At the edge of town was the gate manned by a guard, and I doubted he’d let the Princess through. Rhys had a plan, though. He knew of a weak spot in the fence a ways down the embankment. He’d heard of other m?nks getting through it when they ran away.
I had to help Rhys steady the motorcycle so it wouldn’t go tumbling down the hill as we made our way through the trees and the brush. Apparently the hole in the fence was even larger now than it had been before. That’s how some of the Vittra had broken in, and the Trylle hadn’t fixed it yet. Typical of them, to be more focused on securing the palace than making sure the town of F?rening was safe.
We were able to get the motorcycle through without much trouble, and it was then, as we pushed it up the hill, that I started feeling the exhilaration and relief of escape. I ignored any pangs of sadness or longing for some of the people I’d met here, like Willa and Tove, and I just tried to focus on the fact that I was getting away. I was free.
Once we got to the road, Rhys started the motorcycle. We sped off into the darkness, and I sat on the bike behind him, wrapping my arms tightly around his waist and burying my face in his leather jacket.
The sky had that eerie blue glow of very early morning when we pulled up in front of my house. Rhys hadn’t even turned off the motorcycle before Matt threw open the front door and came jogging down the porch steps.
Even in the dim light I could see how stricken Matt looked. I jumped off the bike, and, completely oblivious to Rhys, Matt threw his arms around me. He held me so tightly to him, it hurt. I didn’t care, though. I buried my face in his shoulder, breathing in his familiar scent and relishing the protection of his arms. I was finally home.
Turn the page for the new,
never-before-published bonus short story
The Vittra Attacks
by Amanda Hocking
The Vittra Attacks
(A Trylle Story)
ONE
Loki leaned back in the seat, his head against the headrest. It was too damn early for this kind of thing, but the only way he’d convinced Jen and Kyra to let him wait in the SUV was because he’d sold himself as the getaway driver.
If they came back, hauling that girl along as a prisoner, and Loki wasn’t alert enough to speed off, he’d be in serious trouble. Not with Jen or Kyra, since he outclassed them, but Jen wouldn’t hesitate to tell the King about any of Loki’s shortcomings.
So he waited in the car, listening to the Hugo album on his iPod. He’d been lucky he thought to bring it along. The SUV they’d stolen only had rap in it, and Loki had tossed the entire CD collection out the window as soon as he’d gotten in.
A few miles from the Vittra palace, the car the King had given him had died. That was just par for the course lately. Loki had been forced to steal the SUV to keep them on track, because the King wouldn’t allow for a missed deadline. He wanted the girl, and he wanted her now.
Loki had busted out the passengers-side window, and Kyra had tacked up his black jacket to keep the wind out. It didn’t do much to keep in sound, though, so Loki kept the music low enough so as not to wake the neighborhood.
The clock on the dashboard said it was after five in the morning, and Loki glanced over his shoulder, back toward the girl’s house. He’d parked almost a block away and across the street, so he was actually at a horrible angle to observe her.
But that was just as well, since he didn’t want to watch her. He wanted no part of this stakeout.
The sky was beginning to lighten, looking more blue than black now. Loki couldn’t see where Jen and Kyra were hiding. He didn’t know how they did it. He wouldn’t have been able to stand sitting out there all night, crouched down in the cold grass, waiting to kidnap some stupid girl.
Jen lived for that sort of thing. It was the thrill of the hunt that got him going. But Loki had never been into it. The one thing in his life he’d always been grateful for was that he’d never been a tracker.
It seemed solitary and tedious, but more than that, he hated the idea of tricking people into coming back to the Vittra palace, to being forced to live a life like his. They would be so much better off in the human world, away from the King’s iron fist and the totalitarian troll society.
Loki had fought as hard as he could to get out of participating in this abduction. The King was always looking for a reason to kill him, and if Loki refused an order like this, that would be reason enough.
Sitting in the SUV, it occurred to Loki that he could escape. He’d thought of escape almost incessantly since the day he was born. But it had never felt so possible. He was alone in the car. He could just drive off, leaving Jen and Kyra behind to deal with the mess.
But the same problems always stopped him. Where would he go? What would he do?
The King might track him down and kill him, just because he could. And even if he didn’t, Loki didn’t have anybody on the outside. He’d always believed in fighting for the things he loved, but he’d never found anything he loved enough to escape for.