Regen Read online

  I took a deep breath and jumped through the portal after Wade, hoping against hope there wasn’t a padded cell on the other side. The others didn’t know it was them I was unsure of, not the portal or destination. Out of the four of us, I had the least to worry about going into dangerous situations. I couldn’t hold them up and look like a wimp. I got the impression Starren didn’t care much for weakness and it would be really bad if she changed her mind and decided to just snatch me. I got the feeling there was another reason they wanted me, other than just Jaden wouldn’t know my face and I had a handy gift. Which just made this an even more wonderful experience.

  Instead of bright sun like I expected, jumping to Cali and all, here there was just a light glow all around us. Was it still sunrise here? How far behind us were they time-wise? I got my sight back, adjusting to the dimness after the bright white of the hallway. Great. Another woods. As if I needed a reminder to watch Wade. Things looked familiar, the kind of trees anyway. I’d been here before, a long time ago with my mom. Yosemite, or somewhere close. And here I thought we would get to go shopping after we were done taking this guy down.

  Something crashed into my back. I jumped forward and twisted around in one move. Oh. Maybe I should have stepped away from the portal. “You okay, Cray?” His big glasses were askew on his face, his eyes wide behind the lenses. He pushed his glasses up on his nose and nodded. Were glasses normal for fae? I had perfect vision, but was that because of the regenerating thing?

  “I brought us in a mile from where you suggested, Cray,” Starren said. “I didn’t want to drop right in on him in case he knows we’re coming. There haven’t been any signs to indicate something else fae could be in the area, so it should be him. Can you feel anything?” He closed his eyes for a moment, then they flew open and he nodded.

  “Lead the way,” Starren said.

  Cray looked nervous for a second, then moved forward.

  I followed the team, not really paying attention to Wade or Starren as I studied Cray. Being able to sense fae energy would really come in handy, especially when you wanted to avoid fae in general. Not that I didn’t like the regenerating thing, but that would probably have been more helpful for me. I’d have never gotten involved with Wade in the first place. Never hung out with him, never started to lo-… nope. Not going there.

  The amount of light was growing. We really must have hit here just at sunrise. Trudging through the woods, small sticks and plants breaking underfoot, the smell of the trees. It all brought back memories of the last time I went hiking. I glanced at Wade to see if he was thinking the same thing, but he wouldn’t look at me. That either meant he was, or he was so focused on the job ahead he hadn’t noticed. A thought made my evil side happy. We could trudge around in these woods all they wanted. Blisters. I was immune. How about these city fae?

  A mile on city streets should only take a person fifteen minutes. Out here where we had to dodge around rocks and massive trees, it was a good half hour before Cray stopped us, looking down into a dished valley.

  “The energy is coming from that hill,” Cray said. It was the first time I’d heard him speak. His voice was surprisingly deep.

  “Trisha,” Starren said.

  “Yeah, yeah, I know. Go be bait.”

  “Be careful,” Wade said. Strange coming from the guy that had killed me last week. And I still wasn’t sure they weren’t trying to kill me now. Something seemed off about this whole situation. I ignored him, took a breath and started down the slight grade.

  It leveled off after a couple minutes and soon after the trees thinned. Before they were gone I was in a clearing, staring at a strange hill in the middle of the forest floor. “I feel you, Atreyu. I hope this doesn’t turn out to be a giant turtle, I don’t want to get snotted on,” I muttered. I’d probably watched too many movies at the children’s home. Something about the two worlds in that one made me think about Faerie, thereby reminding me of my mom. I’d watched The Neverending Story a bejillion times. I glanced back at the trees, hoping to see Starren. For once, I wanted her to tell me what to do. They were gone.

  “They’re probably just trying to get me killed,” I snarled quietly. If I didn’t know that fae couldn’t lie, I’d be running the other way right now. It was get this job done or get dragged to some world I didn’t know anything about, with people I didn’t know. I’d had enough of that growing up, thank you very much.

  A step. Another.

  Something sniffed.

  I froze.

  I didn’t move for a few seconds, then almost laughed at myself. A sniff? Really? Was that Jaden’s new, unknown power, a super sniffer? I laughed at myself quietly until the sound came again, louder and longer.

  Okay, no way that was Jaden. A bear? That would not be cool. I’d heal while it did the damage, but how long until it decided to let me be? Ouch. I backed a few steps away slowly.

  The earth began to shudder, nearly knocking me to the ground. The little hill shook, dirt rained down as something stood up from underneath it, knocking the soil from its body. My fingernails bit into my hands. Maybe a bear wouldn’t have been so bad. This thing was massive, its stony looking head nearly as tall as the trees in the distance.

  Without warning, whatever it was moved over to a small stand of trees and ripped one out by the roots. It paused to get its bearings, more dirt raining down off its greyish skin.

  “Oh crap,” I whispered as its gaze finally found me. It hefted the tree up like a club and took a step in my direction, covering the distance between us in that one stride. The club came down hard, right at me. I jumped to the side and it missed. The impact of the club on the ground still knocked me off my feet, dirt and small stones raining down on me. A fist sized rock slammed into my arm.

  I tried to catch my breath, flat out on my back, the wind knocked out of me and my arm screaming in pain. That’s going to leave a mark, the nearly hysterical thought ran through my mind. At least for a few minutes. I looked over to assess the damage. Shoot. My sleeve was shredded and my clothes, unfortunately, would not regenerate like the rest of me. Nina was going to have a fit when she saw this. I scooted back a little but had to bite my lip to keep from yelling as my hip and side shrieked. I’d landed on a rock and hadn’t noticed while I was trying to catch my breath.

  A rumbling started. The thing was trying to talk. It had massive moss green eyes with big crooked teeth hanging out of its mouth. The rest of its body looked fairly human, other than the size. It rumbled something again, then coughed. Troll or ogre? What was the difference?

  I rolled over to stand and a crunch sounded from my pocket. Shoot again. My phone. I pulled it out. The screen was shattered. Great. No time to worry about it right now. I stuffed it back in and moved into a crouch.

  The troll took a step toward me, ground shaking under its massive foot. So this was why California had so many earthquakes. So much for the fault theory.

  “I’m gonna rip your head off your body,” the troll finally got out. I could barely hear the words, his voice was so deep. I wished I hadn’t been able to understand because for the first time since I’d started regenerating, I felt a thread of panic. How did that work? Even I probably couldn’t recover from that.

  “Starren, Wade, where are you?” I muttered under my breath.

  The troll swung again, this time making contact and sending me flying. I crashed into a tree and rolled to the ground. A groan slipped out of my mouth, my body frantically trying to deal with the damage. The troll shuffled my way. I stood and limped toward the trees, panting, fast as my battered body could move.

  Two gunshots sounded and then there was Wade. A confusing amount of happiness went through me. It was just because he was saving my life. And he was just saving my life because the team needed me. He didn’t come forward, just raised his gun again.

  The troll didn’t even notice the shots. The bullets must not have penetrated. Didn’t fae have anything better to use than a human weapon
? Suddenly there was Starren, standing between me and the troll, some type of bright sword in her hand. Where had that come from? She swiped a couple figures in the air.

  The troll lumbered to a stop, confusion on its massive face. “What you want, Fae? Leave my supper alone.”

  Not just something to be crushed then. Dinner. So much better. That hysterical feeling was back, full force.

  “This isn’t supper, she’s fae too. You know the rules.”

  A massive hand went up and scratched the tuft of hair on the things head. “She no look fae. Clothes human.”

  Starren relaxed a little, letting the tip of her sword sink toward the ground. “Yes, she does have some style issues, but she is one hundred percent fae, I promise you. And you know I can’t lie.”

  A nod started slowly. “I believe you. But I’m still hungry. And we aren’t in Faerie, so no rules.”

  Starren tensed back up, the sword slipping into a defensive position. “Take another step and lose a finger,” Starren snapped. “And after that a hand. We’ll see how far you get before you’re lying on the ground in pieces.”

  A low growl came out of the troll’s mouth. It stared at Starren hard for a moment, then turned and started away. It vanished between trees on the other side of the clearing, its footsteps still shaking the ground for a good couple minutes before they started to fade away.

  “Now what?” I asked Starren.

  She slid her sword into a sheath on her back and it disappeared. I blinked, but it was still gone.

  “Now we hope that wasn’t what Cray was sensing and that Jaden is actually around here somewhere.”

  Seriously? She was just going to go on with the mission?

  “We can’t just leave it here,” I said.

  “What?” she asked, like I wasn’t making any sense at all.

  “We can’t just leave it here. What if some poor hiker comes along and gets eaten?”

  “The things of Faerie have a way of not being seen if they choose. If a hiker gets eaten, everyone will think it was a bear, or some other Earth creature.”

  “What? How can you say that so calmly?”

  Starren looked genuinely confused. “They’re just humans, what do you care?”

  “Is that what you two think?” I turned and asked Wade and Cray. They were barely out of the trees, I had just caught sight of them out of the corner of my eye. “Where were you anyway?”

  “You don’t want to make a troll uncomfortable. Once Starren got his attention I knew she would get him talked out of eating you, so I moved back into the trees. Too bad for him she didn’t let him have you, that would be the last lunch he ever needed. You’d just keep coming back.” Wade started laughing at his idiotic joke.

  “You really don’t care if people get killed?”

  Wade calmed down a little. “You’ve lived here too long, Trish. You need to make a trip to Faerie, then you’ll understand. These people are not your kind.”

  “So what?” I exploded. “They are still people!” I had so much on my plate right now that I shouldn’t be worrying about a troll, but for some reason I just couldn’t let it go. What if the hiker that got killed had a kid waiting at home for them? What if they had a kid with them when it happened? For that matter, what if it was a kid? It was that great power, great responsibility junk. “Whatever. I’m not leaving until that troll is sent back where it belongs. How did it get here anyway?”

  Wade crossed his arms and glared at me. But he must have seen the expression on my face, because he sighed and loosened up after a second. “There must be a cave or pool around here that has a hole between worlds,” Wade said. “If we put enough pressure on the troll, he’ll go back on his own and we can report the hole. Then we’ve taken care of the problem and the Court will thank us for finding the hole.”

  “What about Jaden? The more time he spends here, the greater likelihood he’s getting into trouble. He could be much more dangerous than that troll if he isn’t taken care of,” Starren said. “And we don’t have much time before he gets his powers.”

  “He could be more dangerous. Or not. We don’t know.” I crossed my arms. “I’m not asking about this. It needs done.”

  “She’s stubborn, Star. No use arguing when she gets like this,” Wade said.

  “Maybe we don’t need her as bad as the Council thought,” Starren said, her eyes going into slits. “Cray, let’s go. You can find the kid, I’ll drag him back, with or without these two.”

  Cray looked uncomfortable. He looked to me like he was asking for help.

  “He thinks we should take out the troll,” I said for him.

  “Cray?” Starren asked.

  He nodded.

  “This is ridiculous, I can’t find Jaden without you, Cray. I don’t have any idea where to start looking. Let’s go.”

  Cray shook his head and moved over to stand by me.

  Starren’s eyes narrowed into slits. “Are you sure about this?”

  He nodded again.

  “Wanna explain it to me?”

  He shook his head.

  Starren closed her eyes. “Fine. Be it on your heads if Jaden gets away and the Council holds us accountable.” She stared hard at each of us until we nodded in turn. “Then let’s go hunt a troll.”

  Chapter Six

  I’d survived my first battle. Not too impressive considering I was able to survive being shot point blank, but still, it was something. The other two probably wouldn’t even consider that a battle, but I was going to. It was life threatening, after all. I bet Cray would agree with me.

  “Can you feel where he went, Cray?” Starren asked.

  Cray nodded and headed off north… or was it west? Didn’t matter. We followed him in silence. I took a deep breath as we walked. Mom had hauled me all over the U.S., but no other place we’d visited had smelled as good as this one. Just being here again brought back memories, picnics and sleeping in our car until a ranger caught us and kicked us out of the park after dark. Good times. At least it had felt that way to a nine-year-old. I’m glad now that I hadn’t known then that Mom and I would only be together another month, before she dropped me at the kids’ home.

  Wade stopped ahead of me, nearly sending me straight into his back.

  “What are you doing?” I growled.

  He put a finger to his lips and moved to the side so I could see. A gorgeous waterfall sparkled down the rock face ahead of us, marred only by the ugly appearance of my troll. And… another troll? Two more trolls? Wait, not one, not two, but four trolls? One had almost gotten the best of me, now there were four?

  “What now?” Wade asked.

  “We should call this in, wait until the Council can get more people here,” Cray said.

  “Can’t.” Starren drew her sword. “They might move on before the Council sends anyone. Plus we have a job to do. The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can get back to it. And we don’t want any hikers showing up while we’re waiting.”

  “So? I thought you didn’t care about humans?” She gave me a withering look, but I wasn’t being mouthy this time. I just actually wanted to know.

  Her expression eased as she realized I was being serious. “One troll and the humans would think it was a bear. This many and we are in for major problems and major cover-ups. Easier to handle it before things escalate.”

  “The portal here must be huge, for trolls to find it. They aren’t the brightest of creatures,” Wade said.

  Starren nodded. “We take down one of them and the rest will run. They aren’t social creatures, so they won’t know how to fight as a group. They will run to where they feel safe, which will be home, leading us to the portal.”

  Somehow that didn’t sound like a plan to me. Attack one, take it down, make the rest run and chase after them? But who was I to say anything? It was better than me being bait.

  “You and you,” Starren said, pointing to Cray, then me. “Follow us down and le
t them think we are evenly matched, but don’t get involved. I don’t want to have to rescue you again.”

  Rescue me again? Well wasn’t that rude. She was the one that had put me in the situation in the first place! I opened my mouth to let her have it, but noticed Cray watching me. I snapped my mouth closed and stared back. He looked down, avoiding further eye contact.

  “What about weapons?” I asked. Surely that was a reasonable question.

  Without answering, Wade walked away from me, scanning the ground. He kicked a couple small sticks before finding one that must have suited him. He couldn’t be serious. Never mind, he was doing something with it. He closed his eyes and concentrated. The wood slowly re-formed itself into a sword. Probably not too strong, but it looked good. And pointy. Pointy was good.

  “Thanks,” I managed when he handed it to me. I looked at Cray again, mostly to avoid looking at Wade, and noticed that he’d made himself one too.

  “Can all fae do that?” I asked Cray.

  He nodded. “A little bit.”

  Okay, that was new. Mom had taught me all about the history of the fae, had even started weapon training and made me as close to a black belt in hand to hand as a nine-year-old could get, but she had always said I wasn’t ready when it came to the powers. It had always sounded to me like she had planned to teach me some day, but then she’d disappeared. I’d never been able to figure out what had changed, no matter how long I’d spent thinking about it.

  “Set?” Starren asked.

  “Yep,” Wade answered. They went shoulder to shoulder and stepped out of the tree line. Clearly this wasn’t their first battle together.

  Cray and I looked at each other, then mimicked them, walking so close we bumped into each other every few steps.

  Trolls really were very dumb. Sure, I’d seen plenty of movies, read plenty of books that showed how stupid they were, but humans got most things wrong about the worlds they couldn’t see. Like the fact that trolls turned instantly to stone in sunlight. I figured the intelligence level, or lack of, I guess, had been exaggerated. Apparently not. We were super close by the time my troll noticed us. The only reason I could tell our troll apart from the others was that its skin was slightly pink on top of the grey, like it had been in the sun too long.