His hand fell from mine. "You're welcome. You're a sight in the morning sun, Rachel."
I put a hand to my hair, knowing it was matted and that I stank of river and dirt. "I must look awful."
"You're grand," he affirmed, blue eyes delighted. "The sun is in your hair, and it's all over in a most comely fashion."
"Yeah," Jenks said, interrupting. "Rachel looks good after she gets boinked. It's the only time she relaxes."
Ignoring him, I shivered as the leaves shifted in a gust. It looked about nine. We didn't have much time, and I was almost naked in the woods, miles from Cincinnati and no transportation back. "Jenks, do you know if Trent filed a police report?" I asked, anxious to find out what had happened while I'd been... preoccupied.
Jenks's grin eased my worry. "Nope. He doesn't want anyone to know he lost it, which puts you in twice the danger since Trent is going to take care of you himself There's a message on the church phone to call him, which I think is funny. He's increased his security by the looks of it. You'll never get close enough to him without a disguise."