Bones of Faerie Read Online Free PDF Page B

patrol quite so far. I don't know what compelled me to do so today.” The moon came out again and lit her smooth, troubled face. “I only hope we're in time. I am called Karin, by the way. And you are?”
    “Liza.”
    The night deepened around us, but the trees kept their distance. At last the path left the forest and came to a hedge, where hawthorn and ivy and briars were all woven together into a wall. Karin reached for the green leaves, and for a moment vines seemed to twine lovingly around her hands. I backed away, fearing those vines would consume us, but Karin showed no fear. “These two humans are Matthew and Liza. I ask you to grant them safe passage.” She glanced down at Tallow and smiled a little. “Them and their feline companion.”
    The greenery rustled and parted, forming an archway. “Walk quickly,” Karin said.
    The hedge could have swallowed us whole. “Wait!” I looked wildly around. A shadow—the shadow I'd seen in the mulberry grove—flowed from forest to path, moving toward us.
    Karin didn't seem to notice. She was already onher way through, taking Matthew with her. I had no choice—ignoring the shadow, ignoring the chill seeping into the air, I closed my eyes and plunged after her.
    I heard voices on the other side and saw figures rushing forward. The pain in my back and legs turned hotter. I stumbled. Someone caught me, and all the world went dark.

Chapter 6
    I
knelt on a moonlit hillside, sifting shards of jagged bone through my hands. I knew I didn't belong here, but still I searched, knowing there was someone, something I needed to find before I could go.
    A shadow rose from the fragments. Shadow hands reached toward me, and I reached back, but then howls cut through the night.
    The shadow melted into earth as a creature trotted toward me, larger than a dog, teeth gleaming. “Liza,” the wolf said, and its voice was a human voice, its eyes human eyes. As the wolf met my gaze I turned away. It loped on, disappearing into the dark.
    Out of the night a voice called, “Lizzy, my baby, my girl—” I stumbled to my feet and chased after the sound, knowing that if only I could catch it all would be well, night forgotten, shadows forced to flee. I ran until my legs cramped and my knees gave way. I fell then, and bark rose up to catch me. I tried to cry out, but wood clogged my throat and sealed my lips. It forced its way past skin and bone, through ears and eyes and heart—
    I woke and bolted upright, screaming. Dream fragments fled like sparks from a blacksmith's forge. I was sitting on a feather mattress in a wooden frame, surrounded by white walls and dark windows. A small lamp burned on a dresser nearby. Someone had pulled off my boots, and bruises the color of mulberry juice stained my swollen feet and ankles. My sweater was covered with dried blood.
    The latch clicked in the door. A woman with wild silver eyes stepped into the room, braided hair clear as glass falling down her back.
    I swallowed my screams as I stared at her. Was this what my sister would have grown to, had she lived?
    The woman looked back at me. “Caleb said we should expect you to wake soon.”
    I knew her voice. “Karin?” She'd looked so differentin the dark. I hadn't realized magic was rooted in her so deeply. Yet you didn't speak to trees without magic— or if you did, the trees didn't listen. I'd been too hurt, too scared, to think it through.
    “Yes, of course.” Karin stepped forward and offered me a mug filled with dark liquid. “Here, this will help with the pain.”
    I just kept staring. She was too old to have been born with magic, like Rebecca.
Trees have always listened to me, since I was a child.
Had magic found her later, the way it had found Cam?
    I hadn't known there was magic that could make a tree release its hold. Matthew had known, though. He'd said magic didn't have to kill.
    “Matthew.” I looked around the room. He wasn't there. I shoved the mug aside and tried to stand.
    Daggers