Faery Worlds - Six Complete Novels

by Tara Maya, Elle Casey, J L Bryan, Anthea Sharp, Jenna Elizabeth Johnson, Alexia Purdy (epub)

  "But?"

  "Nothing. I just wasn't sure so I picked the 'I don't know' answer."

  "I think there is something you are not telling us," said Céline, no expression on her face.

  I was starting to get uncomfortable about having my hands in hers. Mine were sweating, and she was being so serious, it made me nervous.

  "It's nothing, really."

  "Let's try this," said Céline, looking me straight in the eye.

  I couldn't help but stare back. Her look wasn't exactly a challenge, but I felt like I needed to let her know I didn't intimidate easily.

  "Close your eyes. Think about the weather outside. What do you see, feel, or smell?"

  I closed my eyes as instructed, but asked, "Smell?" Her question was weird, but it reminded me that I had detected a funny odor when looking at that weather question on the test.

  "Yes ... do you smell something?"

  "Yes, I do, actually; but I can't put my finger on it, exactly. I know I've smelled it before."

  "Does it smell like rain?"

  "No, definitely not rain."

  "Sunshine?"

  That was funny. Sunshine didn't smell like anything. I laughed.

  "What about snow?"

  I started to smile at that one too, but hesitated. Snow ... did it smell like snow? I inhaled again deeply. That's it! Snow! I'd smelled it once when we were in North Carolina. We had taken an RV trip up into the mountains, and when we got near the top of one of the higher peaks, near the border of Tennessee, it had started to snow. I could smell it in the air, and it was amazing.

  As crazy as it sounded, I answered her question truthfully. "Yes, I smell snow. I'm not sure where it's coming from, but when I was in the mountains once, when it snowed, this is what it smelled like."

  Céline squeezed my hands and then let them go. "I'm done here."

  I couldn't tell from her dismissal if I'd answered correctly or confirmed for them that I was a complete moron.

  "I have one more question for you," said Mr. Dardennes.

  "Alright."

  "When the test asked you what superhero you wanted to be ... " He hesitated, as if he weren't sure where to go from here.

  "Yes ... ?" It was getting a little uncomfortable, him sitting there saying nothing now, and both of them just staring at me. Am I supposed to say something? ... What?

  "Your answer was a bit ... unconventional," he finally said.

  I shrugged my shoulders. "That's me ... unconventional, I mean."

  "Was there any particular reason you chose that ... person?"

  "No. I guess it was the one thing I felt like I could identify with the most."

  Both Céline and Mr. Dardennes had the same expression on their faces. Confusion? Contemplation? I wasn't sure what it was exactly.

  Céline apparently wasn't done anymore. "In what way?"

  "In what way do I identify with her, you mean?"

  "Yes."

  "I don't know ... she's just the most awesomely powerful I guess." I shrugged my shoulders. "It wasn't the easiest question to answer, you know. I'm not a big comics fan and most superheroes are very limited to just one thing. And they wear stupid outfits. I guess I like her because she doesn't have those limits."

  "Interesting." Céline and Mr. Dardennes exchanged a silent look. I wouldn't have been surprised to find out they were telepathic. Something about the way they looked and the way they acted seemed very foreign. They were probably French. They both had the same accent.

  Mr. Dardennes stood, followed by Céline. "Thank you, Jayne, for your frank answers and cooperation. Could you please go back to the room and tell Samantha that it's her turn?"

  I stood to go out. "When will we find out if we're accepted?"

  Mr. Dardennes walked me to the door. "We will post a list at the front desk of the hotel tonight by eight o'clock. The candidates will be expected to be at the hotel tomorrow by eight a.m. to take a shuttle to the airport." He stopped in the doorway, and I stepped out into the hall. "And Jayne, please keep the content of this interview confidential. We don't want your answers or advance notice of our questions to taint the other candidates' responses."

  "Okay, I won't. See you later, I guess ... thanks."

  I went back to the meeting room and told Samantha it was her turn. Spike flashed me a smile as I walked by to sit with Tony, making me feel all warm inside. It was ridiculous how he could affect me like that. I shook it off. I couldn't be all lovesick when I needed to focus on getting through this physical test, or whatever it was. I was never the best rope climber in gym class ... or the best monkeybar climber ... or the best runner. The list went on and on.

  "What'd they ask you?" Tony whispered, his eyes darting around to the others. He was about as sneaky as an elephant in a china shop.

  "Wait your turn, nosey parker. You'll find out soon enough. I'm not going to blow this five hundred bucks by telling you, if I haven't already with my stupid answers."

  Tony immediately dropped the subject, and we speculated about the study itself instead. Samantha came back a few minutes later and then Spike went in. Eventually, Tony had his turn and everyone else got theirs too, so Mr. Dardennes joined us back in the meeting room. It was almost four o'clock.

  "Thank you all for coming. We will post a list of the accepted candidates at the front desk of the hotel. It will be available by eight o'clock tonight. If your name appears on the list, you will need to be at the front of the hotel at eight in the morning, tomorrow. A shuttle will be waiting to take you to the Miami Executive Airport. If your name is not on the list, there will be an envelope at the front desk for you with fifty dollars inside, as a thank you for your time today. It was nice meeting all of you, and for those of you who are accepted, I will see you tomorrow."

  He left the room as we digested his speech.

  "Well, that was interesting," said Becky, coming over to stand by our table, along with the others of Jared's crew.

  "Are we allowed to talk 'bout the interviews now?" asked Finn.

  "Not now, let's get outta here first," said Jared. He seemed uncomfortable. He looked over at Tony and me. "You guys are welcome to join us."

  I looked at Tony and he shrugged, nodding his head. We didn't have anything else to do - might as well go and talk to them about what happened in their interviews. I was curious to see which superheroes they had chosen. I was pretty sure I had answered that one wrong.

  We left the meeting room and went towards the front of the hotel, Jared leading the way. He came to a complete stop as he rounded the corner that was just before the glass exterior doors. Samantha was following so close on his heels that she ended up bumping into him. Chase was right behind them, but jumped to the side, missing the pile-up. Tony and I hadn't reached the corner yet, but we couldn't miss the surprise in the voices of those who were there.

  "What the hell?" said Jared, obviously surprised about something.

  "Is that ... ?" said Samantha, unable to get the rest of her sentence out.

  "Wow, I never would have guessed that in a million years!" said Becky, obviously delighted.

  Chase just shook his head, saying nothing.

  "What? What's up?" said Spike, walking up from the back of our group with Finn. "What's the big deal?"

  "Come see for yourself," said Jared, with a deliberately neutral tone.

  We all walked around the group at the corner so we could see the front doors too. None of us were expecting to see what was there.

  Snow. Snow all over the sidewalks and the bushes ... even in the palm trees.

  Chapter Eight

  I felt the blood rushing to my face. My heart was pounding so hard I could feel the pulsing in my neck. How was this even possible? How could it be snowing in Spring in Miami, Florida? How could it be snowing in Miami at all, for that matter?

  "Anyone mark '(c), snowing' on their test?" asked Jared, looking around.

  Everyone but me was shaking their heads. I looked down at the floor, freaking o
ut about the interview, remembering how they were pushing me to answer that weather question with the truth instead of copping out and choosing '(d), I don't know'.

  Tony looked at me, nudging me with his elbow. He was probably using that freaky mind-meld thing on me again. I nudged him back, not anxious to have all their eyes on me right now.

  I looked up and saw Jared staring at me. He didn't say anything, though; he just turned and went to the front desk, returning in less than a minute to fill us in. "Apparently, some weird-ass storm just went through here, dropping a butt-load of hale and snow all over the city. As you can see, it's mostly gone now. Temperature is going back up. The snow will be gone in less than an hour, probably. It caused a huge accident on I-95." Jared turned, walking towards the doors again. "Come on, let's go."

  We followed him out in twos, walking several blocks back to the warehouse district. The snow was melting, making it look as if a big rainstorm had just hit. Jared took a more roudabout route than I would have taken, but he probably had his reasons. Maybe he was worried about the drug dealer pimp guys seeing us and following. I couldn't figure out why they'd be interested in us, though; we certainly didn't look like we had any money. Beating us up would be a waste of energy, but then again, maybe money wasn't their inspiration.

  Once back at the warehouse, we discussed our various interviews and test answers. When they asked me which superhero I picked, I lied and said Wonderwoman. Everyone else had picked a comic book hero, so I felt kinda stupid about the one I chose. That must be why Mr. Dardennes and Céline asked me about it. No one else was asked about the superhero question, but all of them were asked about the weather. No one but me picked snow. I also didn't cop to that at first either, but Jared singled me out, right in front of everyone.

  "Jayne, you didn't pick answer 'd', did you?"

  I shrugged. What did it matter which one I chose?

  "Which one did you pick?"

  I sighed. He wasn't going to let it drop. "I picked 'snowing', okay? I don't see what the big deal is."

  Everyone stopped chatting to stare at me. Even Tony.

  "You picked snowing?" asked Samantha, angrily. "How could you possibly have known it was snowing? Did you sneak out and see before the interview?" She looked around at everyone. "Did you guys see her go out?"

  That bitch was really pissing me off. Why would my choice on the test make her mad? What was her problem anyway? I stood up, not knowing exactly what I was going to do, but I wasn't going to take her shit sitting down.

  "Ease up, Sam," said Jared. To me he said, "Seriously, though ... I'm curious. I know you didn't leave the room or cheat. Why did you pick snow?"

  Everyone was waiting quietly for my answer. No one else seemed mad about it, so I felt a little better. I decided to just tell them the truth. It really wasn't a big deal.

  "I don't know. I guess I kind of smelled it or something."

  "Pfft. She smelled it. Right." Samantha stalked off, yanking the door open and storming outside.

  Spike nodded his head, a look of respect on his face. "She's in tune with the environment. Cool."

  Becky laughed. "You're funny, Spike."

  "No, I'm serious; don't you guys get it?" He looked around the room, checking each of our faces. All he got were blank looks in return. Chase looked a little pensive, but the rest of us? Lost.

  "All the questions they asked, all the things they said in the interviews ... seems to me they were trying to figure out, like, whether we had any special psychic powers or whatever. I'm thinkin' this thing is more like a psychology test. Like X-Men, but minus the finger knives and freeze rays."

  "I agree," said Chase, the man of very few words.

  "So, what's your power then, Spike?" asked Finn, laughing at him.

  "I dunno ... probably something really good, though." He smiled back.

  As far as I was concerned, his superpower was that heart-stopping smile. I looked at Tony. "What do you think, Tones?"

  He shrugged. "I don't know, I guess he could be right. Maybe they're one of those companies that tries to see if telepathy and stuff like that is real."

  "Yeah, but why would they need to do a physical fitness test?" asked Finn.

  He was right; that didn't really fit the hypothesis.

  "Duh, to see if you can, you know, do psychic things out in the environment." Spike was obviously proud of himself, flashing his Spike smile at everyone.

  I felt a little bit of my heart melt. Man, I had it bad for that smile. I wondered if his personality was worth getting to know, or if I should just content myself with admiring his smile and fantasizing about what he was really like. So often the reality didn't live up to my fantasies. It was too depressing to even think about right now.

  "Maybe they're going to use the stress of physical activity to heighten our senses," suggested Jared.

  Everyone thought about that for a second. It sounded a little spooky, actually. I was more excited about the prospect of climbing a rope ladder and crawling under barbed wire or something like that.

  "Maybe it'll just be a team building activity, an obstacle course thing," I said. A girl can dream.

  "You know, Jayne, you bring up a good point. What if this is an obstacle course or group exercise of sorts? Usually the successful groups learn quickly to work together as a team." Jared looked over at Becky. "Becky, will you go get Sam and bring her in here? We need to talk strategy."

  Sam and Becky returned, and we all sat down on the couch, chairs, and surrounding floor. At this point, Tony and I had thrown our lot in with the others. We were still free agents; but assuming we would be going through some sort of strategic fitness test, it made sense to work together.

  Tony asked the obvious question I probably should have thought of but hadn't. "What if some of us aren't invited back?"

  "We'll just work on the assumption that we will, and go from there," said Jared.

  "What if working together causes us to not be able to complete the test?" I asked. It wasn't that I was against teamwork, but if it were them or Tony and me, I would be Team Tony and Jayne all the way.

  "For now, we might as well assume it's not a competition against each other. That wouldn't be fair anyway. Chase would kick all our asses."

  Everyone looked at Chase. He just shrugged his shoulders, looking away. He was pretty big with those broad shoulders and thick arms - the strong, silent type. I wondered what was going on inside that big head of his. He didn't say much, but when he did, it was obvious he had been thinking pretty hard about it. He was a mystery. I wondered how he'd done during the interview. It was hard to be a silent interviewee. Maybe he wouldn't be called back because he refused to speak.

  ***

  We spent the next few hours going over strategy and listening to Spike play the guitar and sing. I've been told I have a pretty good voice, so I joined in with the others, singing the words to songs I knew. After listening to Spike do his thing, I couldn't figure out why he wasn't a rock star standing on a stage in an arena somewhere. He was really talented and sexy as hell, plus he was super nice. But he looked dangerous ... perfect rock star material. Another mystery about Jared's crew. It was like everyone here had a secret. Even Tony and I.

  We all had extra sandwiches from our lunch meeting, so we had a dinner of subs and chips. The warm sodas went quickly, so Tony busted out his cache of juice boxes and shared with everyone, using up the last of them.

  "Hopefully, we'll each have five hundred dollars in a few days and I can buy some more," he said.

  I laughed because the last thing I'd buy if I had five hundred bucks right now would be a juice box.

  It was nearly eight o'clock, so we left the warehouse to walk back to the hotel. Instead of all of us going in and rushing the reception desk, Jared and I went in, leaving everyone else outside. Sam seemed a little pissed about being left behind, but I wasn't too worried about it. She gave Tony something to stare at while I was gone.

  Jared asked for the list and they handed
it over to him. He put it in front of us so we could read the names. It was just first names, alphabetically. He read them quietly, under his breath. "Becky, Chase, Finn, Jared, Jayne, Spike, Tony ... shit. Sam's not on here. She's gonna be pissed."

  "Neither are those other older people either."

  He ran his hands through his hair. "I don't feel right about leaving her behind."

  "What are you going to do? Not go? It's only for a few days, she'll be fine. I'm sure she wouldn't be mad at you - she knows it's a lot of money. Plus, that means she has fifty bucks here, so it's not like she didn't get anything at all out of the deal."

  "I don't know. I'll have to talk to her."

  He walked back outside, list in hand. I followed him a few paces back. I didn't want my face to be the first thing Samantha saw when we came out. I tried not to look as happy as I felt. She'd probably take it personally.

  Everyone gathered around. Jared waited for me to catch up and handed me the list so I could share it with everyone. He walked over to Samantha, taking her by the arm and pulling her away from the others.

  "So, who's on it?"

  I held it out for them to see. "All of us but Samantha."

  "Oh, bummer!" said Becky.

  It was the first time I'd seen a frown on her face.

  Spike looked over at Jared and then at me. "What's Jared saying to her?"

  I shrugged. "I don't know. Probably trying to figure out if he's going to go without her or not."

  We walked slowly back to the warehouse. Jared and Samantha went back into the hotel briefly and then came out, trailing a half-block behind us. I couldn't hear or see her reaction, but I knew it wasn't going to be good.

  We arrived at the metal door leading to our temporary home, and everyone but Jared and Samantha went inside. Tony and I decided to go to bed early. I fell asleep before Jared came back in, wondering if he was coming with us, and where this mystery test would be held.

  Chapter Nine

  Tony and I arrived at the hotel five minutes before eight. We didn't stick around the warehouse to see Samantha's goodbye. We figured it would be like rubbing salt in the wound for her, and as much as she'd been a bitch to me, neither Tony nor I wanted to make her more upset.