Layla remembered the first time she realized that her mother wasn’t like normal mothers. She’d been young, maybe ten, and invited to a sleepover party. The kind of party the whole class was invited to, even the loner girl with no friends.

She didn’t remember much about the actual party, but she remembered the next morning. Layla had learned early on to be careful in the mornings. Her mother was usually hung over then and consequently in a foul mood. Layla didn’t like being shouted at, being told how worthless and stupid she was, so she knew to stay out of sight.

The birthday girl’s mother had fussed about, making sure everyone was dressed and had their bags packed. Layla had watched with confusion, darting into open doorways whenever eyes turned her way. She didn’t understand what the other children were doing. They sat there, waiting for breakfast to be served, for their bags to be packed, messed around, and generally made a nuisance of themselves.

Some of them talked about how mornings at their homes differed, about how some mornings their parents would make them pancakes or how they’d get a scolding if their bags weren’t packed by the time their mom came to check.

Layla, of course, had eaten, packed, and was ready to go within minutes of waking up. The host mother panicked, thinking she was lost, only to find her waiting in the laundry room, out of sight until it was time for her to leave.

It turned out that Layla’s mother was still in a drunken stupor, and the anxious host mother had to drive her home, muttering about inept parents. That was the first day she had an inkling that her normal was far from normal for everyone else.

If Claw had been there, it would have been different. She had no idea if he would have been a good father, but he couldn’t possibly be worse than her mother had been. He should have been there to protect her. That’s what fathers were supposed to do for their daughters, but he’d been off in the underworld doing who knows what.

Was he even better than her mother? She might have been a terrible mother, but she was there. Claw had abandoned the pair of them. Layla so wished she could have had at least one good parent, someone to make her pancakes and check that her school bag was packed.

Had he even waited to see her born before leaving? Maybe it was easier for him to go and never look back without ever seeing his daughter. Had he even known he’d had a daughter rather than a son? How had he pictured her all these years? If he’d even thought of her at all.

It doesn’t matter, Layla thought savagely. He left me. I don’t care about him or what he does with his life.

Except history seemed to be repeating itself. Ever since they came down here, she felt Hunter had been pulling away from her. Maybe being home reminded him that he’d never wanted a human mate, much less a witch. First Claw left her. Hunter could be next.

She wiped her eyes, trying desperately not to think of either of them. Without them, she’d be alone again. She’d have nothing.

No, not nothing, she reminded herself. She’d still have her coven. And Sophie.

That was what did it. The thought of Sophie, lying dying a million miles away, had her knees buckling. Layla crumpled to the ground, sobs wracking her body. Was she to lose everyone? After a lifetime of feeling like an outsider, she’d finally found somewhere she belonged. Now, it was all slipping through her fingers.

She realized she was expecting a touch on her shoulder. With his sensitive hearing, Hunter could always tell when she was crying, and he always came. He couldn’t hear her now, though. She must have walked for miles by now, too far from any of the demons in the tree to hear her.

The expectation just made her cry harder. She wanted a blanket and a comfy bed, but she was in the middle of a forest in the underworld, fighting for Sophie’s life. Great job she was doing right now.

Layla did what she’d done since she was very young. She curled into the smallest ball she could, cried as quietly as she could, and waited for it to pass. She’d sometimes lie like this for hours when she’d still lived with her mother. It would pass. It always did.

Then, she’d have to open her eyes and face reality again. It was easier to keep crying, at least for a little while.

Though she knew that sleeping in the forest would be a bad idea, she didn’t feel up to moving, and she didn’t want to come upon a hoard of demons in the middle of the night. Who knew how jumpy they might be?

Besides, she’d probably just get lost in the dark. She didn’t have Hunter’s superior eyesight and could barely see her hand in front of her, let alone the small trail she’d been following.

It wasn’t too cold out, though she’d still have traded a lot for a blanket, just for comfort’s sake. Well, it wouldn’t be the first time. Her mother had periodically sold everything she could get her hands on for booze. Layla had learned to hide her clothes, blankets, and toothbrush under a loose floorboard.

Though she wasn’t sleepy, the exhaustion of the long days of walking wouldn’t let her stay awake all night. She wrapped her arms around herself and fell back into the familiar pattern of crying herself to sleep.

She was woken the next morning by bright sunlight stabbing her puffy eyes. Layla flinched, then scrambled up. Hunter would be flipping out by now. Flipping out didn’t even begin to cover it. He’d be tearing that tree apart. Whether or not he was going to stay with her, he clearly didn’t want her death on his conscience and would do whatever he could to get her out of here alive.

She started hurrying back along the trail, hoping she’d get to him before he completely destroyed the rebel hideout.

She hadn’t gone far before she turned a corner and bumped into something solid. Arms came around her to stop her from falling backward, and she looked up into Hunter’s face.

“Layla! I was so worried; where have you been? I figured you just needed some space, but I never imagined you’d go so far or spend the night out here! Didn’t I tell you there are predators? Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine,” she said stiffly, pulling away from him. “You were right. I needed space. Come on, we should get going.”

“It’ll take us hours to walk all the way back. It’ll be faster if I run, carrying you.”

Layla felt a squirm of guilt for taking them so far out of their way. Sophie’s breaths were numbered; Layla didn’t have time to take detours to deal with her problems with Hunter.

“Ok,” she agreed in a small voice. Without further discussion, Hunter helped her climb onto his back and started running. She could tell her weight was slowing him, but he didn’t seem to struggle carrying her.

When they finally made it back, the sun was higher in the sky than Layla would have liked. Hunter let them into the tree and looked around for Claw.

Layla couldn’t see him, and Hunter asked some of the other demons. They all shrugged. One of them said they’d seen Claw leave a while after Hunter did, but they didn’t know where he’d gone. Hunter shot Layla an annoyed look and told her he’d been tracking her most of the night.

After asking a few more people, it became apparent that no one knew where Claw was. Layla wanted to scream in frustration. She’d never given herself permission to hope, but she had. She’d hoped that maybe Claw would try to make up for abandoning her, that he was trying to do just that by helping her save a witch, a task for which he clearly held no favor.

Instead, he’d just abandoned her again. It shouldn’t hurt, but it did.

“Let’s go,” Layla snapped.

Hunter hesitated. “Claw said he could get us some information that could help us decide our next move. We don’t have time to choose wrong here.”

“He’s gone. We should get going too.”

Layla knew that perhaps it would be better to try to find Claw, to get his information, but right now, all she wanted was never to see his stupid face again.

She didn’t try to argue with Hunter. She was so sick of arguing with him. She just left. Hunter followed, as she knew he would.

“Do you have any idea where you’re going?” There was a touch of amusement in his voice, which was a nice change from the anger and frustration she’d been hearing for what felt like years.

“No.”

“Well, you’re taking us straight into the ocean. I suggest we change course, or in a few hours, we’re going to get very wet.”

Layla came to a reluctant halt. “So what now? Do you think we should try to rescue Fern or find another healer?”

“Find another healer. Our chances were slim even with Claw’s help. Without him, the only way to save Sophie will be to find someone else who has the cure or who can make it.”

He hesitated, and Layla thought she knew what he was thinking.

“You see this?” She held out her empty hand to him. “Until I am holding the antidote in my hand, I will not be leaving the underworld. I don’t care if you drag me to that portal kicking and screaming, I’ll make such a fuss that we’ll be arrested before you can send me back to Earth. So unless you’re willing to hit me or suffocate me until I pass out, you’re stuck with me, at least for a few more days.”

She knew very well that whatever Hunter’s feelings for her, he wouldn’t do either of those things. She wouldn’t put it past him to slip her a sleeping potion, but she didn’t think he knew how to make one, and once they found the healer, she’d be as eager as he was to get home, no potion needed.

“Understood.”

His tone told her he wasn’t happy about it, but he couldn’t find any crack in her logic. Layla was dead serious about screaming and making a fuss. She wasn’t leaving the underworld without the antidote, and if getting arrested was what it took, well maybe they’d gain access to Fern that way.

Hunter gestured the correct direction, and Layla followed his lead. They walked for a while in silence. Things were still tense between them. Layla almost couldn’t remember what it had felt like when things with Hunter were easy and natural.

“The nearest village is a few hours’ walk from here,” Hunter told her from over his shoulder. Layla got the impression he was just talking to fill the awkward silence. “We’ll just have to hope we get lucky. I don’t know of any other healers; Fern’s name was the only one I had. They aren’t uncommon in the underworld, but finding one when you don’t know where they are may be like looking for a needle in a haystack.”

“Then we can’t just go running around blindly, hoping we’ll bump into a healer. We don’t have enough time.”

“You have a better idea?”

“A spell.”

“You have a locator spell that will work when you don’t know who you’re locating?”

“No,” Layla admitted, “but I’ll try think of something. If I just had the spell book…I’m sure I must have seen something. There’s a spell for everything, that’s what Sophie always says.”

“There’s a consequence for every spell, she always says that too.”

Layla made a face at him. She knew that all too well.

“Can you think and walk at the same time? If you don’t have a brainwave, we’ll have to go with searching for a needle in a haystack.”

“I can think and walk.” Layla wasn’t entirely certain of this; keeping up with Hunter’s pace took a lot of energy, and she wasn’t sure that was going to help her memory, but she also didn’t want to ask him to slow down.

They stopped briefly for lunch. Layla was feeling sick again from pushing herself too hard, but she forced herself to eat something. She had to keep her strength up; the last thing Hunter needed was her collapsing.

As Hunter promised, by early afternoon, the small trail had widened to a road, and she could see houses in the distance.

“Why is so much of the underworld covered in forest? I mean, I love it, but it seems only a small portion is developed.”

“There aren’t enough of us to need more. If the population was growing, we’d cut down trees to build, as we’ve done in the past. That hasn’t been necessary for a while, though. Two villages west of this one is one of the danger zones. The underworld has been disappearing. We’re not going anywhere near there. Demons have been known to disappear with the land.”

“What do you mean, disappearing?” Hunter had told her about the problem before, but he hadn’t gone into specifics. “How can land just disappear?”

“Take three points on a map, A, B, and C. One day, B is between A and C. The next, B is gone, like it never existed. A and C are nestled next to each other like they’ve been like that for years. Most of the people wake up in the middle of the streets, but some have vanished as well.”

That sounded terrifying. No wonder Hunter had wanted to leave the underworld.

This town was bigger than some of the others, and there was more traffic along the roads. Hunter kept a wary eye out. When he tensed, Layla looked up to see patrolling demons in uniforms she now recognized. They were royal guards.

“Keep your head down,” Hunter muttered. “Act natural.”

Layla watched the path, trying to pretend she was on Earth, walking in a park and the guards were no more than a group of people walking their dogs.

It didn’t work.

“Hey, you two. Stop.”

Layla glanced up at Hunter in panic. “Don’t panic,” he whispered. “It could be just a routine check. Follow my lead.”

He turned to the guards and bowed his head slightly. Layla did the same. There were six of them, marching in formation. Hunter’s posture remained relaxed, though Layla could read the tension in his expression. Her feet wanted to run, but she forced herself to remain in place as the guards advanced on them.