'Well, that's obvious.' She sipped from her bottle of water and picked at her salad. 'So I guess your stalker is long gone, huh?'
'My what?'
'Chris told me that he scared off your secret admirer yesterday. I guess it wasn't a practical joke after all. Too creepy. I wish you'd called me and told me about it.'
I scanned the cafeteria. There was no sign of Michael lurking around. I hadn't seen him since last night.
Qood night, not good-bye.
I cleared my throat. 'Chris managed to get rid of him. I haven't seen the guy since,' I lied. 'I guess Chris can be sort of scary when he wants to be.'
'Only because he cares about you.' She squeezed my hand across the table. 'You two make such a great couple. Am I, like, a total cupid or what?'
'You need a matchmaking license for how good you are.' I smiled. 'Any girl would be lucky to go out with Chris.'
She tucked a long piece of light blonde hair behind her ear. 'After everybody sees how great you look with Chris at the dance tonight, I'm sure you'll have lots of guys who want to stalk you. So you'd better get used to it.'
I looked at her. 'Gee, that's a comforting thought.'
'Are you sure you're okay?'
'Never better.'
Her smile faded around the edges. 'Would you tell me if something's wrong? I mean, we are friends, right?'
I nodded. 'Of course. Nothing's wrong.'
'If you say so.' She studied me for a moment and looked a bit disappointed that I wasn't telling her every single tidbit that took up space in my brain.
'Listen, I'm ditching the rest of my classes to go to the salon. I have to look perfect tonight if I want to win the title of Queen. If you want your hair and makeup done, why don't you come with me?'
Another quick scan of the edges of the room confirmed that my stalker… or rather, Michael, was definitely nowhere to be seen.
'Thanks, but there's something I need to take care of,' I said. 'I need to go home.'
'I guess I'll ask Larissa. .' She glanced down the table at the bubbly brunette who would chew off her own arm to be Melinda's best friend. 'You're not going to bail on the dance completely, are you? Because it's important that you're there. You have to be with me when I'm crowned Winter Queen.'
I laughed at that. 'Somebody's confident.' She smiled again and shrugged. 'When you've got it, you've got it.'
I sighed. 'I still have no idea why you want to be my friend. I keep waiting for you to change your mind.'
'That's strange, because I feel the same way about you.'
'Obviously we're both pretty messed up.'
'Tell me something I don't know.'
I had no doubt in my mind that Melinda would take home her coveted prize tonight. She'd be Winter Queen. It was practically preordained. Like she'd been born into popularity, and it simply came naturally for her to dole it out at will to other people.
Like it was fate.
I'd been thinking about fate a lot since last night. I touched the outline of the potion bottle under my shirt again.
I wished I could talk to my father. We hadn't had nearly enough time together. His demon form had scared me, badly, but I'd recovered. I wanted to see him again and get the chance to say a real good-bye. Michael would take me back there, wouldn't he? One last time before I drank the potion.
I craned my neck again. Where was Michael? I'd half-expected him to be waiting outside my house that morning, but he hadn't been there. I'd walked to school alone.
When the lunch period was over I stood up from the table, throwing my half-eaten fries into the garbage on my way out. I'd made my decision. I wasn't going to drink the potion until I'd had a chance to see my father again. But I knew it had to be soon. I knew there wasn't much time left.
My cell phone vibrated and I fished it out of my pocket. It was a text message. hey gorgeous I hope ur ready for the best nite of ur life-prince charging Chris. I rolled my eyes at his cute but cheesy message. My Prince Charming. He still was, I guessed. But his mega confidence wasn't nearly as appealing as it had been before.
I felt a bit guilty about leading him on when I had no intention of dating him anymore. After all, he wasn't Michael.
I had to leave. I didn't want to be at school anymore, so I decided to skip my afternoon classes. I shifted my back' pack to my other shoulder and left the school grounds, keeping one hand over the outline of my potion bottle while I walked.
'Michael?' I said out loud. 'Where are you?' A jogger headed in the opposite direction gave me a funny look.
Talking to myself. That must have looked really sane. I crossed my arms and concentrated really hard. Michael? I thought, trying to be all telepathic. Are you there? Hello?
There was no reply. Nothing.
My frustration gave way to a thread of worry. Where was he? Did he think I'd already taken the potion? Wasn't he coming back like he said he would?
Michael, if you're out there, please think something. Tell me you're okay.
I kept walking, but a little faster now. He'd said that the telepathy only worked when we were close to each other, hadn't he? I'd forgotten. It was one small piece of information in the sea of knowledge about the Shadowlands I was wading through. I was so confused.
Maybe he'd been punished for not telling me he was a servant. Maybe he wasn't allowed to contact me ever again.
I jogged down the hill leading into Hungry Hollow and over the little snow-covered bridge. The river was icy but it gurgled along underneath. Michael had been there twice waiting for me, watching over me. But he wasn't there today. That park had been the location of a lot of drama for me lately and I suddenly felt very alone and vulnerable.
Normally I would have thought I was just being all paranoid. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.
The huge guy stepped out from behind the oak tree and blocked my path. It was the same one from yesterday-the one with the knife. The knife he still had.
'Princess,' he greeted me.
Panic welled in my chest and I hoped that Michael would come marching down the path behind him, but there was nothing. Only the two of us stood in the middle of the empty park.
'Leave me alone,' I told him and was surprised by how commanding I sounded.
'Can't do that, Princess. I have a job to do.' His knife glinted. 'As a Darkling, you have to die.'
I'd been told I had to do a lot of things I didn't want to do lately-dying was right at the top of the list.
My throat tightened and I held up a hand. 'But… I'm not a Darkling anymore. My father… the king… he gave me a potion and I drank it. I'm completely human now.'
He studied me for a moment and then sniffed the air. 'If that was the case, I would sense it. I don't smell only human. You're a liar.'
I took a shaky step back from him. 'Who are you?'
'It doesn't matter who I am. The only thing that matters is what I have to do.'
'Where's Michael?' I demanded. My heart slammed against my ribcage and every muscle in my body was tense. 'What have you done to him? Have you hurt him?'
'Who's Michael?'
