Shadowspell

Chapter Four

I hadn’t been wrong about Keane and his talent for sneaking out at night. Though actually, I’m not sure sneak is the right word for what we did.

Finn had to think it was strange that Keane came over for a sparring session on a Friday night. Usually, we practiced in the morning, mainly because Keane wanted me fighting on an empty stomach. The one time I’d managed to snag a little breakfast before we started, I found out exactly why he preferred the empty stomach option. Let me tell you, that doughnut I’d sneaked didn’t taste nearly so good on its way back up.

In hopes that Finn wouldn’t get too suspicious about Keane’s unexpected arrival on my doorstep, we told him we were having a lesson to help me keep my mind off the fact that I was missing Kimber’s party. I was sure he wouldn’t buy it, but Finn was more trusting than me.

In typical, annoying Keane fashion, he’d refused to tell me what our plan of escape was. All he’d said was to pack my party clothes and be ready to go at a moment’s notice.

We practiced in the guardroom this time, right under Finn’s nose. Keane said he wanted his father to watch because he might spot any bad habits that Keane couldn’t see because he was up close and personal.

Finn was full of helpful pointers, and the more time Keane and I spent sparring, the more I thought that I was the dupe in this picture, that he’d never planned to help me but had said he would to keep me from trying anything on my own. I was sore, sweaty, and tired—and at the end of my limited patience—when Keane wrestled me to the mats with a spectacularly disorienting throw, then landed on top of me, his mouth near my ear.

“Be ready to go any second now,” he whispered, then jumped nimbly to his feet and gave me one of his condescending smirks.

I had no idea what he meant, and was about to give him a piece of my mind, when I finally realized what he was up to.

My little underground fortress had two bathrooms, one off my bedroom, and one off the guardroom. Even the Fae have to answer the call of nature. In my peripheral vision, I saw Finn heading toward the bathroom, and knew this was the break Keane had been waiting for.

As soon as the door closed behind Finn, I darted into my room and snagged the backpack I’d set right beside the door. My dress for the party was carefully packed inside, and I hoped it wasn’t getting all wrinkled. I slipped my arms through the straps and hurried back into the guardroom, where I found Keane quietly wedging a chair under the bathroom doorknob.

I had expected him to use some magical Fae ruse to get us out of here, not the tried-and-true chair-under-the-doorknob trick. I was actually kind of disappointed at the simplicity of it all.

“Hurry,” Keane hissed as he jerked open the front door. “That won’t hold him long.”

With a spike of adrenaline that was half excitement, half fear, I followed Keane out into Avalon’s massive tunnel system. We started down the tunnel at a brisk jog, Keane lighting our way with a flashlight. I hoped like hell he knew where he was going. I’d gotten lost in these tunnels once before, and it hadn’t been any fun.

We turned a corner at the first intersection we came to. I heard a faint pounding sound in the distance that might have been Finn hammering on the door, and a little shiver ran down my spine. I’d never seen Finn mad before, but I had a feeling that was going to change before the night was out. I wasn’t looking forward to it.

We took another couple of turns, and I started to slow down, running out of gas. Keane grabbed my arm and pulled me along.

“Keep moving,” he urged me. “If my dad guesses right and stays on our tail, he’ll catch up to us in no time.”

I didn’t have the breath to argue, so I forced my legs to keep moving. Our footsteps sounded frighteningly loud as we ran, but the stone walls of the tunnels bounced the sound around so much I knew it would be hard to judge which direction it came from.

My safe house is pretty deep in the mountain, far off the beaten path—the better to defend it, naturally. I wasn’t sure how we managed to get electricity and running water down there—the tunnels themselves weren’t lighted this deep in the mountain—but I’d never wondered enough to ask. Well-defended it might be, but it also made it quite a hike to get to the surface.

The Deep is relatively close to the surface, in an underground commercial district that was usually packed on a Friday night. The presence of the Wild Hunt had inspired a lot of people to stay home behind locked doors. You could definitely tell there was a pall on the city, and the news was full of reports about tourists cutting their visits short and fleeing to the relative safety of England.

Keane and I slowed to a casual walk as soon as we stepped into the first lighted tunnel. As usual, he looked fresh and ready to run some wind sprints, while I was gasping for breath and dripping with sweat, my muscles burning with the exertion. I really hoped Kimber would appreciate the effort it took for me to show up tonight.

We stopped briefly at a little tea shop, where I ducked into the restroom to change into my dress and wash the sweat from my face. I’d never heard of a teen’s birthday party where you had to wear a dress, but Kimber had been adamant: her party, her rules. (Never mind that her dad had kinda usurped her party by inviting bunches of people she didn’t know.)

The dress I wore was one Kimber and I had picked out together. It was a gorgeous deep blue silk that brought out the color of my eyes, and I instantly felt older and more sophisticated when I pulled it on over my head. The neckline was low enough to be sexy on a girl who actually had anything up top. On me, it looked a little more like wishful thinking.

I finished the outfit off with dangly earrings and thick, rhinestone-studded flip-flops. I’d let Kimber talk me into wearing a dress for this thing, but no way was I wearing heels!

I felt surprisingly self-conscious and shy when I stepped out of the bathroom. Keane had never seen me dressed in anything but workout clothes, and though it had never occurred to me that I’d care what he thought, I found myself holding my breath as he turned away from sniffing a cannister of loose tea and caught sight of me.

His eyes widened just a bit, and I watched him give me the once-over. Then he nodded at me. “You clean up nice.”

I remembered to breathe and resisted the urge to wipe my sweaty palms on my fancy silk dress. I guessed that was as much of a compliment as I was going to get out of Keane. I was unpleasantly surprised to find I wanted more. Could I be any more pathetically in search of approval?

“That makes one of us,” I muttered, and Keane laughed. He hadn’t bothered to change out of his sparring clothes, but since he didn’t exactly have to work up a sweat to beat me, he was at least presentable.

Okay, he was more than presentable. Those emerald green eyes of his could take the breath right out of my lungs no matter how he was dressed, especially with that one lock of jet-black hair that curled right over his eyebrow. And let’s not even talk about his body, which he liked to show off beneath tight jeans and even tighter T-shirts. I doubted very much that Kimber would mind his failure to dress up.

Keane held out his elbow to me. “Ready?”

I raised my eyebrows. What, was he going to escort me in like some matron at a wedding? The gesture seemed quaintly old-fashioned, especially on a self-proclaimed bad boy like Keane.

I found myself snaking my hand through the crook of his elbow without having consciously decided to do so. Blood warmed my cheeks as he led me out of the tea shop toward the stairway that led down into The Deep.

Despite my dad’s fear that the party would represent a “security risk,” Keane and I were stopped by a couple of bouncers demanding to see my invitation before we even got to the doorway at the club. I was glad I’d brought it with me, but even when I produced it—for Dana Hathaway “and guest”—the bouncers wouldn’t let us through because I wasn’t on “the list.”

I let out a little groan of frustration. I guess when I’d told Kimber I wouldn’t be able to make it, my name had gotten crossed off the list. Luckily, the bouncers weren’t total assholes. One of them stayed out in the hall with Keane and me, while the other ducked into the club with my invitation in hand to check with Kimber.

I chewed my lip while we waited. There was no way Finn wouldn’t guess where we were headed, which meant it wouldn’t be long before he showed up here himself. If we were inside the club, he might have a bit of a hassle getting through the bouncers, and then he’d actually have to find us before he could drag us back. But if we were just standing around in the hall like this …

“Are you going to get in trouble with your dad because of this?” I asked Keane while I tried not to fidget.

“I’m an adult,” he said with a cocky grin. “It’s not like he can send me to my room without my supper.”

He had a point, at least technically. Though I’d never been there, I knew Keane had his own apartment—or flat, as they called them here—and he actually supported himself as a self-defense instructor. But despite all that, and despite his attempts to make me respect him as a teacher, I often found myself thinking of him as a slightly older kid rather than as an adult.

Just as I was beginning to think there was no chance we were getting into the party before Finn intercepted us, the door to the club burst open and Kimber practically danced out into the hallway.

“Dana!” she cried, her face lighting up with pleasure. “I’m so glad you could come!”

She shocked me by throwing her arms around me and giving me an exuberant hug. The Fae were known for their quiet reserve, but obviously Kimber didn’t care to conform to the stereotype. I wasn’t the most touchy-feely person myself, but I hugged her back.

“This is such a nice surprise,” she said as she pulled away. “I thought you couldn’t come.”

I dropped my voice, not sure if the bouncers would kick me out if they heard me. “Yeah, well, we sort of snuck out.”

Kimber blinked and seemed to notice Keane for the first time. “Oh!” She had a very expressive face, and I could tell immediately that she liked what she saw. “You must be Keane,” she said. “Dana’s told me a lot about you.”

Her eyes twinkled with mischief as I gave her a dirty look. Most of the times I’d talked to her about Keane, it was to complain about him and his annoying—and often painful—training techniques. I was probably blushing, but the hallway wasn’t brightly lit, so I hoped no one could tell.

“Look, can we go inside now?” I said. “Before Finn catches up with us?”

“Of course! Come on, follow me.”

I noticed several things at once as Kimber led Keane and me into the club. First was that the music was so loud I felt like my eardrums might explode. Second was that it was absolutely packed with people, not all that many of whom looked like teens. Third was that the place positively reeked of roses.

To the Fae, the red rose indicates an affiliation with the Unseelie Court, and the white rose indicates an affiliation with the Seelie Court. Apparently, this was an integrated party, because red and white roses were arranged everywhere. There were huge centerpieces on the tables. There were garlands. There were potted roses lined up against each wall. There were even streamers of them hanging down from the ceiling.

I shot a questioning look at Kimber. She shrugged and looked unhappy.

“Three guesses who chose the decorations,” she shouted over the music.

But of course, one guess was plenty. It made me mad that Alistair was ruining Kimber’s party by making it into a political statement. It also made me realize that my dad might have been right to believe my appearance here could have political implications.

God, I hated politics! I wanted nothing whatsoever to do with all the crap that went on as the Fae candidates jockeyed for position, but being the daughter of one of those candidates dragged me into the thick of things anyway.

“Come on,” Kimber yelled, taking me by the hand and towing me through the crowd. “Let’s get you guys something to drink.”

I checked over my shoulder to make sure Keane was following. He was, but the look on his face said he already didn’t like this party. He wasn’t quite sneering, but it was close. Looking around at the partiers, I could see why.

Almost everyone was dressed in their semiformal best, and even in my quick glance around, I could tell this was a highbrow party. There were way more adults than you’d expect at a teen’s party, and most of them carried themselves with the snobby arrogance of the filthy rich. The teens in the crowd looked just as snooty, like they’d fit right in at some exclusive British boarding school. I knew Ethan and Kimber were far from poor, but neither of them put out the kind of “I’m too good for you” vibe most of these people did.

It was definitely not Keane’s crowd. Although Knights are members of the Sidhe—the aristocracy of Faerie—the rest of the Sidhe treat them like glorified servants, and I presumed that held true for sons of Knights, like Keane. The Sidhe, especially the ones who were born in Faerie, still thought racism and classism were socially acceptable. I wasn’t surprised that he wasn’t feeling entirely comfortable here.

To tell you the truth, it didn’t seem much like my crowd, either. I couldn’t help noticing that no one stopped Kimber to talk as she led us to the bar, and I wondered how many of them even knew—or cared—that she was the birthday girl.

I’d found out from my dad that the official drinking age in Avalon was eighteen, but that the law was rarely enforced. The bar at The Deep was ample proof. I spotted a girl sitting at one end of the bar who couldn’t have been more than fourteen or fifteen, drinking a bottle of beer right under the bartender’s nose.

“It’s an open bar,” Kimber said, “so order whatever you want.”

She ordered a martini—the bartender didn’t bat an eyelash—and Keane ordered a beer, but I stuck to Coke. Living with my alcoholic mom took a lot of the appeal out of alcohol for me. Kimber was the only person I’d ever told about what I considered my shameful secret, and I think she understood intuitively why I didn’t order alcohol. Keane was another matter.

“Coke?” he asked me incredulously. “Are you serious?”

I was blushing again, but it was way too dark in the club for anyone to notice. On the one hand, I didn’t want to seem like a baby. On the other hand, I wasn’t much of a conformist. Just because everyone around me was drinking themselves stupid didn’t mean I had to.

“You have a problem with that?” I asked, glaring up at him. My glare got a lot of practice when Keane was around.

“Leave her alone,” Kimber said, startling me by coming to my defense. “She can drink whatever she wants.”

The bartender slapped down a glass of ice with a splash of Coke in it. I picked it up and took a sip, pretending to ignore Keane.

“Quite a party you’ve got here,” Keane said, and even at the decibel level he was shouting, I could hear the disdain in his voice. “You sure they don’t mind breathing the same air as a lowly commoner like me?”

I smacked his shoulder, thinking I should have snuck out on my own. I could have handled the door-under-the-chair trick myself. Of course, that would have meant making my way to the party alone, which was a bad idea (a) because with my sense of direction, I’d have been lost in five minutes flat, and (b) because, hello, people were trying to kill me. Keane might not be a professional bodyguard like Finn, but I’d seen how good a fighter he was, and I trusted him to protect me. I figured sneaking out with him at my side might be a bit reckless, but wasn’t completely moronic like running off by myself would be.

“Could you just try not to be a jerk for maybe fifteen minutes in a row?” I asked him as he swigged his beer.

“It’s all right, Dana,” Kimber said with a smile. “Remember, you’ve told me all about him. I knew not to expect genteel manners.” The smile turned into a smirk very like Keane’s second-favorite expression.

“Wow, you really know how to insult a guy,” he said. I think he was trying to sound bored, but it’s hard to sound bored when you’re shouting over music.

Kimber’s eyes sparkled. “Actually, I do, but I’m trying to be a gracious hostess.”

Keane gave her a patently lewd once-over. She looked absolutely fabulous in a slinky red cocktail dress and strappy heels. Even though he was being deliberately rude about it, I couldn’t help noticing the spark of masculine appreciation in Keane’s eyes. I felt a quick stab of jealousy. He’d given me an approving look when he’d first caught sight of me in my party dress, but nothing compared to how he was looking at Kimber.

I was being a total dork about this. Keane was certainly hot, and he was occasionally a nice guy, but I wasn’t interested in him, not in that way. And Kimber was a full-blooded Fae, so of course she was prettier than me. I had no excuse for being jealous.

“Looks like you’ve got all the graciousness money can buy,” Keane said to Kimber. “I bet that outfit cost more than I make in a year.”

I opened my mouth to tell him to shut up, hoping Kimber would someday forgive me for bringing this asshole to her birthday party, but she’s pretty good at putting on her bitch face when necessary. Apparently, right now she thought it was necessary.

“Are you suggesting that I’m a snob?” she asked with an arch of an eyebrow. He gave her a “well, duh” look, which didn’t seem to faze her in the least. “One of us is acting snobbish right now, but it isn’t me.”

I “accidentally” stepped on Keane’s foot before he could lob another verbal grenade. “Why don’t you sit here at the bar and be broody and superior,” I told him. “Kimber and I are going to the ladies’ room.” It was the one place I could think of going where Keane and his attitude wouldn’t be able to follow. “We’ll be right back. Right, Kimber?”

She laughed and finished her martini in one big gulp. “Right-o!” she said. “Lead the way.”

Keane looked like he was about to object, but I turned away before he had the chance. Kimber took over the lead after a few feet, since I had no idea where the ladies’ room was. The music, the darkness, and the reek of roses combined to make my head throb. Maybe I should have stayed home after all.

The crowd pressed in on us, and I was jostled every other step. Most of the people here were Fae, which meant practically everyone was taller than me and I couldn’t see anything but the people directly beside and in front of me. All those bodies radiated a lot of heat—especially the Fae, whose body temperatures run higher than humans—and I was once again dripping with sweat, my hair plastered to the back of my neck. I didn’t dare look to see if my fancy silk dress showed sweat stains, because I had a feeling I already knew the answer.

Kimber and I finally broke through the crowd and slipped into the ladies’ room. I almost breathed a sigh of relief until I realized the situation had not improved. The ladies’ room was almost as crowded as the rest of the club, and though it was festooned with roses just like everywhere else, it wasn’t the scent of roses that clogged my nose. The air was so thick with smoke you could cut it with a knife.

Kimber gave a little dismayed whimper and leaned against the wall, closing her eyes. “This is not the kind of party I had in mind,” she muttered, and I knew it was true. Entitled rich kids are the same everywhere—even if they are Fae—and though Kimber had the money to fit in with that clique, it just wasn’t her style.

Trying not to cough from the smoke—cigarette and other—that filled the air, I slung my backpack off my shoulder and unzipped the front compartment.

“I brought you a present,” I told Kimber, hoping to cheer her up.

Her eyes popped open, and her jaw dropped. “You did?”

“Of course I did.” The invitation had specifically said we weren’t to bring gifts, but I figured that applied to Alistair’s cronies and their kids, not Kimber’s real friends. I pulled out a small, neatly wrapped package and handed it to her. “I hope you like it.”

“I love it already,” she assured me. Her eyes were shiny, and her lower lip quivered dangerously.

“Well, open it,” I urged.

Kimber bit her lip and picked at the tape, unwrapping the little box so carefully she could probably reuse the wrapping paper if she wanted to. She lifted the lid, and then pulled away the fuzzy cotton padding to reveal the contents.

What do you buy for your Fae best friend who you’ve only known a handful of weeks and whose father is rich enough she can mostly buy whatever she wants? I’d agonized over the question for days, poking around on eBay hoping to find something that would leap out at me.

What I’d eventually chosen was a handcrafted glass pendant. It was a gorgeous teal blue Chinese dragon hung on a black satin cord. The color had instantly reminded me of Kimber’s eyes, and the dragon had reminded me of her fiery temperament and courage.

Kimber lifted the pendant out of the cotton, and her lip was quivering again. This time, she wasn’t able to prevent a couple of tears from spilling over. I was so glad I’d decided to ignore the no-gifts thing.

“It’s beautiful,” she said breathlessly. “Here, hold this.” She shoved the box and paper at me so she could undo the clasp and put the pendant on. Then she checked it out in the mirror, her hand caressing its sleek curves. It didn’t go with the red dress at all, but she obviously didn’t mind.

For the second time that night, I found myself on the receiving end of an exuberant hug.

“Thank you so much!” she said. She let go of me and brushed away the tears. “This party was a total nightmare until you showed. And this is the best present I’ve ever gotten.”

My throat was feeling a little tight, and my eyes were stinging. But that was probably just from all the smoke. “Happy birthday.”

Her radiant smile made me glad I’d come.