"Wait, you want me to leave without Darren?"

I'm sitting on Skye's back in the middle of the forest where everything is shrouded in wet, green darkness. Even the sliver of moon is blocked from casting any light on us. Thanks to Cináed's night vision, we journeyed in silence through the misty branches until he stopped the horse and got off because we'd reached our destination.

He is just now clarifying that "our destination" is a portal, and that I'm supposed to follow him through it.

Cináed's back is to me as he paces in front of a tree. At least I assume it's a tree. I'm lucky if I can see my own hand in front of my face right now.

"If you want to escape, we must leave now." Cináed explains, not sounding concerned in the least.

All I want to do is take off through the trees until I reach Darren. I didn't sacrificed everything to get him back just to turn around and abandon him in this forsaken place.

"What's so special about right now?" I argue. "I seriously doubt anything will change in the time it takes for us to bring Darren with us."

Cináed turns to look at me. I can tell because two green lanterns are suddenly blinking at me.

"You can doubt my judgement as much as you wish. It will not change the truth." He says. "I forget that you mortals know nothing of Samhain."

I toss my head back and exhale loudly out my mouth. "Well then explain it to me. What's all the hoopla about freaking Samhain?"

"Every portal between realms was opened at sunset. They will remain open until the next sun has set. But the journey to where Darren is will be cutting it too close. We risk the portals closing before we can travel through."

"Okay, but why can't we leave the same way we came here? That was a portal, right?"

Now it's his turn to sigh. "For all the careless indifference you masquerade, you are frustratingly perceptive sometimes."

I fold my arms with a smirk. "So we can go get Darren now?"

"You claim your victory too soon. See, the portal we used before is able to bring creatures of every kind into the Otherworld. But getting anything out is nearly impossible. Unless I fed both you and your brother Fae food for several moons, your mortal blood cannot pass through any portals. The one exception is during Samhain."

I'm shaking my head before he finishes. "I can't leave without Darren. I won't do it."

"What if I told you that he will be helped through another portal tonight as well?"

"Oh." Well that changes things. As long as... "Wait, who is helping him exactly?"

Cináed's eyes turn away. "The minotaur should still be at the cottage. And Vera, the one you met upon your arrival, is also with him."

Great. I'm supposed to trust strawberry ice-cake to take care of the only family I have. Cináed takes my hand and slowly persuades me to slide off the horse. His hands rest on my hips even after he lifts me to the ground.

"It is now or never, Roisín." He lifts a finger to tuck a stray hair behind my ear. But when our eyes meet he drops his hands and looks at the ground. "Bringing you here during such perilous events was a mistake on my part. Let me make it right by taking you home."

There is it—that raw sincerity that's so hard to come by with him. Everything he went through to get us here, and the deal we made that I'll never repay, he's giving all of it up. For me.

Before I do something stupid like kiss him, I take his hand and nod toward the tree he was staring at earlier. The one that probably has some secret door in it or something magical like that.

"Let's stop wasting time and ditch this place."

After a solemn goodbye with my unlikely friend, we leave Skye and I follow Cináed through the portal. Even though my prediction about the secret door in the trunk of the tree is right, it still doesn't prepare me for the shock of suddenly standing in a city park.

For being so late at night (or maybe so early in the morning) there's a surprising amount of people milling around. Loud laughter and an occasional scream accompany the groups of strangely dressed people as they wander past us. No one seems to notice that two people just walked out of a tree.

"What is this place?" I ask.

Cináed is observing our surroundings. "Somewhere near the River Boyne. Tis' the night of Hallows eve."

A girl walks by in a frilly devil costume that's small enough to belong on a toddler. She's adjusting her red horns when she sees Cináed and waves. But then she trips in her 6-inch, bright red stilettos.

"You mean, Halloween?" I say, not bothering to hide my grin as the girl struggles to stand back up without flashing everyone in her mini skirt.

"Yes." Cináed is uninterested in watching the devil girl's life-fail moment. He takes my hand and starts leading me along the sidewalk.

It's right now that what Cináed just said really registers. I blame the leftover magic juice from stepping through the portal for the reason my brain is moving so slowly.

"We've been gone for over a month?!" I cry. Cináed is walking too fast for my outburst to have the same effect. I feel like a snot nosed kid he's dragging through a grocery store, not giving one rat's tail about the fact that I'm throwing a fit right now.

"In this realm, yes."

That means we've probably been posted as missing children. Or at least Darren has. The Dread Parent Roberts are probably spending good money to find the boy who never came home from school. The one nobody has been able to find a trace on since early September.

My mind is still trying in vain to make sense of this new reality when Cináed pulls me underneath an overhang and grabs my arms below my shoulders, talking to me like I'm the drunk girl who just tripped in her stilettos.

"We are staying the night here. If anyone asks you anything, smile and tell them we are on holiday. Understood?"

I nod, and he holds the door open for me while I step inside. Something about walking under florescent lights brings my attention to the warrioress outfit I'm sporting. Cináed looks more human than I do right now. Good thing it's Halloween, I guess.

We step up to the receptionist desk and I glance at Cináed as he starts answering the woman about the kind of room we want. That's when I see a strange mist hovering around him. One moment Cináed is his usual, glowing self. But then he shifts into an average guy wearing jeans and a jacket. I stare at my shoes so I don't look like a psycho chick gawking at him.

It's not just Cináed who's covered in the mist. My legs and arms (and probably the rest of me too) is shifting from the leggings and tunic, and into a pair of black skinny jeans and a tan, knit sweater. My boots don't look ancient anymore either. They're the cute ankle kind I've always wanted.

The woman is handing Cináed a room key. "You're lucky we had one room left. At this time of night, everything is booked."

Cináed flashes a smile, and I see the woman blush. I know the feeling all too well, sister. It's not every day that you see a guy with an insane amount of adorableness going on.

"We must thank our ancestors for our luck, then." Cináed says, taking my hand. "Have a blessed Hallow's eve."

"He means Halloween!" I call back as we start climbing the stairs up to our room.

As soon as we're out of ear shot from the woman, I ask Cináed what the deal is with the weird mist.

"Glamour. I thought you would remember it from the ship." He places the key in a knob and it clicks open. The door swings wide to reveal a twin bed and a tiny bathroom near the entrance.

To distract from my sudden panic about sharing a room together, I walk inside and say, "I remember the cloud of mist coming onto the ship," and how it transformed into what I would later know to be the crew members, "but it doesn't explain what it is exactly."

My roommate is locking the door behind him, and then he moves to the window where he closes the curtain and peeks through it to watch the city below.

"The mist is Fae glamour."

"Yes, but—"

The curtain falls back into place as he looks at me with eyebrows raised. "May I finish the explanation?"

I nod, staring at the ground. My outfit is back to the way it was before, and Cináed's golden glow has returned.

"Glamour is what we faeries use to disguise who we are. We can either make ourselves invisible, or change certain details of our appearance. You and your brother are the only mortals I know who can see through it. The 'mist' you talk about is invisible to other humans."

"So you used glamour to hide what we really look like from the receptionist."

"Correct."

"You have great taste in shoes, then." I wonder if he could change these ones back into the ankle boots on a permanent basis.

He turns back to me from the window, his lips pulled into a playful smirk. "The way to any female's heart is through shoes."

"Don't faeries go barefoot most of the time?"

He sits beside me on the bed and runs his fingers over his hair as he lays back onto the mattress. "Yes, which is why if you offer shoes to any female faery, she is yours forever."

As I lay down beside him and stare at the ceiling, I remember noticing Vera's perfect bare feet. I guess her and Cináed were never too close if he didn't give her any shoes then.

"What are you smiling about?"

"Hm?" I'm pulled from my thoughts and brought face to face with Cináed and his bright, curious eyes. I swallow and try not to look at how close his mouth is to mine. "Oh, I was just thinking. It's nothing."

His face is moving closer. Before our lips touch, I roll off the bed and bound up from the floor in the same motion.

"What—"

"I need to use the restroom." I blurt out before rushing into the bathroom and turning on the sink. My chest sounds like there's a scared rabbit stuck inside it. I fill my hands with water and splash it over my face.

Pull yourself together.

But I can't. Not when I keep finding out more details about his past. Where do I fit in all of that mess? Or am I just a harmless fling to him?

Cináed slowly appears around the corner and leans into the bathroom door. I turn the sink off and dry my face, hiding behind the towel for as long as possible because I can only imagine how red I am right now.

"You are afraid of me?"

His tone is quiet and gentle. I'm reminded of the time we met in the cemetery, and how he kept his distance like I was an firecracker on a short fuse. As I set the towel down and dare to look at him, I feel the opposite of a dangerous explosive. More like completely vulnerable and exposed.

"I guess I'm afraid of this." I gesture between the two of us. "Look, your ship is named after Fiona's mom. And Vera told me about the relationship you had."

I pause and pull my hair around my shoulder, not sure what else there is to say. He steps into the dimly lit bathroom and stands in front of me.

"Just because I was not the one to tell you those things, does not mean they are secrets I kept from you." His fingers brush my hand. "Ask me anything. I have nothing to hide."

When I finally tip my head back to meet his gaze, I let our hands intertwine as I inhale his sweet scent. Like bottled summertime lingering on his skin.

His free hand traces down my jaw and his fingers stop to hold my chin. "From the moment I saw you sleeping under that tree," he smiles and kisses my forehead, "I knew you were unlike any mortal I had ever known. I cannot keep my distance from you any longer unless you dismiss my presence completely."

With two tiny steps, my feet close the space between us. His hand moves to cradle my head as he leans in and presses his mouth against mine.

<<----------->>

BAH <3

So... this chapter took a wild turn down Romance Road. Are you freaking out about it like I am? Good. Because I feel like it's been a long time coming for these two.

Tell me your thoughts guys. Should we ship their names, or is it still too soon?

Until next time X