“The Merrics can be very persuasive. They’ve got powers that no human should.” Greer backed away from me as if he wanted distance just from thinking about what they could do.
Lothaire. My tears were hot on my cold cheek, and I bit my lip so as not to howl in my tears. It was no use. My balled-up body kind of rolled over, leaving me scrunched up on the ground. Stupid Merrics. Stupid necklace. Stupid me. I stayed on the ground crying for a while. I didn’t even care I was bawling like that in front of Greer. Finally, he offered me a hand up.
I took it, and he helped me sit up again. “Feel better?”
I shook my head. “Not really.”
Greer handed me a handkerchief and a Cloverfield bar. “Come on.”
My eyes hurt from crying. Greer sat next to me. I shouldn’t have let myself cry like that, even if I’d needed it. I was so humiliated, I verged on tears again.
“Is this your first time away from home?” he asked me. I nodded. “That’s what I thought.”
The way he said it, I realized then he must have thought I was a child, and I desperately didn’t want him to think of me as a kid. “I was leaving for college soon though.”
Greer took my bar from me and unwrapped it.
“If it wasn’t for my grandma,” I admitted.
Greer handed the bar back. “She filled your head with talk of royalty?” he scoffed.
I shook my head. “Yes, but I thought it was her illness. I didn‘t know there was a second world or that I was a royal there.”
“So why are you here?”
The necklace was heavy on my neck. I was sick of not having anyone to talk to. I was sick of being alone even when I wasn’t. He was right. We were both keeping secrets, and I couldn’t keep this up. I had to make a choice. I either could trust Greer or I couldn’t. And if I didn’t trust Greer, why in the world was I with him?
“A fortune teller told my grandma I’d find a cure for her illness.”
That got Greer’s attention. He gawked, like he couldn’t believe what I had said. I had expected Greer to laugh at me, to make fun, but he replied without a hint of sarcasm. “A fortune teller told Helena you’d find a cure?”
“That’s what Grandma said. I didn’t really believe her until she gave me this.” I showed him my ring. “She told me to find the necklace that matched.”
Greer moved right before me to see the necklace. His face, his body were so close, and the awful cat urine odor had disappeared, replaced with the smell of old clover and mint. He was intoxicatingly close. “I don’t understand. What does Lothaire’s necklace have to do with anything?”
“How did you know the necklace was Lothaire’s?” I asked. I hoped, no, needed him to be honest with me too. Otherwise, I had made a mistake and I would have to leave.
“Believe it or not, Lothaire wore it on special occasions.”
“What?”
“Yeah, he wore it always. The tabloids wrote about it often. King of France wearing Helena Merric’s necklace. King of France still in love with Helena. Queen ready to leave.”
That explained it. “So everyone will recognize it?”
Greer nodded. “It’s famous, but I don’t understand what the necklace has to do with anything.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “She didn’t say.”
“What did she tell you exactly?” Greer was calm when he asked this, but I could sense an uneasiness about him. He turned the necklace over in his hands.
“I don’t know.” When I said it, he looked up. He was no longer focused on the necklace.
He said the next thing slowly like he was struggling to keep his thoughts. “Try to remember.”
Not easy with him so close. “She said find the necklace and...”
“What?” He was barely whispering.
“I don’t...” I swallowed. Our faces were inches apart. He leaned in slightly, licking his lips. He nodded. His breath was warm and inviting.
“Find the necklace and find the... find the...” I swallowed once more. “…words.”
Greer closed his eyes; I did too. The heat coming off him warmed me better, faster than the heat puck. I wanted very much to lean forward, to fill the tiny gap between us, but I didn’t. We stayed close for another moment before he pulled back, like he’d remembered something. I opened my eyes, feeling like a colossal idiot. I had completely misread the situation. He was looking at the necklace, and I was acting like he wanted to kiss me. He had to have noticed. Oh God. No wonder he took my hand with me acting like this. Please shoot me now. My face went blotchy, hivey red. Today needed to be over fast.
By that point, Greer had backed away about a foot. He said, “Think. Did she say anything else, like where you might find the words? Any of the words? Did she say the fortune teller’s name? Did you find the words? Anything?”
“No, that’s all she said.” I shook my head. “King Lothaire had the necklace, and I thought he possibly had the words too.”
Greer’s phone vibrated, and he took it from his pocket. “It won’t ever be that easy, not if I know the fortune teller. Did you tell anyone else about this?”
“No.”
“No one? Not even your doctor? Your parents?”
“No, only you.”
Greer gave me a strange half smile I swore looked like guilt. He stood up and walked towards the tent, changed his mind, and came back over. “We have a lot of work ahead of us.”
“So, you will help me with this?” I didn’t know how Greer could help me, but my chances of figuring it out were higher with him working with me.
He nodded, and I jumped up and hugged him. I wasn’t alone. I had Greer.
He let me hold him for a brief time until he announced, “I’ve got to make a call.”
Instantly, I panicked. “You won’t tell them what I told you, will
