* * *
“Are you seriously going to sit here all night?” Lute said. He’d had a lot of the honeyed meade that afternoon during the May Day festivities, and he was afraid that he wasn’t as in control of his temper as he normally would be.
Sawyer was sitting several feet away from Nora’s tent, where Nora and Owen had both disappeared.
“I’m watching Owen. It’s my shift,” Sawyer said. “I thought you wanted the late shift off so that you could play music.”
“Well, I’m not really feeling it,” Lute said. “They’re in their tent. There’s no reason to watch them. You and I could be together, doing something.”
“It’s my shift,” Sawyer said.
Lute was drunk, angry, and a little bit horny. It was a bad combination.
He decided, since arguing with Sawyer wasn’t really working, that he’d try something else. He sat down next to his boyfriend, scooted close, and started to kiss Sawyer.
He expected Sawyer to pull away, or try to stop him, but Sawyer didn’t. He kissed back.
Lute deepened the kiss, pushing his tongue into Sawyer’s mouth, and ran his hands over Sawyer’s body, quickly moving from safe, innocuous areas to more risque ones.
Sawyer gasped. “What are you doing?”
“Come back to the tent with me,” Lute said. “This could be the night. This could be the night that we actually go all the way.”
Sawyer pushed him off. “I thought we were over that.”
Damn it. Lute should never have brought up sex. He knew it was a sore subject. “We are. It’s not that we have to do anything. It’s just… I miss you. I never see you anymore. How is this supposed to work if we’re never together?”
Sawyer pointed at Nora’s tent. “Gods know what they’re doing in there.”
“That’s what this is about, isn’t it?” Lute said. “You’re afraid that your precious Nora is doing something with Owen. You broke up with her, but you can’t let her go. You can’t let her be with someone else.”
Sawyer shook his head. “It’s not about that.”
“Sure, it’s not,” Lute said. Furious, he got up. “Well, if you want to stay here and watch Nora, I can’t stop you. You broke her heart, Sawyer. And no matter what you do, I don’t think she’s gonna take you back.” Without waiting for a reply, Lute ran into the night.
* * *
Inside Nora’s tent, Owen was lying there, barechested on her hammock. Her body was pressed up against his, wedged between his chest and his arm. She was kissing him.
He liked it. It felt good. It always felt good to kiss her.
But Owen had never really kissed Nora just to kiss her. There had always been a reason behind it. Kissing her helped her behave in ways that were beneficial to him. He had kissed her for a goal.
There was no good reason to be kissing her now.
Well, maybe it would make her less suspicious of him.
But that was stupid. He wasn’t worried that she was suspicious of him. She was head over heels for him. She never left him alone. She adored him. Back years ago, she used to adore him, but that wasn’t the same. She wasn’t the same. She wasn’t that innocent, unassuming little girl that she’d been. Now she was able to give as good as she got.
He had to admit, he liked it. Being with Nora kept him on his toes. She wasn’t like him, he knew that. There wasn’t anybody like him. But he was beginning to feel, more and more, but she was worthy of him. She was equal to him, as she’d said. Maybe it was the influx of Nimue’s power, he didn’t know. Something in her had changed.
And that only made this kissing even more terrifying. Why were they kissing? What did it accomplish?
He couldn’t help but suspect that she was doing it to him for some reason. That she had some kind of goal, and that kissing factored into it.
He pulled back.
“You okay?” Her voice was soft.
“I’m fine,” he said. “I just don’t want you to feel pressured is all.”
She laughed. “Me? Pressured? I think I’ve been doing all the initiating, Owen.”
She was right. She was right, and he didn’t like that she’d noticed. It was highlighting his own weakness. He was afraid to have sex with her. What if he wasn’t good enough at it? She had more experience than him.
“That first year, in Helicon, you wouldn’t let up on us doing it,” she said. “You had sex with a fairy, because I wouldn’t be with you. But now you’re not interested?”
“I never said I wasn’t interested,” he said.
She kissed him again. “Well, okay then.”
He stopped the kissing again. “Nora…”
“What?”
“I just don’t think the time is right,” he said.
She smirked. “What’s wrong, Owen? You afraid? Back when I was fifteen and terrified, you wanted to have sex with me simply to manipulate me. But now that I know what I want, now that I’m mature, now I scare you.”
It was the truth, and he didn’t like hearing that come out of her mouth. “You don’t scare me.”
“So why aren’t we doing it?”
He licked his lips. “We will.” And he knew that he wasn’t going to be able to put it off forever.
“When?” Her voice was a challenge.
“When the time is perfect,” he said. “We’ll both know.”
It was a romantic thing to say, but he could see that she wasn’t taking it that way. He could see that she knew he was trying to buy time. That made him crazy. She had something over him. If he wasn’t so concerned about it, he would just give in right now. He’d just roll over and push aside her skirts and…
No.
He couldn’t.
He couldn’t.
* * *
Maddie saw Agler at the main fire pit with one of the fairies and decided that she didn’t need to be near the celebration at all. She started back for her tent. She almost never got to be alone in the tent anymore. Agler was always hogging it. This would be nice, she insisted to herself. Because, even though it was May Day, that didn’t mean that she had to get drunk and talk to other people. She didn’t have to be obvious like that. No, if she wanted to, she could use this time to relax and be alone. There was nothing wrong with that.
On her way through the archway, she ran into Lute. He had a big container full of meade.
“Hi,” she said.
“Hi,” he said.
They stared at each other.
“I guess you’re going back to the celebration,” Maddie said. “I don’t mean to keep you.”
Lute shrugged. “Not really in the mood for celebrating much, to be honest.”
“Me either,” she said.
“Boyfriend troubles?” Lute said.
“You know it,” Maddie said.
“Me too,” Lute said. He gestured towards the fire pit in the tweens and rebels enclave, which was currently empty. Everyone was down at the big May Day celebration. No one was hanging out of here. “Want to have a drink with me?”
“Sure.”
So they went over and sat down on the bench. They shared the meade that Lute had, and they talked.
“Men are so stupid,” Maddie said. “I mean, not you.”
“No, it’s okay,” Lute said. “You’re right. Men are stupid. I don’t know why I ever bothered with this relationship. I don’t even know if I’m gay.”
Maddie’s jaw dropped. She felt a little wobbly, as if she was having trouble keeping her balance. Too much meade, undoubtedly. “What? You’re not gay?”
“Well, I like Sawyer,” Lute said.
Maddie shook her head. “That’s what Sawyer said about Nora, but in the reverse. He said that he wasn’t straight necessarily, but he liked Nora. And you can see how well that turned out.”
“He’s still in love with her,” Lute said.
Maddie shook her head. “I don’t think so.” When she spoke her words were slurred together. “I mean, he loves her. They’re best friends. But I don
’t think he loves her in that way anymore. I’ve seen the way he looks at you.”
“No,” Lute said. “He doesn’t look at me like that anymore.”
Maddie didn’t say anything. She honestly hadn’t been paying much attention to Sawyer and Lute these days. “Well… he should. Because you’re very nice to look at, Lute.” It was true. Lute was gorgeous. He had long, luscious locks of hair and smiling eyes and— Not that Maddie noticed this, of course.
Lute raised his eyebrows at her.
“Objectively speaking, of course.” She snatched the bottle of meade away from Lute and took a big gulp.
“Thanks,” he said. “You’re easy on the eyes yourself.”
Maddie waved him away. “I didn’t say it because I was fishing for a compliment. Besides, I’m fat.”
“What?”
She winced. “Nothing. Never mind.”
He leaned close to her. “You’re not fat. You’re… you’re very nicely proportioned. And I wasn’t just giving you lip service earlier about being easy on the eyes. Like I said, I don’t think I’m gay. I am capable of finding girls attractive, and you’re attractive.”
She gave him a wobbly, drunken smile. “Thanks. That’s nice of you.”
They looked into each other’s eyes for a minute.
Then they both hastily looked away.
“I’m going to have the worst hangover tomorrow,” Maddie said, handing the meade back to Lute.
Lute took a drink, and then handed it back. “And the worst of it is, we’re not even going to be hung over because we were having fun. We’re just… upset and alone.”
“I hate men,” Maddie said.
“Yeah,” Lute said.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Agler didn’t remember falling asleep the night before. When he woke up lying next to the main fire pit, with the sun high in the sky, he figured that he must’ve just passed out there. The fire was no longer a fire, only smoking embers. But he was far from the only person who hadn’t made it back to his hammock the night before. The ground was littered with sleeping muses.
Agler got to his feet. His drinking buddy, Ridian, had gone back to the fairy dimension last night. He didn’t remember that happening either. His head was pounding.
He groaned.
He stretched, rolling his head on his shoulders. Why had he gotten so drunk last night?
Oh yeah. It was coming back to him now. He and Maddie’d had a fight. Wasn’t that always the way? He wondered if she was going to be pissed at him for not coming home.
Maybe he should bring her breakfast in bed. Maybe that would make her less annoyed with him.
Satisfied that he’d come up with a stellar plan, he headed for the food enclave, wincing with every step as his head pounded.
Unfortunately, because it was so early, it was empty. The dining room, where they usually had breakfast, was cold and dead. No one would be in here until later. Some hungover food enclave muses would undoubtedly wake up then, and probably cook something. There would probably be a big brunch. But that wasn’t going to happen until closer to noon. And noon wasn’t going to be for hours.
Agler could cook. Well, kind of. He had, on occasion, come into the kitchen back here and whipped himself up a snack in the middle of the night. But he didn’t think that the kinds of things that he could put together—fried eggs or toast—were really the kinds of things that Maddie would want for breakfast. She should have a real breakfast with potatoes and sausage and bacon and coffee. Just thinking about all of this was making Agler’s stomach growl.
He wandered back through the dining room to the kitchens. The kitchens of the food enclave were massive and modern. They housed enormous refrigerators, sixteen-burner stoves, and state-of-the-art convection ovens. Agler stepped inside the kitchen, and he felt dwarfed by all of these gigantic appliances. They seemed too large, too imposing. He made his way over to one of the refrigerators, anyway. He opened it up and looked inside. Someone had brought some of the leftovers from the feast yesterday and stored them in here. It wasn’t breakfast food. Instead, there were some pies, some sandwiches, even some leftover roast pork.
Agler thought it all looked delicious. But it wasn’t anything that he could bring to Maddie to make up for everything.
No, Agler had a better idea. He would eat some of these leftovers, and then he would go back to sleep. He would wake up in an hour or two, when someone was here in the food enclave making actual food. Then he’d make up an enormous plate of good stuff and take it to Maddie, who would doubtless still be sleeping.
It was a perfect plan. He was pleased with it.
So, he loaded up a plate. He had some roast pork and even found a little bit of potato salad in the back of one of the refrigerators. He scarfed it down. The food had never tasted so good. He drank some water, and then he crawled into the back of the kitchen, where he knew there were some hammocks. Some of the food enclave muses would get inspired and need to do all-night cooking sessions, so these hammocks were where they rested just for a little bit.
The hammocks back there were blissfully empty. Agler climbed into one and was asleep immediately.
When he woke up, it was because of a bustling noise in the kitchen.
He yawned, stretched, and sat back up. He felt loads better. Getting up and eating something had really taken the edge off his hangover. This was great. He was gonna get some breakfast, and take it to Maddie.
He wandered out into the kitchen, there were muses everywhere, running to and fro. They were scrambling eggs, frying bacon, making French toast, and brewing coffee.
Agler started to take some things from the stove, but one of the cooking muses slapped his hand away. “What do you think you’re doing? Go out into the dining room like everyone else.”
Fine. If that was what the cooking muses wanted, that was what they got. Agler knew better than to bite the hand that fed him.
But when he got out into the dining room, he was saddened to realize that Maddie was already sitting there. She and Lute were sharing a table, and they each had plate loaded full of food already.
Damn it. So much for apologizing to her with breakfast in bed. Now what was he going to do?
He squared his shoulders. You know, he was in a bad habit of always apologizing. When they got in a fight, he assumed that it was his fault. But maybe it wasn’t his fault. Maybe it was Maddie’s fault. Maybe she should apologize.
Yeah. He was just going to go over there, sit down, and wait for her to say she was sorry.
But when he got to the table, and Maddie looked up at him, before he could stop himself, the words just flew out of his mouth. “Sorry about last night.”
“Me too,” Maddie said. She gestured at a chair. “Want to sit down?”
Agler sat. He was weak. He was far too weak. He cracked under the pressure of her stare.
“What did you get into last night?” Maddie asked. “I saw you with a fairy. Was he one of your friends from when you went to the fairy dimension?”
And then, Agler remembered. He couldn’t believe he’d forgotten about this. He’d spent lots of time trying to ask Ridian about it, even though Ridian didn’t know anything. “You’re never going to believe this.”
“What?” Lute said.
Agler leaned forward. He lowered his voice. “My friend Ridian the fairy told me that Phoebe was in the fairy dimension last fall, asking about Owen.”
Lute groaned. “Owen again? Can’t you guys let this go?”
Agler and Maddie both turned to look at him. “What? Why would you say that?” Agler said.
Lute looked at his breakfast. “Never mind,” he mumbled.
“What did Phoebe ask about Owen?” Maddie said.
“I don’t know, and Ridian didn’t either,” Agler said. “But it’s weird, right?”
“She was asking Alexander about Owen too,” Maddie said. “Remember he told us that?”
Agler nodded. “Yeah, I do. So, anyway, what I think what we need to do—
”
“Don’t,” Maddie interrupted. She pointed. “There’s Nora and Owen.”
Agler turned to look. Nora and Owen had indeed just entered the dining room. “So? They’re all the way over there.”
Maddie shook her head. “We’ll talk about this later. At the meeting in the tree house.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Sawyer perched on one of the levels in the tree house. This compartment had a built-in bench with comfy cushions all over it, but Sawyer was sitting on the floor, legs dangling over the edge, staring down at Nora’s and Owen’s tents. The others were all talking behind him, but he was barely listening.
“Do you think they’re doing it?” Sawyer said. “They both went into Nora’s tent at May Day, and they were in there for a long time.”
“Sawyer, are you even listening to what I’m saying?” Agler said. “About Phoebe?”
“He didn’t stay the whole night,” Sawyer said. “But when he left, he wasn’t wearing a shirt.”
“Eew,” said Agler. “Can we not talk about Owen without a shirt?”
Sawyer turned to look at him. “You know Nora. You know her as well as I do. She wouldn’t sleep with him, would she?”
Agler looked away. “I don’t know, Sawyer.”
Sawyer felt agonized about it. He didn’t like the idea of Nora and Owen together, and he wished there was something he could do, anything he could do to stop this whole crazy turn of events from ever having happened in the first place.
“About Phoebe,” Agler said.
Sawyer gave him an irritated look. “What about Phoebe?”
“She was in the fairy dimension asking about Owen,” Maddie said.
Sawyer was suddenly interested. “She was? But she was asking Alexander Night about him too.”
“That’s what I said,” Maddie said.
“When?” said Sawyer. “When was she there?”
“Last fall,” Lute said. “The same time as she was questioning Alexander. But guys, I don’t see why we’re reading anything into this.”
“It’s proof,” said Sawyer. “Proof that something changed in Phoebe. She was worried about him, and then she wasn’t.”
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