Kenzie let me go, and, suddenly feeling my injuries, I maneuvered painfully into a seated position. “You can stitch me up all you want,” I grumbled as the gnome’s index finger became a pair of tiny scissors and began cutting away my arm wrap. “They’re still going to freak out when they see me half-drenched in blood. I see an emergency room visit in my future.”
“Not necessarily,” the gnome returned, and waved its regular arm. I felt the tingle of glamour settle over me as the blood on my shirt abruptly...vanished. Holes disappeared, tears stitched themselves together and my clothes looked perfectly normal again. Beside me, Kenzie drew in a sharp breath, even as I recoiled, not wanting any faery glamour put on me, even if it seemed harmless.
“Oh, calm down,” the gnome said, taking my arm again. “It’s an illusion, nothing more. But it will break the second you remove your clothes, so I suggest you make sure you are alone when you decide to change. As for these—” it plucked at the sleeve of my shirt “—I suggest a nice bonfire.”
* * *
When I’d gotten home that night, I’d been bracing myself for an interrogation. Thanks to my sister disappearing into Faeryland thirteen years ago, my parents were paranoid and overprotective to the nth degree. If I was out five minutes past curfew, Mom would be calling my phone, demanding to know where I was, if I was all right. As I’d slipped through the front door that night, I still hadn’t known what I was going to tell them, but when I’d seen them in the living room, waiting for me, I’d realized they already knew.
It seemed they had received a visit from the Iron Queen that very night, and Meghan had told them I was safe. That I had been with her in the Nevernever and I was on my way home. She didn’t tell them the whole truth, of course; she’d left out the parts with Keirran, and the Forgotten, and how I’d almost died a few times. I’d thought Mom and Dad would want the rest of the story; even if they couldn’t see the bloodstains covering my clothes, or the stitched wounds beneath them, they’d had to know something had gone down in Faeryland. But whatever Meghan had told them seemed to be enough. Mom had just hugged the breath out of me, asked if I was all right about four dozen times and left it at that.
Truthfully, I didn’t think she wanted to know. Mom was terrified of the fey and thought that if she pretended they didn’t exist, they wouldn’t harass us. Which kind of sucked for me, because they did. But, at least that night, I’d been glad I didn’t have to explain myself. It wasn’t often that I was let off the hook. I’d just hoped Kenzie’s family was as understanding.
Kenzie. I sighed, scrubbing my hand through my hair, worried again. I hadn’t seen her since the night she went home, back to her dad and her stepmom. I’d tried calling her over the weekend, but either her phone was still dead or it had been taken away, because my calls went straight to voice mail. Worried and restless, I’d gotten to school early this morning in the hopes of seeing her, finding out how her family had taken her abrupt disappearance, but I’d been pulled into the principal’s office before I could catch a glimpse of the girl who was very suddenly my whole world.
Morose, I headed back to class, still scanning the hall for any glimpse of blue-streaked black hair, irrationally hoping to run into Kenzie on her way to the principal’s office. I didn’t see her, of course, but I did pass a group of girls in the hall, talking and laughing beneath the bathroom sign. They fell silent as I passed, staring at me with wide eyes, and I heard the murmurs erupt as soon as my back was turned.
“Oh, my God, that’s him.”
“Did you hear he forced Kenzie to run away with him last week? They were on the other side of the country before the police finally caught them.”
“So that’s why the cops are here. Why isn’t he in jail?”
I clenched my jaw and kept walking. Gossip rarely bothered me—I was so used to it by now. And most of the more colorful rumors were so far off it was laughable. But I hated the thought that, just by being around me, Kenzie would be the target of speculation. It was already starting.
She wasn’t in any of the classes we shared, which made it difficult to concentrate on anything happening around me. Even so, I caught suspicious glances thrown my way, whispers whenever I slid into my desk, the hard stares of some of the popular kids. Kenzie’s friends. I kept my head down and my usual “leave me the hell alone” posture going, until the bell rang for lunch.
Kenzie still hadn’t made an appearance. I almost went down to the cafeteria, just to see if she was there, before catching myself with a grimace. Geez, what are you doing, Ethan? You’ve gone completely stupid for this girl. She’s not here today. Just accept that already.
As I hesitated in the corridor, trying to decide which direction to go, my nerves prickled and the hair on the back of my neck stood up, a sure warning that I was being watched—or stalked. Wary, I casually scanned the surging throng of teenagers for anything that might belong to the Invisible World, the world only I could see. The source of my unease wasn’t a faery, however. It was worse.
Football star Brian Kingston and three of his friends were pushing their way through the corridor, broad shoulders and thick arms parting the crowd with ease. By their faces and the way they were scanning the halls, it was obvious they were on the warpath. Or at least the quarterback was, with his ruddy face and thick jaw set for a fight. I could just guess who was the target of his wrath.