Kenzie grinned. Can I introduce you as my boyfriend?
My stomach lurched the other way. If you think introducing me to anyone is a good idea, I said, shrugging. I just hope your dad is as lenient on your boyfriends as he is on your whereabouts. You said hes a lawyer, right? I grimaced. I can just see how that first meeting is going to go.
Kenzie rose on tiptoe, her hands climbing my chest to my shoulders, and touched her lips to mine. I sucked in a breath and closed my eyes, feeling her soft mouth caress my lips, forgetting everything for a moment.
Let me handle my dad, she murmured when we drew back.
Prince Ethan. A short faery with a potato-like nose, wrinkled and stubby, padded up. The gnome was dressed in a long white coat, and one of its arms was mechanical, the fingers made of needles, tweezers, even a scalpel. You are injured, it stated, gesturing to the rough bandages trussed around my leg and arm where Id been sliced open by a couple nasty faery knights. My sleeve and half my pant leg were covered in blood. The Iron Queen has bid me to tend to your wounds. As she said, in her own words, I do not want Mom and Luke freaking out the second he comes home. Please, sit down.
Kenzie let me go, and, suddenly feeling my injuries, I maneuvered painfully into a seated position. You can stitch me up all you want, I grumbled as the gnomes index finger became a pair of tiny scissors and began cutting away my arm wrap. Theyre still going to freak out when they see me half-drenched in blood. I see an emergency room visit in my future.
Not necessarily, the gnome returned, and waved its regular arm. I felt the tingle of glamour settle over me as the blood on my shirt abruptly...vanished. Holes disappeared, tears stitched themselves together and my clothes looked perfectly normal again. Beside me, Kenzie drew in a sharp breath, even as I recoiled, not wanting any faery glamour put on me, even if it seemed harmless.
Oh, calm down, the gnome said, taking my arm again. Its an illusion, nothing more. But it will break the second you remove your clothes, so I suggest you make sure you are alone when you decide to change. As for these it plucked at the sleeve of my shirt I suggest a nice bonfire.
* * *
When Id gotten home that night, Id been bracing myself for an interrogation. Thanks to my sister disappearing into Faeryland thirteen years ago, my parents were paranoid and overprotective to the nth degree. If I was out five minutes past curfew, Mom would be calling my phone, demanding to know where I was, if I was all right. As Id slipped through the front door that night, I still hadnt known what I was going to tell them, but when Id seen them in the living room, waiting for me, Id realized they already knew.
It seemed they had received a visit from the Iron Queen that very night, and Meghan had told them I was safe. That I had been with her in the Nevernever and I was on my way home. She didnt tell them the whole truth, of course; shed left out the parts with Keirran, and the Forgotten, and how Id almost died a few times. Id thought Mom and Dad would want the rest of the story; even if they couldnt see the bloodstains covering my clothes, or the stitched wounds beneath them, theyd had to know something had gone down in Faeryland. But whatever Meghan had told them seemed to be enough. Mom had just hugged the breath out of me, asked if I was all right about four dozen times and left it at that.
Truthfully, I didnt think she wanted to know. Mom was terrified of the fey and thought that if she pretended they didnt exist, they wouldnt harass us. Which kind of sucked for me, because they did. But, at least that night, Id been glad I didnt have to explain myself. It wasnt often that I was let off the hook. Id just hoped Kenzies family was as understanding.
Kenzie. I sighed, scrubbing my hand through my hair, worried again. I hadnt seen her since the night she went home, back to her dad and her stepmom. Id tried calling her over the weekend, but either her phone was still dead or it had been taken away, because my calls went straight to voice mail. Worried and restless, Id gotten to school early this morning in the hopes of seeing her, finding out how her family had taken her abrupt disappearance, but Id been pulled into the principals office before I could catch a glimpse of the girl who was very suddenly my whole world.
Morose, I headed back to class, still scanning the hall for any glimpse of blue-streaked black hair, irrationally hoping to run into Kenzie on her way to the principals office. I didnt see her, of course, but I did pass a group of girls in the hall, talking and laughing beneath the bathroom sign. They fell silent as I passed, staring at me with wide eyes, and I heard the murmurs erupt as soon as my back was turned.
Oh, my God, thats him.
Did you hear he forced Kenzie to run away with him last week? They were on the other side of the country before the police finally caught them.
So thats why the cops are here. Why isnt he in jail?
I clenched my jaw and kept walking. Gossip rarely bothered meI was so used to it by now. And most of the more colorful rumors were so far off it was laughable. But I hated the thought that, just by being around me, Kenzie would be the target of speculation. It was already starting.
She wasnt in any of the classes we shared, which made it difficult to concentrate on anything happening around me. Even so, I caught suspicious glances thrown my way, whispers whenever I slid into my desk, the hard stares of some of the popular kids. Kenzies friends. I kept my head down and my usual leave me the hell alone posture going, until the bell rang for lunch.
Kenzie still hadnt made an appearance. I almost went down to the cafeteria, just to see if she was there, before catching myself with a grimace. Geez, what are you doing, Ethan? Youve gone completely stupid for this girl. Shes not here today. Just accept that already.
As I hesitated in the corridor, trying to decide which direction to go, my nerves prickled and the hair on the back of my neck stood up, a sure warning that I was being watchedor stalked. Wary, I casually scanned the surging throng of teenagers for anything that might belong to the Invisible World, the world only I could see. The source of my unease wasnt a faery, however. It was worse.
Football star Brian Kingston and three of his friends were pushing their way through the corridor, broad shoulders and thick arms parting the crowd with ease. By their faces and the way they were scanning the halls, it was obvious they were on the warpath. Or at least the quarterback was, with his ruddy face and thick jaw set for a fight. I could just guess who was the target of his wrath.
Great.
I turned and melted into the throng, heading in the opposite direction, hoping to disappear and find someplace I could be alone. Where vengeful football jocks and their cronies couldnt smash my face into lockers, where I didnt have to hear whispers of how Id kidnapped Kenzie and forced her to go to New York with me.
Once more, maybe by fate, I found myself back in the library, the quiet murmurs and rustle of paper bringing with it a storm of memories. Id come here during the first week of school, too, in an attempt to avoid Kingston. It was also here that Id promised to meet Kenzie for one of her infamous interviews. And it was here that Id held my last lucid conversation with Todd, right before he vanished.
Hiding my lunch under my jacket, I ignored the no-food-or-drink sign on the front desk and sauntered into the back aisles. I earned a suspicious glare from the librarian, who watched me over her glasses, but at least Kingston and his thugs wouldnt follow me here.
Hiding my lunch under my jacket, I ignored the no-food-or-drink sign on the front desk and sauntered into the back aisles. I earned a suspicious glare from the librarian, who watched me over her glasses, but at least Kingston and his thugs wouldnt follow me here.
I found a quiet corner and sank down against the wall, engulfed in déjà vu. Dammit, I just wanted to be left alone. Was that too much to ask? I wanted to get through a school day without getting beat up, threatened with expulsion or arrested. And I wanted, for once, to just have a day where I could take my girlfriend out to the movies or to dinner without some faery messing everything up. Something like normal. Was that ever going to happen?
* * *
When the last bell rang, I grabbed my books and hurried to the parking lot, hoping to make it out before Kingston or any of Kenzies friends. No one stopped or followed me in the halls, but when I started toward my beat-up truck, parked at the far end of the lot, my nerves went rigid.
Brian Kingston was sitting on the hood, legs swinging off the edge, smirking at me. Two of his football buddies leaned against the side, blocking the door.
Where do you think youre going, freak? Kingston asked, sliding to the ground. His cronies pressed behind him, and I took a deep breath to calm down. At least they hadnt damaged my truck in any obvious way...yet. The tires didnt look slashed, and I didnt see any key marks in the paint, so that was something. Been wanting to talk to you all afternoon.
I shifted my weight onto the balls of my feet. He didnt want to talk. Everything about him said he was itching for a fight. Do we really have to do this now? I asked, keeping a wary eye on all three of them. Dammit, I did not need this, but if the choices were fight or get my ass kicked, I wasnt going to get stomped on. I supposed I could have run away like a coward, but the fallout of that might be even worse. These three didnt scare me; Id faced down goblins, redcaps, a lindwurm and a whole legion of murderous, ghostly fey who sucked the glamour out of their normal kin. Id fought things that were trying their best to kill me, and I was still here. A trio of unarmed humans, thick-necked and muscle-headed as they were, didnt register very high on my threat meter, but Id rather not get expelled on my first day back if I could help it.
This is stupid, Kingston, I snapped, backing away as his cronies tried to flank me. If they lunged, Id need to get out of the way fast. What the hell do you want? What do you think Ive done now?
Like you dont know. Kingston sneered. Dont play stupid, freak. I told you to stay away from Mackenzie, didnt I? I warned you what would happen, and you didnt listen. Everyone knows you dragged her off to New York last week. I dont know why the cops didnt toss your ass in jail for kidnapping.
She asked me to take her, I argued. I didnt drag her anywhere. She wanted to see New York, and her dad wouldnt let her go, so she asked me. Lies to cover up more lies. I wondered if there would ever come a point where I didnt have to lie to everyone.
Yeah, and now look where she is, Kingston shot back. I dont know what you did to her while you were gone, but youre gonna wish you never came here.
Wait. What? I frowned, still trying to keep the jocks in my sights. What do you mean? Where is Kenzie now?
Kingston shook his head. You didnt hear, freak? God, you are a bastard. He stepped forward, eyes narrowing in pure contempt. Kenzie is in the hospital.
CHAPTER TWO
MACKENZIES FATHER
My stomach dropped.
Shes in the hospital? I repeated as fear and horror spread through my insides. I remembered something Kenzie had told me about herself while we were in Faery, something big and dark and terrifying. Why?
You tell me. Kingston clenched his fists. You put her there.
Pain exploded through my side; one of the other jocks had lunged in with a punch to my ribs while I was distracted, knocking me to the side. I gasped and staggered away, ducking beneath the others left hook and raising my fists in a boxing stance as all three came at me.
Kingston swung viciously at my face; I jerked my head back, letting the knuckles graze me, before lunging forward with a body shot that bent him forward with a grunt. At the same time, one of his friends hammered a fist into my unprotected back. I winced, absorbing the blow, then spun around Kingston to use him as a shield. He snarled and threw an elbow back, trying to bash me in the face. I caught his arm, pivoted him around in a circle and threw him into his friend.
As they both toppled and rolled to the concrete, the last jock slammed into me from behind, wrapping me in a bear hug, pinning my arms. I jerked my head back, cracking my skull into his nose, and the jock shrieked a curse. Slipping from his grasp, I whirled behind him, drove my foot into the back of his knee and yanked down on his shoulders. He hit the pavement with a gusty whoof, expelling all the air from his lungs, and lay there dazed.
But the other two were climbing to their feet, looking homicidal, and I didnt want to stay any longer. Breaking from the fight, I leaped into my truck and slammed the door. Kingston stepped up and smashed a fist into the window as I pulled out, glaring at me with murder in his eyes. A hairline crack appeared where his ringed knuckle struck the glass, but thankfully nothing more, as I maneuvered the vehicle around the jocks out for my blood and fled the parking lot.
* * *
It took a few minutes on my phone to find the hospital closest to Kenzies house, and I drove there immediately. I was supposed to go straight home from school, and probably should havemy parents still werent recovered from my trip into the Neverneverbut all I could think about was Mackenzie. And how I was the reason she was hospitalized. Maybe not directly, but it was still certainly my fault.
Kenzie had leukemia, an aggressive type of cancer that affected the blood cells. Shed told me as much when we were stuck in the Nevernever, and the prognosis wasnt very hopeful. That was the main reason shed wanted the Sight, why she wanted to stay in Faery. She didnt know how long she had, and she wanted to see everything she could. Her illness also made her relatively fearless and a lot more daring than she should have been. Even when offered the chance to go back home, shed refused to abandon me, sticking it out through sword fights, kidnappings and near-death experiences, tromping from one end of the Nevernever to the other while dodging faeries, Forgotten and other things that wanted to eat us.
And now she was in the hospital. It had been too much. Everything had finally caught up with her, and it was all on me. If Id never brought her into Faery, she would be fine.
I pulled into the crowded parking lot and sat there, gazing at the big square building in the distance. A part of me, the part that had withdrawn from the whole world, the part that kept other people at arms length to keep them safe from the fey, told me not to go in there. That I had already screwed up Mackenzies life by dragging her into the hidden world, and the best and safest thing for her would be to stay far, far away from me.
But I couldnt. Id already promised her I wouldnt disappear, and honestly, I didnt want to. Kenzie had the Sight now, same as me, which meant the fey would be drawn to her. And there was no way I was going to let her face them alone. Besides, she would never let me get away with that.