Klea stared at him for a long time, one eyebrow arched. “Thank you,” she said dryly.

“How did you—” David started to ask, but Laurel cut him off with a quick yank on his arm.

“What were those things?” Laurel asked, trying to sound innocent without being too fake. “They didn’t look…human.”

David looked down at her, confused, but a quick glare wiped the question off his face. Despite everything, Laurel was determined to keep her wits about her, and the most important thing was not to reveal who she was to this stranger—even if she was, as she claimed, “one of the good guys.”

Klea hesitated. “They were…a species of animal like you’ve never encountered before. Let’s just say that.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “I still haven’t caught your names.”

“David. David Lawson.”

“David,” she repeated, then turned to Laurel.

Laurel wondered if there was any point in trying to withhold that information. But it wasn’t like it would be hard to find out. Finally she murmured, “Laurel.”

Klea’s eyes widened. “Laurel Sewell?”

Laurel looked up sharply. How did this woman know who she was?

“Well,” Klea said softly, almost to herself, “that explains a lot.”

David rescued Laurel from her bafflement by changing the subject. “How did you know we were—?” David gestured wordlessly to the center of the clearing.

“I’ve been tracking these…subjects for several hours,” Klea said. “It was only when they started chasing your car that I realized what they were doing. Sorry for cutting it so close, but I can’t run as fast as you can drive. Good thing they forced you off the road when they did; I’d have never gotten here in time.”

“How do you—?” Laurel started.

“Listen,” Klea said, “we can’t just hang around here talking. We don’t have any idea how far their reinforcements might be.” She walked over to the tree where her metal disc was stuck. She retrieved it, then looked up at David, meeting his eyes for the first time. “Would you two mind giving me a ride? I’ll take you somewhere safe and we can talk.” She turned her gaze to Laurel. “We really need to talk.”

Laurel’s mind was screaming out against the idea—to not trust whoever Klea was. But she had just saved their lives. Besides, David was only too eager to agree.

“Yeah. Sure. Of course!” he said. “My car…it’s just down—well, you know where it is. I can totally give you a ride—um, except, well, it’s kind of stuck, but…” His voice trailed off, and an awkward silence filled the clearing.

Klea stowed the metal disc in a wide case that attached to her back. “I imagine the three of us can push your car free. Let’s go.” And she strode off in the direction of the car.

David turned to Laurel, both hands on her shoulders. “Are you okay?” he asked, his eyes darting over her, looking for wounds.

Laurel nodded. Okay probably wasn’t the best word, but she was alive. He gave a relieved sigh and wrapped his arms around her, his hand pressing painfully against her blossom. But Laurel didn’t care. She burrowed against his shoulder, wishing she could burst into relieved tears. But that would have to wait. “I’m so glad you’re safe,” he whispered.

“I’m alive,” she said skeptically. “I don’t know about safe yet. How are your knees?”

David shook his head. “They’re going to be way sore tomorrow, but at least I’m walking.”

“Good,” Laurel said, her breathing still a little fast. Then, remembering his moment of idiocy, she slapped her hand against his chest. “And what the hell was that giving-yourself-up thing?” she demanded.

David grinned sheepishly. “It was all I could think of at the moment.”

“Well, don’t you ever do anything like that again.”

David didn’t say anything for a long moment, then he shrugged and turned toward the car. “We’d better go.”

“Hey,” Laurel said, one hand reaching up to touch David’s cheek. “You go ahead, I’ll be there in a second,” she whispered. “I have to tie up my blossom. But,” she said sharply, “don’t tell her anything. I don’t trust her.”

“She just saved us from the trolls,” David countered. “She was awesome!”

“I don’t care! She’s a stranger and she knows something. You can’t tell her anything!” It was different for David—he wasn’t the one who had something to hide. “Now go, before she gets suspicious. Tell her I dropped my purse.”

“I don’t want to leave you alone,” he said firmly.

“It’ll just take a second,” Laurel said. “I have to tie up my blossom. Now please go. She’s looking up at us.” Klea had reached the bottom of the hill and was peering up at them through the darkness. “She’s going to come back up here if she doesn’t see you soon.”

With a long look and a squeeze of her hand, David reluctantly headed out of the trees and down the hill.

Laurel untied the knot around her waist and bent her petals down. The spot on her back still stung like an open wound. She gritted her teeth and bound the petals tightly. As soon as she pulled her shirt down over the blossom, she hurried out of the trees, forcing herself not to run. She picked her way down the hill in the dim moonlight and almost shrieked when she tripped and found herself face-to-face with a troll. She threw herself backward and started to scramble to her feet when she realized the troll wasn’t moving. She crept back to it and saw that it was the troll who had gotten a face full of monastuolo serum. Apparently there were ways around the open-air limitation.