Reign Check

ballet? “Oh, Melinda, I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.”

“Why? Because he’s an exchange student?”

“Yeah. I mean, you don’t want to start dating this guy one day and have him leave the next, do you?”

“I’m willing to take that chance. Look, I know he’s in biology with you. See if he’s even remotely interested in me, okay? Just be really subtle about it.”

I bit my lip. I wanted to stop Melinda from being interested in the teenage faery king, but what was I supposed to say? I couldn’t tell her the truth, and if I tried to argue with her, it would just look like I wanted to date him myself.

Talk about a rock and a hard place. At least I felt like I had a little control over this situation.

“Of course,” I finally said. “I’ll ask him some really good questions and find out what he thinks of you.”

“Thanks.” Her voice brightened. “And you know what? Forget about what Larissa said to you. She doesn’t know you half as well as I do. I know you’re a great friend and you’d never do anything to hurt me.”

“I never want to hurt you.” Or anyone else, I added internally.

“Ditto. Hey, I think I’m going to invite Rhys to my party. It’s going to be great.”

“Yeah, can’t wait,” I said, feigning excitement as best I could.

Melinda’s party was this Saturday night. I just had to get through the gauntlet of four more school days first.

While I tried to get Rhys to stay away from my smitten best friend.

While waiting for word about what the demon council was planning on doing next about me and my highly unpleasant prophecy.

Without Michael as my boyfriend.

I’d considered having some Chinese food for dinner, but now I’d totally lost my appetite.

8

I got the strange feeling someone was watching me as I made my way to my locker on Tuesday morning. It was like a burning sensation on the back of my neck. When I turned I saw Chris Sanders standing halfway down the hall from me.

We stared at each other for a long, uncomfortable moment. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but then started walking in the opposite direction.

“I want to talk to you,” he’d said to me yesterday. “It’s important.”

I didn’t want to let him have any power over me, so I figured I should deal with him as soon as I could. I started to follow him, ready to demand he tell me what he wanted to talk to me about, when someone tapped on my shoulder.

Since I was already a ball of nerves, I let out a shriek and spun around to see who it was.

Rhys raised an eyebrow. “Did I scare you?”

Seeing it was him did nothing to calm my nerves. “No, but you surprised me. A little. That happens when people creep up behind me.”

“I wasn’t trying to creep.”

“I guess you just come by it naturally.” I eyed him. Today he wore blue jeans and a long-sleeved light blue T-shirt that fit tightly against his chest and arms. On his feet were new black leather shoes that looked designer. “So I have to ask — who helped pick out your wardrobe so you can fit in perfectly around here? Do you have a personal faery image consultant?”

“You think I fit in perfectly?” he asked, with a pleased expression.

“You blend. High-end blend. Your clothes look expensive.”

“Money’s not really a problem for me. And yes, my advisers helped me. A few are highly knowledgeable about the human world.” When I didn’t say anything to that, he asked, “So, did you learn more about the prophecy?”

I glanced at the other students in the hallway and moved toward a nearby corner where the lockers came to an end.

Rhys followed me cautiously. “Our conversation is shielded. You can tell me.”

“My father thinks it might be false,” I said.

“But there is one? For sure?”

“Yeah.” I cleared my throat. “I guess you weren’t lying, after all.”

A smile twitched at his lips. “It’s nearly impossible for a faery to lie about anything — it’s in our nature to be truthful. Although, telling the truth or saying exactly what we’re feeling or thinking sometimes gets us in trouble, even among ourselves.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“But it’s what makes us superior to demons, really. Demons lie about everything.” His lips curved some more. Was he baiting me? Trying to play games? I was so not in the mood this morning. Besides, I’d told enough lies recently that I couldn’t exactly challenge his theory.

“Thanks a lot for your oh-so-valuable opinion.” I scanned the hallway to see if I could spot Chris, but he was gone. I looked at Rhys again. “Did you know that prophecies are related by dragon oracles?”

He nodded. “Of course.”

“And some of them live here in the human world?”

“Yes, they do. The prophecies given by dragon oracles are a valuable resource for demons and faeries alike.”

I stared at him, suddenly realizing that out of everyone here at school, Rhys was the only one I could talk to about this who wouldn’t think I was completely insane.

I exhaled a bit shakily, wanting to dislike him — this faery king alone in the human world investigating yours truly — but finding it just a bit more difficult.

As a king, my father lived a life of solitude with only servants around him, not friends and family. I sensed now that it was the same for Rhys. All alone after his parents died, with only his advisers to keep him company.

Maybe I just had a really good imagination.

In any case, I wasn’t going to mistake empathy for a potential friendship with someone who might want to kill me someday.

“I have to go,” I said, and turned away from him. Rhys grabbed my wrist to stop me.

“What did the prophecy say?” he asked. “I have to know.”

“So you can figure out how much of a threat I am?”

His chocolate brown eyes turned serious. “Will you tell me or not?”

“Fine.” I pulled my hand away from his. “It’s pretty vague, but it says I’m supposed to destroy everyone. But if it makes you feel better, when I ultimately go supernova with my death ray, I promise to make a concentrated attempt to avoid the faery realm as much as possible.”

He didn’t say anything for a long moment. “And you think that the prophecy is false.”

“It has to be. I don’t have a death ray, at least not the last time I checked.” Even as I said it, that edge of uncertainty crept in at the sides of my mind. I wanted to believe it was a lie, but how could I know for sure?

“It’s not a good prophecy,” he said.

“Thanks for the second opinion.”

“You should get one of those.”

“One of what?”

“A second opinion. If you’re so sure it’s false, you should have another oracle confirm that. It could help matters for you.”

This hadn’t even occurred to me. “I can do that?”

“Dragon oracles don’t normally like to dispute each other’s prophecies, but it would be worth a try.” He crossed his arms and studied me for a moment, as if trying to come to some clear opinion about me. “I’m seeing a dragon oracle later this week.”

I blinked at him. “You’re what?”

“The dragon lives nearby, and it’s another reason I’m here right now. One of my rites of passage is to meet with an oracle to receive a prophecy regarding my future as king. There are no dragons in the faery realm, and I preferred to visit the human world than travel to the dark ones. Besides, I can’t stay in the dark worlds that long.