But I was in the human world now. And here, we didn’t just stab people. In fact, I liked that about this place. Right?
I had at one point, anyway.
I clenched my teeth and hurried past him on the sidewalk.
As I left the two of them behind, I reached the black, wrought-iron gates outside Shalini’s apartment, gates that were just for show, because I’d never seen them locked. I cast my gaze around the courtyard garden of begonias and asters, thinking how tidy it looked compared to the Court of Sorrows. Nice and civilized.
I stood outside the apartment’s brick exterior and pushed the buzzer to her apartment.
I waited a few minutes, my chest tightening a little bit.
As the breeze nipped at my skin, I hugged myself.
I suppose she could have stayed in Faerie?
If she wasn’t in her apartment at six in the morning, then she probably had stayed in Faerie. But was it by choice? Had the entire kingdom frozen over when Torin left without a queen? I had no idea, but a nauseous feeling was starting to climb up my gut.
I pushed the buzzer of another apartment—then a second one, until at last someone answered, sounding annoyed and groggy. “What?”
“Sorry,” I said, in the best imitation of Shalini’s voice. I turned my head away in case they had a camera view. “It’s Shalini. Can you just buzz me in? I forgot my keys.” Without another word, the stranger buzzed the door open, and I pushed through the heavy wooden door.
I climbed the pretty tiled stairs to her apartment. I didn’t have a key, of course, but what I did have at this point was an insane lack of patience and the heightened physical strength of a fae.
After knocking several times and calling her name through the door, I kicked the door three times—hard—until the wood splintered just above the doorknob.
When I’d created enough of a gap, I shoved my hand through the splintered wood and unlocked the door from the inside.
As soon as I stepped in, the scent of trash and mold hit me hard. I cleared my throat with a growing sense of unease. When I stepped into the kitchen, I dropped the magic piece of mirror onto the table.
There, I found a box of donuts, completely overgrown with fuzzy gray and green mold. My nose wrinkled, and I dumped them in the trash.
I should probably eat, I supposed. I opened her cupboards and pulled out a box of Cheerios, then filled a glass of water from the sink.
At the kitchen table, I ate like a toddler, shoveling dry cereal into my mouth. As I chewed, my mind ticked over the possibilities of what could have happened.
Shalini must have known that I had disappeared, and she was the most loyal friend I’d ever known. Maybe she didn’t want to leave Faerie without finding out what had happened to me. Maybe, when Torin returned to his kingdom, he would send her home.
She’d run back here, relieved, maybe with a new boyfriend in tow, and we would hug each other and drink wine and tell each other about everything that happened in the past few weeks. Months? How long had it actually been? Somehow, it felt like years and hours at the same time. I washed down the dry cereal with cool tap water. Holy shit. Had I never realized before how amazing tap water tasted? Tap water was the nectar of the gods, and you could have it whenever you wanted it. It was the one thing I still liked about this place.
When I’d filled my stomach and drank as much as I wanted, I headed over to Shalini’s bedroom. As she was my best friend, I didn’t think she’d mind if I borrowed some clothes.
I pulled open her drawers and fished out some dark leggings and a long-sleeved shirt, then stepped into her cream-tiled bathroom.
I turned on the shower, letting the steam fill the room. As the shower heated, I felt myself slip into a daze, listening to the comforting hum of water pounding against the tiles. I pulled off the bloodstained dress and shoved it into the trash. Naked, I stepped into the shower, and the hot water pounded my skin. I grabbed a bottle of liquid soap and scrubbed myself. Dirt from my feet swirled in the drain, a tiny whirlpool of mud.
What was Torin doing right now?
I came out of the shower smelling like vanilla and civilization. I towel-dried my hair and pulled on the clean clothes, then crossed into the living room to drop down onto the sofa. How long would it take for Shalini to come back once she realized I was here?
I bit my lip, staring into space. She would come home, wouldn’t she? With Torin’s permission, she could go in and out of the different realms. But worry nagged at the back of my mind.
I cleared my throat as my nervous thoughts grew louder. I really had no idea what happened after I left the kingdom. Torin wondered if his sister had taken over, but who knew? Maybe no one took over and they all starved. Maybe Moria took over, or the bitter hag who cursed the place.