by M. Leighton
There was no one there.
Squinting, I leaned out into the hallway and looked left and right. The two Sentinels from the night before were standing near the dormitory doors like the guardians they were. They both looked at me expectantly.
“Did you need something, Princess?”
“Did one of you just knock on my door?”
Both shook their heads negatively.
“Did you see who did?”
“No one has been near your door, Princess.”
I frowned. “Don’t call me Princess,” I snapped, backing into my room and slamming the door shut.
You really need to get a grip, Madly. You’ll be known as the diva of the Mer world if you’re not careful.
I rolled my eyes at my inner, emotionally detached self. I wish I could get her to show up more often. As it was, the only purpose she served was to annoy me. She’d never really been helpful. She never showed up when I could actually benefit from some detachment. She seemed content to let me flounder, let me wallow in my angst all alone, with no help whatsoever.
As I turned to go back to bed, something crumpled under my bare foot. There was a piece of folded paper in the floor in front of the door. How I’d missed it, I had no clue. With a groan, I bent to retrieve it.
Dearest Princess,
If you seek me out, his love is not the only thing I will take from you. Nothing you value is beyond my reach—not the lives of Sentinel Hamilton, your parents, your sister, your people. You have much yet to lose. And remember, I do not work alone.
Yours,
H
My heart dropped to somewhere in the vicinity of my toes. My first thought wasn’t a thought at all. It was devastation. Pure, soul-rending devastation that I’d been correct. Jackson’s love was no longer mine. It no longer lived inside me, a gift from its owner. It had been stolen from me. Surgically removed by…something, someone.
Struggling to retain my grasp on coherent thought, I wondered. How does something like this happen? How can you steal love from someone?
An acrid taste tainted my mouth, as if the memory of the events had a physical bitterness. The soda! My mouth had burned when I’d sipped it. That was one of the last things I remember before falling to the floor. Jackson had taken at least one sip as well, collapsing just as I had. Jersey had been finishing a two-liter we’d already bought. She didn’t partake from the same bottle we did. So what had been in the Mountain Dew Jackson and I had sipped? How did it get in there? Who was the descendant of Hyde?
I racked my brain for details, digging, searching, focusing on putting the pieces together. A face appeared behind my eyes, a face I’d seen last night, one I’d thought looked familiar. It was that face that brought several enigmatic pieces together to form one cohesive picture.
I knew the identity of Hyde. At least I thought I did. I was pretty sure I did. It was too much to be merely coincidence.
Thinking back, I remembered coming across a suspicious person while searching for Kellina’s antagonist. Dustin Hyden was his name. He was a nerdy boy with an aptitude for the sciences, one who’d had a crush on Kellina. He’d showered her with fancy gifts and I’d seen him watching her from afar at the beach party.
It was Dustin who had delivered our pizza the night before. He certainly had opportunity, but what had he slipped us? Was it possible that one of history’s most incredible scientific minds had coupled with one of the world’s oldest, most evil magical predators and developed some sort of potion? A potion capable of incapacitating me and stealing from me the thing I treasured most?
What had it done to Jackson while he was out? Had it stolen my love from him? I didn’t feel any less loving toward him. It was obvious, however, that Jackson felt much differently toward me. Was it possible to retrieve that which was stolen? And if so, how?
A dull throb radiated from behind my eyes into the center of my head, hammering the interior of my skull. I knew I needed more sleep, but doubted I’d be able to get more. I had too much on my mind. And on my heart. Besides, there was work to be done, work that had become even more personal.
Moving quietly toward the closet, I decided school was the best place for me. It appeared the descendant was there and it would keep my mind busy, which was important considering all the troubling things that plagued it.
I had no idea where Jackson was, what he was doing, who he was with or whether I’d be seeing him, but I took special care with my appearance anyway. At least it would make me feel better to look my best if I ran into him. Besides, at some point I needed to get him alone so we could talk. I needed to be ready to jump on the first chance that came my way.
Donning my uniform, I brushed my hair out until it shone like platinum. I coated my already-thick lashes with dark brown mascara and put tinted gloss on my lips. I pinched my cheeks for color, hoping I would look a little more lively as the morning wore on.
Grabbing my bag, I left Jersey sleeping peacefully as I quietly exited our room. I expected to see Sentinels Clary and Gere holding their posts near the main door. What I didn’t expect to see was Jackson, lounging against the wall beside Nadia Cobretti. There was no mistaking her curvaceous backside and long fiery red hair.
Didn’t take him long to fall back into his old ways, I thought as I remembered finding Nadia in his room once before. She’d never tried to hide that she had a thing for him. And, really, what guy with a heartbeat wouldn’t be thrilled with the attentions of an exotic beauty such as Nadia?
I felt numb as I made my way toward them. I was trying not to wear my emotions on my sleeve.
I couldn’t help but watch Jackson as I approached. He was facing me, but Nadia stood between us, so he could’ve been watching her. I couldn’t tell. He was wearing his aviator glasses again.
He laughed at something she said, reaching forward to take a piece of her hair between his fingers and tug playfully. Flirtatiously. I paused in my stride. My chest burned so badly, I was certain my heart was nothing more than a small pile of ashes behind my ribs.
It’s not really the way Jackson feels, Madly. Someone did this to him. This is a result of sabotage. He didn’t choose this. You just have to find a way to put things back to rights.
If my inner rational person had possessed a physical body, I would’ve hugged her. She wasn’t normally encouraging. But today, just when I needed her most, she finally came through with something useful. And true.
Plastering a cool smile on my face, I nodded at my two new Sentinels, simply said, “Coming?” and kept right on walking. I jacked my chin up a notch and didn’t even glance in Jackson’s direction. I thought I could feel his eyes on me, but I’d never know for sure. And I could’ve sworn he was frowning.
********
I’d missed a large portion of my morning classes. My arrival time was just after third period had begun. Fortunately, that meant I had the halls to myself. Unfortunately, that meant I had plenty of time and solitude to boil about Jackson and Nadia.
So she gets to skip class to flirt with Jackson? What’s up with that? He gives me grief for missing class to catch a dangerous spirit, but noooooo! Nadia gets a free pass. But why? Because her skirt’s two inches shorter than regulation?
I fumed bitterly all the way to Calculus. I was so deeply embroiled in my own internal musings I nearly ran Dustin Hyden right over. He was coming out of the chemistry lab, carrying a box of graduated cylinders.
I stopped in my tracks and stared. Rudely. Dustin stopped as well, a frown visible behind the thick black rims of his glasses.
“Uh, sorry,” he mumbled, giving me a small, shy smile before casting his eyes to the ground.
Should I say something? Should I confront him? Should I try to capture him by myself?
I looked to my bracelet, the dark pearl that had magically appeared there at some point. It gave away nothing, other than its now-familiar eerie ebony glow.
No, I couldn’t risk it. What if the threat was real? What if they’d already found a way
to get the Jackal a body and capturing Hyde would only further endanger my loved ones? What if I couldn’t do it without Jackson’s help? What if…what if he wasn’t even Hyde?
As I studied Dustin—his demeanor, his physical appearance, the look in his nondescript eyes—I wondered. What if I’d been wrong? What if he wasn’t Hyde at all? What would happen if I wrongly accused and imprisoned a soul?
Doubts assailed me, worsened by my lack of sleep and upset over Jackson. I felt discombobulated and uncertain of…everything.
Returning his small smile, I moved past Dustin and made my way two doors down to my classroom. As I twisted the knob, I looked back at Dustin.
He was watching me, but as my eyes met his, he looked quickly away and scrambled off down the hall. Now, what to make of that…
I spent the remainder of Calculus thinking. Pining. Mourning. And then thinking again. There were too many questions, too many unverified suspicions. I needed Jackson, needed his calm, rational thought. I needed his confidence, his wisdom. I needed his strength and support. I just…needed. Jackson.
By lunch, I was feeling more morose than ever. I was so pleased to see a familiar face in Aidan, I could’ve hugged him. So I did.
He was already in line picking out a tray full of goodies. He smiled, a sight that felt so much like home and “normal” I felt tears sting my eyes. I walked straight to him, cutting line something fierce, and wrapped my arms around his waist.
Aidan looped his arm around my shoulders, chuckling in surprise.
“Not that I’m not a fan of PDA, but what’s this all about? I thought your heart belonged to another and all that?”
I looked up into the hazel green eyes I’d seen on and off my whole life, the teasing light in them like a balm to my chaffed soul.
“Yeah well, that’s not working out so well for me,” I confessed spontaneously. I hadn’t planned on telling anyone anything about Jackson and me, but it was out before I could stop it. Not that it was such a bad thing. Aidan was one of my very best friends, even more so now that we’d better-defined our relationship. And of course, there was all that we’d been through together that lay between us. Events like the ones we’d seen and survived had a tendency to create some pretty strong bonds.
Grabbing his tray, Aidan stepped out of line. “Come on. Come bend my ear,” he said, dragging me with him to the cashier.
“Finish getting your lunch,” I said, feeling guilty for dumping on him.
“I’m good,” he assured.
After he’d paid, we made our way to a private spot and sat in a patch of sun-drenched grass.
“All right, spill,” Aidan said, taking a bite of a foot long sub he’d chosen.
As he chewed, he held out his sandwich to me, raising his eyebrows. I shook my head. “No, thanks. I’m not very hungry.”
With a shrug, Aidan continued eating and I did as he asked. I spilled. Or poured. Gushed. Flowed. Whatever it was called, I opened up the dam and I let it all out.
When I’d finished regurgitating all the emotional poison of the previous forty-eight hours, Aidan was staring at me. His mouth was pulled to one side and he shook his head slowly, back and forth.
“Girls and their drama,” was his only response.
My jaw went slack and I saw red.
“Are you kidding me? That’s all you have to say?”
“What?” he asked. He actually had the nerve to look confused. “It’s true. And it’s not just you. I’m not saying that at all. I mean, seriously, look at my girlfriend. Dude, she’s a frickin’ werewolf.”
“Like she can help it! Like either of us can help all this!”
“I’m not saying that either. I’m just saying you’re so dramatic about it. You just need to calm down and think—”
“Calm down? Calm down?”
I was livid. How dare he? I actually looked at his tray for something to throw at him. Something steaming hot would’ve been perfect, but something messy would’ve worked, too. Unfortunately, he’d already cleaned his tray but for the apple in his hand.
“Madly James! Are you looking for a weapon?”
Just as he said that, my eyes lit on his utensils. I thought of jamming his fork into his hand just to hear him howl. I lost myself in the fantasy for a few seconds before my inner rational person came to the rescue.
Good grief, Madly! Have you lost your mind? Can’t you see that this is what he means? You’re thinking like a crazy person!
Balls! She was right. And so was Aidan. Being dramatic and overly emotional was getting me nowhere. Logic and calm, cool, collected thought would win the day. I should’ve learned that long ago. My father had been drumming it into my head practically since birth. In essence, he’d always taught me that being royal meant taking the emotion out of things and doing what was right and what was best. Duty. If I kept that as my focus, it would never fail to guide me in the right direction.
Something inside me wanted to argue. Someone inside me. She was the heart of who I was as a person. She was also a new wife and a new mate. She wanted to know where love fit into the equation. I wanted desperately to hear what she had to say.
But then, as she had a habit of doing at the most inopportune times, my inner rational person arrived and quickly bound and gagged that girl then smiled innocently back at me.
Balls!
All this took place in the blink of an eye. Meanwhile, Aidan was staring at me, half surprised, half amused, awaiting my response.
“No,” I denied on a sigh. “You’re right. I need to cut the drama and just think.”
Smug, Aidan took a big bite of his crunchy apple. He looked down at it and grimaced. “Ick. Now all I can think about is rotten apples. Or rotten apple pie. Hand-picked for the perfect evil recipe,” he grumbled, referring to my dream.
As I watched him chew, something occurred to me. I sat up a little straighter.
Click. Clack. Clickity clack. Puzzle pieces began to fall into place. My dream had been the first step in working out part of what the Seers had given me and Aidan was the next.
“Rumpel’s picking Lore,” I whispered.
“What was that?” Aidan asked around his mouthful of fruit.
“Rumpel is picking certain Lore for a reason. He has a plan and he needed each of the ones he chose to pull it off.”
“Um, and how do you know this?”
“The Seers. They’re helping me to work it all out.”
“Seers?”
I nodded. He grimaced.
“So what’s his end game then?”
I frowned. “That I don’t know. Not yet anyway.”
“And how are you supposed to find out?”
I shrugged. “I guess it’ll come to me soon enough. I hope so anyway.”
“And in the meantime?”
For a moment, chaos ensued in my mind. A thousand things clamored about. Rumpel, Leviathan, Hyde, the Jackal, Jackson’s love, Jackson’s life, my family, my race, my home, the traitor. There was so much going on and so much at stake. All of it wrenched my heart, my very soul.
But then, bowing to the instruction of my father and the guidance of my rational self, I closed my eyes and took a deep, cleansing, centering breath. And I used my head. Not my heart.
“In the meantime, I focus on beating Hyde at his own game, on capturing him and the Jackal and sending them back to Atlas.”
Aidan looked a bit uncomfortable. “I hate to tell you this, dude, but you really need Jackson for all this.”
I knew he was right. But that didn’t mean I wanted to hear it. “I know,” I snapped. “But there are things I can work on by myself, things I can get in order before I really need his help.”
He snorted. “Like what?”
“Well, I need to visit Kellina. I need to see how she fits into all this, what she knows.” Aidan frowned and I could almost see his hackles rising protectively. “Don’t worry, Merewolf. I’m only going to talk to her.”
He relaxed, albeit only a tiny bit. “Mere
wolf?”
“Eh, Jersey was picking out names for you. I liked it better than Wolfmer.”
Just the thought of where Jersey’s train of thought went after that made me smile. I missed my friend.
“I won’t even ask,” Aidan said, rolling his eyes. He knew how Jersey’s mind worked, too.
“How ‘bout I go pick up Jersey after school and we meet you at Kellina’s?”
He sighed. “All right, but take it easy on her. She’s been through a lot.”
“I know, wolf boy. Give it a rest. She’s my friend, too, you know.”
“You two are never going to let this werewolf thing go, are you?”
I snorted. “Of course not. That would be a travesty.”
********
My mood improved considerably after my lunch with Aidan. He’d always had a fairly positive effect on me. I’d once thought it was because we were destined to be mates. Now I could see that we were just destined to be friends.
I had almost dug my way out of my funk by the time I arrived back at my dorm. The single red rose that lay in front of my door didn’t even set me back. I was puzzled, yes, but I gave it no more thought than that. In fact, it just then occurred to me that the flowers might not even be for me; they might be intended for Jersey.
Careful not to make a sound, I unlocked our door and opened it just a crack. The curtains were parted, spilling light onto the floor and Jersey was sitting cross-legged on her bed with a book spread across her lap. She looked up and smiled.
“You are so gonna love me,” she said, smiling widely. Her statement was punctuated by a bling bling. In her hand, she held the bike bell she’d found on the beach a few days prior. I was so happy to see her smile, to hear her enthusiasm, I couldn’t bring myself to be irritated by the sound.
Jersey hid the hand holding the bell behind her back. I looked up at her face. She was eyeing me suspiciously. “Stop it!” she commanded.