The Hunt drove slowly by. The Erlking gave me a jaunty wave as he passed, but he didn’t stop, and the rest of his Huntsmen looked straight ahead. Except for the last one, who turned his head toward the window as he rode by.
My throat ached. Was that really Ethan? Unless he raised the visor on his helmet, I couldn’t be sure. I felt the pressure of his eyes on me, though I couldn’t see them. He made no gesture, and he didn’t slow down, his bike maintaining a perfect, uniform distance from the one in front of him.
Who was I kidding? Of course it was Ethan! The Erlking had gone out of his way to make sure that one Huntsman let his hair stray from underneath the helmet, giving me the clue I needed to differentiate Ethan from the rest.
Ethan turned to face front again. Even without seeing his face, I knew that look had been a cry for help. Maybe a cry the Erlking had forced him to make, but one I couldn’t refuse.
Everyone in the shop kind of held their breath for a minute or so after the Hunt had passed us by, wondering if they were going to come back and make trouble, but they didn’t. Finn and Lachlan were both visibly relieved that the Erlking and his Hunt were gone. I don’t know if either of them had realized the point of the Erlking’s display, or if they’d even realized that one of those faceless riders was Ethan. They might feel like the Erlking had left without attacking, but I knew better.
Seeing Ethan bound to the Hunt like that was a shock to my system; a shock that woke me up, shook me out of my despair.
* * *
I was having no luck trying to figure out how to defeat the Erlking. All well and good to label myself the only reliable person in my life, but clearly I couldn’t do this on my own, no matter how much I wanted to.
As Finn and I returned to my safe house, I thought long and hard about who I could approach for help. My parents were, of course, out of the question. Dad had already written the cause off as hopeless, and neither he nor Mom would let me take even the slightest risk to help Ethan. Finn and Lachlan were out for the same reasons. After Keane had told me exactly how he felt about Ethan, I could hardly expect him to want to help me launch or even plan a rescue. That left me with only one option.
Once back at the safe house, I retreated to my suite and closed the door behind me. Then I retreated even further, to my bedroom. I grabbed the phone, then sat cross-legged on my bed and willed myself to make the call I so dreaded.
It took me forever to scrape up the nerve, but eventually I turned on the phone and dialed Kimber’s number. It would have served me right if she hadn’t been home and I’d had to spend hours upon hours working myself into even more of a nervous wreck, but fate—for once—took pity on me.
Kimber picked up on the third ring, although she didn’t say anything. She had caller ID, too, so she had to know it was me. Her accusatory silence made me cringe, and at first I couldn’t force myself to speak.
“Hey,” I finally said, then cursed myself for being so lame. Unfortunately, my brain had gone on strike, and I couldn’t think of what else to say.
“Hey yourself,” she answered, sounding cool and distant. When I’d first met her, she’d acted like the stereotypical Fae ice princess—just like this.
Words finally formed in my mind, though they weren’t any less lame. “I’m sorry I didn’t call earlier. I…” My voice died. Anything I said to explain my silence would just be an excuse, and a sorry one at that.
Kimber sighed. “I could have picked up the phone, too,” she said, and she sounded slightly more like herself.
I shook my head, though she couldn’t see me. “It was up to me to make the first move, and I blew it.” Please don’t let me have ruined this friendship, I prayed silently.
“No, I blew it. You’ve been going through hell ever since you set foot in Avalon, and I’m supposed to be your friend. I just … I didn’t know if I could stand it if you blamed me for what happened.”
Blamed her? Surely she was joking. “I think we’ve got a bad connection,” I said. “I thought you just said you were worried I’d blame you for what happened. But that’s about the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard, so I must have gotten it wrong.”
“You mean you don’t?” she asked, her voice so tentative it made my heart ache.
“Of course I don’t blame you! Why on earth would I blame you when it was all because of me that the Erlking took Ethan?”
“Because neither of you would have been there if it weren’t for me. The spa trip was all my idea, and so was visiting the tea shop. And then I left the two of you alone.” Her words were coming out in an almost frantic rush. “If I’d been there with you, I could have stopped Ethan from trying to play hero. You didn’t want me to leave you alone with Ethan, but I thought I knew better. I—”
A laugh burst out of me, completely unexpected. “All this time,” I started, then the laughter took me again. I was bordering on hysterical, and I knew it. That didn’t mean I could stop. “I’ve been afraid to call you.” Hiccups joined the laughter. “I was afraid you’d hate me because it was all my fault Ethan got taken.”
Kimber caught a bit of my hysteria, and she started to giggle. “No way,” she said. “It’s not your fault at all!”
The laughter died as fast as it had started, which was just as well since it was hard to laugh and talk coherently at the same time. “Of course it’s my fault. The Erlking wouldn’t have had any interest in Ethan if it weren’t for me.”