“I met her the other day,” I said. I shuddered.
“Yeah. She’s the one who taught us how to use the Power when we were little. Taught us how to hide in plain sight, how to keep the Norms from knowing what we are.”
“So how many of you are there?”
He shrugged. “Here? Or all over the world?”
My eyes widened. “There are more of you in other places?”
He laughed. “Of course. Did you think we all just hung out in Fairy, Texas?”
“Well, somebody named the town ‘Fairy.’ I think maybe you can see how that might lead me to think that perhaps this was where you all lived.”
“That name,” he said. “It was somebody’s idea of a joke.”
“Okay. So. Power. Wings. Fairies in other places.” I looked at him out of the corner of my eye. “Or demons. Whatever.”
He winced. “I hate that term. It’s just so negative.”
“Oh. And ‘Fairy’ has so many positive associations. Especially for guys.”
He smiled ruefully. “I know. We can’t win.”
“But you have all the Power on your side.”
“Which brings us back to you.”
I leaned back until I felt the cool metal of the bleacher riser above me pressing against my shoulder blades. “So what can I do?” I asked. “How can I protect myself from the fairy-demons plotting to turn me into a human incubator?” I paused. “I’m sorry. Make that soulless human incubator.”
“The easiest thing to do would be to prove that you’re not the Yatah.”
“And how can we do that?”
“I don’t know. I need to get some more information. The only way I know to be sure is to prove that you have a soul.”
“Right. So all we have to do is run on down to the local hardware store and buy a good old-fashioned soul-o-meter. That’ll get rid of everyone.”
“You don’t have to be sarcastic,” Josh said in a mild tone.
“Well, how do you go about proving someone has a soul? I don’t even know if I believe that souls exist. But if they do, I’m pretty sure I’ve got one.”
“That’s part of what I need to get more information about.”
“Well, how were you and Mason supposed to prove that I was the Yatah?”
Josh stared at me and a dark blush crept up his neck, staining his cheeks and ending up at his hairline.
I squinched my eyes shut and shook my head. “Oh. No.”
“Yeah,” he said. “That’s pretty much the only way to find out.”
“So you were supposed to knock me up first, find out later?”
He winced again at my choice of words. “Essentially, yes.”
“So Mason’s going to be trying to . . .”
“Pretty much. But don’t worry,” he hastened to add. “You have to be . . . you know, on board. Willing.”
“So no date rape allowed? Well. I guess that’s a big plus in this whole mess.”
“But he’s going to be using everything he’s got to get you to agree.”
“Great,” I muttered. No way was I getting in his truck to go sell ads again.
At that moment, the final bell rang. Dammit. I needed to find Kayla to see if I could beg a ride home.
“I’ve got to go,” I said, gathering up my backpack and slinging it over my shoulder.
“I could give you a ride home,” Josh said hopefully.
I gave him a level look. “I think that would be a bad idea. I’m sorry, Josh. I know it took a lot for you to tell me all this, but I need time. And space. And to think about all of this.”
“I understand.”
Oh, I thought, I don’t think you do. Not really. After all, you’re a guy with bat wings attached to him in a parallel universe. We don’t even live in the same worlds. Literally.
* * * *
Kayla wasn’t pleased to see me walking down the hall toward her. “What do you want?” she asked.
“I kind of need a ride home,” I said.
She turned to the group of girls standing with her and rolled her eyes. “See what I mean?” she said. She looked at me again. “Can’t you go catch a ride with Josh Bevington?”
“I’d rather not,” I said quietly.
She heaved a huge sigh. “Fine. But don’t think it’s for you. I’m only doing this because Dad would be mad if he found out I told you no.”
“Thanks, Kayla.” I tried to sound sincere, but I don’t think it worked.
* * * *
This time when we got home, John was waiting for us in the house. I was surprised—usually he was out on the ranch at this time of day.
“Kayla,” he said, “could you give me a minute alone with Laney?” His voice was serious.
“I’ll be in the kitchen,” Kayla said, flouncing out of the living room.
“Have a seat, Laney,” John said.
“Okay.” I drew the word out.
“I got a call from the school today,” he said.
“Okay,” I repeated. Where was this going?
“Coach Laramie said that you skipped P.E. today.”
I blinked. “Oh. That. Yeah. I went to see Mr. Carlson about some yearbook stuff.”
John frowned. “Coach Laramie was concerned that you didn’t let her know where you were.”
I frowned, too. “I was in the yearbook room. With Mr. Carlson.” I stood up. “So if that’s all. . .”
“It’s not.” John shook his head. “I don’t know what it was like in Atlanta, Laney, but at Fairy High, you can’t just skip out on classes because you’d rather do something else.”
“Fine,” I said. Now I was irritated. What was this, anyway?
“I haven’t spoken to your mother yet,” John said.
“All right,” I said. “I’ll tell her what happened. It’ll be okay.”
“I’m not finished.”
I sat back down. “What else?”
“I think you need to know that there are consequences here, Laney. Your mother left you in my care. So until she gets back, you’re not allowed to go anywhere but to school and back.”
“What?” I shot back up out of my seat. “You’re grounding me? For going to see the yearbook teacher instead of the gym teacher? I didn’t even leave school property!” I protested.
“You’re grounded because you didn’t follow the rules,” John said.
“You have got to be kidding me!”
“Daddy?” Kayla leaned into the living room. “I wasn’t going to tell you this, but now I think maybe I should.” She blinked, her eyes wide and round and innocent. “I gave Laney a ride home from school today because she wasn’t out selling yearbook ads with Mason Collier like she was supposed to be. She spent all last period sitting in the bleachers with Josh Bevington.”
“Thank you for your honesty, Kayla.” John turned away from her to look at me. Behind his back, Kayla smirked at me.
“I’ll be in my room,” I growled.
John nodded. “I know you’re angry with me, Laney, but this is for your own good. You need a little more structure in your life.”
I fumed all the way to my room and managed not to slam the door, but only barely.
Tears of outrage sprang to my eyes. I couldn’t believe that John was actually grounding me. No way would Mom let him get away with it.
I was wrong about that, of course.
“Laney, honey,” she said on the phone later that night. “It’s John’s house. We’ll talk about it more when I get home, but until then, you have to follow his rules. Of course, I expect you to fulfill your yearbook grade requirements,” Mom added. “So you can go with that Mason boy to sell ads. But I expect you to be home every day by four-thirty.”
I could have screamed with frustration. The one good possibility in getting grounded was that I could have avoided spending time with Mason. But now Mom was mandating it.
And I couldn’t even tell her why it was a bad idea.
I handed the phone back to John, stomped to my room, a
nd flopped back on my bed.
I hated Fairy, Texas. Everything about it positively sucked.
Chapter Eight
Much to my surprise, I actually slept soundly that night. I guess I was just worn out. I halfway expected to have long involved dreams about boys with bat wings. But instead, I woke up refreshed and ready to face the day.
Until I remembered exactly what that day entailed.
Ugh. How was I going to get through an entire school year of this? The year had barely started and already I couldn’t wait for summer break.
“Morning, Grounded Girl,” Kayla sang out as she walked into the kitchen. I kept pouring my breakfast cereal and ignored her.
I also poured myself a cup of coffee and drank it with relish, despite John’s giving me a pained look when he came in and dropped a kiss on Kayla’s head. He hadn’t grounded me from coffee. Probably only because it hadn’t occurred to him, but still. Too late.
I was silent throughout the ride to school.
“So,” Kayla said as she pulled into a parking space on campus. “I guess you’ll be needing a ride back home this afternoon?”
“Actually, no,” I said. Ha! A chance to wipe that smug smile off her face. “I’ll be out selling ads until four-thirty. With Mason.” I emphasized his name. Never mind that I didn’t want to spend time with the guy involved in an elaborate plot to make me the mother of his unborn savior. I was perfectly willing to momentarily overlook that in favor of taking a cheap shot at Kayla.
I smiled sweetly and slung my backpack over my shoulder. “See you later!” I called out as I walked toward geometry class.
Josh caught up with me in the hall.
“Hey,” he said, almost shyly.
“Hey.”
“So. . . “ he paused. “Are you okay?”
I nodded. “Yeah. All things considered.”
“Good.”
I lowered my voice. “Did you find out any more about how to tell if I’m . . . you know.” I looked around furtively, uncertain how many of the other students might be demons.
And if you think that wasn’t a weird thought, you’re totally wrong.
“Not really,” he said. “I can’t be too obvious about asking questions. I don’t want anyone to figure out what I’m doing.” He looked at me hopefully. “Maybe we can get together tonight and talk some more?”
I grimaced. “Kayla’s dad found out I cut P.E. and yearbook yesterday, and grounded me. My mom backed him up. So I’m out of commission for a week.”
“What about Mason?”
“Oh, that’s still a go. Mom expects me to sell ads with him every day until four-thirty.”
Josh wiped a hand across his eyes. “Oh, man. That sucks.”
“Pretty much.”
“Any chance of getting out of it?”
“Hmm. Not any legitimate chance. If it were just Mom, I could talk her out of it—but apparently John has decided that I need ‘structure.’ And Mom’s totally believing him.” I shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never been grounded before in my life. I don’t know what she’d do if I just ignored it.” I thought for a minute. “Her head might actually explode.”
Josh smiled at me and my heart thumped. “Then we’ll just have to make sure she doesn’t find out.”
Before I could ask him what he meant, the first bell rang and kids started heading off to class. Josh reached out and squeezed my hand, then sprinted down the hall toward his own first class of the day. I walked more slowly toward geometry, wondering what exactly he had meant.
When I walked into English class, the first thing I noticed was that Josh had gotten there before me. The second thing was that he and Ally were deep in conversation.
“Hey,” I said as I slid into my seat.
“Hi, Laney.” Ally said. “Josh said you got grounded for cutting out on P.E. yesterday.”
I shot him an irritated look. “Yeah. Kayla’s father’s being a real pain.”
“So how grounded is grounded?” she asked.
“I have to pretty much go straight home from selling yearbook ads every day.”
“So you can’t leave the house. Can other people come to see you?”
I looked back and forth between the two of them. “What are you two planning?”
“Nothing, yet,” Ally said. “Just gathering information.”
After class, I grabbed Ally’s arm and held her back. “I didn’t think you even liked Josh,” I said.
“I like him fine,” she said. “I just never liked him liked him. You know. And I was just a little surprised that you did. But hey,” she raised her hands in a defensive posture. “If you like him, then I’m all for it.” She raised one eyebrow, smiled, and walked away.
“I don’t know how I feel about him,” I muttered to no one in particular.
“At least you don’t hate me,” Josh murmured in my ear. “That’s a start.”
I jumped. “Oh! I didn’t know you were there!”
“Just waiting for you to finish talking to Ally, so I could walk you to P.E. Wouldn’t want you to miss that again.”
“Heaven forbid,” I said. “I might get grounded for the rest of my life if I’m late.”
He laughed and we headed to the gym.
And no, I’m not stupid. It occurred to me that this whole “I’m telling you everything” might just be a ploy to make me like him more, so he could follow Bartlef’s orders. But just at that moment, I didn’t care. I mean, it wasn’t like he could do anything about it right there in the middle of the school hall, right? So I was safe.
Or at least, as safe as was humanly possible, given that I was walking down a school hallway with a demon whose silver eyes and slow smile made my head swim.
And I swear Coach Laramie looked at me with worry in her eyes when I walked into the gym.
Then again, maybe that was because of my tendency to find the dead guys that Fairy wanted to keep hidden.
* * * *
Sarah was waiting for me outside the lunchroom after class. I was getting a little tired of people lurking around doorways waiting to talk to me.
“I tried to call you last night,” she said, “but Kayla’s dad said you weren’t available.”
I felt my face turn a hot, bright red with anger. Clearly I was going to have to ask for more details about what exactly he meant by grounded. No phone? He hadn’t said anything about no phone.
“Ally told me that you got grounded for talking to Josh yesterday instead of selling ads with Mason.”
Good Lord. How did Josh’s People keep their big secret in a town where everybody seemed to instantly know everything?
I nodded. “Sorta. That was part of it, anyway.”
“But they were both there that night, right?”
I nodded shortly, suddenly acutely aware of the possibility that I could be putting her in danger—especially if something bad had happened to Quentin just because he’d told her a tiny part of what was going on. In my worry over my own impending mother-of-savior-hood, I’d totally forgotten to ask Josh about Sarah’s old boyfriend.
“So do you trust Josh?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “I think so.”
“What about Mason?”
“Probably not.”
“But you’re supposed to go sell ads with him today?”
I nodded. I hadn’t figured out how to get out of it.
“You want me to come with you?” she asked.
My mouth fell open while I tried to figure out what to say to her. My first instinct was to say “Yes, yes, please!,” fall on my knees and kiss her hand to thank her. But people might stare, and that’s never a good way to start the year as the new kid. Besides, I wasn’t sure it was a good idea for her to come with me. Again, the whole Disappearance of Quentin thing worried me.
“I guess not,” I finally said, reluctance shining through every word.
“You sure?”
“No,” I said. “But yeah. I think it would be bet
ter if you didn’t come with us. I think I can handle him by myself.” But only because of the ‘no date rape’ clause, I thought.
“Laney?”
I jumped about a foot into the air. “Josh!” I said. “You have to quit sneaking up on me like that!”
“I’ll see you inside,” Sarah said, and scooted into the lunchroom.
“Aren’t you supposed to be in class?” I asked Josh.
He shrugged. “Meh. Chemistry. Who needs it?”
I sighed and shook my head. “What do you want?”
“I’ve been thinking,” he said.
“That sounds ominous.”
“It’s just that. . . if you’re going to be spending hours every day with Mason, I really think you need to see what you’re up against. Before you spend any more time with him.”
“How?”
“I think we need to find someplace private for me to show you.”
I could almost hear a little voice in the back of my head chattering, Not a good idea, not a good idea, not a good idea.
I think it might have been the voice of reason.
I told it to shut up.
“When?” I asked. “Where? I can’t skip any more classes. John would go postal. He’d probably assign a ranch hand to follow me around all the time to make sure I didn’t break any more rules. I need some order in my life, you know.”
So sometimes I’m sarcastic. So what?
“But he can’t ground you for skipping out on lunch, can he?”
My stomach growled and I groaned. “Fine,” I said. “Fine. Where are we going?”
“To the darkroom,” he said.
Of course. Because hanging out with a demon in a darkroom while he showed me all the ways his rival could use his power to seduce me was absolutely not the stupidest thing I’d ever done.
Nope.
The stupidest thing I’d ever done was let my mother move us to Fairy, Texas.
* * * *
“The door’s locked,” I said, jiggling the knob.
“First lesson,” Josh said. “You can’t lock us out.” He touched the door for a moment, and I heard the lock click.
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