4

“I don’t know what his problem is,” I said as Michael and I left the school. “Why would he tell me to be careful if he hates my guts?”

“Because he doesn’t hate your guts. I think he likes you.” Michael was walking so fast I had to jog to keep up with him. “Isn’t it obvious?”

I gaped at him. “You’re not serious.”

“I am.” He stopped walking and turned to me to show he actually looked a little amused now.

“You think this is funny?” I asked.

“When I got here and you said he’d threatened you, I was worried you’d been in danger and I’d had no clue.”

“Kind of difficult for you to know what’s going on from the Shadowlands.”

“I know.” His amusement faded. “It’s disturbing to me.”

“He doesn’t like me. I saw it in his beady little faery eyes. He can’t stand me, actually. And he’s a little bit afraid of me. It’s a whole mix of unpleasantness.”

“Why would he be afraid of you?”

“He’s scared of my Darkling side. He thinks I’m all nasty and evil underneath my shiny, happy exterior.”

“Then for a king he’s a bit of a fool, isn’t he?”

“I totally agree. Do all faery royals have to take the throne so young? Maybe the power’s gone to his head.”

“The king and queen of the faery realm died recently. Rhys was their only son and heir to the throne.”

“Oh.” It hadn’t even occurred to me that he’d become king so young because his parents were dead. Then again, that was what would happen to me if my father died. It wouldn’t matter how old I was—I’d be queen of the Shadowlands.

I felt a sudden surge of sympathy for Rhys having to take on so much responsibility at his age. I didn’t want to feel it, but there it was. Had he been close with his parents? Did he miss them? Was this the reason for that grief I’d seen in his eyes earlier?

“How did they die?” I asked.

“I don’t know.” Michael shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans, looking suddenly uncomfortable talking about death with me in the middle of a cold but bright Erin Heights street. “It doesn’t excuse him from bothering you in any way, shape, or form. He needs to go back to his kingdom and keep his nose out of issues that have nothing to do with him.”

“Hopefully he’ll take the hint.”

Michael looked at me intensely for a moment. “Whether he likes you or not, I swear, if he lays one finger on you, I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop myself from hurting him. I don’t care if he’s a king.”

I gave him a slow grin. “And I appreciate that.”

He pulled me to him and kissed me quickly, then backed away a few steps, looking a bit guilty about what he’d done. “Can’t do that when we’re around your father.”

“What would he do if he found out?” I challenged. “And do we really care?”

“Princess, please. Let’s keep it a secret.”

I let out a sigh of frustration. “How can you be so accepting of everything? Dumb rules and lame behavior.”

“They might seem dumb to you, but they’re still rules that govern the behavior of everyone inhabiting the dark worlds. It’s how it’s always been.”

“Then it needs to change.”

That earned me an actual laugh from him. “Just because you don’t like a few things, everything has to change?”

That sounded about right to me. “Sure. Why not?”

He shook his head. “Let’s not argue. Let’s just go see your father. I don’t want to keep him waiting too much longer. I’m trying to detect the gateway. I know we’re close.”

“Fine, we’ll go see him,” I said. “But this discussion definitely isn’t over. Understood?”

His lips curled into a half smile. “Understood.”

“While you’re doing your gateway detecting, I have to call my mom quickly.” I fished into my backpack and pulled out my cell phone, pressing the speed dial to call home.

“Hey, Mom,” I said when she picked up on the third ring. “I just wanted you to know that after school I’m going out with Melinda for a bit.”

It was amazing how easily the lie spilled forth. I felt guilt swirl inside me, but I couldn’t tell her where I was really going, could I? And if I wasn’t home right after school, I knew she’d worry. I’d rather come up with a nice little white lie that didn’t hurt anybody.

“Oh, really?” Mom said, and I could hear disappointment in her voice. “I was hoping you’d be home right after school.”

“Why?”

“I finished my book today and wanted to celebrate with dinner out and a chick flick.”

My mom was a paranormal romance novelist. When she got into a new project, she lived and breathed the vampires or werewolves or whatever her characters were for months. When it was all done, she suddenly had a lot of time on her hands and liked to cram in a whole bunch of mother-daughter events and excursions before she started on her next book.

“I’ll be home later, I promise.”

“What time?”

“Uh … later?” I felt bad about being so vague, but it couldn’t be helped.

“Okay, well, instead of dinner out, maybe I’ll order Chinese food delivery. Will you be here by six?”

“Sure. I promise.” I glanced at Michael. “No later than six. And Chinese sounds great.”

“All right, then. Say hi to Melinda for me.”

“I will. Bye, Mom.” I hung up and let out a long, shaky exhale.

My father was under the impression Mom was newly married and happy without him all these years. The truth was, she’d been married four times in her ongoing search for Mr. Right and had just got rid of the most recent Mr. Wrong a couple days ago.

What would she say if she found out my father hadn’t really abandoned us on purpose? Would she consider giving him another chance?

The idea filled me with a strange sense of hope.

I pulled myself out of thoughts of playing matchmaker with my mom and dad and looked at Michael.

“Have you found the gateway?” I asked.

“Not yet.” His face looked strained from how much he’d been concentrating.

“Is there a problem?”

He scanned the street. “No. I just need another minute.”

“Really?” I was surprised. He hadn’t had any problem finding the shifting gateway that would lead us directly into the Shadowlands the other times he’d taken me there.

“After what happened with Elizabeth, I … I’m still recovering my strength,” he admitted.

My aunt Elizabeth had taken Michael’s amulet away from him, and he’d almost faded away to nothing before we got it back just in time. He’d regained his form quickly, but I guess it wasn’t something he could snap back from like a moment of wooziness.

“You’re okay, though?” I asked with concern.

He nodded. “I’m fine. Although, it might take me a few more days to completely regain my strength.”

“Can I help find the gateway? I do have a dragon’s tear, after all.” I extended my arm to show him my bracelet. “My father said it could help me get to the Shadowlands, but he didn’t tell me exactly how to do it. It’s like he automatically assumes I just know all this demon-related stuff. And, well, I don’t.”

Michael took my hand and turned it over so he could look closer at the crystal. “Do you wear this all the time?”

I nodded. “I haven’t taken it off once. Mom asked about it, so I told her I got it at the mall for five bucks.”

“It’s very valuable. Priceless, as a matter of fact.”

“You mean it’s not the latest trendy dark-world accessory?”

“Definitely not. I’ve never actually seen one before, only heard of them.” He ran his thumb over the thin gold chain and his touch made my skin tingle. “But, yes, I think we can use it to help us find the gateway, if you’re willing to give it a try.”

“Cool. Just tell me what to do. You can be my tutor.”

He laughed a little at that. “Never been anyone’s tutor before. But it’s really just a matter of concentrating on what you want—focusing your thoughts toward your goal. In this case, it’s finding the gateway, which is pretty simple. I’ve heard a dragon tear’s magic can do much more than that. But we’ll start with baby steps.”

“Baby steps are good.”

“Be careful. Magic sometimes comes with a price.”

“That sounds ominous. But I used it before and nothing bad happened. Of course, it wasn’t for this sort of thing.”

He shook his head. “I’m sure it’ll be fine, then. You’re not tapping too deeply into its magic. Besides, your father would never give you a gift that could potentially hurt you.”

“Let’s hope not.”

“Just concentrate. See the gateway in your mind. Focus on it.”

“And then what?”

“And then”—he shrugged—“you’ll either know where it is or you won’t.”

“Not an exact science, is it?”

“Afraid not.”

“Okay, here it goes.” I closed my eyes.

Concentrate on the gateway. I knew what it would look like. A translucent rectangle the size of a door, with glowing edges around a swirling kaleidoscope of color. Barely there, hanging in midair or against a wall. I focused all my thoughts on that image. Show me where it is.

After a few seconds I felt a sensation like fingers squeezing a sponge in my head. Hadn’t felt that the last time I’d tried to focus on the magic in my crystal. But maybe I hadn’t been concentrating quite this much. I felt the crystal heat up against my wrist. It was normally cold and had never warmed to my body temperature before.

Then, suddenly, I sensed where the gateway was. As if a GPS device had clicked on in the center of my brain, directing me to the right place, I knew where it was. Michael had been right—we were close.

I opened my eyes and felt a twinge of pain. I grimaced and brought my hand to my head. “Ouch.”

“What?”

“Headache.”

His hand was on my forehead. “Is it bad?”

“No, not really.”

He brushed his lips against my temple.

“Probably shouldn’t let my father see that, either, huh?” I grinned at him.

“Definitely not.”

The headache had faded to nothing as quickly as it had arrived. “Come on. I know where it is.”

I led him around a corner up ahead. We were only three blocks from the school and at the edge of the downtown business area. The gateway to the Shadowlands was near the back of a Starbucks and down an alley.

I felt suddenly nervous at seeing my father again, but I tried to be brave. “Okay, let’s go.”

“Princesses first.”

“Such a gentleman.” I turned from him toward the swirling gateway.

He grabbed my hand before I went through. “Princess, I just wanted to say thank you.”

“For what?”

“For wanting to ignore the rules when it comes to me. You don’t know how much that means.”

I smiled at him. “I guess I’m a rebel.”

“You’re so completely different from how I expected you to be. I still can’t get over it. You’re not a spoiled brat who thinks she can get whatever she wants whenever she wants it.”

“Maybe if I’d been born a princess, I’d be more like that.”

“Somehow, I doubt it.”

“I only want a few very specific things,” I said pointedly. “But I do get cranky if I can’t have them.”

I really didn’t care about any rules, especially those that told me who I was and wasn’t allowed to like. And I’d make that very clear to my father.

Michael was my boyfriend. And if my father didn’t like it … well, that was just too bad, wasn’t it?

I stepped through the gateway feeling a new surge of purpose. I could change things. I knew I could. Just because it had been one way for thousands of years didn’t mean it always had to be that way, did it? Shadows shouldn’t be forced to be servants. And they should be able to date whoever they wanted, whenever they wanted, without anyone telling them they couldn’t.

How difficult could it possibly be to change some stupid and outdated rules?