Come Away

Chapter 24 - Roommate

"Wait, you want me to leave without Darren?"

I'm sitting on Skye's back in the middle of the forest where everything is shrouded in wet, green darkness. Even the sliver of moon is blocked from casting any light on us. Thanks to Cináed's night vision, we journeyed in silence through the misty branches until he stopped the horse and got off because we'd reached our destination.

He is just now clarifying that "our destination" is a portal, and that I'm supposed to follow him through it.

Cináed's back is to me as he paces in front of a tree. At least I assume it's a tree. I'm lucky if I can see my own hand in front of my face right now.

"If you want to escape, we must leave now." Cináed explains, not sounding concerned in the least.

All I want to do is take off through the trees until I reach Darren. I didn't sacrificed everything to get him back just to turn around and abandon him in this forsaken place.

"What's so special about right now?" I argue. "I seriously doubt anything will change in the time it takes for us to bring Darren with us."

Cináed turns to look at me. I can tell because two green lanterns are suddenly blinking at me.

"You can doubt my judgement as much as you wish. It will not change the truth." He says. "I forget that you mortals know nothing of Samhain."

I toss my head back and exhale loudly out my mouth. "Well then explain it to me. What's all the hoopla about freaking Samhain?"

"Every portal between realms was opened at sunset. They will remain open until the next sun has set. But the journey to where Darren is will be cutting it too close. We risk the portals closing before we can travel through."

"Okay, but why can't we leave the same way we came here? That was a portal, right?"

Now it's his turn to sigh. "For all the careless indifference you masquerade, you are frustratingly perceptive sometimes."

I fold my arms with a smirk. "So we can go get Darren now?"

"You claim your victory too soon. See, the portal we used before is able to bring creatures of every kind into the Otherworld. But getting anything out is nearly impossible. Unless I fed both you and your brother Fae food for several moons, your mortal blood cannot pass through any portals. The one exception is during Samhain."

I'm shaking my head before he finishes. "I can't leave without Darren. I won't do it."

"What if I told you that he will be helped through another portal tonight as well?"

"Oh." Well that changes things. As long as... "Wait, who is helping him exactly?"

Cináed's eyes turn away. "The minotaur should still be at the cottage. And Vera, the one you met upon your arrival, is also with him."

Great. I'm supposed to trust strawberry ice-cake to take care of the only family I have. Cináed takes my hand and slowly persuades me to slide off the horse. His hands rest on my hips even after he lifts me to the ground.

"It is now or never, Roisín." He lifts a finger to tuck a stray hair behind my ear. But when our eyes meet he drops his hands and looks at the ground. "Bringing you here during such perilous events was a mistake on my part. Let me make it right by taking you home."

There is it—that raw sincerity that's so hard to come by with him. Everything he went through to get us here, and the deal we made that I'll never repay, he's giving all of it up. For me.

Before I do something stupid like kiss him, I take his hand and nod toward the tree he was staring at earlier. The one that probably has some secret door in it or something magical like that.