Two white rabbits hop between the trees, and a squirrel with black tufts above his ears scampers over a branch. His snow colored feathers fluff out as he watches me with amber, unblinking eyes too sentient for my liking. Each blade is frozen solid, and when I walk, my boots crunch the delicate strands, the sound like shards of glass ground together.Ī screech pierces the crisp air, and I duck just as the snowy owl from earlier swoops onto a crooked red branch. Near the Shimmer the snowfall is thin, exposing thick green grass. Dusting the foliage, the soil, the leaves. Each perfect golden teardrop shimmers with ice.Īnd the frost-it’s everywhere. The branches all grow in one direction, making the trees appear to reach toward the heavens at an angle.īright red bark clings to the trees, peeling away to reveal grayish skin beneath, and strange fruit peeks between the leaves. Huge winter trees with winding trunks and silver leaves rise from the icy ground. When they finally do, I watch in wonder as my breath spews on in a milky cloud and spreads through the forest. The moment I pass through the Shimmer, a blast of icy air envelops me, and it takes a second to make my lungs work again.

The gunfire sounds like those little fireworks you throw onto the ground. Then the mofo shoots at the wall a few times. Holy shit.Ĭlutching my bow tight, I say a prayer and lunge through the Shimmer, straight into the Everwilde.īryce yells at me on the other side, but it’s warbled and hard to make out. Then he disappears through the Shimmer like it’s mist. “Come to me before-before I’m forced to shoot you.” Bryce is terrified, his voice pleading. Usually a foolish mortal who bartered with a Fae and then couldn’t pay the price, or let a Fae give them something without understanding the consequences.Īn Evermore never gives anything for free. The only time something goes into the world of the Fae is when they want it to. This wall is supposed to be impenetrable. The idea that if I push real hard I could break through comes over me in a wave of impossibility. My fingertips indent the slippery surface. “Please don’t go any farther, I’m warning you.” “Wait.” Bryce’s nervous voice marks him only a few feet away. It’s frigid and smooth and gelatinous, not at all solid like I imagined. A place where day is night and summer is winter and the ordinary is extraordinary. In this infernal heat, it seems impossible that only a few feet away lies a place of frost and magic and strange, dangerous beings.

Shadow Rise by Audrey Grey