THE LEADER OF RYDER’S not-quite-pack didn’t trust me and she was right not to trust me. But she allowed me back into the van anyway. Drove in silence to a rental house, two stories plus a half-basement that opened onto a forest-encircled backyard.
“I planned for four of us to stay here,” Lupe observed as we entered through an open-floor-plan kitchen. Ash headed straight for the refrigerator, pulling out a stack of water bottles and offering them around.
I eyed the crystal-clear liquid, wishing I could risk it. My throat was so dry it hurt.
Still, while water wasn’t precisely of earth, these beverages had been processed and bottled here. I wasn’t desperate enough yet to impact my return to Faery. If I drank, I might not be able to go back.
So I shook my head when Ash tried to press cool
