“What?” Kenzie looked down, and the gremlin watched her like an adoring dog. “Razor, you know how to get to Leanansidhe’s from here?”
The gremlin shook his head, ears flapping. “Not here,” he said. “Not from human world. Go to wyldwood, find trod to Scary Lady. But Razor knows. Razor show pretty girl and funny boy the way.”
“So, just to be certain,” I said, attempting to follow the gremlin’s strange way of speaking, “you’re saying, if we go back to the Nevernever, you can get us to Leanansidhe’s, right?”
The gremlin blinked at me, as if I was the thick one, and nodded.
“Okay.” I sighed, leaning back in the seat. “That sounds just about right. So now all we need is a trod back to the Nevernever.”
“What about the one at the abandoned house?” Kenzie mused. “That one should work if Razor is with us. And the local bogeys don’t chase us away.”
I nodded wearily. “That’s our best option, I guess. Do you remember how to get there?”
“I think so.”
Throughout this whole conversation, Guro hadn’t said a word, though I could still feel him watching us from the mirror. If he thought we were both out of our minds, having a conversation about faeries with something he could neither see nor hear, he didn’t say anything. “Where do you need to go?” he asked, and Kenzie scooted forward to give him directions.
A few minutes later, we pulled up in front of a familiar abandoned house surrounded by chain link and rotting in the middle of an overgrown lot. I swallowed hard, remembering. The last time we’d come here had been with Keirran.
Guro rolled down the window as we piled out, his dark gaze fixing on me. I hesitated, knowing how suspicious this would look to anyone else, two kids walking toward an abandoned house, one of them wearing a pair of swords at his waist. “Guro,” I began, not really knowing what to say. “I...”
“It’s all right, Ethan.” As always, Guro was far calmer than anyone I’d ever seen. “I have always known, from the very beginning, that you were different. From the moment I saw you in my class, I knew that your destiny would be unlike any I have seen before. I understand, and I want you to know I don’t blame you for anything.” A lump caught in my throat, as Guro smiled faintly and nodded toward the abandoned house. “Now go,” he ordered. “Do what you have to do. We will see each other again, and you can tell me everything.”
I glanced at Kenzie and backed away, toward the fence. “I’ll come back,” I said, my voice thick. “When this is all over, I promise I’ll come back.” Guro didn’t answer, and I turned away, walking to the padlocked gate with Kenzie and Razor. I felt him watching us as we slipped through the fence, felt his dark eyes on me all the way across the yard, up the rotten steps and into the shadows of the house.
Inside, the room smelled of dust, mold and rotten wood. Razor buzzed and stood up on Kenzie’s shoulders, flashing his glowing smile along the walls to pierce the darkness. No movement, no creepy fey or boogeymen lurking in the shadows as far as I could see. This place was rumored to be haunted, but I knew that was because a pair of bogeys used to live here, feeding off fear and suspicion. That was before Keirran, Kenzie and I had come through on our way to the Nevernever only to find a group of Forgotten waiting for us, having scared away the current residents.
“I don’t see any bogeys.” Kenzie gazed around. “Maybe they never came back after the Forgotten chased them off.”
“Maybe. Let’s hope the trod still works,” I muttered, picking my way across the shaky floor. She followed, lighting the way with Razor. Carefully, we eased across the room, climbed the creaky, groaning staircase and ducked into the kid’s bedroom on the upper floor. Walking to the closet, I grabbed the knob and pulled open the door.
It jerked out of my hand, slamming shut with a bang, making me jump. Razor yelped, making the light dance wildly, and I scowled. “What the hell?”
“Go away!” rasped a harsh voice from the other side of the door. “My closet! Mine!”
“Well,” Kenzie said, sounding amused, “looks like the bogeys are back.”
“Yeah.” I frowned, then tried opening the door again. It didn’t budge, and I pounded on the wood with my fist. “Move!” I bellowed through the wood. “We need to use the trod. Get out of the way.”
“My closet!” the voice screeched back. “Not yours! Mine! You go away.”
“Dammit, I am not in the mood for games! If you’re not out of there in five seconds, I’m coming through this door with steel.”
“Ethan,” Kenzie said, and shrugged off her pack, “hang on.”
Pulling out a bear-shaped golden bottle, she set the honey on a bookshelf and turned back to the closet. “You know the drill,” she said, pulling her backpack over her shoulders once more. “One bottle of honey. That’s what we can trade for using the trod. You have five seconds to make a decision. Four. Three. Two...”
No answer from the other side. Kenzie waited a moment longer, than nodded at me. Carefully, I reached out, grabbed the knob and pulled.
There was no resistance this time. The door swung back without a creak, and a cold breeze fluttered in from the thick, gray forest through the frame.
I smiled, shaking my head. “All right,” I said, glancing at the girl beside me. “I can take a hint. I’m going to let you and Razor lead this excursion from now on. Just call if you need something stabbed.”