Grabbing my swords, I staggered to my feet. But as I raised my weapons, the tentacles reaching for us suddenly retracted as if stung. The octopus-blob thing lurched to a halt, peering at us with blank silver eyes. Then, with a hiss, it turned and fled, tentacles carrying it over the ground and back down the bank. There was a splash as it reached the river, and then silence as it sank back into the depths and disappeared from sight.

Frowning, I glanced back at my companions. “What the hell just happened?”

Kenzie, looking just as baffled as I felt, shrugged. “Maybe you scared it off?”

A low chuckle echoed behind us from the edge of the trees. “The fox does not run away from the mouse, little human,” rumbled a deep, gravelly voice that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. “Unless, of course, it knows the bear is coming.”

Heart in my throat, I turned.

Something watched us from edge of the forest, nearly invisible in the shadows, except for a pair of gold-green eyes shining with subtle amusement. Something huge and black, with shaggy fur spiked out in every direction. It gave another chuckle and padded into the moonlight.

A wolf, I realized as it slid out of the dark. A black wolf...the size of a freaking Budweiser horse. The top of my head barely reached its huge shoulders, and its jaws were about the length of my arm. It was smiling as it padded into view, its tongue lolling out between rows of slick white fangs. I quickly stepped in front of Kenzie, raising my swords as it loomed closer, and the massive wolf snorted in clear disgust.

“Ugh, why must we go through this silly dance every single time I meet one of you?” it rumbled, making no sense whatsoever. I’d never seen this thing before and would certainly remember meeting a giant-ass wolf that could talk. The huge canine shook his head. “Do you think those little toys will hurt me, boy?” it asked in an overly patient tone, its teeth flashing in the dim light as it spoke. “Do you even know who I am?”

“I do,” the Thin Man said, startling me. The tall faery stepped up beside me, narrowing his pale eyes, and the wolf stared back, unblinking. “I remember you,” the Thin Man said softly. “When you came through my town. I remember you and the Winter prince, the Summer jester and the seer. That seer—the one whose time was already up—she should have never left Phaed. I knew it was folly to let her go, but you and the prince refused to leave her behind.” The Thin Man’s voice grew hard, bitterness seeping into his words. “I could have stopped them there, even the Winter prince. But you were the one that helped them escape, escape with her, and because of that one oversight, this entire mess came to pass.” He pointed at the wolf with a long, stabby finger. “If not for the seer, the Winter prince would have failed, but because she lived, the prophecy was set into motion. If the First Queen and the Iron Prince emerge victorious, let it be on your head.”

The wolf growled, showing his enormous fangs and making the ground vibrate. “You did not know what would happen any more than I did,” it rumbled, the spikes on the back of its shoulders bristling angrily. “Nor could you know what might’ve happened, had the Winter prince not fulfilled his quest. Perhaps a future worse than this one. Perhaps he would have become a monster even more terrible than the First Queen.”

“Or perhaps he would have died, and the child of prophecy, the one who is responsible for bringing the First Queen to power once again, would never have been born!”

“Hey!” Kenzie stepped between the Thin Man and the wolf, glaring at them both. “Stop it, both of you,” she ordered, as the Thin Man blinked and the wolf pricked his ears in amused surprise. “This isn’t helping anything. Who cares who did what, and who’s responsible for which prophecy? We can’t go back and change it. So, instead of pointing fingers at each other, why don’t we try stopping it now?” She turned to face the huge wolf, back straight, completely unafraid. “I take it you’re the guide Grimalkin told us about?” she asked, while I held my breath and tried not to imagine those massive jaws biting her head off. “The one who can help us find Annwyl?”

The wolf stared at her, then barked a guttural laugh, making me jump. “The little human has teeth,” he remarked, and lowered himself to his haunches, giving Kenzie an almost approving look. Sheathing my blades, I edged up so that I was standing beside her, just in case. Even sitting down, the wolf towered over her. “But you are correct, little mortal. I am the best tracker in the Deep Wyld, the wyldwood and all the Nevernever. The wretched cat informed me that you were searching for a Summer gentry that had crossed the river into the Deep Wyld. He suggested I might lead you to her.” He snorted, curling a lip in disdain. “Normally, such effortless hunts are a waste of my time, but the cat would not call on me if it was not important.” He panted, baring shiny teeth in an evil grin. “And I would never turn down the opportunity to hold a favor over his arrogant, insufferable head.

“Well, then.” Stretching with easy grace, the wolf glanced at me and the Thin Man. “Shall we get on with it, then? I smelled a Summer gentry passing through not long ago, so the trail will not be difficult to find.”

“What about Grimalkin?” Kenzie wondered.

The wolf shrugged.

“The cat is not coming. He said he wouldn’t be joining you this time, something about returning to the realm that needed him. Good riddance, if you ask me. Listening to him talk makes me want to snap his head off.” The wolf rolled his glowing eyes. “Let’s go. The sooner we get this done, the better. But, I do suggest you stay close, little humans. The Deep Wyld is not a place that takes kindly to trespassers. Don’t leave the trail, and don’t wander off by yourselves. If you stare into the trees and something stares back, ignore it and keep walking. If something calls your name, ignore it and keep walking. With any luck, you’ll leave the Deep Wyld with the same number that you started with.”

“We’re here for Annwyl,” I reminded the wolf, as he turned and padded soundlessly toward the tree line. “We should leave with one more than we started with.” He snorted without looking back.

“I know.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHICKEN BARGAINS

Surprisingly, the journey through the Deep Wyld was not as treacherous as I feared. Though it could have been, I suspected, far more dangerous than the river, or the wyldwood, or any realm we’d encountered so far. Unlike the hazy gray twilight of the wyldwood, this forest was almost pitch-black. The canopy shut out the sky, and Kenzie’s mini-flashlight beam seemed weak in the absolute darkness of the Deep Wyld. I could feel eyes on me from every angle, watching from the trees and shadow.

Back in the wyldwood, things moved through the brush and in the corners of your eyes, just enough to make you paranoid. In the Deep Wyld, the feeling of being watched was constant to the point of driving you crazy. As if the entire forest—trees, rocks, even the darkness itself—was watching you, judging you, and if you stared back too hard, you might see something horrible.

Apparently, I wasn’t the only one on edge.

“Do you feel like we’re being watched?” Kenzie asked after several minutes of hiking. Razor, perched on her shoulder, gazed around with huge green eyes and occasionally mumbled something under his breath, showing a glimmer of neon light.