Illusions

She was glaring at David.

It was a nice change of pace.

But this did little to dissipate Tamani’s anger. He hated that he couldn’t go all out with his rival. Couldn’t fight David, couldn’t steal Laurel, couldn’t court her the way a faerie should be courted — not without giving them both away. He sat and fumed through Government. Laurel sat so close — just inches away, in the next desk over — but what did it matter? She may as well be a hundred miles away. A thousand. A million.

And, of course, she was a Fall faerie, which limited him in other ways. But he didn’t like to think about that.

About halfway through class Laurel passed him a note. He glanced at it — the results of the phosphorescent test on his sap. Thirty-seven minutes. Right between Laurel and Yuki. Tamani had to admit he didn’t really know what that meant — if anything. He took out a pen and started to write a response. Scratched it out and tried again. But they were the wrong words. Were there any right words with her anymore? With a sigh he shoved the note into his backpack with all his writing scribbled out. He didn’t look at Laurel; didn’t know if she even noticed.

Laurel waved at him as she left the classroom — concern in her eyes — but even that felt like mockery as Tamani dragged himself out of his chair, collected his meaningless, stage-prop pile of books and supplies, and headed to his next class.

By the time he’d finished second hour, he’d had enough. He escorted Yuki to her third-period class, but couldn’t bear to go to his own. After wandering the school grounds for a while, he walked out to the parking lot instead and slumped into the driver’s seat. With the top down and his shirt unbuttoned, he enjoyed the sunlight that filtered down through the autumn clouds.

A few minutes before the lunch bell, Tamani forced himself to return to the school, having made the same decision he made about twice a week. All of the heartache, the anger, the fear that this was as good as it was ever going to get, was worth it. Here, he could see her eyes and bask in her smiles — even when she wasn’t smiling for him. Every day was worth the pain.

But he didn’t have to like it.

The hall was empty. There were a few more minutes before the flood of humans would be released, and they would pour out of their classrooms, half climbing over each other to get to their meals, ravenous beasts all. He spun the sticky dial on his locker — not that he would care if someone made off with anything he kept in there — and yanked on the latch. He casually tossed his backpack in and tried to decide what to do for the lunch break. Would Yuki want to have lunch with Laurel’s group? He wanted to see Laurel, but he didn’t know if he could bear the sight of David. Not today.

Tamani heard footsteps and turned to see David walking along the opposite side of the hallway, glaring. A few other kids were milling about — they must have gotten out of class early. What was that saying humans had about speaking of devils?

Tamani knew he should turn away, ignore the boy’s dirty looks and petty one-upmanship. He knew better than to feud with a human. He had a job to do.

Instead, he returned David’s glare, measure for measure.

David slowed down, then stopped in front of Tamani, the air between them cooling tangibly.

“You got a problem, Lawson?” Tamani asked.

David hesitated. He was clearly out of his element. But Tamani knew from two years of experience just how stubborn and persistent this human boy could be. He wouldn’t back down. “You know what my problem is,” David replied.

“Let me rephrase,” Tamani said, taking two steps forward. “You have a problem with me?”

“I have nothing but problems with you,” David said, matching Tamani with two steps of his own, bringing him within arm’s reach.

Tamani took one more step forward, halving the gap, and felt, rather than saw, eyes turn toward them. “Tell me how you really feel,” Tamani said, so quietly he doubted anyone else even heard.

“Even my vocabulary couldn’t quite describe it,” David said, crossing his arms over his chest.

It wasn’t exactly trash talk — maybe nerd trash talk — but Tamani had to admit it was clever. “Luckily,” Tamani said, a malicious grin playing at the corners of his mouth, “I know a lot more words than you, oinseach.” He threw the Gaelic word at David with more scorn than the literal translation probably warranted. The lunch bell rang, but Tamani scarcely heard it.

“You’re just baiting me,” David said, but he sounded unsure. Hesitant. “You want me to make Laurel mad. You want her to feel sorry for you.” More students were gathering around them, hopeful for some entertainment.

“Not at all,” Tamani said, placing the fingertips of one hand against David’s chest. “I want to put you in your place, burraidh.” He pushed just hard enough that David had to take one small step backward to keep his balance.

The combination of confusion and anger had just the right effect. David stepped forward and pushed Tamani back. He could have kept himself upright, or taken David to the ground with his own momentum, but instead Tamani staggered back, then came forward with both hands outstretched. He put a lot of show into the push, but little effort; still David had to take two steps back this time. Before he could recover, Tamani moved in close and shoved him one more time, so David’s back hit the lockers with a rickety metal clang.

“Fight!” an anonymous student shouted from the crowd. Others took up the chant. “Fight! Fight! Fight!”

Oh yes, Tamani thought. A cornered animal will always fight.

As David’s fist slammed into Tamani’s jaw, he was forced to admit that the boy had a good arm. But Tamani’s pain was swallowed up in satisfaction; David had thrown the first punch. He was fair game.

Chapter Twenty-Two

LAUREL WAITED OUTSIDE CHELSEA’S CLASSROOM AND grabbed her arm as she walked out. “Are you and Ryan eating lunch with us today?” Laurel asked.

“I think so,” Chelsea said. “Why?”

“You just sneak off together sometimes,” Laurel said — though they seemed to be sneaking off a good deal less than usual these days. Chelsea steadfastly refused to confront Ryan about Harvard, and keeping her mouth shut about it seemed to be taking its toll. “I wanted to check.” The truth was, she didn’t want to face David alone. Not yet. She was still mad that he’d “bumped” into Tamani that morning. She didn’t think she had the patience to head off both guys’ bad behavior today.

Laurel heard the commotion before she saw it. She and Chelsea rounded the corner just in time to see David slam his fist into Tamani’s face. In the time it took her to blink, Tamani had David by the shirt. David took one lightning-quick blow to the stomach and doubled over, gasping for breath. Tamani held on and raised his free hand to strike again.

“Tamani!” She ran forward, shoving people out of her way to get to them.

Tamani held on to David’s shirt a moment longer, but when Laurel emerged from the crowd, he shoved David back, releasing his T-shirt and leaving a wrinkled circle where his hand had clenched it.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Laurel yelled, looking back and forth between them.

“He started it!” David shouted, looking like he was about to attack Tamani again.

“He hit me,” Tamani said calmly, addressing his complaint to Laurel with his hands resting easily on his hips. “What was I supposed to do? Let him?”

“You wanted me to hit you and you know it,” David said, lunging forward. Ryan grabbed David by the shoulder and pulled him back. David shoved Ryan’s arm away, but he didn’t try to go for Tamani again.

“Oh, please,” Tamani argued, looking at David. “You’ve been wanting to take a shot at me since day one, admit it.”

“With pleasure,” David growled.

“That’s enough!” Laurel yelled. “I can’t believe… what the… forget it!” she said, raising her hands sharply to cut off all protests. “You want me to choose? Fine, I’ll choose. I choose to walk away from you both! I don’t want either of you if you’re going to act like this. I’m through.” She spun on her heel and started shoving her way toward