His hand tightened on hers as they joined the chaos inside Dead Ends—and she was grateful for his steady grip. The overflowing mass of people and thundering music made Rika want to flee.

Kayley and Del were being swept into a crowd of people, but Jayce didn’t join them. He wound through the bodies, holding tightly to her. When they found a bit of space to themselves, he leaned in closer so she could hear. “Are you okay?”

“Crowds.” She tried to smile, but she knew it must’ve looked pained because Jayce frowned and tried to lead her back outside.

“C’mon then,” he said. “We’ll leave.”

But three of the faeries had followed them inside. Two were plainly visible to humans, looking as menacing as some of the humans were trying to appear. The third faery was Maili; she had stayed invisible to the swarm of mortals in the club.

“Let’s go this way.” Rika tugged Jayce deeper into the crowd, pushing through the room as she looked for another exit. Her attention flitted everywhere, on windows too high up to access, exposed pipes overhead, shadowed corners. There were no exits she could see, no way to get Jayce to safety.

She maneuvered him so he was in the thick of the crowd with her. It wasn’t a complete solution, but she thought it would help.

Almost immediately, though, one of the faeries zipped toward them and clamped a hand down on Jayce’s shoulder. The faery tugged on Jayce, spinning him around and causing him to stumble. If not for the steel bracelet Jayce wore, he’d have been in a worse situation, but the bracelet brushed against the faery’s exposed skin. The burn of it caused him to release Jayce.

Rika started to grab Jayce to pull him to safety.

The second faery grabbed Rika’s hair. He was much bigger than her, so much so that his palm cupped the back of her skull like he was cradling a ball.

She glared and yanked back, tilting her head so her chin was pointing upward and her head was at an angle. “You really don’t want to do this.”

The faery tilted his head downward and tugged her so he was mouth-to-forehead with her. “Yeah. I do.”

She darted a glance at Jayce. He was staring at the faery that had grabbed him.

“I’m still stronger than any of you out here,” Rika whispered to the faery in front of her. Then, she headbutted him.

Surprised, he reached up to touch his face. Until now, Rika had avoided fighting with faeries. When they would act out, she always extricated herself. Tonight, though, she was tired of avoiding conflict. She kicked the faery, the heel of her foot slamming into his lower ribs, and he stumbled.

The mortals who were nearby started to back away.