Come Away

Chapter 34 - Confession

As my eyes adjust from the red glow of the will-o-the-wisps, back to the blackness of night, I can see several horses cresting over from the pastures.

For a moment I think it's Skye and her friends coming to help us. But then I see riders on the horse's backs, holding bows fitted with arrows.

As other mortals are joining our race for the forest, I turn back and yell, "Watch for arrows!"

The sound of something zipping through the air skims past my ear and I see an arrow land in the dirt in front of us.

There's no way to watch for arrows. Just run and hope the riders miss you.

Markie and Genevieve join the others who are sprinting alongside us as we reach the trees.

"Is Lena...?" I can't make myself finish the question.

Markie just shakes her head, her features shadowed over now that the moonlight is blocked by branches. I glance to my right and see Genevieve bounding over a fallen log like a gazelle. Her tears are dry like the blood crusted over the tip of her braid.

One look behind us tells me that only half of the mortals will make it to the trees in time. My stomach clenches as a boy falls in the middle of the clearing with an arrow in his back.

"Keep going!" Markie pushes me and I face forward again.

As much as I hate it, she's right. If we turn back now, none of us will make it.

Darren's hand is yanked from mine and I flip around to see a guard holding him around his middle. I scream for help as I run at the guard, struggling to carry boy who's thrashing around like an animal.

Something falls from the trees and lands on the guard's back, and his head is twisted around with a sickening crack as his neck breaks and the guard falls like a limp rag doll to the ground. Cináed pulls Darren from the lifeless arms of the guard and swings him onto his back.

"Run!" He yells, pointing deeper into the trees.

Both Markie and I skid to a stop and obediently turn back around. Cináed runs beside me with a wide-eyed Darren bouncing along behind him. I know other mortal kids are running for their lives like we are, but the only ones close enough to me to see are Genevieve and Markie who took the lead in front of us. The sounds of desperate people calling for each other, and frantic footfalls over the forest floor, surround us as we race in the darkness.

"Where's Vera?" I say, my throat dry and my lungs burning.

"After she failed to rescue Darren in time, she disappeared."

His voice is torn with sadness. "You don't know what happened to her?" I ask.

He just shakes his head once. "Enough talk, Roisín. Save your breath for the journey."

I know he has a point. I'm long past the winded phase and there's a sharp pain in my side, so I choose to ask the one question that can't wait till later.

"Is the portal still open?"

Cináed glances at me. I can see his green eyes glowing brightly in the dark.

"I do not know." He answers finally, adjusting Darren's weight between strides. "We shall see."

My skin shivers with dread. What if we're trapped here till the next Samhain?

I push myself faster, and Cináed matches my pace. Cináed said before that all portals close at the end of Samhain, and the sun set nearly an hour ago. But I can't help in hoping it will stay open long enough for us to make it back home.