As I eased onto the hood, I spotted an owl perched in an elm tree. Ricky followed my gaze to the bird.

“An owl? In daytime? Didn’t you say . . .”

“It’s bad luck. An omen of a shitty day, which means it’s several hours late.” I raised my voice. “Did you hear that?”

The owl ruffled its feathers and continued staring at me.

“Owls in daytime. Creepy and unnatural,” Ricky said. “Which, as I mentioned, I believe applies to owls in general.”

He’d said that when we’d spotted one in the woods near the abandoned psych hospital. He didn’t like the birds—too many stories from his youth. I’d thought it was cute, my biker boyfriend casting nervous glances at an owl.

I thought of the cabin, and when we’d seen the hounds and horses. The Cwn Annwn—I was certain of it. Ricky had brushed it off as a regular hunt, but I’d seen the way his eyes glittered when he heard it. I remembered what he’d told me, about going out at night searching for something in those woods.

“I’d wake up, and I couldn’t sleep. I’d go out and spend the whole night out here, looking.”

“Looking for what?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know.”

After we’d heard the Hunt, he’d tried to explain the phenomenon.

“It was riders from the stable. A midnight hunt. Logically, I know that. But when I was a kid, sometimes I’d hear the horses and the hounds, and I’d tell myself it was the Hunt.”

“The Hunt?”

“My nana used to tell me stories. She’s Irish, and she grew up with all that. I liked her stories of fairy traps and enchantments. And the Wild Hunt. Have you heard of it?”

Then I’d seen the Huntsman, another time, watching Ricky sleep.

There are two things you’d best keep close, for protection: the boar’s tusk and the boy there. They’ll look after you.

Walter and Ida, at Gabriel’s office the other day.

End your association with the boy.

The little girl just an hour or so ago, speaking of Gabriel and . . . someone else.

“You protect him as he protects you. And the other, too. The three of you.”

“The other. What other? I have no idea what—or who—you mean.”

“You know exactly who I mean.”

My gut clenched.

It’s not true. I won’t let it be. Take the rest of my life and twist it into madness, but leave me this one normal, perfect thing.

“Liv?”

Ricky looked concerned, and I wanted to kiss that worry away. But I could see Gabriel approaching, with the detectives in tow, and I wasn’t going to be caught making out with my boyfriend at the scene of my ex-fiancé’s murder.

I nudged Ricky aside and hopped off the car.