One day stretched almost seamlessly into the next. Or it least it felt that way to me, being lost in one long unending nightmare. Mom was happy now that I drove myself to school in the mornings, and as usual I picked up Abby along the way. She fiddled with the radio until she found a song she could sing to. I glanced at her from the corner of my eye. She seemed happy. Too happy. Why did it worry me so much?
Turning my attention to the road, I concentrated on navigating the slick streets of Drearyton Cove. A town not known for filling potholes, as we were bounced out of our seats more than a few times along the way to Abby’s house. But I didn’t realize how heavily I was pressing on the gas until Abby clutched the seat and screamed. I slammed on the brakes and swerved to avoid a crevice in the road that could have swallowed the front end of my car in one gulp and nearly missed slamming into a parked minivan.
Her head whipped in my direction. “Oooh-kaaay, are ya drunk? Because that’s information I should have known before agreeing to death by minivan. What’s with the speed demon?”
Putting the car in park, I slumped against the steering wheel. I hadn’t realized the draining effect Abby’s obsession was having on me. And that bothered me more than anything else. Who cares what he did? As long as he kept her safe and in one piece, what was the harm? Abby was into him, and once she made up her mind about who she liked…well, even a supernatural being would be hard pressed to untangle themselves from her web. It made sense for them to hook up while he was here. So why did the whole idea make my teeth grind?
Abby regained her composure and squinted over at me. “You’re stressed. Is this about Zanthiel?”
When I didn’t answer right away, she nodded. “It is, isn’t it?”
I cast a furtive glance in her direction. “Do you think he’s the best choice?” I said quietly.
“You’re being judgey and you don’t even know him.”
“I know his type. Everywhere he goes he leaves behind a wreckage of girls’ hearts.”
“Ha ha.”
“I’m serious, Abby, falling for a guy like him could be dangerous to a girl’s sanity.”
She laughed. “That’s so not a problem for me. While I appreciate the support and grandmotherly warnings and all, I’m fine. Maybe I’ll be the one he falls in love with.”
If only she knew how unlikely that was.
“Anyone that hot can’t be all bad.”
“Yes. They can.”
Zanthiel sauntered toward us and Abby gave him a mischievous grin.
“Then we’ll have fun finding out just how bad.” She winked.
I sighed. Impossible. He totally wasn’t helping matters looking all teen-mag-heartthrob in his black jeans and smoke-grey pullover that accentuated his eyes and lean physique.
Zanthiel kissed Abby fully on both cheeks, before turning to greet me.
“Hello, Lorelei.”
“Hi,” I said, and quickly diverted my gaze from the affectionate way he caressed her arm. I tried to picture Zanthiel, or any Shadow faerie, in love. It really didn’t seem like an emotion he frequented. But then my father had loved my mother according to her, so maybe it was possible.
Then I noticed the purplish bruise on his prominent cheek bone. It was faded but even with his quick healing I could tell it was fresh.
“What happened?” I pointed.
“Nothing of any importance. I had a small disagreement.”
I frowned, suspicious. “With who?” I asked slowly.
“Oh yeah. I heard about that,” Abby interjected. “You and Adrius had it out? Weird, I didn’t think you guys knew each other.” She looked back at me.
Panicked, I bit down on my lip at a loss for what to say. How had people found out about their fight?
“We didn’t. But we do now.” Zanthiel kept an even tone. He stroked her cheek and she immediately lost her train of thought. His hooded silver gaze drifted to me as his hand slipped from her face back to her arm.
“I am heading home, ladies,” he said, giving me a secret glance. “I will see you tomorrow, Abagail.”
She was actually speechless for a rare moment, and we watched him head for the forest. She looked at me questioningly. “Class hasn’t started yet.”
“Bad boys cut class, right?” I shrugged.
She stared after him, until I shook her arm. “So, you like him. I get it.” I wasn’t sure if I should ask more about the fight or let it stay forgotten. She couldn't have heard much if she hadn’t bothered to mention it. But if it was public, we might need damage control. It was dangerous enough for my human friends without knowing secrets that could put them in more danger.
“Ok, I’ll stop talking about him.” She paused for all of three seconds. “Do you think he likes me? Because he gave me the eye all day yesterday.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Ok, I’m not getting any feedback here. Hellooo?” She snapped her fingers and pouted.
“I’m sorry, Abby. Of course he likes you. Look at you. He’d be crazy not to. And the fact that you like him… well he should consider himself lucky.” I forced a smiled.
****
Music class had been weirdly awkward lately, especially when we were in the classroom and not onstage rehearsing. I’d lost count of how many people were freezing me out over being given the lead in Phantom of the Opera. What I wasn’t expecting was for Adrius to be one of them. I glanced over at him sitting stoically across from me, eyes glued to the front of the class. The black shirt he was wearing highlighted his impeccable form, hinting at taught muscles, all lean and strong. No one had any clue how strong.
But something was wrong. Really wrong. Usually I could tell what it was or where it was coming from. Or at least if I was supposed to do something about it. But this was different. There was just this overwhelming sense of foreboding, and a knowing that things were about to get messy. I’d heard rumors of some kind of altercation that happened the night before, involving Adrius and Zanthiel, but I was waiting for one of them to fill me in.
“Lorelei. Class is over.” His sharp tone interrupted my thoughts and threw me off guard. That was happening to me a lot lately. Getting lost in my thoughts, and not realizing huge amounts of time had passed by. I was as mystified by it as I was by his mood.
“Something wrong?” I asked mildly, taking in his deep scowl from the corner of my eyes.
“It’s nothing.” It was more of a grumble than a reply.
I looked up into his stormy olive eyes and he looked away. Clearly this was not nothing… but I knew him well enough to know that I wouldn’t be getting any answers by pushing harder. With a lingering stare I shrugged and went back to writing down the assignment I’d missed.
Two seconds later a book slammed shut and chair legs screeched across the floor as Adrius rose abruptly and left the room.
I sighed. What was going on with everyone? I hadn’t been able to get a straight answer from anybody who was there that night. I’m sure that was partly because Zanthiel had used his mind control thing to make them all forget the details. All I got were fuzzy recounts of what took place. An argument. My name thrown in. A lot. And now this. Yeah, enough. My patience had run out. I wanted answers and I was getting them now. I closed my book and pushed back my chair, prepared to find Adrius and demand he talk to me. I didn’t have to go far. Turning around he was there, like a wall blocking my passage.
I squinted up at him. “So this ‘nothing’ that you claim is going on…. Care to elaborate?” I could feel the anger seeping from my muscles as I looked into his face and watched the parade of emotions flit across his eyes. “You know I’m not letting it go, so you might as well just spill.” I folded my arms, without taking my eyes off his. Hopefully he knew I meant business.
A touch of a smirk played at the corner of his lips before he replied. “And to think I used to call you stubborn.” There was another pause as he sifted through words, trying to select the right ones. “I ran into Zanthiel last night.”
I nodded. That much I’d already heard. “What happened?”
“We had a disagreement, you could say.”
I gave another nod, slowly, bracing for what was coming. “Just spit it out already,” I said, the painfully slow way he was dragging this out was killing me. “What were you fighting over this time?”
“It was Venus.”
Something lurched inside me, and I bit down on the inside of my cheek. I tried to look calm and unbothered, but it was no use. Just the sound of her name sent me into a state of panic. She was a destructive force in my world and wouldn’t stop until there was nothing left. It was bad enough both Adrius and Zanthiel had resigned to an eternal tug-of-war with my soul. But with Venus thrown into the mix, her crimson hooks firmly embedded in both of them… well, let’s just say I’m watching my back. And theirs.
“It’s fine now. We’re good.”
“You're good,” I repeated with disbelief.
“You have nothing to worry about, Lorelei,” he said and forced a small smile.
He was a poor liar, but I tried to smile anyway.