Hold Tight

let me know he had left, for now.

After hiding any evidence that we’d been at my house and not in school, we went to Isaac’s. His parents wouldn’t be home until later. Plus, his room was the only place we had that was intruder-proof.

“You know, life used to be so much simpler before you embraced your powers,” Josh gibed, picking up a Rubik’s Cube from Isaac’s dresser and twisting one side. “No spiteful ex-friends, no worrying about hexes, and no pissed-off faeries.”

I grabbed the cube from him. “Ha, ha. And it was Emma’s going Dark Side that pushed me to search out my powers.”

“I know.” Josh rubbed his hands together. “So what do we do now?”

I plopped down on the bed with enough force to send Kaylee toppling over on the mattress next to me. I looked at her. “Sorry.” There was only one solution I could think of to keep my family and friends safe. “It’s my fault Reed’s here. Maybe I should stop fighting him. Make a deal. You know, I’ll go with him if he lets me come back and visit.”

“Hell no!” Isaac snapped at the same time Kaylee said, “You’re not going anywhere with that nut job.”

“Are you crazy?” Josh added.

Kaylee righted herself. “Get that thought out of your head.”

“We’ll find another way to get rid of him,” Isaac said. He sat on his dresser flicking his fingers, sending strings of visible energy soaring through the air. The whitish-gray wisps faded before they hit anything.

I pulled my knees to my chest and hugged them, rocking back and forth on the bed. “He threatened to hurt Chase and Dad.”

Isaac pushed off his perch, slid behind me, and wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me against his chest. I sank into him.

“We aren’t going to let that happen,” he assured me, but I knew he couldn’t guarantee their safety.

Josh lowered himself onto the sphere chair and, resting his head back, stared at the old-fashioned chandelier. “Dude, you going to tell us the real reason Reed’s so pissed off at you? You already told us you and Heather were broken up when she summoned him, so skip the bullshit about liking the same girl.”

Isaac rested his chin on my head. “I may have implied that I would burn his kingdom to ashes if he didn’t take his ass home.”

“You want to elaborate on that?” Josh asked.

Isaac sighed. “When Heather realized she was in over her head, she asked for my help. She’d really pissed him off, and he was determined to teach her a lesson.”

I looked over my shoulder at him. “She planned on trapping him here. Reed said he doesn’t take kindly to humans who threaten him.”

“Yeah, I found out about her diabolical plan around day four. She was selfish and petty, but that didn’t mean she deserved to lose her family. I spent six days trying to get the jump on Dellis. I couldn’t shove his ass back through the door Heather had opened, and he couldn’t pull her to the other side because she hadn’t eaten anything he’d offered her. But I did manage to find the door she’d created. Did I tell you my grandfather had a spell for eternal fire?”

Josh let out a low whistle.

“What’s that?” Kaylee’s gaze traveled from Josh to Isaac.

“It’s dark magic,” Josh replied. “When cast, the flames never die. They devour everything in their path.”

I gasped. “Were you really going to set his realm on fire?”

Isaac gave me a squeeze that was the equivalent of Yes and I’m sorry all in one. “I had bet Dellis wouldn’t take the chance that I was bluffing, and I was right. He agreed to return home, and in turn I promised never to harm a faerie of his court.”

“He can’t yank Madison through the door, can he?” Kaylee asked. “I mean, the unity spell prevents that, right?”

Isaac’s silence was answer enough. The unity spell had bound my aura to Isaac, preventing Reed from being able to drain me of it, but it wouldn’t stop him from dragging me kicking and screaming to his world. Josh was the one who spoke up.

“We think the only reason he hasn’t done just that is because Madison hasn’t consumed enough of their food.”

I only half-listened as they continued to discuss the ways of the faerie world. I’d had enough miserable news for one day.

When four o’clock rolled around, I asked Isaac to take me home. The first thing he did when we got there was cast an intention ward on my room. Anyone who planned to harm or trick me wouldn’t be able to enter. He had wanted to cast the spell on the entire house, but living with a six-year-old who thought it was fun to jump out of closets or steal French fries off other people’s plates would have meant we’d vanquished Chase from his own home.

Isaac offered to stay until my dad got home, but discovering Reed had stolen some of my aura had left me feeling violated. I just wanted to take a shower. Besides, I’d gotten the impression that Brea wanted to help me, and I was sure she wouldn’t show up as long as Isaac was around.

I stayed under the hot water until my fingers resembled prunes and the spray ran cold. Dad and Chase got home a few minutes before six. To avoid having to leave the safety of my room, I told them I wasn’t feeling well. In reality, I was afraid Reed would return. I wasn’t sure how much more of his mind tricks I could stand before I caved and drank an entire flask of the clear blue liquid just to silence the ache that accompanied his visits.

At one point, I swore I was being watched and nearly leaped out of my skin when Chase screamed, “Boo!” and attempted to jump into my room—only to hit an invisible wall and ricochet backward, landing on his butt in the hall instead. Bursting into laughter, I rushed to help him up.

“Are you okay?”

He looked straight ahead of him into my room. “What was that?”

You slammed into a magical barrier. “You hit the doorframe.” I pulled him to his feet.

He swiped a hand through the open doorway. I couldn’t help but smile knowing that, thanks to Isaac’s ward, Chase had only been blocked from entering my room if he planned on playing a prank on me.

He shrugged and said, “Dad wants to know if we can eat your tacos.”

“Go for it.”

“Thanks!” He scrambled down the stairs. “Dad, she said yes!”

I worked on homework, still hoping Brea would show up. In the meantime, Reed’s sad ballad managed to worm its way into my head. I couldn’t sense him, though, so I was pretty sure I was still alone. Stuffing my earbuds into my ears, I cranked my favorite playlist and drowned out the depressing melody.

Little did I know things were about to become much worse.

Chapter 19 Crash

Saturday, Dad sat at the kitchen table with his eyes half-closed. The small television in the corner aired the morning news, but the volume was too low to hear what the pert reporter in a way-too-pink suit had to say. Dad still had on the sweats and T-shirt he’d slept in.

“No work today?” I asked, surprised to see him clutching a cup of coffee instead of his thermos. I opened the fridge and grabbed the orange juice.

“Chase isn’t feeling well. I want to take him to the walk-in clinic when it opens at nine. Caden and Reed are in charge until I get there.”