Wondrous Strange

realized that he couldn’t be that much older than she was, maybe eighteen or nineteen-not that his age necessarily made him less threatening.

But Kelley had been raised by a fiery Irish aunt. She enunciated each word as she repeated, “Get. Lost.”

Handsome Stranger looked confused, as if he’d never had someone tell him to take a hike before. “You don’t understand. I need to know what you found. It’s for your own good-you need to trust me.”

“Trust you? You’re lurking in an alley, for God’s sake. You obviously followed me here from somewhere, and you were looking in my dressing-room window when I was getting changed! I don’t think ‘trust’ is the issue here!”

“I wasn’t watching you get changed.”

“Sure you weren’t.”

At least he had the good grace to blush, Kelley thought.

“All I saw was you leaving the room. I wanted to see if you were alone so I could talk to you.”

“Right!” Kelley scoffed. “So you could ‘talk’ to me?”

In truth, he’d looked startled enough by her accusation that Kelley was inclined to believe him-she just wasn’t much inclined to care.

“Is that why you were skulking around backstage earlier?”

The question didn’t prompt any kind of reaction Kelley could have expected. His eyes flew wide and he pulled back sharply from her-almost as if Kelley had physically struck him.

What the hell?

“Are you stalking me?” She glanced over her shoulder to see if any of the cast or crew were still around. But the rain had driven everyone away or indoors.

“Of course not!” he said, sounding shocked.

He took a step toward her, and Kelley skittered backward.

“You even try to touch me, and I scream like a banshee.”

That stopped him. Again, there was that confused, boyish expression on his face.

Kelley hazarded a glance back up into his eyes, and the breath caught in her throat. The blazing intensity of his gaze was like being caught in a searchlight. He was threatening her. And yet all she wanted was to reach out and touch his face.

What thou seest when thou dost wake…

Kelley shook herself from the unwelcome reverie. She backed away as she watched him visibly clamp down on the urge to shout at her.

“It’s getting late and I don’t have time for this,” he muttered impatiently, shooting a brief glance skyward.

Kelley found herself following his glance. How on earth can he tell what time it is? The sky had been the same dingy shade of pewter-gray all day.

He took another step toward her, and all of Kelley’s nerve endings jangled like car alarms, urging her to flight. She felt a strange tingling along her spine, down to her fingertips, as though she were actually trying to grow wings. But her feet remained rooted to the ground and, locked in his gaze, she held her breath.

He reached out a hand toward her, his fingers brushing her arm. All of a sudden an electrical shock jolted him backward, his whole right side jerking away. He flinched, and as he broke eye contact, suddenly Kelley could move again. But with preternatural speed he recovered and swiped a hand in her direction, catching her hood and a handful of her hair. He yanked her backward, and Kelley felt a snap as the catch of her silver necklace came undone and the four-leaf-clover charm fell off, landing in a puddle.

Anger flared in Kelley’s chest, overriding fear, and she rounded on her attacker.

She swung a wild fist in a wide circle, and the young man flew backward through the air, slamming up hard into the brick wall of the theater.

“How dare you?” she shouted, the air around her suddenly as shockingly cold as her adrenaline-fueled rage.

His storm-gray eyes went wide with alarm at the sight of her…

XII

Light blazed like fireworks exploding in the alleyway.

“How dare you?” she shouted again, and her thunderous voice knocked him back against the wall a second time. Sonny threw an arm over his face to shield his eyes. The ground beneath him spun dizzyingly, and for a moment he thought he was going to be sick. Squinting against the glare, he glanced up at where, only a moment before, a girl had stood drenched and defiant. His jaw dropped open.

A nimbus of light flared all around her like diamond-bright wings.

He wanted to beg forgiveness. Offer up his life for his grievous offense. Grovel. The creature that stood before him, glorious as the stars, was to be worshipped and feared. His chest ached as though he’d been kicked with stone boots, and tears of remorse welled in his eyes. It was as though he were a small boy again, running through the halls of Auberon’s palace, knowing that he would never be one of the Fair Folk-a toy, a pet, but never truly loved by them. By creatures like the goddess who stood before him. Her light poured down on him, and he knew that he was massively unworthy…

And then, just as suddenly as the starburst had shone, everything went dim again.

“Jackass.”

Sonny shook his head, confused and disoriented, his field of vision still light dazzled and spotted with afterimages. He blinked at the girl, who glared angrily at him as she did the clasp back up on her necklace.

“You almost broke it!”

For an instant, Sonny thought he still saw a sparkling aura surrounding her. But it was faint, ghostly. Then nothing. She could not possibly have been hiding behind a glamour. Sonny’s Janus sensibilities could rip through a Faerie disguise as though it were gauze, even this far from the Gate.

“Are you deficient?” The girl stuffed the silver pendant back down the front of her shirt. “What the hell are you staring at?”

Sonny climbed unsteadily to his feet. The girl had her mace out now and was aiming the sprayer squarely at the bridge of his nose.

“What is it-drugs or something? What’s wrong with you?”

“Who are you?” he asked, rubbing his arm where it still tingled.

“Shouldn’t you already know that?” she scoffed. “I mean, seeing as how you’re stalking me.”

“I’m not stalking you.” He shook his head. It did, he had to admit, probably seem that way. “Not exactly. I just thought you might be able to help me.”

“Gosh, you know?” She tilted her head, eyes still bright with anger. “I’m really not feeling particularly helpful at the moment. Maybe some other time. Oh, wait. Maybe not.”

Sonny moved off, frustrated and utterly out of his depth. “All right. I understand. I’m sorry if I frightened you.”

“Yeah, well. Try not lurking. And not attacking. I’m outta here,” she said, backing away. The mace never wavered. “And don’t you dare follow me.”

“I won’t. I won’t bother you again.” Sonny held up his hands, palms out in a placating gesture. “I promise.”

“You’d better not,” Kelley said.

She turned and ran.

She ran away from him. She was afraid of him.

Sonny didn’t like the feeling at all.

“I see that went well,” Maddox said dryly as he dispersed the veil that had kept him hidden from sight and stepped out from behind a Dumpster. Sonny turned to glare at him. “No, really. I think she likes you.”

“Maddox…”

“I’m already shutting up.”

“You were supposed to be keeping watch,” Sonny muttered.