Regen Read online

  The whole sun turning them to stone thing was a myth, but they did burn, really, really easily. I would have felt bad for the poor guy if he hadn’t been planning on eating me thirty minutes ago. He must have been back long enough to forget the whole incident, none of them looked too worried. I wiped my sword hand down my shredded jeans before gripping the hilt again. Things were about to get interesting. As if they hadn’t been before.

  Starren marched forward until she was right about where she would be safe from any thrown boulders. “On the authority of the Council, I command you all to leave the human realm and return to Faerie.”

  “She can’t do that, can she?” one of the smaller ones asked, the words slurred as it continued to pick at its broken yellow teeth with a tree limb while it talked.

  “Course not,” one of the bigger ones answered. “She’s little.”

  Our troll slunk away from Starren. “Little, but she’s mean. She wouldn’t let me eat that one today,” he pointed a finger at me. At least it passed for a finger, it was about as big around as an electric pole.

  Another one, this one very small, popped out from behind the waterfall. “Can we eat them? Please?” Great. Five. Any more that we hadn’t counted hidden in there?

  “Yes, go, eat,” the next-to-biggest said. Its voice was a little higher. Female?

  “Yay!” The small one jumped down from a ledge, shaking the ground under me. My body jerked, but I stayed on my feet. I looked over to see if Starren had noticed. Nope.

  Starren and Wade moved into battle poses, swords up.

  “I think this is where we get out of the way,” Cray whispered, tugging on what was left of my sleeve.

  Yes, this was the point Starren had wanted us to get out of the way, but I would heal and the two of them wouldn’t. At least not as fast, or from as bad of injuries. Plus, Starren didn’t know that Mom had done some training with me before she left. Sure, that was seven years ago and I was pretty young, but being fae had to count for something. I wasn’t going to leave Starren. The trolls could have Wade. Cray left when I didn’t budge. Whether it was the troll he was scared of or Starren was anyone’s guess.

  The adult trolls watched as the youngest started our way. None of them seemed concerned.

  “Do we have to kill the baby?” Cray called from his new position at the tree line.

  Wade snorted.

  “He has a point,” Starren said. “We go after one of the adults, we scare them. We kill their little plaything here and they’ll be mad. No killing blows.”

  “Seriously?” Wade complained. “Finally a real fight and no killing. I’ve been waiting on this for months, been stuck in a city trying to…” he trailed off, studiously ignoring me. “Never mind.”

  He’d better say never mind. If we didn’t need him to help get rid of these trolls, I’d poke this sharp stick he’d made me straight through his body. Stuck in the city courting me, that’s what he’d been about to say.

  “Lover’s quarrel later, troll right now,” Starren interrupted.

  The baby was getting close, no fear whatsoever on its face. Wait. Did their faces show emotion? It reached down, grabbed a rock and hurled it toward Starren. She jumped lightly out of the way, the rock not even coming close. It flew past her and hit a tree, exploding a hole right through it. Ok, scary. Even the kid could throw that hard?

  “New plan. Trisha, keep it distracted while Wade and I hit an adult,” Starren said over her shoulder.

  Great plan. The troll threw another rock at Starren. For some reason it liked her.

  “Hey you, ugly. Over here.” I waved my arms. When that didn’t seem to work, I put my hand to my mouth and let out a piercing whistle.

  All the trolls clapped their hands over their ears. “Don’t like that,” the little one whined.

  I did it again.

  “Stop,” one of the big ones roared.

  “Keep it up, Trish,” Wade called as he bounded forward. Starren went around the other side and the fight began.

  Putting all the force of my extra good lungs into it, I whistled again. Something whistled back. I noticed that the sound was coming from a rock headed my way with barely enough time to duck. The young one was not happy. It charged me, hardly giving me time to get my hand to my mouth to whistle again.

  Huge, angry voices came from the direction of the waterfall. Starren and Wade were having no problem hacking at the trolls, who didn’t seem to notice as they started my way.

  “I think maybe it worked too well,” Cray said from behind me. I’d almost forgotten he was here.

  “I think you’re right. Run.”

  Cray took off one way and I took off the other. No use them chasing us both when it was me they wanted to pull to pieces.

  “Rip its arms off so it can’t squeal like that,” one of the voices growled behind me. How would my regenerating body handle that? I sucked in an extra breath, pushing forward even faster. Probably just heal over the stump, but I surely didn’t want to find out.

  “Head for the lake!” Starren’s voice.

  I changed directions toward an opening in the trees. Hopefully that was the lake.

  Right, left, left, right. I dodged around trees, branches smacking me in the face and leaving welts for a few seconds before they healed. An object whizzed past my head. I didn’t take the time to figure out what it was. My heart nearly pounding out of my chest, I burst out of the tree line. A half-sob of relief leaked out. There, the lake, after twenty feet of plants and ten feet of small stones.

  Adrenaline pumped. I could do this. I charged forward, made a flying leap into the water and swam toward the middle like mad, my warm weather clothing weighing me down.

  Angry roars and yells echoed out over the lake. I swam out until I needed to rest, treading water to conserve a little energy. With the healing back at the clearing, I was starting to get hungry. I could hear the trolls arguing. They were deciding if I was worth getting wet over. If this wasn't so depressing I would laugh.

  “You’re the strongest,” one of the smaller ones sniveled at the biggest. “Water won’t make you sick, no, not water. You’ll just be clean. And smell bad.”

  “Go,” the big one commanded. It pushed the smaller one into the lake, sending a wave of water my way. I coughed as it got in my mouth.

  “You,” the big one pointed at another brute, “other side. Make sure it don’t go that way.”

  The one ordered to not let me escape on the other side lumbered off. The sniveling one tried to climb up on shore, but was met by glares from the other two. It slowly started wading my way, the water not even to its knees. How deep was this lake? I was a goner if it could touch all the way out here. Starren, Wade, where are you?

  Chapter Seven

  Think, think, think! The troll was getting closer. No panicking, just thinking. Ding. Idea. Thanks to Wade. I blew the air out of my lungs and slipped under the surface. I paddled a few feet away and sank down to the bottom, murky water hiding the once bright orange of my t-shirt. Yuck. But the weeds down here would be great camo.

  Yelling started above the water. Being underwater when someone yelled above the surface always sounded weird. Multiply that by ten when it’s a group of trolls. A minute later a huge head plunged under the surface, big eyes searching for me. I scrambled away, unable to tear my gaze from the huge creature. It only made it a second before going back up. Soon it was joined by another set of eyes. Closer, closer. I tried to sink deeper, dredging the bottom to cloud the water even more.

  It didn’t work. The plants around me started going crazy, moving against the current. I headed toward a patch of some type of underwater weed, and it wrapped around me. I jerked back and it let me go. Um, that was a little weird. But I wasn’t going to argue. I moved back in closer and the leaves of the plants slipped around me, blanketing me in the greenery. This could work. Maybe. Hopefully. Apparently my lungs could convert the little amount of oxygen in the water into somet
hing useable, but I wasn’t going to take the time to think about that right now.

  I knew the instant the troll caught sight of me. Its eyes widened and it gurgled like it was trying to shout under water. I stabbed upward with the wooden sword I miraculously still had in my hand and got it in the eye. It jerked back, and I nearly floated away in relief. But then the water turned red, hiding me better but making my stomach turn. I about lost the breakfast Nina had made for me. The plants worked together, pulling me backward as I freaked out. I’d never physically hurt anything before. I was still on my back, so I dug my feet into the mire at the bottom of the lake and did a strange crawl/float thing away from the troll as fast as I could.

  The hollering and pounding got louder up top. A massive leg knocked into me, sending me twirling through the water. Two more sets of feet pushed by, dredging up junk from the bottom of the lake and making it impossible to see a thing.

  Something grabbed me by the back of my shirt. I swung at it, the weight of the water slowing me enough that I didn’t get a very good blow in. Whatever it was dragged me toward the surface struggling as hard as I could, then pulled me out onto the rocky beach.

  I shoved away, trying not to let the air get into my lungs too quickly.

  “Trisha? Trisha, can you hear me?”

  I coughed out the water in my lungs. Wade. The sense of relief flooding me felt strange considering who had caused it. I slumped over, barely able to stay upright even while seated. He must have pulled me out. He pounded on my back. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes,” it came out a little too forcefully considering he had just risked his life to drag me out of the lake. I hacked a couple more times. “My cells still regenerate under water.”

  Wade looked nearly sick with relief. “All that blood. We thought…” he trailed off.

  I held up my little sword and gave it a wave. “Wasn’t mine.”

  “Glad you’re okay. Let’s go make sure they make it through the portal,” Starren’s voice came from somewhere behind Wade and she was off.

  Too wrung out to brush him off, I let him prop me up against a log. “I’ll be right back.” He gave me another concerned look and took off after her. I needed a moment to catch my breath. They seriously owed me at least that. How could Wade send so many emotions through me at the same time? Anger still, of course, but he had come into the lake after me, knowing full well how easily I heal and he didn’t. That was a Wade I didn’t know. The Wade I’d thought I’d known only truly cared about himself. The Wade I’d found out he actually was had killed me. Now I was just confused. I’d love to believe he had a copy of him like I had at school for me right now, but he’d pretty much admitted what he’d done back at the Hall with Cumat.

  Another cough forced its way out, removing what I hoped was the last of the water. I groaned and attempted to push myself to my feet. Someone grabbed me under the arm and helped me up. Cray.

  “Thanks-”

  “What were you thinking?” Cray yelled in my face, his getting red. I recoiled a bit. This wasn’t the same calm kid I’d spent the day with, was it? “You better never do that again, we’re a team. No solo.”

  I raised my hands, trying to cool him down. “Hey, I regenerate, and, as far as I know, you don’t.” He didn’t answer. “I just didn’t want you to get hurt.”

  “Well, don’t do it again.” He turned and followed Wade and Starren, back stiff with anger. What was his problem? I’d probably saved his life. This was so backward with Cray mad at me and Starren telling me she was glad I was okay.

  I took off after him, even my regenerating body crying as I pushed it like I’d never pushed it before. How were the normal fae handling all this without stopping? Hurry. I needed to hurry. As little help as I was able to give, they might need it. I ran through a little bit of brush following the creek and was back at the waterfall.

  Hah. I could have saved myself the worry. One of the trolls lay on the ground, not moving. The rest were crowding each other through the waterfall, each of them trying to get ahead of the others.

  Wade stood on top of the dead troll looking like some hero in a story. Starren was whacking at the trolls with the blunt of her blade, forcing them to move even quicker. I didn’t see Cray.

  I walked over to the massive dead troll and kicked its giant, dirty foot, almost taller than my head. “What do we do with this?”

  “We’ll get a squad in to take care of it,” Wade answered from his perch. “Can’t just leave it here, strange things happen when wildlife eat anything from Faerie.”

  I shivered at the thought. Once for the strange things that could happen, then again at the thought of something eating this dirty giant.

  “They’ll be half an hour,” Starren said, sliding down the rocks leading up to the waterfall cave. She stood and knocked some of the dust off herself. “Settle yourself in. Some of us will have to watch the body. Where’s Cray?”

  “I don’t know,” Wade said.

  “He helped me up and took off after you two, I haven’t seen him since,” I said.

  “I’m here,” his voice came from behind one of the larger trees. “I thought I felt something strange, but it’s gone.”

  “Strange how?” Starren was right on him.

  “I’m not sure.” Cray was back to his normal, quiet self. “Just strange as in I’ve never got this feeling from anyone before, fae or not.”

  “So you can feel humans too?” I asked.

  “Yes,” Cray answered. “If I know what I’m looking for. It’s a little more work. There are a lot more of them around.”

  “So you aren’t just following the feeling of fae magic in a non-fae world, you can track specific beings?”

  Cray pushed his glasses up on his face, his eyes flicking from Starren to me, and back. “Sometimes. But I need to actually know them. I don’t know Jaden, so I can’t just track him like that.”

  Great. That pretty much cut out running if things went south. I sat down on the ground and leaned up against a rock, needing a second to recover from the last fifteen minutes.

  “Cray and I are going to start trying to sniff Jaden out again. You two stay here and guard the body until the clean-up crew arrives. I stepped into Faerie and had a message sent.” She grabbed Cray and took off before I had a chance to argue. She couldn’t just tell me to stay here. And I wanted to hear more about Faerie, even if I didn’t want to go there. Had she really just stepped in and out of it while in the cave?

  Just about to push to my feet and follow her, Wade’s voice stopped me. “I wouldn’t.”

  “What?” I knew what.

  “Don’t ruin your chances, Trish. Don’t make her mad.”

  Ugh. I’d been pretty open with him back when we were dating, he knew me too well. Especially frustrating now, when I didn’t know if anything he’d told me about himself had been true or not. Obviously his feelings hadn’t been or he wouldn’t have killed me. Or tried to kill me. Whatever, I was getting all mixed up.

  Time crawled by, not helped by the fact that I couldn’t check it on my phone. How was I going to explain that one to Nina? That along with the ripped clothing could make for an interesting night.

  Wade passed the time by going through the dead troll’s pockets. The pockets were huge. The first thing he discovered was some string. He tugged and tugged, pulling more and more out until a shiny rock popped out, tied to the end. I sat there, pretending I wasn’t paying attention, but really, how often did a person get to see the contents of a troll’s pockets?

  Next came out some more shiny stones like the first one. They flashed in the sunlight. Wade must have seen the look on my face.

  “From the shores of the Crystal Lake, in Faerie. It’s beautiful there. He must have had a rock in his pocket and this is the sand left over.”

  I didn’t answer him verbally, but when he held them out I took them. Unlike most stones or crystals, these were slightly warm. Whether they were that way natural
ly, that way from Wade’s hand or still held the warmth from the troll, I didn’t know.

  “Can I have them?” It took quite a bit of effort to get the words out of my mouth, considering who I was asking, but something about the inner light of these things was mesmerizing.

  “No. We aren’t allowed to keep anything from there. Don’t want any humans finding it on us. The cleanup crew will take care of everything.” He tossed them on the ground and stuck his arm back into the pocket. So gross, who knew what things that monster had put in there.

  While Wade stuck his head into the opening almost the size of a tent, I scooted over and scooped up a couple of the stones. They were in my pocket in a flash. Good thing I’d had a lot of practice pilfering stuff. If these were just the leftovers from a rock the troll had thought was shiny, I could only guess at how big it had been.

  Wade threw more random junk out of the pockets, but I stopped paying attention. The stones cooled as I played with them in my pocket. Strange.

  A sound in the woods made me flinch. I jumped up and turned that way, lifting my wooden sword. I saw Wade out of the corner of my eye pull his not so fake sword and face that direction, subtly shifting his weight so his body moved between me and the woods. Nice thought, but that didn’t even begin to erase the last week. He had a lot to make up for.

  Cumat’s head popped out of the tree line. “Is this the correct place?” I knew the exact moment he noticed the troll. His nose wrinkled and he sniffed loudly. “Obviously it is. What are we supposed to do with that?” He sighed. “Watch it for another moment. I’m going to have to ask for more help.” He disappeared back into the trees. I could hear him talking to himself until the sound of cracking branches faded away. Poor guy, with his shiny shoes and pressed pants, he was definitely out of his element.