City of Dust

Chapter Nine

An hour later, I pull our sweaty quartet off the highway and into a faerie circle. The girl practically falls out of the saddle upon dismounting, so I have to guide her to the ground. Once there, she sits with her head in her hands.

I grab two bottles of Gatorade from Winston's saddlebags and press one into her hands. Whatever she did, it was magic and I know from experience that you need to replenish your electrolytes after heavy use.

She sloshes it back without comment, two lines of lemon-flavored drink spilling down her chin and staining her blue garments.

Sensing that we're going to be here for a while, I loosen Winston's girth and the Arabian's as well. Pouring out two pans of water, I place them on the green grass and join Kayleigh on the ground. There's nothing remarkable about the girl—no markings that I can see, no colored hair that indicates someone changed by the Turning. Until she regains her senses, I've no idea who or what she is. I've come across a few people who can sense others' magic, but they are extremely rare and usually retained by people of power.

"You have blue hair?" I hear a small voice ask as I shake out my sweaty blue locks. In the faerie circle, the air is clean and smells good. I've forgotten that everything used to be like this.

"Welcome back," I reply instead. I've no desire to have a conversation about my hair right now. What I want is answers about what I'm bringing to Ehtab. None of this was in the mayor's contract.

Kayleigh blinks and rubs her eyes, looking around at the dust-less environment. "Where are we?"

"We're in a faerie circle. Drink your Gatorade," I prompt, nodding at the bottle. "Can't have you falling over."

"A faerie circle? What's that?"

I bite back my rising irritation. What I want is answers from the girl, not to be questioned. But she still seems a bit out of it, so I might as well stall until her brain is working properly again.

"Faerie circles are little pockets of what you might call normalcy," I explain, gesturing around to the twenty-foot diameter perfect circle. "They cropped up after the Turning. People tried to live in them, even killed over them, but the circles had other ideas. See those mushrooms?" I direct her attention to the tall, fat white caps that surround the circle. "When they turn brown, the circle kicks you out and you can't return."

"Ever?"

I shrug. "That's what I hear. If you leave before the time is up, they might let you in another time. You just have to remember to ask permission first, and thank them when you leave."

Kayleigh looks down at the ground and then brushes her hand almost reverently over the grass. "I've never seen grass before."

I glance over at Winston and the Arabian who are grazing on the unexpected treat. "I would commit this to memory if I were you because you might never see another."

She looks up. "Why?"

"Faerie circles sometimes move and they're far and few between."

"Oh." She takes a sip of Gatorade and then puts down the canteen. "You've seen a lot of stuff, haven't you?"

"Yeah." She seems lucid enough. I shift on the grass, ready to grill her.

"A lot of darkness, blood, and pain."

The way she says that sends a chill up my back, freezing the sweat that's gathered at the base of my spine. "What do you mean by that?" I snap, suspicious.

She flinches, then swallows and looks around. "I ... I sense things about people—sometimes," she adds hastily at my darkening expression.

"You're a mind-reader?" My thoughts race wildly. I'm bringing a damned mind-reader into a demon lord's palace. Does God know what Ehtab could do with someone like her?