by Lucia Ashta
He quirked a silver brow at me. “Now you want to know?”
I shrugged. “I was hoping he’d just kind of … disappear … and I wouldn’t have to deal with him anymore.”
Several of my friends gasped. Those who didn’t stared at me.
“What? Don’t look at me like that. I have enough to deal with without him. I’m still no closer to having a single answer to the pendant problem.”
“Maybe it was just getting used to you,” Dave suggested. “The change from its previous owner to you could’ve made it glitch.”
“I suppose that’s possible,” I drew out, feeling into the idea.
Ky pushed his own food tray forward and leaned his head on his hand, watching me and Chubster, who continued to eat his twenty-first cupcake while on my lap. “You haven’t really told us about the previous owner of the pendant or how exactly you got it…”
I snapped my gaze to Leo. “So, are you gonna tell me what you know about pandacorns or not?”
Master of the segue, I was not.
I pointedly ignored Ky’s stare and nodded my encouragement at Leo. “You’re a prince of the fae. Surely you know something about them.”
“Of course I know about pandacorns. They’re part of the fae folk, but they keep to themselves almost always. In all my life, I’ve never seen one before now. They’re extremely territorial and aren’t fond of visitors. I don’t even think my father has seen their home, and he’s been most everywhere in the Golden Forest.”
“I didn’t realize the Golden Forest is that big,” Wren said.
Leo smiled. “It’s huge, and because it’s so big, it’s divided into multiple regions. The royal court is in the heart of the forest.”
“That’s where you live too, right?” Rina asked Adalia.
She gazed adoringly at her prince across the table. “Yes. My family is honored to be able to reside in close proximity of the palace.”
“About the pandacorns,” I steered, “how do I get this guy back to his kind?”
Leo furrowed his brow. “I don’t think you do.”
“What do you mean? I can’t be stuck with him!”
“Stuck with him?” Wren frowned at me. “He’s like the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. You’re lucky to have him.”
“If you think I’m so lucky, you can have him. I seriously have enough to deal with already.” I promptly lifted the happy cub, who was mid yet another cupcake, and tried to pass him across the table.
Wren reached her arms out to receive him, but the cub squealed in distress. His eyes widened in terror and he dropped his cupcake. Frosting splattered onto the table while his arms and legs swam back toward me as he hovered in the air.
“Here, take him,” I insisted, averting my eyes from Chubster. He had to understand. I had too much shit on my plate right now to have a pet.
But when I again tried to press him into Wren’s open arms, like a human baby he wailed. Eyes scrunched tight, paws balled, he kicked and swung his arms, desperate to return to me.
I stared at him, blinking in shock.
What the hell?
“Take him back,” Wren, who was always gentle, barked at me. “Hurry!”
Yanking the pandacorn back into my chest, he immediately calmed down. He curled into my lap, simpering, the remaining cupcakes forgotten. He sucked in a few shaky breaths and my hands moved of their own accord, reaching down to run soothing strokes across his back.
Hiccupping a few times, he slumped forward, scratching the edge of the wooden table with his horn, and promptly fell asleep.
I stared at him, agape. My friends stared at me.
“He belongs to you,” Dave said. “You’re not going to be able to pawn him off on anybody.”
“Thanks, Captain Obvious,” I grumbled.
“You shouldn’t say she’d be pawning him off,” Wren told Dave. “He’s sweet and adorable.” She directed her accusation at me. “Anyone should be thrilled to have him as a companion.”
“Whoa, Wren,” I said while continuing to pet the cub, who now snored softly on my lap. “Where’s all this aggression coming from? You’re like the sweetest girl I’ve ever met.”
“Not as sweet as that pandacorn.” She harrumphed and crossed her arms, like she’d just punctuated her freaking point.
“Surely he has a family that’s missing him…” I wasn’t ready to give up yet.
“You told us he was being chased by a bunch of big, angry, full-grown pandacorns,” Ky said, his eyes alight with mirth.
I narrowed my own eyes at him. He was enjoying this far too much.
“I did say that,” I responded tightly. “But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a family somewhere, missing him. I should return him to them. It’s the right thing to do.”
Leo was already shaking his head of long silver hair. “From what we know, pandacorns aren’t particularly aggressive or violent. They live in a tight-knit community where they all look out for each other. If they were chasing him like that, and he was scared and running, then he must have done something wrong that would cause such an extreme reaction.”
Ky, Adalia, and Boone joined me in examining the gentle-looking creature purring in my lap while he snoozed.
“He can’t have possibly done anything wrong,” Boone said. “He’s incapable.”
Chubster even had the tough werewolf fooled. The cub had been nothing but trouble since he’d come into my life. Hadn’t he?
Gazing down at the little bundle of fluff, I was no longer certain.
Ky placed a hand on my shoulder. “You can’t take him back. They’ll only hunt him down again if you do.”
“Shit,” I grumbled. “So what am I supposed to do with him, then? He can’t just follow me around everywhere.”
No one answered, waiting for me to arrive at the conclusion all on my own: Yes, yes he could. He’d already been doing it all week, and wherever he went, admiration for his round, cute form followed. Not even the Bitchy Bunch had directed a single snippy word my way; they’d been too busy fussing over the cub.
“Fine. But only until I figure something else out. There has to be some way to return him where he belongs.”
“Hon, I think he belongs with you,” Adalia said.
“That’s absurd.”
“Clearly he doesn’t think so.”
I sighed like a bloody martyr. “Why me?”
“That’s a fine question,” Wren snapped, sounding nothing like her usual self. She’d never been angry with me before. “You’d think he’d prefer to be with someone who appreciates him for the sweet being with a big heart that he is.”
Okay, that last part sounded just like the hippie, happy-hearted, planet lover I knew Wren to be.
I huffed until the streak in my hair flitted about. “All right, all right. I’ll keep him.”
“And take good care of him,” Wren pressed.
“Of course I will,” I snapped. “I’m not going to fucking neglect a baby bear, now am I?”
When no one answered, I squirmed on the bench seat a bit, noticing that Chubster was like a mini oven. My legs were starting to sweat beneath him.
“So what’s his name going to be, roomie?” Adalia asked, kicking me when I was already down. She had to know how much I hated it when she called me that.
“Chubster? That’s what I’ve been calling him in my head.”
Wren gasped.
“Let me guess, Chubster is somehow offensive?”
“Would you like to be called Chubster?” she fired back.
“Hey, if the name fits…” I cut off my shrug at her glare and forced a smile before I lost my cool. Did everyone forget I had an insane pendant wrapped around my neck just biding its time until it unleashed mayhem again? But fine, let’s focus on naming my new pandacorn pet…
“What do you suggest I name him?” I asked, and was surprised when the entire table erupted in fervent discussion. They hadn’t been this animated talking about the problems with my pendant.
> “How about Po?” Rina threw out. “Like in Kung Fu Panda.”
“It doesn’t fit him,” Dave said right away.
“How about Pan-Pan?” Boone said, making me chuckle to hear the adorable name slip from his manly mouth.
“Too girly,” I said.
“Then how about Ying Yang?” Ky said. “He’s white and black … and pretty round. It suits him, I think.”
“I like it,” Leo said. “But how about Double Y? Or Y Squared? That makes him sound cooler, doesn’t it?”
“No,” Rina chuckled. “It really doesn’t.”
“Then how about just Y for short?” Adalia suggested.
Murmurs of assent rounded the table.
“I think Why fits,” I said. “As in, why the hell am I stuck as a caretaker for a pandacorn cub? Or, why the fuck is my life getting so complicated? Why, why, OH WHY?”
Adalia punched me in the arm. “Not Why, you doof. Y.”
“Why it is,” I said.
They all groaned loudly, and Why snorted awake. Scratching the table with his horn again, he pressed onto his hind legs in my lap and planted his paws on the table, which he promptly tried to climb up. His legs scrambled in the air, failing to make headway, but he accidentally speared a cupcake with his horn.
He giggled, fell back to my lap, and proceeded to try to remove the cupcake from his horn with his paws—unsuccessfully.
Sighing loudly enough that the students from a neighboring table turned to take us in, I slid the cupcake up his horn and handed it to him.
Num, num, num, he munched happily, and my friends laughed.
When their laughter started making me feel like a grump, I joined in.
I hadn’t asked for Why, but I had him anyway. I hadn’t asked for my pendant either, and yet it hung against my chest, weighing twenty times more than it actually did.
Time to whip out my playful side and make the best of things. No matter what, I wasn’t about to let life pass me by without having some fun. Under the table, I reached for Ky’s hand. Right away, he squeezed it back and interlaced my fingers through his. A rush of happy warmth spread throughout my entire body, imbuing me with sudden hope. Maybe things were about to get better.
I grinned.
15
Days passed and the motley crew that surrounded me settled into a pattern that required me to call on patience I didn’t naturally possess. Roberta slept on the floor of the room I shared with Adalia, nestled in a pile of blankets she said reminded her of her burrow. I had no idea where she might hide a burrow that could house rabbits the size of her—and potentially hundreds of her offspring—and I didn’t ask. I could live with my curiosity like a smart cat; what I couldn’t stand was providing Roberta with more fodder for late-night chit-chat.
She hadn’t been exaggerating when she’d said she’d never done girl talk before. Now she intended to make up for lost time in a big way. She kept a running list of topics of conversation—from boys we liked to first kisses to what our home environments were like growing up—along with a full manicure set. I’d never painted my nails so often or in so many colors. Roberta wasn’t overly picky about what we did together, so long as we were spilling our guts. I’d resisted at first, but eventually relented. The rabbit was too sharp to fool for long. She wouldn’t be satisfied until I began behaving like a true best friend. I was hoping that the sooner I started, the sooner she’d grow bored of the arrangement and leave me alone.
Adalia and Roberta had gone at it for much of the first week, until the bickering finally stopped. It was as if they realized they had to live with each other no matter what, so they might as well make the best of it. Since then, though she tried to pretend she didn’t, Roberta seemed to be enjoying the mischievous fairy’s company as much as my own. For sure more so than Why’s. Roberta and Fianna seemed to be the only creatures on campus not swayed by his adorable, cuddly nature.
Roberta rose daily when our alarm clock rang at 7 AM and set off for the gate right away. My eyelid twitched for a solid two hours afterward, until the stress of being around the cutthroat bunny started to fade.
“Was it just me or was that an intense class?” Rina asked as she, Wren, and I emerged from Bundry Hall after Professor McGinty’s Advanced Shifting 401 class.
“Totally,” I said, pulling a squirming Why closer to my chest. He liked to be carried like a baby and no other way. Trust me, I’d tried everything, including a baby carrier. He threw a tantrum unless I held him in my arms.
Maybe the pandacorns who’d been giving chase had been after him for being a pain in the ass.
“I agree,” Wren said. “McGinty’s usually pleasant and cheery. Something was bothering him today.”
Rina nodded. “And he was taking it out on us.”
“I wonder if whatever was up his butt might have something to do with my pendant,” I suggested. “Or that damn secret meeting no one will tell us anything about.”
“It’s possible,” Rina said, trailing her gaze up and down me.
“What is it?”
She sighed. “I’ve been meaning to talk to you about something.” She stopped walking before we reached Norland Hall, where our next class was held, which meant whatever she wanted to bring up was serious.
Wren, ever considerate, asked Rina, “Do you want me to leave you two alone for this talk?”
I swallowed a heavy groan. I’d had enough girl talks lately to strangle myself with them.
“Thanks, Wren,” Rina answered, “but it’s not necessary. I just want to talk to Jas about Ky.”
No longer in a hurry to move along, I adjusted the heavy pandacorn in my arms and waited. Why was snoring softly again. I swore the cub slept more than he was awake. Must be nice.
Rina tucked a long strand of loose hair behind her ear, then repeated the nervous gesture on the other side. “I’m fine with you dating Ky,” she blurted out, and though I’d been waiting to hear her say those words for a long time, I couldn’t help my chuckle.
“What are you laughing at?” she snapped while Wren looked between the two of us, guiding us off the sidewalk onto the grassy quad so other students could pass by.
“You,” I said. “You make it seem like such a big deal. He’s your brother. You shouldn’t care if he dates me, or anybody else for that matter.”
Though I’d kick anyone’s ass if they dared try to make a move on the man I was in the process of claiming as my own. Tracy had better watch herself.
“That’s easy for you to say,” Rina said. “You’re an only child.”
“True, but still. Why do you care so much? You’re dating his best friend.”
“Yeah, and that’s why I’m telling you this. I don’t want to be a hypocrite. But I care because he’s my brother. We’ve been through a lot together. It hasn’t necessarily been easy for us with our dad mourning our mom the whole time. I care about what happens to him.”
“You yourself told me he’s dated tons of chicks.”
“Yeah. Dated tons of chicks he didn’t care about. I see how he looks at you nowadays, especially when he doesn’t think either one of us is looking. He’s interested—for real. And I’m not convinced you won’t hurt him.”
I scowled. “Why would I hurt him? I’m the one who’s been into him from the start, even when he all but ignored me. If there’s been any hurt here, it’s from his rejection.”
“He hasn’t hurt you, and he hasn’t rejected you, and you know it. He stayed away from you out of respect for me.”
I waited. Deep down, I knew that was true. No point busting her balls about it anymore.
She huffed and looked to Wren as if our mutual friend would come to her aid. Wren took half a step back, her message clear.
Rina sighed, flattening imagined wrinkles from her button-down shirt and trailing hands over her short plaid skirt. “I’m trying to be nice here, Jas. If you’d just stop fighting me, you’d hear that I’m trying to tell you that I won’t do anything to stand in your way if you wa
nt to date my brother. Just … just don’t hurt him, okay? He means a lot to me, and I don’t want to see him going through a bad breakup or anything like that.”
I snorted. “We haven’t even started dating yet and you’re worrying about us breaking up?”
“Yeah, I am. I know you, Jas. You’re not exactly careful with others’ feelings.”
“I am too,” I snapped, too fast, before groaning loudly enough to startle Why from his nap. “All right, fine. I realize I’m not always the gentlest, but that’s just because I don’t figure there’s any point to pussyfooting around life. Life is too short to censor what we say, what we do, and what we feel.”
Rina frowned. “And that’s exactly my point.”
“Ky’s a big boy. He can handle me.”
“Honestly Jas, I don’t know if anyone can handle you.”
I understood that Rina hadn’t meant to hurt me, that she was just looking out for her brother. She was flustered and … not censoring herself. Oh, the irony.
“Rina,” Wren admonished gently from the sidelines.
Running a hand through the long strands of her hair, Rina brought both hands to her hips. “Look, I’m sorry if that came out wrong. I just wanted to let you know I won’t say anything if you and Ky start dating, and I’m asking you to be careful with him. That’s it. That’s all I wanted to say.”
“All right. Sounds good,” I said. When Wren cleared her throat, I added, “Thanks, Rina.”
Wren nodded her approval at me before moving to Rina’s side and placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. “I know that was hard for you, Rina.”
Rina nodded sadly. “It was. Ky is all the family I have in the world, along with our dad, but Dad’s so withdrawn sometimes.”
“I get it,” Wren soothed.
I clapped my hands lightly so as not to make Why jump too much and grinned. “Glad that’s settled. I’ve been thinking of all I want to do to Ky”—my grin widened—“and all I want him to do to me.”
“Ew, Jas, no,” Rina exclaimed in a panicked rush, eyes wide and horrified. “Seriously, promise me you won’t be doing sex stuff in the room right next to ours.”