by Sophia Shade
No, I think, but I don’t say it yet. In fact, every vision I have had that implicates him feels…wrong. It’s like something, or someone, wants me to believe Erick is the killer even though I know it isn’t possible.
“We’re friends,” he says pleadingly. “We are a team. We’re supposed to be finding this killer together.”
I press my lips together, hoping what I say next doesn’t bite me in the ass later. “No, Erick, of course I don’t think you killed her. But maybe that’s because I don’t want to believe you’d do something like that.”
“Because I wouldn’t.”
“Yeah, but what am I supposed to do? What would you do if you were me?”
“Well, I wouldn’t have gone into that room in the first place,” he says. “But next, I would remove these bonds, so I could get help finding my mom.”
I sigh. If I remove the bonds, I could always put them back on again if I needed to. But right now, finding my mom is more important than trapping Erick or determining if he can be trusted.
“You know I’m stronger than you, right?” I say. “Firepower-wise, I mean. My fire might have less control, less discipline than yours, but you know I’m stronger.”
He rolls his eyes. “Imogen is the strongest fire Fae I have ever met. Happy now?”
“I mean it,” I say. “If you try to trick me, you know I could seriously mess you up.”
He levels his gaze at me. “I know.”
Of course, he’d recover since we’re both fire Fae, but I’m confident I could make my attack strong enough to slow him down and chain him up again.
I hold up my hands, calling my fire from the chains back into me.
He rubs his wrists. “Finally.”
“So, about the room. The orb,” I say. “Tell me more.”
“It’s…intoxicating,” he says. “It did to you exactly what it was supposed to do. It lured you in, and then it lied.”
“But not completely,” I say. “It told me the truth about my mom.”
“Well, yes…” he says. “But Headmistress Shadowburn didn’t think the possible payoffs were worth the risk. It was too difficult to parse out what was true and what was false. It led to many conflicts. Too much distrust among people. So she sealed the room.”
“But it wasn’t sealed,” I say. “After I left you and Caleb, the door was back and it was unlocked.”
He shrugs. “I don’t know,” he says. “I hid it pretty well. I don’t know how it appeared or who unlocked it.”
Erick’s magical signature had been floating around the door when it reappeared. I should have looked more closely. I probably would have seen another signature there as well, one from whoever made the door reappear.
“When I get back, I’m going to ask Headmistress Shadowburn to conform your story,” I say defiantly. I’m not just going to blindly believe him.
“Go ahead,” he says. “And then you can apologize.”
I tilt my chin up. “Yeah, if I’m wrong, I’ll apologize.”
I walk over to the window, looking out at the sunrise over the ocean. The moon festival is over. As far as I know, no one died. The arm with the blood and the bracelet didn’t happen. And Erick didn’t kill Professor Crowsfly. Maybe my visions aren’t real after all. Maybe I’m just going crazy.
“Hey,” I say. “If the only vision that was true is my mom is missing, does that mean Caleb doesn’t have an Unseelie princess fiancée?”
He chuckles. “What? Why would you believe that? You really think he would be cheating on an Unseelie princess if he had one? Please. Those girls are all fire, no matter what their element is. She’d roast him on a spit.”
Well, that makes me feel better and worse at the same time…
I shrug sheepishly. “It was the other vision. I thought they were all true.”
He chuckles again and shakes his head as he starts picking through the things on my dresser. “He is definitely not engaged,” he says. “I would love to tell you he was, but he’s not. He’s only twenty. We don’t marry this young. And as a prince, if he were engaged, we’d all know about it.”
I nod. That’s a good point. It makes sense. And if that was a lie, then it could be a lie that Erick is the killer.
I feel a bit of relief, but also guilt. When I saw the vision of Caleb with another girl, I had kind of hoped it was true. It would mean he was just as unfaithful as I was. But now, the only person guilty of cheating is me.
I suck.
“What are you doing?” I ask Erick as he opens a small jewelry box on my desk.
I think about the necklace I saw in the forbidden room, and my face flushes. Man, what I wouldn’t give to have a piece of jewelry like that to put in a box of my own.
“Just trying to get to know you a little better,” he says with a mischievous grin.
“Well, you won’t learn anything about me from the stuff in here,” I say, studying the dresser as well. “None of this is mine.”
“Really?” he asks. “Sorry, I thought this was your room. That’s why I brought you in here.”
“It is my room,” I say. “But I only lived here for three months when I was home with Mom for the summer. I didn’t have time to really make this room my own. Kind of like every place I’ve lived. I guess Mom kind of nested while I was gone, though. She must have bought this stuff to make it homier.”
“Where did you live before this place?” he asks as he moves to the desk and examines the books and papers on it.
“Where didn’t I live?” I say. “My mom spent my whole life running from the Fae. She thought they were evil and she was protecting me. We moved around every two or three months trying to outrun them. I never had roots anywhere until I went to Callador.”
“Do you have any siblings?” he asks. “Any grandparents or anything?”
I shake my head. “No, no family. It was always just me and Mom.”
“I had a brother once,” he says as he picks up a book and flips through it.
“Really?” I ask. “You told me about your little sis, but you didn’t tell me about a brother.”
“I don’t really talk about him much,” he says. “He was killed.”
I stare at him for a moment. This is kind of heavy information to just drop on someone. “I’m…sorry,” I say. “So sorry for your loss.”
“It was a long time ago…” he says. A piece of paper slips out of a book he’s paging through, and then falls to the floor. “Oh, sorry,” he says as he picks it up.
“What is it?” I ask, not recalling placing something into it.
He reads it, then hands it to me. “I think it’s for you.”
I knew you would come, but you have to go back. It’s not safe here for you here right now. I promise I’ll…
It’s my mom’s handwriting!
“Promise what?” I ask, my eyes rounding when I stare up at Erick, not that I expect him to know the answer.
He shakes his head. “She must have gotten interrupted while she was writing it.”
Panic seizes my chest. “Interrupted?” I ask. “By who?”
Chapter 19
For a long moment, the question hangs in the air between us. He doesn’t need to say it. I already know. Whoever took my mom…that’s who interrupted her from finishing that letter to me.
I lock my gaze with his. “We have to find her.”
Erick shakes his head. “Your mom said you should go back, and I agree with her. We’re supposed to be in Aos Sí right now. It’s not safe here.”
“But what if whoever took her made her write that?” I ask. I head to the door, but he grabs my arm, turning me back to him.
“No one made her start to write a letter and then finish it. You’re just…scared. And that’s okay.” He pulls me into his chest and rubs the side of my arm. His heartbeat patters against my ear. “We do need to go back, though,” he says. “It’s dangerous, and someone already wants you kicked out of school. This could be the excuse they need to make it happen.”
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I pull away and wipe the tears from my cheeks. “I don’t care about the stupid school, Erick. I’m not leaving until I know what happened to my mom. You go back.”
“Not without you,” he says. His hand grips mine. His eyes are so intense. I know he means what he says. He won’t leave me.
“Fine,” I say. “I’ll go back.”
But only long enough to get him home. I don’t want him to stay here if he doesn’t want to, if he doesn’t think it’s safe. I don’t want him to get hurt. I’ll go back, then I’ll find a way to trap him in the Fae realm so he can’t come after me. If he thinks I’m just going to abandon my mom, he doesn’t know me at all.
“Really?” he asks, side-eying me. “You’ll go back?”
“Yep!”
I start to leave the room, but I pass by the dresser mirror and realize I’m still in my fancy dress. My hair is a rat’s nest, and I have no idea where my shoes are.
I take a few steps back. “But first I need to change. Get out.”
Erick crosses his arms. “Like hell. I’m not leaving you alone,” he says. “I’m not giving you a chance to sneak out a window or whatever.”
“Ugh, fine!” I grab him by the shoulders to face him away from me. “Don’t turn around.”
“Okay, I won’t,” he says, making eye contact with me in the dresser mirror. He chuckles, and I roll my eyes.
“Close your eyes,”
He does, letting out a laugh. “You silly, prudish humans,” he mutters playfully.
Just to be sure, I guide him across the room and make him put his nose in a corner. “Stay there,” I command. “No peeking, perv! I’ll know!”
He can’t stop laughing the whole time he’s standing there.
I grab a pair of jeans, a T-shirt, bra, socks, and practical cotton undies from my closet. I’d been wearing a satin thong under my dress just in case anything sexy happened with Caleb tonight. Plus, I didn’t want any panty lines showing. But they are uncomfortable, and who knows if I’ll end up having to do more running or something. I change quickly, not giving Erick a chance to sneak a peek. After I run a brush through my hair, I throw it into a ponytail. My makeup still looks surprisingly good, not that I care.
“Let’s go,” I tell him.
We head downstairs, and I grab a pair of sneakers by the door, but just as we’re about to leave, I realize I should leave a note for mom. Let her know I was here, that I haven’t abandoned her, in case she finds her way back.
“One second,” I say to Erick, and he watches me as I run back up to my room and take the note that she started to write to me.
I was here. I’m coming for you.
I place it back in the book, but leave a little corner sticking out so she will see it if she comes back.
Erick’s in the hallway, leaning his head in through the doorway with his hands planted on either side of the doorframe.
“Sorry,” he says. “Had to keep an eye on you.”
“Whatever,” I say as I push past him. “Let’s just go.”
As we head back to the faerie door, so many unspoken things hang between us in the brisk morning air. The way Erick’s shoulder’s slump and how quiet he’s being show he’s thinking and feeling those things, too.
That kiss that never should have happened.
Me accusing him of being a murderer.
I’m not sure any part of me will survive this year. Not my relationship with Caleb, not my friendship with Erick or anyone else, and maybe not even my mom, not if I don’t get Erick back to Fae and my own ass back to the human realm in time.
One of us needs to break the awkward silence, and it might as well be me since I’m at the center of all of these problems.
“So,” I say while we continue down our path. “How did you escape? I told Caleb you were a murderer.”
Erick shakes his head, his eyes focused straight ahead as we walk. “No one believed you,” he says. He tucks his hands into his pockets. “You just sort of freaked out. I saw Ella go after you, so I followed her. She told me about your mom.”
I pause just outside the faerie door. “I hope Ella’s okay.”
Erick nods. “I’m sure she’s fine,” he says, waving his hand in front of the door.
Nothing happens.
He waves his hand again, his grin turning nervous. Again, it doesn’t open.
I step past him to run my own hand in front of the door. Still nothing.
“Shit,” I mutter. “Ella must be gone.”
Erick scratches the back of his head, then gives a meek shrug of his shoulders. “Maybe she fell asleep? You know how those circadian rhythms can be.”
“But what if it’s something worse? Does that mean we’re trapped here forever?”
Erick gives my shoulder a gentle squeeze. “Imogen Flareburn, you are the most dramatic girl I’ve ever met.”
I shrug out of his grasp. “I’m serious, Erick! What do we do?”
He starts heading back to the beach. “Come on,” he says. “There’s another door this way. One that’s more like a portal.”
“A portal?” I ask, stepping over the uneven terrain to keep up.
“A two-way door that’s always activated,” he says. “It’s just not common knowledge because we don’t want people just wandering in and out from one realm to the other.”
“Then how do you know about it?” I ask.
He gives me a wink. “Hey, I’m allowed to keep some secrets, right?”
“I think keeping secrets is what’s getting us into a whole lot of trouble,” I mumble, but I don’t press him further…for now. If I make him tell me, he might insist I tell him one of my secrets, and I’m not quite ready for that yet.
Besides, I’m not sure this is what I want to play my secrets card on. I still want to know why he was with Ms. Crowsfly before she died. Unless that vision was a lie, too.
When I look up, I realize Erick has stopped walking. We are at the road near the house, and Erick is just looking right and left, confused.
“What’s the problem?” I ask.
“Um…I don’t really know where it is,” he says. My hand shoots to my forehead. “I mean, I know where it is, but I don’t know how to get there. I’m not very familiar with the geography around here.”
I take a deep breath, trying to keep my cool. I mean, I don’t really know anything about the geography of Aos Sí either, so I can’t really blame him.
“What’s the place called?” I ask.
“It’s in a park near a town called Briar Hills.”
I’ve never heard of it, and it’s surprising a portal would be in such a public place as a park, but I’ve given up on trying to come up with a logical explanation for many of the things the Fae do.
We go back to the house, and I pull out my laptop. Thankfully, it has a full charge and boots up quickly. As soon as I turn it on, I get a dozen message pings. Even though I told Cassie and my other online friends I would be gone for a few months, they still message me stuff so I’ll see it when I get back.
Their messages will have to wait, though. Now’s not the time. I need to get Erick back to Aos Sí and get myself back here without him. The longer I have to wait to look for my mom, the more I fear for the worst.
I open a map app and search for Briar Hills. It’s not far away—only about thirty miles up in the mountains. Images that pop up of the place are picture perfect. Green valleys, blue lakes, and happy, smiling families. My heart aches a little for the simple normalcy I’ve never had that a part of me still wants.
“What’s wrong?” Erick asks. I realize I must have been lingering over the pictures.
“Oh, nothing,” I quickly say. I jot down the directions on a notepad since I don’t have my phone with me. After closing the laptop, I go to the key rack and grab the spare keys to Mom’s car. “Let’s hope that whoever took my mom didn’t take her car, too.”
The car is still in the garage. I’m not sure if I should be happy about this or more upset. If
the car had been gone, I could tell myself that maybe she escaped. Maybe she wasn’t really missing but had just gone for a drive. After all, she didn’t expect me to be back for a few more months, and I don’t really know how she spends her time while I’m gone.
But then I remember the note. She was definitely taken. She’s most certainly in danger. I need to get back to Aos Sí, kick Erick out, and then come back and find her.
I’m coming, Mom.
We jump into the car and take off down the road. I drive slowly. It’s been a while since I’ve been behind the wheel. We don’t have cars in Fae, and when I’m here, Mom usually drives.
“Watch it,” Erick cries. He winces and flinches whenever I get too close to the curb or the middle of the road while I get my bearings.
“Chill out, man,” I say. “I’m a safe driver. This is just a little harder than it looks. Can you drive?”
“Of course I can’t,” he says. “I’ve never needed to. I’ve barely even ridden in a car. They are so dangerous and bad for the environment.”
“Hey, this is a hybrid,” I say as I turn on the radio, slide my hands to a more comfortable position, and speed up. “Don’t worry. We will be there in probably an hour. It’s only about thirty miles away, but it’s in the mountains, so the road will be a little twisty.”
Erick sighs and settles down into his seat, but he grips the door handle tightly. His anxiety makes me nervous as I try to drive, so I try to distract him a little with some conversation.
“So, how is your sister?” I ask, not taking my eyes off the road.
“She’s fine,” he says. “I haven’t seen her as much lately since things have been crazy at Callador, but she’s good.”
“I’m glad.” I focus on the road as I take the next turn. “I’m really sorry to hear about your brother. I know I said it before, but I was a bit distracted.”
When I glance at Erick, he’s staring out the passenger window. “It’s no problem,” he says. “I don’t know why I brought it up. It was a long time ago.”
I return my attention to the road. As I get more comfortable, I rest my arm on the armrest between the front seats and navigate with one hand on the wheel. “Well, if you ever want to talk, I’m here.”