Page 52 of Escape from the Green

It was normal that I felt attached, that I felt plagued with the loss of it.

Looking down at the cell phone in my hand - one that I usually kept in my purse to avoid the headaches it so often gave me - I realized my time was two minutes shy of being up.

Letting out a held breath, I tamped down the familiar disappointment, reminding myself how different time was there. Even if Jasper had gotten the note already, it had likely only been a few days. Surely not enough of them for him to figure out how to get safely from the Seelie Court back to the human realm.

I had to be patient.

Someone would come someday.

I wouldn't always be alone.

I turned to make my way back toward the exit, finding my upper arm snagged in a fierce grip, hard enough to send a stinging across my skin.

My breath hissed inward even as I felt a warm breath down by my ear, something that sent a swirling discomfort through my system.

Surely no one would try to mug or assault me here. With the cameras. With the crush of people all around.

"Duck your head, keep your mouth shut,and walk with me," a voice demanded. Cold. Detached. Confident.

A King's voice.

Or, perhaps, a to-be-king.

I swallowed hard, having to actually bite into my lip to keep it from trembling.

All I could think was They found me.

"Unless you want my father to find you," he added, making my head whip around slightly, just barely able to make out a strong jawline and the outline of a black shirt. "You don't want him to find you, Amethyst," he added, fingers digging in deeper as he pulled me a few feet to the side with him.

The panic must have been in my eyes, in my face, in my tense body. Eyes drifted over, brows drawing low, sizing up me and Jet and the way his fingers were seizing me.

"Smile and act happy. We don't need a crowd," he instructed as he pulled me a few more feet.

My lips curved numbly up even as my feet stumbled. If not for his hand pressing bruises into my flesh, I would have found myself hurtling toward the floor. Something that would surely draw the crowd's eyes.

I couldn't quite decide if that would be a good thing or not.

On the one hand, I knew I definitely didn't want the Unseelie King's attention on me. I didn't want him finding me. I didn't want him to know I even existed.

On the other, though, what reason would Jet have for being honest with me?

Wouldn't it be a smart move to try to gain my trust by creating fear regarding his own father... and then drive me right into him?

My thoughts were shooting off in a dozen different directions, making it hard to seize onto one, let alone come to a rational conclusion about it.

So I let myself be pulled. Down past the triceratops, out into a corridor.

Even as we went to turn the corner and get out of sight, I saw him.

Cass.

And them.

His guards.

My blood turned cold in my veins, making the hairs on my skin prickle, making my flesh break out in goosebumps.

"Head down," Jet demanded again, voice tense even as he dragged me down a hall, looking around quickly, then opening an employees-only door, and pulling us both inside.