Spells

TWENTY-FOUR

SILENT AND BROODING, LAUREL AND TAMANI passed through the gateway. The familiar brigade of sentries greeted them. Shar stepped forward and glared at Laurel as he addressed Tamani. “We have a visitor.”

“Trolls?” Tamani stiffened and pushed Laurel back toward the sparkling gate. “Laurel, back to Avalon.”

Shar rolled his eyes. “Not trolls, Tam. Do you think we’d have let you through if there were trolls waiting?”

Tamani sighed and dropped his hands. “Of course not. I didn’t think.”

“It’s the human boy. The one who was here last autumn.”

“David?” Laurel said, her voice weak. How did he find out?

Shar nodded as Tamani’s jaw stiffened. “I’ll take her to him,” Tamani said, stepping forward. “Where is he?”

“He’s keeping his distance,” Shar said, gesturing vaguely with his head. “Out by the house.”

“I’ll be back,” Tamani said, wrapping his hand around Laurel’s upper arm and pulling her in the direction of the cabin. As soon as they were out of sight of the gate, he dropped his arm.

“I want to talk to him,” Tamani said, his voice low.

“No!” Laurel insisted. “You can’t.”

“I want to know what he’s doing to help keep you safe,” Tamani said, not meeting her eyes. “That’s all.”

“Absolutely not,” Laurel said through clenched teeth.

“How much are you going to throw away over David?” Tamani asked, exasperated. “Me, obviously. But what else? Your life? Your parents’ lives? Even David’s life, so I don’t come in and put a hitch in your little romance? I just want to talk to him.”

“You want to intimidate him. Threaten his position. I know you, Tamani.”

“I may as well, since he’s here,” Tamani growled, glancing up the path.

“I didn’t ask him to come,” Laurel said, not quite sure why she felt compelled to justify herself.

Tamani was silent.

“He shouldn’t be off work yet. He shouldn’t even know I’m here.”

Tamani stopped abruptly and turned. “You lied to him?” His face was unreadable.

“I—”

“You lied to him to come out and see me?” Tamani laughed. “You lied for me. I feel special.” His voice was sharp and harsh, but there was something else behind it. Appreciation. Satisfaction.

Laurel scoffed and started to walk away. “Don’t even think that; it wasn’t for you.”

Tamani grabbed her arm and whirled her around so quickly she stumbled forward against his chest. He didn’t try to embrace her, just held her arms as she stood sprawled across him. “Wasn’t it? Tell me you don’t love me.”

Laurel’s mouth moved, but she said nothing.

“Tell me,” he said, his voice sharp and demanding. “Tell me David is all you need or want in your life.” His face was close to her, his soft breath caressing her face. “That you never think of me when you’re kissing him. That you don’t dream about me the way I dream about you. Tell me you don’t love me.”

She looked up at him, desperation consuming her. Her mouth felt dry, parched, and the words she tried to force out wouldn’t come.

“You can’t even say it,” he said, his arms pulling her in now instead of holding her steady. “Then love me, Laurel. Just love me!”

His face was filled with a yearning she could hardly bear. She couldn’t leave him again. Not like this — not now that he knew. Why couldn’t she hide it better? Why did she keep coming back when she couldn’t stay? It was hurting him more than it was hurting her. How was that love? Love wasn’t supposed to be selfish.

His lips were on her face now, in her hair. It was as if every emotion he had stifled, every temptation he’d resisted, had burst forth like a roaring river. And the current threatened to carry her away.

She forced herself to open her eyes. It didn’t matter what she felt — she couldn’t be with him. Not now. As long as she lived in the human world anything with Tamani would only be halfway. She would hate it and — even though she knew he would disagree — eventually, he would resent her for it. She wasn’t ready to leave her human life behind. She wanted to graduate from high school and decide for herself what to do after that. She had family and friends and a life to live — a life she couldn’t live with Tamani. She closed her eyes again, forcing away the dream of him. It wouldn’t be a dream; it wouldn’t have a happy ending. She had to send him away.

It was now or never.

“I don’t love you,” she whispered, almost losing her nerve with his mouth against her neck.

“Yes, Laurel, you do,” he whispered, his lips brushing her ear now.

“I don’t,” she said, her voice stronger now, finally accepting what had to be done. She put both hands on his chest and pressed back firmly. “I don’t love you. I have to go back. And you are not coming with me.”

She turned before she could change her mind.

“Laurel—”

“No! I said I don’t love you. I…I hardly even know you, Tamani. A handful of afternoons, a trip to a festival — that doesn’t equal love!” she insisted. She didn’t know what else to do. He was right; leaving him with hope for their future every time she saw him was cruel. Unspeakably cruel. She had to make him believe it wouldn’t happen. It would hurt less in the long run. “I’m going to see David,” she said, hurling the last of her ammunition at him and turning before she could see his reaction. She wasn’t sure she could bear it.

She walked toward the cabin, expecting Tamani to stop at any moment. But at the edge of the forest, he was still right on her tail. “Stop following me,” she hissed.

“I don’t think you’re in any position to order me around,” he said tersely.

They broke from the tree line together, Tamani just behind Laurel’s left shoulder. Laurel’s eyes met David’s instantly…a second before he saw Tamani. His eyes went back to her again, full of hurt and accusation. He scooted off the trunk of her Sentra and started to walk toward his car.

“David!” Laurel called, lifting her foot to run.

Tamani’s hand shot out and grabbed her wrist. He pulled her around and before she could protest, his lips came down hard against hers, his kiss urgent and demanding and full of a heat that swept Laurel up for two seconds before she pushed him violently away.

She looked toward David, hoping he had missed it.

He was staring right at them.

David’s and Tamani’s eyes met and locked.

Tamani still had a hold of Laurel’s wrist. She yanked it away. “Go away,” she said. “I want you to just go!” Her voice was starting to tremble. “I mean it!” she yelled. “Go!”

His face was tense, his jaw flexed as he stared at her. She could hardly stand to meet his eyes. They were an ocean of betrayal. They probed her, searching for the smallest sign that she didn’t mean it. That spark of hope that never seemed to go out.

She refused to drop her gaze. It was better this way. Someday maybe…she couldn’t even think about it. He had to go. He had to leave. It wasn’t fair to keep going on like this.

Please leave, she thought desperately. Please go before I change my mind. Go.

As if hearing her silent thoughts, Tamani turned without a word and walked silently into the trees, disappearing before her eyes.

Laurel couldn’t look away from the spot where Tamani had been just a second earlier. She knew she needed to. The longer she kept looking the harder things were going to be with David.

She ripped her eyes away. David was already at his car door.

“David!” she called. “David, wait!” He paused but didn’t turn to her. “David, don’t go.”

“Why not?” he asked, his eyes locked on the driver’s seat, refusing to look at her face. “I saw what happened. All that’s left is for me to imagine what I didn’t see.”

“It wasn’t like that,” she said, guilt and shame pounding through her.

“Wasn’t it?” He turned now and faced her, his expression flat. If he had looked sad, or even angry, she could have accepted that. But he looked neutral, like he didn’t care at all.

“No,” she said, but her voice was quiet.

“Then what was it like, Laurel? Because I’ll tell you how things look from my point of view. You lied to me to come out and see him, to be with him!”

“I didn’t lie,” Laurel protested weakly.

“You didn’t say the words, but you lied all the same.” He paused, his jaw clenched, his hands tense on the car door. “I trusted you, Laurel. I have always trusted you. And just because you didn’t actually tell me a lie doesn’t mean you didn’t break my trust.” He looked up at her. “I got off work early because I was worried about you. I was afraid for you. And when your mom told me you were at Chelsea’s I called her and she didn’t have any idea what I was talking about. And you know what my next thought was? That you were dead, Laurel! I thought you were dead!”

Laurel remembered having the same thoughts about David on Monday and looked down at her feet, ashamed.

“And then I realized that there was one place — one person,” he said scornfully, “who you would sneak off to go see. And I come out here to make sure you’re safe and I find you kissing him!”

“I wasn’t kissing him!” Laurel yelled. “He was kissing me.”

David was silent, his jaw muscles working furiously. “Maybe this time,” he said, his voice steely. “But I saw the way he kissed you, and I promise you, that wasn’t the first time. Go ahead, deny it. I’m listening.”

She looked at the ground, the car, the trees, anywhere but at those accusing eyes.

“I knew it. I knew it!”

He slipped into the driver’s seat and slammed the door, his engine roaring immediately to life. He backed up quickly, just missing Laurel as she stood rooted to the ground, unable to move. He rolled down his window. “I don’t…” He paused, the only sign of weakness he’d shown the entire conversation. “I don’t want to see you for a while. Don’t call. When…if I decide I’m ready, I’ll find you.”

Laurel watched him drive away, finally letting her tears come. For a second she glanced back at the trees, but there was nothing there for her either. She slid into her car and let her forehead fall against the steering wheel, sobbing. How had everything gone so wrong?

Laurel sat on her bed, her guitar on her lap, watching the shadows that danced across her ceiling. She’d been sitting there for two hours as the sun sank and the room darkened, playing random melancholy chords that — no matter how much she tried — were strangely reminiscent of the music she’d heard earlier that day, in Avalon.

This morning her life was good — no, great! Now? She had destroyed everything.

And it was her own fault. She had spent too long straddling the fence. She had let her attraction to Tamani get out of hand. It wasn’t enough to be faithful to David physically, he deserved her emotional fidelity, too.

She thought of the look on Tamani’s face when she told him she didn’t love him; this wasn’t fair to him, either. She had been hurting everyone, and now there were consequences.

The thought of living out the rest of her life — even the rest of the week — without David made everything inside her hurt. She imagined seeing him with another girl. Kissing someone else the way Tamani had kissed her today. She groaned and rolled onto her side, letting her guitar slide onto the bedspread beside her. It would be like the end of the world. She couldn’t let that happen. There had to be a way to make things right.

But two hours of thinking hadn’t given her any ideas. She just had to hope that he would forgive her. Eventually.

She tried to drift off to sleep. Usually it was easy, once the sun went down, but today all she could do was sit and watch the numbers change on her alarm clock as the darkness enveloped her.

8:22

8:23

8:24

Laurel went downstairs. Her parents always did inventory on Saturday nights and wouldn’t be back for another hour at least. She opened the fridge, more out of habit than hunger — no way she could eat at a time like this. She closed the fridge and let herself blame David and Tamani a little. She didn’t want to hurt either of them, she wanted them both to be happy. They were both important in her life. Why did they keep insisting that she choose between them?

A movement in the yard caught her eye, but before she could focus in on it the picture window shattered, sending shards of glass skittering across the floor as Laurel’s scream filled the air and she dropped into a crouch, hands protecting her face. But as soon as she closed her mouth, the room was deathly silent; no shouts, no more rocks, not even footsteps.

Laurel gazed at the shards of glass littering the kitchen floor. Her eyes settled on the large rock that must have come through the window.

A piece of paper was wrapped around it.

Laurel reached out with trembling hands and unwrapped the paper. Her breath caught in her chest as she read the bright red scrawl.

In an instant she was on her feet, running for the front door. As she threw the door open she paused, peering out into her front yard. It looked calm — serene even — under the glow of the streetlights. Laurel studied every shadowed form, looking for tiny shivers of movement.

Everything stood still.

She looked at her car, and back down at the paper in her hand. Tamani was right — she kept trying to do everything on her own. It was time to admit she needed help. She turned and began running, not to her car, but to the tree line behind her house. She paused at the edge of the forest, not sure how far the warding reached. After a moment’s hesitation she started to shout. “Help! Please! I need your help!”

She ran along the tree line to the other side of the yard, shouting her pleas over and over. But she heard nothing except her own words echoing back at her. “Please!” she shouted one more time, knowing she wouldn’t get an answer.

The sentries were gone. She didn’t know where or when, but if a single faerie had been in those woods, she felt certain they would have answered her call. She was alone.

Desperation coursed through her and she pressed the heels of her hands against her eyes, forcing herself not to cry. The last thing she could afford to do was fall to pieces. She ran to her car, sliding into the driver’s seat, and slammed the door shut. She stared at her dark, empty house. It had protected her for months; even before she knew about the sentries and the powerful wards. But she couldn’t stay. She had to leave the protection of the wards. She knew it was what the trolls wanted. But she didn’t have a choice; there was too much at risk. Her hands were shaking, but she managed to jam the key into the ignition and start the engine, peeling out backward, her tires spinning on the asphalt as she jerked the car into first gear and kept a wary eye on her rearview mirror.

Driving the half mile to David’s house felt like it took hours. Laurel pulled up in front and studied the familiar structure that was practically a second home to her.

She felt like a stranger now.

Before she could talk herself out of it, she got out of the car and sprinted up the front walk. She heard the front bell reverberate through the living room and tried to remember when she had last rung the doorbell at David’s. It seemed so formal, so unnecessary.

David’s mom answered the door. “Laurel,” she said cheerfully. But her smile died away when she saw Laurel’s face. “What’s the matter? Are you okay?”

“Can I see David?”

David’s mom looked confused. “Of course, come in.”

“I’ll stay out here, thanks,” Laurel murmured, her eyes aimed at the ground.

“Okay,” David’s mom said hesitantly. “I’ll go get him.”

It was a long wait before the door opened again. Laurel looked up — afraid it would only be David’s mom. But it was David, his face stony, eyes flashing. He paused, took a deep breath, and stepped out onto the porch, pulling the door shut behind him.

“Don’t do this, Laurel. I’m only here because my mom’s home and she doesn’t know what happened yet. But you need to—”

“Barnes has Chelsea.”

The anger drained instantly from David’s eyes. “What!”

Laurel handed over the note. “At the lighthouse. I know you’re mad at me but—” Her voice cut off, her breathing sharp and painful, but she forced her fear back. “This is bigger than us. Bigger than this. I need you, David. I can’t do this alone.”

“What about your sentries?” David asked, wary.

“They’re not there! I called for them. They’re gone.”

David hesitated, then nodded and ducked back into the house. She heard him yell something to his mom, then he was back on the porch, lugging his backpack as he pulled his jacket on. “Let’s go.”

“Will you drive?” Laurel asked. “I have…something I have to do.”

After grabbing her own backpack from her car, Laurel joined David in his car.

“We have to go get Tamani,” David said, his voice hard.

Laurel was already shaking her head.

“Laurel, I don’t care about you and him right now. He’s our best chance!”

“It’s not that; we don’t have time. If I’m not at the lighthouse by nine, he’s going to kill Chelsea. We have”—Laurel glanced at her car’s clock—“twenty-five minutes.”

“Then you go to the lighthouse and I’ll drive out to the land and bring him back.”

“There’s not time, David!”

“Then what!” he yelled, his frustrated voice filling the car.

“I can do this,” Laurel said, hoping she was telling the truth. “But first I have to stop by my mom’s store.”

Laurel banged on the front doors of Nature’s Cure until her mom came out of the back room, where she always did her closing paperwork. “Laurel, what in the wo—”

“Mom, I need dried sassafras root, organic hibiscus seeds, and ylang-ylang essential oil fixed in water instead of alcohol. I need them right now and I need you to not ask questions.”

“Laurel—”

“I don’t have a single minute to waste, Mom. I promise I will tell you everything—everything—when I get home, but right now I beg you to please just trust me.”

“But where are you—”

“Mom,” Laurel said, grabbing both her mother’s hands. “Please listen. Really listen. There’s more to being a faerie than just having a flower on my back. Faeries have enemies. Powerful enemies, and if I don’t get these ingredients from you and go take care of them right now, people are going to die. Help me. I need you to help me,” she pleaded.

Her mom stood confused for a moment before nodding slowly. “I take it this isn’t something for regular old human police?”

Tears welled up in Laurel’s eyes; she didn’t even know what to say. She didn’t have time to argue.

“Okay,” her mom said determinedly, walking down an aisle and peering at the small bottles that lined both sides. She quickly plucked the ingredients from the shelves and handed them to Laurel.

“Thanks,” Laurel said, and started to turn.

Her mom stopped her with a firm hand on her shoulder. Laurel turned as her mom gathered her into her arms, hugging her tight. “I love you,” she whispered. “Please be careful.”

Laurel nodded against her shoulder. “I love you too.” She paused, then added, “And if anything happens, do not sell the land, promise?”

Her mother’s eyes filled with fear. “What do you mean?”

But Laurel couldn’t stop. She tried not to hear the desperation in her mom’s voice as she followed her to the door. “Laurel?”

Laurel was already out the door and slipping into David’s car. “Go,” she commanded, trying to block out her mother’s last yell.

“Laurel!”

Laurel looked back, her eyes fixed on her mother’s white face as her father burst out of the bookstore, both her parents staring at the car as it drove away.