When I stomped into my room, I realized I wasn't alone. Not an uncommon occurrence, except my two visitors didn't offer their usual greetings. Instead, Sassafras crept to the edge of the bed, his ears flat sideways, pupils swollen, almost blacking out the amber of his eyes. Whiskers drooping and tail dragging behind him, he slowly raised one paw toward me. I lifted him into my arms immediately, hugging him as he burrowed his wet nose into my neck."It's going to be okay." I stroked his soft, silver fur, speaking directly to the huge black dog curled up in a miserable ball at the foot of the bed. Galleytrot didn't even lift his head, just swiped one giant paw over his nose. "Honest.""This is very bad, Syd." Sassy looked up, paws resting on my collarbone so we were eye-to-eye. "She could start something we won't be able to finish.""Gram's way smarter than that." And despite the day I'd had, even through my own worry and guilt and anger, I was absolutely convinced of it. "She would n
I returned to the kitchen in a daze. The rumble of a Mini Cooper engine actually calmed me down. For some reason I refused to let Erica see my nerves, or at least the full extent of them. As Mom's second and best friend, Erica Plower had spent my entire life treating me like her own daughter, not always to the best effect. In fact, from the look on her face as she walked through the kitchen door, my sudden rise to power wasn't instilling even an iota of confidence in her.Which roused my anger and extinguished the last of my butterflies. I'd never been the best at following coven rules or toeing the company line, but when push came to shove, my family came first. From the moment her panicked eyes met mine, I was Sydlynn Thaddea Hayle, coven leader, damn it and there was no way I would let her see me otherwise.The shock on her face was priceless, even more so when I called up my power and let it hover between us, not as a threat, but so she knew who wore the pants in our particular r
I descended the stairs to the basement in search of my father. With Mom and Gram gone, and now Uncle Frank, he was the only adult in my life I could really turn to. Yes, I had my doubts. He didn't exactly seem all that enthusiastic when Mom gave it to him earlier. Still, after the humiliation and failure I'd just gone through, I needed someone to lean on.Most of the lights were out, only the single bulb over the pentagram throwing illumination around the large space. My eyes readjusted to the dimness slowly. I expected to find Dad standing in the middle of said pentagram, working. Instead, he was nowhere to be found. I was sure he stayed downstairs... it wasn't until I heard a soft shuffling sound from the far left corner I spotted a bit of movement in the dark."Dad?" My sock barely touched pavement by the time he hurried toward me. His face was drawn into a distracted frown as he stepped inside the circle of light."What is it?" I'd become somewhat used to his new attitude. Uncle
"Syd!" Alison's enthusiastic arrival at my locker almost drove me face-first into the thin door. She was smiling, though her vulnerability hovered just behind it. At least she was in a good mood after yesterday's pouting. "Sorry I'm late." She rolled her eyes. "My flat iron died, can you imagine?" Her hands went to the artful pile she'd created out of her blonde hair. "I had to settle for this nest.""Looks great, Al." I secured my stuff inside the narrow box before jamming it shut and locking it. "I like it up.""Really?" That word came out kind of squealy and hurt my ears. She grabbed my arm, pulling me along with her. "How was detention?"Speaking of the hell of yesterday afternoon, the moment she asked I spotted Ms. Spaft. It was my clear intention to avoid the woman as much as possible, but she seemed to have different ideas. Her gaze locked on mine, icy cold sternness laser focused on me."Crappy." I forced myself to look away, my only goal to get to class on time and stay th
I'm not sure what I was expecting. Total global meltdown, a zombie apocalypse. Disaster extraordinaire to drop on me from the sky. Yeah, something along those lines. But as I sat there in the kitchen, hands on my jittering knees, mind open to the coven just in case something happened for the fourth straight hour, I finally realized how silly I was being.Everything was fine. No twinge of warning from Shaylee who seemed to be back to her happy normal. No message from Galleytrot declaring impending doom. Though it did strike me as odd he wasn't home when I arrived, nor did he show at any time during my nervously prepared-for-anything vigil.In the end, with the tedious and petty day-to-day crap of the rest of the family touching my wide-open thoughts, I finally slumped sideways from hyper-alert to feeling bored and stupid.Just because Mom was gone didn't mean everything was going to suddenly fall apart. And I'd had enough of feeling like that was the case.With Dad locked in the bas
I was almost asleep when my computer dinged and the entire world focused on the dancing pen. Sassy snarled at me and leapt aside, muttering a sleepy string of probably nasty words under his breath before curling up in a new place and flickering his tail over his nose.Couldn't care less.Sorry it's so late. My mind imagined Quaid speaking the words as he wrote. I missed his deep voice, the warmth of his chocolaty-caramel magic wrapped around me.Still up. He'd know I was lying, but that was okay. Do you have much time to talk?Some. What's up?Okay, was I that obvious? The usual Hayle craziness. For a moment I hesitated in telling him about Gram, then shook off the concern. Quaid was nothing like Grandfather Ivan. He might be a Dumont by birth, but he was a Hayle at heart.I filled him in, my fingers flying over the keyboard, telling him about Gram and Mom and Uncle Frank. About the dreams I'd had and Galleytrot's absence. Meira's odd behavior. Dad. Erica. It seemed like I poured
Lunch. I was dreading it. Until I approached the doorway and found Liam standing to one side. He didn't see me at first, back against the wall with his hands in his pockets. I watched him as he watched everyone else, that same gentle look on his face. Not an act, then, a show for my benefit. He genuinely was just a really good person.Which made me feel terrible. How far had the gay rumor gone? I was pretty sure Liam wouldn't care what other people thought of him, but I felt like I was part of the rumor mill just by association.I glanced over my shoulder as I approached him. Ms. Spaft hovered at the end of the hall, her evil eye scanning each kid as they passed, though for some reason I felt again like she'd singled me out. Maybe me being the first to pass her little test the other day was a bad thing, made me target zero.Whatever. I smiled at Liam as he glanced up and saw me, a slow grin making me feel welcome."Your table is full." I didn't even have to look inside to know Page
Liam led me into the second floor library with a huge smile on his face. Now that I wasn't acting all weird and freaked out, he seemed to genuinely enjoy being there.I'd managed to shove down my worry, hide it behind a smile and a veil of normal, but inside my mind churned. I barely registered the old carved bookcases at the front of the room, the heavy wooden desk or the vaulted ceilings painted with murals of beautiful people in old-fashioned clothing. Until I realized those murals were yet another hint, another depiction not of humans, mortals. Those paintings were of the Sidhe, no question.Who built this place, and why the connection to the fairy folk? My feelings about Wilding Springs weren't just my imagination after all, though I wasn't sure I was happy to be right about it.I looked back toward the library's front desk just in time to spot the tall, stunningly gorgeous man who stepped out from behind it, a warm and yet oddly repellant smile on his face. Shaylee quivered at