The sun shone warmly upon Jamie's back as the world came back into view. Her feet and legs hurt from wandering. How long had she been out of it? Did Rory and her dad get hurt? Were they okay?

Jamie looked down at the dagger in her hand. No blood besides her own. She let out a half-sob, half-laugh in relief. They'd gotten away. Somehow. She hoped that they stayed far away from her for their own safety until she could figure out how to end this. If she found whoever placed the death curse, they could remove their own curse and they would be safe.

Looking around at her surroundings, Jamie let out a sharp breath. She'd never been here before. Nothing about the woods surrounding her was familiar. The tree's were different, the plant life, the critters that skittered around her feet—different. How far had she wandered and to where?

"It's about time we had a moment to talk," an unfamiliar voice said. A wolf stepped out of the shadow's. Their fur was darker than the night itself. They towered far above Jamie, almost half the size of the towering tree's.

Jamie stepped back and held her dagger up in her trembling hand. "Don't come any closer. I don't know you."

A toff of white fur was visible on the wolf's underbelly when they came closer, revealing that they were not a true Shadow as she had assumed. Jamie let out a low breath, at least they weren't an assassin.

"Were you the one who left the note at my house?" Jamie asked through gritted teeth as a sharp thistle stabbed into her wounded foot.

"I was. I've been watching you." The wolf walked around her, assessing. "You do some curious things, little fae. It is my nature to observe that which I find odd, and decide if it is dangerous or not." He continued to circle her, moving from shadow to shadow in the underbrush. "You can call me Nil."

The way he moved didn't allow her any way out. Jamie knew just how fast wolves could be. If she stepped out of the small circle he created, he could have her pinned and torn in seconds. She swallowed. "What do you want, Nil?"

"Simply," he said, coming to a halt in front of her. "I want answers."

Another four wolves stepped out of the brush, covering all the exits. There was no way out now, no chance to escape, she was outnumbered. Jamie wanted to curl into herself and disappear. If Rory were here, together, they would have stood a chance.

What if she never saw Rory again? The thought made her chest hurt and tears spring to her eyes. She was a danger. It was better if she didn't see her, not until she removed the death curse. Even that was seeming less and less possible as she sized up the wolves around her.

"What do you need to know?" Jamie asked, her voice trembling as the circle got smaller.

"Why would you curse a shadow to look like one of us, then set him on your own kin?" Nil asked, his eyes narrowing as he snarled. "That's a pretty nasty thing to do, even for a fae."

"I don't know. I don't remember." Jamie held the dagger tighter. "I don't know if I did it or not."

"Then explain why I saw you there that night," Nil demanded, baring his teeth. He set his paws on top of her feet, digging his claws into her skin in trails of burning hell. "I shouldn't expect truth from your lips this easily. All you do is lie."

Jamie cried out and slashed blindly, trying to get him off of her.

Nil growled and bit into her scarred arm, causing her to drop the dagger.

Crying out, Jamie tried to pull away, only to have the wolf sink his teeth in deeper, ripping into her flesh. A cloth and hand closed over her mouth. She thrashed, throwing her arms in all directions. The chemical scent overwhelmed all her senses. She watched through blurring eyes as her human appearance fell away and her skin glimmered silver and gold in the light of the sun.

It couldn't end like this. She refused to be captured. She refused to give up.

Jamie bit down into the cloth, digging her pointed teeth into the man's hand and the chemicals.

His grip released.

Bashing repeatedly with her fist, she attacked Nil's eye until he released her arm and stumbled back. She grabbed her dagger, swinging in all directions as the world tilted around her.

Whatever that was, she'd already had too much.

Her body grew weak and collapsed into the silence.