“So, what’ll it be, Princess?” Rhys prodded, using my title again annoyingly. “Yes or no?” Information that could help Michael in return for giving Rhys a kiss as payment. Which, no matter what his real motivation, sounded like a really bad idea.
Never in a million years would I admit to this out loud, but Rhys was right about one very disturbing thing. That kiss under the mistletoe...
Well, I’d be lying if I said I felt nothing.
No, I’d definitely felt something. Something I’d tucked away and barely glanced at—just like the faery rose Rhys had given to me.
Did I want to kiss Rhys again?
Ugh. I didn’t even like Rhys, so why was I even considering this?
I should just think of it as a way to barter for something I wanted. Something totally meaningless to me. I mean, why would I even resist if this was enough to get me what I wanted?
Maybe because I was afraid I was going to feel something again. Something that would make my life way more complicated than it already was.
But that wasn’t a strong enough reason to say no.
“Fine,” I muttered, now keeping my eyes on the front of class. “I agree.”
“Good. Nice doing business with you.”
The privacy bubble vanished and I could hear everyone around us again, which was probably a good thing since Mr. Crane had just asked me a direct question.
“Nikki,” he said sharply. “Try to keep your mind on class and not on Rhys, okay?” I slumped down further in my chair, embarrassed, while the rest of the class laughed at me.
So glad this was Friday.
Chapter 9
Morning classes dragged. And then lunch was uncomfortable since Rhys seemed all over Melinda more than normal. Gag. Although, in his defense, she was piling on the fake “we’re so happy together” romance just as thick.
He was trying to make me jealous.
And a very tiny part of me actually was.
I really hated my life right now.
“They are so cute together,” Brittany said.
“So cute,” Larissa agreed. “What do you think, Nikki?” Color me surprised, she’d actually asked for my opinion on something.
“So adorable I could puke,” I said.
“So, sleepover tonight. Fun, right?” Brittany said, cheerily. Out of the two, she’d always been the moderately friendlier one. Larissa and I had an unspoken agreement to despise each other, which we both adhered to. Brittany, though, was a bit of a friendship wild card.
“Should be interesting,” Larissa said. “Despite the guest list.” I shot her a withering look. “Talking about me?”
She frowned. “No, actually. I’m talking about this Clara chick. Do you even know her?”
“I met her earlier this week. She’s also in my geography class,” Brittany confirmed. “She seems really nice.”
“If she’s Melinda’s latest recruit to the group, then where is she for lunches this week?”
“I don’t know.” I shoved my half-eaten sandwich away. “Are we required to eat lunch all together on a daily basis? Sounds restrictive. Chris doesn’t eat with us anymore.”
“No, but Chris is a total psycho now.”
“That’s harsh, Larissa,” Brittany said with a frown.
She shrugged. “It is what it is. Saw him a minute ago outside the guidance counselor’s office.
He was sent there by his art teacher, who looked through his sketch book and got disturbed by what he’s been drawing. A friend of mine’s in his class and told me all about it just before lunch.
You should watch out, Nikki.”
A shiver went down my spine. “Why?”
“She saw at least one sketch of you. I think he’s obsessed with you, although, no offense, I have no idea why. He might be a good artist, but he’s a serious freak of nature now. His mother’s been called to come get him. Maybe she can have him committed somewhere so he doesn’t hurt anyone.”
More sketches of me? I wondered if he’d had another vision, or if this was just more of the same—the winged darkness that was after me.
“It’s coming. And it wants to hurt you. You have something it wants.” Nothing had happened like that, outside of my nightmare. But I still felt like something was wrong—well, other than everything. A dark sense of foreboding had slowly but steadily crept over me this week from the moment Chris had said that to me.
“I need to go.” I stood up from the table. “I—I have to grab something from the library. I’ll see you at Melinda’s later.”
I left without another word or a good-bye. I didn’t even glance over at Melinda and Rhys again. Rushing through the halls, I headed for the guidance counselor’s office. I had to see this sketchbook. If things had progressed so much that Chris was getting in trouble for his sketches to the point that his mother had been called to get him, that didn’t bode well for them being happy drawings of rainbows and flowers. No, they’d be disturbing pictures, much like the one he’d given to me. I now had two works of art by Chris Sanders in my personal collection. He’d given me another one at Melinda’s holiday party that wasn’t much shinier. More darkness surrounding me that I assumed related to my third prophecy. Maybe they were connected.
That didn’t ease my mind one little bit.
He’d probably be taken out of school. He probably should be taken out of school.
Thankfully, I wasn’t too late. He sat on a wooden bench outside of the guidance office, leaning forward with his head in his hands.
“Chris.” I approached him cautiously. He didn’t move. After a moment, I touched his shoulder.
He jumped and pulled his hands away from his face. I inhaled sharply at what I saw.
Chris’s eyes used to be blue-gray. At the moment, though, they were bright amber.
All dragons had amber eyes. Just like all Shadows had green ones.
“Nikki,” he said. He sounded tired, but not crazy or incoherent, which was mildly encouraging.
“Hey, you okay?”
“I’ve been better. My head’s all messed up. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I guess I’m going insane.”
I frowned. “No, you’re not. You’re going to be okay, but...what do you mean you don’t know what’s wrong with you? How can you not know yet?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Your visions...” I glanced around to see if anyone was within listening distance. “Where’s your sketchbook?”
He jutted his thumb in the direction of the office behind him. “Ms. Matthews took it away from me.”
I hissed out a breath of frustration. “Larissa said somebody saw your book and there were sketches of me in it.”
He tensed a little and the look he gave me was wary. “You seem to be the feature of most of my visions. Guess I feel guilty for what happened the night of Winter Formal. I swear, Nikki, I’ve never tried to do anything like that before.”
I cringed at the memory. “Ancient history. Let’s try to forget about it.”
“I can’t.” His brows drew together. “That guy...that guy I was...I’m not him anymore. I think he died that night.”
“I’m not all that sorry to hear that. I like this Chris better, even if he is a bit confused.” I crouched down next to him and grabbed his hand. He looked so distressed. I wanted to help him.
And it wasn’t just so I could get more information about his visions starring yours truly. I honestly felt bad about what he was going through. He should know the reason behind it. Why hadn’t he been told anything yet?
“What are you, Nikki?” Chris asked. “What did I see that night when you changed? The wings...and your eyes...why do I keep having visions of you? Maybe they’re all just delusions.”
“No, they’re visions and I need you to tell me what they are, in detail. It’s important. You have an amazing gift.”
“This isn’t a gift, it’s a curse. It’s messing my life up.”
“Why hasn’t your mother told you anything ye
t?” I asked, frustrated by all of this. “Can’t she see you’re in trouble here? I mean, your eyes...”
He frowned at me. “What about my eyes?”
“Princess?” a female voice said from behind me. I jumped a little with surprise at hearing my official title in the human world, but then looked over my shoulder to see Chris’s mother approach.
I’d met Dr. Irena Sanders once before at her office. Rhys had an appointment with her for his official kingly prophetical reading, and he’d taken me along with him. Irena was a dragon oracle living in the human world. She was the one who’d given the prophecy about us getting married one day. Also, the one about the shadows surrounding me and wanting to devour me.
I stood up and faced her. “Hi Dr. Sanders. And, please, it’s just Nikki here.”
“Of course. My apologies.” She lowered her head a bit with respect although there was something glittering in her eyes that told me she wasn’t too thrilled to see me again. “You know my son?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Thanks for waiting with him until I got here.”
“You haven’t told him anything about what he is.” I couldn’t keep the edge of accusation out of my voice.
Her amber-colored eyes flashed, a bit of the initial distrust shifting into actual anger. “With all due respect, this is not your concern. I’ll take care of Chris. He’ll be just fine.”
“He should have been told a long time ago so he could prepare himself.”
“You don’t know anything about this.”
“Mom?” Chris asked, confused. “What are you talking about? And how do you two know each other?”
“Come, Chris, we’re leaving.” She held out her perfectly manicured hand to him. Irena was well-dressed in a designer pantsuit and looked impeccable in every way. Not a hair was out of place. I never would have guessed if I’d just met her that she was capable of shifting into a fire-breathing dragon at will and also of seeing the future. By appointment only.
Chris looked toward the guidance counselor’s office. “I need to get my sketchbook.”
“Leave it,” she said sharply. “I’ll take you home. You’ll rest for the weekend and then you’ll feel better. I’m sure of it.”
“Dr. Sanders,” I began, “this isn’t right. You have to tell him everything. Can’t you see that he’s in trouble here?”
She gave me a thin smile. “Lovely to see you again, Nikki. But I’m sure you have plenty to keep you occupied without interfering in my son’s life.” Chris cast another confused look over his shoulder at me, a deep frown creasing his brow, as his mother firmly led him away from the guidance counselor’s office. I watched him leave, not knowing what else I should do.
Of course, she was right. This wasn’t my business. And for all I knew, she was going to take him home and finally have the talk that, as far as I was concerned, should have come years ago.
I hadn’t known my father was a demon because he lived in a different world. He didn’t even know I existed until I turned sixteen. Chris had grown up with his mother, and she’d still kept the secret of what she was—and what he could potentially become himself—away from him. It wasn’t fair.
Despite our differences, I did hope he was going to be okay. I hated seeing anyone in that kind of distress.
The next moment Ms. Matthews, the guidance counselor, exited her office with an empty coffee mug in hand. She didn’t even look at me as she walked down the hall toward the teacher’s lounge.
I didn’t hesitate. I slipped into her office, scanning it quickly. I didn’t see anything on top of her desk or on her bookshelves, so I went to her filing cabinet and opened up the top drawer.
There you are.
I grabbed Chris’s sketchbook, closed the drawer, and left the office with the stolen merchandise clutched against my chest.
I mean, I was half-demon. I might as well do something evil.
o0o
The sketchbook weighed heavily in my bag all afternoon, but I didn’t dare pull it out and look at it yet. I kept expecting Ms. Matthews to come bursting into my classes and demanding that I give it back. But she probably had no idea where it went, if she’d even realized that somebody had taken it.
Finally, school was over for the week, which was a huge relief. I headed straight to the washroom, locked myself in a stall, and pulled the sketchbook out of my bag. I flipped through the pages quickly to get an overview of the contents. Almost every page was filled.
Chris was a good artist. But these were some disturbing pictures. I saw why his art teacher would have been concerned about his current mental health.
I’d expected to find different stories here, kind of like a comic book. But all I got was the same thing over and over, just drawn differently.
Me. Darkness. Me as human Nikki. Me as Darkling Nikki. Darkness. The Shadowlands castle behind me. To my left. To my right. More darkness surrounding me. That scary dark figure with the outstretched wings on several pages. A close-up of my face, but I’m looking to the left as if trying to see who or what is behind me. I looked scared.
More darkness.
On the last page, there wasn’t a sketch, but words he’d scribbled down before going over and over them with his pencil to make them dark and ominous.
THE SHADOWS WILL REIGN.
Pushing back against my fear, I shoved the sketchbook into my bag and went to my locker to drop off my books.
“Nikki?”
It was all I could do to stop the scream that rose in my throat. I spun around to see Melinda standing next to me.
“Oh, hey. Melinda. Hi.”
“Thank God it’s Friday,” she said.
“You can say that again.” I tried to put what I’d just read out of my mind. It could mean a lot of things, I didn’t even want to guess. But I did want to talk to Chris again as soon as I could.
She opened her locker and shoved her own books and binder into it. “So when are you coming over? The others will be there by seven-thirty and we’re going to order pizza then, but feel free to come earlier.”
“Right, the sleepover.” I really wanted to try to get out of it, since I had too many other things on my mind. But I wouldn’t. I’d go and be a good friend. I’d try to get along with Larissa and Brittany. I’d hang out with the new girl, Clara. Maybe for a few hours I’d feel normal again. It was a goal.
Anyway, there wasn’t much I could do that night. About Michael, about Rhys, about Chris, about my father. About anything.
“You are coming, right?” she asked after I didn’t speak for a moment.
“Yeah, of course I am. Wouldn’t miss it.”
She looked relieved. “Well, good.”
I frowned at her. “Everything okay with you?”
“Me? Sure, never better. Why?”
“I mean, New Year’s Eve you were beyond depressed. Monday morning you were really angsty about being back. And even with Rhys hanging all over you, you didn’t seem too thrilled about everything. Remember?”
She waved a hand. “That was a momentary glitch. It’s over. Everything’s great now. Better than great. I’ve never been happier.”
I eyed her skeptically. “Okay.”
“You don’t believe me?”
“I don’t know. If you say you’ve never been happier, then who am I to argue?”
“So the sleepover?” she asked cheerily.
I wouldn’t push her right now. I would try to be as happy about this evening as I could. For Melinda. I really think she needed this.
“I’ll be there as soon as I can,” I said. “I just need to pick up a few things at home first.” And to find somewhere to stash Chris’s sketchbook of doom.
She nodded. “Good. And don’t worry about Larissa. If she acts up, I’ll let her know that you’re my best friend and nothing is ever going to change that.”
“Nothing?”
“Nothing,” she confirmed. She grabbed me and gave me a tight hug that I returned. I hoped I looked suitably enthusi
astic.
A part of me did wish I could tell her the truth about everything—after all, that’s what best friends did. But another part of me knew that my being half-demon was a secret I could never share with her.
I had to keep reminding myself that she wasn’t a demon slayer any longer. She’d told Patrick to get lost. Everything was better now with her—at least, I really hoped it was.
All the other crazy stuff in my life could wait until tomorrow. Tonight I would be Melinda’s best friend forever. And all was right with the world.
Chapter 10
I got to Melinda’s just before six o’clock with my overnight bag in hand. She opened the front door to her parents’ huge house with a big smile on her face. And, for an hour and a half, we caught up on everything that had happened this week. I’d been so busy with my own problems that I’d barely spent any time with her in person or on the phone. I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed her. Suddenly, I was normal Nikki again and it felt pretty great.
The others arrived right on schedule at seven-thirty and we ordered pizza. Melinda’s parents were out for the evening, giving us plenty of privacy.
I knew they wanted Melinda to be a demon slayer and had been the ones to arrange her lessons with Patrick in the first place. Demon slaying was allegedly something that was passed down through family lines. She was the latest in her line. I didn’t know if her parents—either one
—were also trained slayers. They encouraged her, that was all I really knew. Her parents didn’t look like demon slayers. They looked like Melinda’s parents—an accountant and a magazine editor. But, for all I knew, that could only be their cover identities.
And the closed door that led to the basement where her training had taken place was something I tried very hard to ignore every time we passed it.
Clara seemed very uncomfortable at being around Larissa and Brittany—not that I blamed her
—so I tried my best to make her feel welcome. She was really pretty with gorgeous long dark hair and really nice blue eyes. I was quite sure, if she got over her shyness, that she’d be readily accepted into the Erin Heights social scene way faster than I had been. Not that I’d been accepted fully yet. It was only my friendship with Melinda that earned me a spot at the Royal Party’s cafeteria table.
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