“I have to go,” he began.
She pulled a phone out of her jeans pocket. “Number?”
Sionnach shook his head and patted his empty pockets. “No phone.”
“Really?”
“Truly.”
Carissa looked at him like he’d just confessed to living a life lacking electricity, automobiles, and internet. He smiled. None of those were a part of his life, but they were easy to hide. The lack of a mobile phone stood out though.
She looked around the street. It was mostly empty. A few older mortals pushed a baby carriage nearby; a weathered man scowled at something he’d heard on his headphones. There were, however, some girls sipping their drinks and laughing. After a moment, she took his hand and tugged him toward them. Amused, he followed.
“Do any of you have a pen?” she said when they reached the girls.
Two of them stared at her silently, but a third girl searched in her purse. What she pulled out of the bag, though, was an eyeliner pencil. She held it out. “This is the best I’ve got.”
Carrisa—who still hadn’t released his hand—took it, used her thumb and finger to slide the cap off and into her palm, and then caught Sionnach’s gaze. “Pull up your sleeve.”
He obeyed.
“This”—she scrawled digits on his skin—“is my number.” She blew on the skin as if the makeup needed to dry. Then she started to write again. “And my name. Call me.”
Sionnach glanced at the numbers and back at her eyes. “I’ll see you again,” he promised. He wasn’t sure about the calling her part, but he would see her. He leaned in and kissed her again, gently this time, and then walked away still smiling. He didn’t think mortals and faeries had anything but ultimate sorrow in their lives if they tried to spend eternity together—mortals died far too quickly and easily for that—but he wasn’t looking for forever. He already had plans for his forever.
As he stepped into the shadows, he faded from visibility again and began to run back to Silver Ridge. If he could get the final pieces in place, the day would be a victory. He’d hoped to be away from the town today, to stay out of the way so his feelings didn’t sway him from his plans, but that hadn’t worked. Now, he had to go meddle in Rika’s life and hope he didn’t lose sight of the goal.
CHAPTER 6
The area near the tracks in Silver Ridge wasn’t somewhere Rika usually lingered, and she wasn’t sure how long she could stay there. Now that they sat on a bench, the tracks weren’t near enough to cause her pain, but being near Jayce like this hurt. She’d grown so accustomed to being near him without his knowledge that she struggled with trying to figure out how close she could be now that he could see her.
They sat on the bench, very carefully not touching—in sharp contrast to Del and Kayley, who were standing a short distance away, so caught up in each other that they were seemingly oblivious to the world around them. But Rika was careful to keep a distance between her and Jayce. She told herself that it was to protect him, as if not touching would somehow trick the desert fey who watched, as if they didn’t already know that she was half in love with the mortal boy.
Although Rika could hear a group of faeries approaching her, she didn’t react. The town and the desert were filled with fey things. Many were harmless. She hoped that these were such faeries—until she saw them. They were some of the faeries who’d been on the edge of the cliff, and they were headed straight toward the bench where she sat with Jayce.
“She can’t stop us.”
“We ought to be allowed to play.”
“Keenan probably told her to spy on us.” Maili’s voice stood out from the rest, and Rika knew that if Maili came near, she would force the confrontation she’d wanted earlier. She probably wouldn’t don a glamour to appear human, so Rika would be left looking like she was swatting at empty air—or she’d have to endure an attack without reacting. Neither option sounded appealing.
Rika grabbed Jayce’s hands. “Can we go inside?”
“Inside where?”
Her gaze darted around. The only place nearby was a multilevel, tile-roofed, yellow-walled building where clusters of mortals were coming in and out. She pointed. “There.”
“Umm.”
“Please?” She stood and tugged so that he came to his feet beside her.
The faeries were almost too near now. Although Jayce couldn’t see them, he’d obviously noticed Rika’s tense posture and expression. He turned away to call out to Del and Kayley. “Hey.”
After a moment, his friends stopped kissing. Del, arms still around Kayley, answered, “What?”
“Dead Ends?”
Kayley shrugged and pulled farther away from Del. After they put their clothes to rights, Del and Kayley, each with an arm around the other, sauntered toward them. The couple was almost as bold as Summer Court faeries in their affection, and Rika couldn’t help but think that there were traits that were as much mortal as fey.
Together Rika and the three mortals walked to the door of the club. Del and Kayley seemed like they were trying to be polite to her, but they weren’t going out of their way to talk to her. Perhaps if she were someone else, their attitude would upset her, but considering how difficult she’d found even talking this slight amount, she was relieved by their feigned indifference. Plus, she’d watched them often enough to know that they weren’t truly indifferent; until they determined if she was staying, they simply didn’t see the need to bother getting to know her. They were Jayce’s friends, and he didn’t often date. He did have a lot of random conversations with girls he didn’t ever spend a second night hanging out with. There was no reason for his friends to think they’d see a girl who showed up out of nowhere again the next day. And they might not. She’d be there, but that didn’t mean they’d see her—they hadn’t the past few months despite how often she’d been with them.
In comfortable silence, they joined the small cluster of people outside Dead Ends. Like the rest of the town, the people here reflected an odd mix of styles. Some people were dressed in what Rika considered elaborate costumes, while others wore clothes as casual as Jayce’s were.
His hand tightened on hers as they joined the chaos inside Dead Ends—and she was grateful for his steady grip. The overflowing mass of people and thundering music made Rika want to flee.
Kayley and Del were being swept into a crowd of people, but Jayce didn’t join them. He wound through the bodies, holding tightly to her. When they found a bit of space to themselves, he leaned in closer so she could hear. “Are you okay?”
“Crowds.” She tried to smile, but she knew it must’ve looked pained because Jayce frowned and tried to lead her back outside.
“C’mon then,” he said. “We’ll leave.”
But three of the faeries had followed them inside. Two were plainly visible to humans, looking as menacing as some of the humans were trying to appear. The third faery was Maili; she had stayed invisible to the swarm of mortals in the club.
“Let’s go this way.” Rika tugged Jayce deeper into the crowd, pushing through the room as she looked for another exit. Her attention flitted everywhere, on windows too high up to access, exposed pipes overhead, shadowed corners. There were no exits she could see, no way to get Jayce to safety.
She maneuvered him so he was in the thick of the crowd with her. It wasn’t a complete solution, but she thought it would help.
Almost immediately, though, one of the faeries zipped toward them and clamped a hand down on Jayce’s shoulder. The faery tugged on Jayce, spinning him around and causing him to stumble. If not for the steel bracelet Jayce wore, he’d have been in a worse situation, but the bracelet brushed against the faery’s exposed skin. The burn of it caused him to release Jayce.