hang up the coat Brea had borrowed. “If you’d like, that is. Just don’t let my brother or Dad see you. I’d have a hard time explaining your pointed ears and sparkling cheeks.”
Her fingers trailed over my dresser as she spoke. “I wouldn’t want to overstay my welcome. Besides, it’s not just—”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the flower she’d put in her hair fly across the room. She spun around, mouth open and hand raised, paused, and snatched a daisy from the vase.
“Didn’t like the iris?” I picked it up and stuck it in the middle of the bouquet.
“The red matches my top better.”
“Brea, you said you help humans in exchange for their company. Consider sticking around me repaying my debt.” When she continued to look hesitant, I added, “It’s been three days, and I didn’t even know you were still here. Really, it’s okay. Stay as long as you’d like.”
The corner of her mouth quirked upward. She inclined her head in a formal manner, and I could totally picture her ruling a kingdom.
I climbed into bed and grabbed my pillow, placing it in my lap as I leaned against the wall. “Tell me something else about your home.”
She joined me, sitting with her legs tucked under her. “What do you want to know?”
I peppered her with questions: “Where do you live? Do you go to school? Why are there different realms? How about boys? Anyone special at home?”
Brea giggled. “You are a curious one.” She peered off to the side, thoughtfully. At last, she said, “Let’s see…my family’s home is quite big. Have you been to Bavaria?”
“Germany?” I’d never been out of the United States.
“Yes. There’s a castle there, Neuschwanstein. It’s quite uncanny how much the white brick, arched windows, and many towers capped in blue resemble my home. Makes me wonder who copied from whom.” She tapped her lip and then continued, “We don’t have schools like you do. Our elders teach us what we need to know.”
“Sort of like being homeschooled,” I said. “How about the realms? What’s with that?”
With a dismissive wave of her hand, she replied, “Humans and Fae didn’t exactly get along when we shared one world.”
“Faeries used to live here? Why’d things change?”
“Some faeries—a lot of them, actually—liked to play tricks on humans. Innocent pranks, really: hiding a set of keys, stealing trinkets, taking the last of the cream.”
“I bet that’s why humans think faeries work for cream,” I interrupted. “But none of those things warrant banishment.” Humans played pranks on each other too, but they weren’t exiled to another realm.
She looked away, sheepishly. “Well, it was probably the stealing of babies and the tainting of human food with
“So our ancestors didn’t get along and totally ruined it for us.” I brought my knees to my chest and rested my chin on my pillow.
She ran a finger over the stitching on my comforter. “Not all Fae are as charming as I, and not all humans are as accepting as you.”
“I suppose.” I stifled a yawn. “What are the guys like in…what’s the name of your home?”
“Sanctus, and the boys are stubborn, egotistical, and can be quite vindictive.” She paused. “Ha! Adorable, gentlemanly, and benevolent I’d like to see.”
I laughed. “I take it you aren’t seeing anyone right now.”
“What?” Her eye snapped to mine. “Right now? Of course I don’t see anyone!”
“Really? I find it hard to believe that a princess isn’t dating anyone.”
“Dating? Oh, no.” She waved her hand from side to side. “Definitely not.”
“The guys in Sanctus can’t be all be bad.” I closed my eyes for a moment.
“You’d think differently if you met a male Fae.” She paused. “You’re tired.”
“It’s been a long day,” I admitted. Then I wondered if I was supposed to offer her my bed. After all, I couldn’t ask a princess to sleep on the floor. I wasn’t even sure if offering up the couch downstairs would be appropriate.
Before I could say anything, though, she stuffed her feet into my boots, snatched the jacket from the closet, and waltzed to the door. “I think I’ll visit the Hammond Castle. I’ve never been. You?”
“No.” I glanced at the clock on my nightstand. It was almost midnight. “But they’re closed.”
“That’s not a problem.”
“If you say so.” I yawned and crawled under the covers. “Thanks for the bouquet.” I breathed in deeply, savoring the delicious fragrance. “It’s amazing.”
She winked and glided gracefully into the hall as I drifted into a dreamlike state. I walked through green meadows surrounded by beautiful flowering trees. Shades of creamy white and vibrant pink could be seen for miles.
A cold chill brushed the back of my shoulder. Snuggling further under the comforter, the scene in my head switched to a winter wonderland. A sheet of ice coated the branches of the trees and the fragile petals of the flowers. I shivered, breathing in a woodsy scent. Pine, I decided in my fog. I nestled further under my cotton cocoon and fell into a deep sleep.
Chapter 9
My mind was hazy when I woke on Monday. The blankets twisted angrily around my legs as if I had tossed and turned all night.
In Brea’s absence, the spring bouquet on my dresser had developed a coating of frost to mimic the world outside. With my deep purple comforter wrapped around my body, I slid out of bed and examined the flowers. Beneath the crystallized frost on the petals and leaves was a thin layer of ice, and each stem was encased in its own frozen tube. As I marveled at how perfectly preserved in time the irises and daisies were, I noticed a few sprigs of pine mixed in. It was an incredible arrangement.
“Madison!” Dad yelled upstairs, startling me and kicking my butt into gear all at once. A quick glance at the clock let me know my ride would arrive any minute.
I shimmied into a pair of skinny jeans, threw on a navy sweater, and grabbed my backpack. To make sure Dad didn’t notice the frozen bouquet, I closed my bedroom door before jogging downstairs.
“I’ll see you later,” I called to him. I stepped outside as Isaac pulled up next to the curb.
“Did you talk to your parents last night?” I asked as soon as I opened the passenger door.
Isaac waited until I got in to answer. “Yeah. They were sure we did something wrong.”
“Scrying requires a bowl of water and low lighting. How exactly can one mess that up?”
He shrugged and shifted into first. “Once my dad gets something in his head, it’s not worth arguing with him, and I knew he’d want to try himself. Thirty minutes later, he was as perplexed about not seeing her as we were.”
“Are you sure we’d get a reading on Natalie if she was—” I swallowed “—dead?”
“Positive. With how hard we were focusing on finding her, we would have yanked her spirit out of the afterlife.”
I slumped lower in my seat as I tried to convince myself that not being able to see Natalie through divination was a good thing.
We took a detour through the coffee shop’s drive-thru on the way to school. Natalie’s friendly brown eyes stared at us from a missing person’s flyer taped to the glass of the pickup window. Seeing it made me feel like a
