Kiersten White

“I had just lot my best friend, barely escaped having my life sucked out by a psychotic burning girl, committed treason and nearly gotten the guy I liked killed by a crazy faerie. What were hairy legs compared to that?”

“I said home." He laughed again. "You didn't say whose." Furious and too tired to deal with any more faerie crap, I opened my mouth to tell him exactly where to take me and where he could go after that. I wasn't sure a faerie could obey a command to go to hell, but I was going to find out.”

“Then the other door opened. I wen't rigid. If I had thought Reth's was beautiful, it was nothing to this soul. It filled the night with light, dancing and rippling like the reflection on a pond. I hadn't seen many souls, but I knew this one was special. I wanted it. I needed it.”

“Yeah I know you're a creature of the night. Bringer of death, sucker of blood, needer of tans, so on and so forth. And oddly enough, I'm still unimpressed.”

“Admittedly they had a lot to take in, between the whole Jack-is-a-psychopath-who-wanted-me-to-destroy-a-species thing, and also the turns-out-I'm-less-human-than-we-thought thing.”

“I followed the sensation,thinking of Lend. What it felt like to hold his hand. Watching him draw.Those precious times when he got to be nothing but himself around me. The way he laughed. The look he got in his eyes when he was about to say something he knew was clever. The way he looked at while I talked, like I was all he had ever wanted in the entire world.”

“Her soft spanish accent and her infinite arsenal of sighs.”

“Hell,huh? Well,hopefully we'll be able to disprove that theory soon.Besides, if it were hell,would I be here with you?""I don't know,if hell called for an eternity of annoyance instead of torment,maybe.""I like you more every day.But neither of us qualifies for hell. We're victims." He smiled, the last word laced with venom. "And if we're occasionally wicked,well, certainly we'd be justified."i wondered if he was trying to comfort me about Vivian,but he stared into the distance as though anticipating future wickedness. What did he want me to light on fire this time? I didn't think I was up for more destruction.”

“I was finally getting some answers, and I was scsred bleepless.”

“He'd never been one for jokes, but of course he'd pick now to get a sense of humor.”

“Jack put his hands on his hips, surveying the scene with a satisfied nod. "That turned out much better than I'd hoped.""Please,let's leave!""What's your hurry? Let's take a moment to bask in the satisfaction of a job well done.""I didn't want to do that!""No?" He cocked his head and raised his eyebrows. "I thought you hated the fey.""I do,but that doesn't mean I want to run around the Faerie Realms lighting everything on fire!""What's the point in hating something if you aren't proactive?" He put his arm around my shoulders, steering me to look at the inferno with him. "You can't tell me that's not satisfying, not after what you saw.Faeries care about very few things,but they're quite fond of their little trinkets. That boat was a particular favorite of hers,not to mention the entire lake. All the centuries she spent crafting this landscape,then poof! One excellently thrown firebomb, and you've made her feel anger and pain more deeply than she's probably ever known. And far less than she deserves to know.”

“Oh,bleep no. "Jack! What are you-"He lit both wicks and grabbed one of the bottles. Grinning maniacally at me, he turned and hurled his bottle. It spun lazily,a trail of light until it disappeared behind the deck of the ship.Maybe it wouldn't work.Maybe-A massive fireball billowed up, scorching the air and flowering along the boat."Evie?You might want to throw that thing."I looked down in horror at my own burning Molotov cocktail,then flung it as far from myself as I could. It smashed against the side of the boat, most of the falmes falling down into the silver water.Which proceeded to catch fire."Wow.Didn't expect that!" Jack nodded appreciatively as the flames spread, eating their way outward along the top of the lake.The boat,now engulfed, creaked and groanded its death cries. "Adding a touch of faerie liguor to the petrol gave it the extra kick,I think."An unearthly shriek ripped through the air, jarring me to the bones.I did not want to meet the owner of that voice.Jack laughed,taking my trembling hand. "This is the part where we run.”

“If she was dark,that made her the queen of the Unseelie Court.The ones who made Vivian.The ones who wanted me dead. Great distraction,Jack.What was not getting into Georgetown compared to facing death and wanting to throw myself at her feet? Come to think of it,Jack had been giving me a lot of potentially fatal experiences lately. We'd have to talk about that.”

“Jack?" I whispered urgently."Oh,right.We shouldn't be seen. I don't think they'd kill us,but one never knows.""I'm going to kill you!" I hissed as we ducked behind one of the horrible boulders.”

“Leave it to a boy to make the Faerie Realms look like a dump.”

“You know when you're on the edge of wake and sleep,and the dream you're leaving feels more real to you than anythin the world has to offer? When you open your eyes,it's as though part of you stayed,and you know you'll nver feel things quite as deeply, experience them quite as truly as you had in that tiny space of awareness between darkness and light. We're going into that." I held my breath,and he snapped out of whatever state he was in.Winking, he opened a door. "Welcome to the Faerie Realms.”

“And..it was Jack. Jack. Of the many things I'd considered doing to him, most involved violence.None of them involved lip-on-lip action.I jerked my head back,but it wasn't hard to get away,since he pulled back at the same moment.He wrinkled his nose. "Well, that was...interesting. Always wanted to try it,but now that I have,I'm pretty sure I never want to again."Furious,I smacked him in the shoulder with my free hand, hating that we still had to have one clasped so I wouldn't be lost forever. "You"-smack-"little"-smack-"freak!"-smack. "What was that?!" SMACK.He dodged another volley. "And I had been under the impression that afterward was a little less"-he winced as I connected hard-"painful.""Listen,creep,if I wanted you to kiss me,I would have asked! And I didn't. And I wouldn't! And if you ever try that again,so help me,I will find that fossegrim and throw you to a watery death!"And then-as if his awkward,terrible kiss weren't bad enough-he started laughing."SHUT UP!"He shook his head,grinning smugly. "See? Two goals accomplished. One:try out kissing. Miserable failure, no doubt your fault,but a noble effort nonetheless.I should find your friend Carlee. She's probably better at it than you are."Why couldn't my glamour-piercing eyes have a laser function? I wouldn't kill him. I'd just burn the word "freak" into his forehead."Aren't you going to ask me what my second goal was?" He batted his eyelashed at me."No,I'm not."He nudged me in the ribs with his elbow. "You aren't crying anymore, are you?"I'd have to let go of his hand to throttle him. So that option was out. "Being so mad I'd like to kill you is better?”

“Jack threw back his shoulders. "It would appear,as usual, that everything is up to me. Good thing I'm always ready for a challenge.”

“Do you want me to get Raquel? Or your jumpy boyfriend?”

“You're scaring me," Jack's voice finally cut through, and I opened my eyes, barely able to see him. "okay, good, yes, breathe. Breathing helps one stay alive,I've found.What on earth is so bad about a stupid school saying no?""My life"-I gasped-"is over.It's over. Everything."He frowned dubiously. "Who would want to go to a place called Georgetown, anyhow? Ridiculous. Now,I could understand your devastation if it had a distinguished name like, say, Jacktown, but as it is,you're overreacting. Why do you want to go to more school? I went once for a few hours and nearly lost my mind.”

“Evie? Evie! Ouch!" Jack yanked his hand out of mine,shaking it and glaring at me. "I need these fingers later.”

“People-clueless,clueless people-stood there,staring in confusion as they tried to figure out what kind of show I was doing and whether they should clap or call the police.”

“I rolled my eyes at Tasty Neck Girl. "Oh, get over it. Would have been the shortest relationship of your life.”

“You can't tag,remember? Which makes me the other half of our fabulous bagging-and-tagging duo.”

“And if you drop me into another river,I swear this time I am taking you with me."He laughed,the idiot boy,and we hurried through the emptiness together.”

“I flopped onto my bed and tried to burn a whole in the ceiling with my glare. It was a good thing,not getting the letter today.If they were going to reject me,they would probably do it early.Those beautiful,thick acceptance packets took time to put together. no doubt they placed every sheet,every paper with personalized love and attention.”

“I let out a string of curses that would put even the boy's locker room to shame, ending with an emphatic kick to the mailbox post.And the worst part was of coure it wasn't there yet. My weird nerves all day were pointless.”

“Say what you will about zombies and their hygeine issues,at least they kill you fast.College acceptance boards? They like to draw out the torment as long as possible.”

“Still,I knew when I was being lied to. And I was never taking the trash out for that ratty gnome again.”

“But what about the staring? They're always staring at me!""You are rather nice to look at.”

“Umm," Jack said,reminding me that he was still standing beside me, "any ideas, Evie? I seem to be fresh out of baseball bats." Uber-vamp directed a chilling glare in Jack's direction. I inwardly cursed the idiot boy for bringing it up and putting himself in danger,too."I'm guessing you didn't bring your communicator.""In hindsight,not a clever move on my part.”

“Bleeping faeries," I muttered darkly. Why couldn't they leave me alone?Uber-vamp's eyes lit up. "Faeries? Do you know where I can find one?"I rolled my eyes. "Trust me,if I could, I'd set you loose on the whole race.”

“What are you doing here?""Hiding! That's how you play the game, right? I thought the title hide-and-seek was fairly self-explanatory. Then again,you are blond.""So are you,idiot.”

“This had disaster written all over it. Jack wasn't exactly the picture of discretion-or sanity,for that matter.”

“And if he told her about his real life-well,she'd probably think I was crazy by association.”

“It's a good thing we're pretty to look at," I said as Lend sat down on the orange plastic seats next to me. "Because we don't have much else going for us as bowlers.”

“Yeah,bumpers are for preschoolers or two teenagers who couldn't stop throwing gutter balls if their lives depended on it.Which, fortunately, they don't.Because we'd be screwed."I grabbed my glittery hot pink ball (which I was seriously considering buying) and imitated the perfect form a Mohawked guy next to us was using. Instead of shooting straight down the lane and knocking over all the pins, my ball inexplicably went flying backward toward Lend."Okay,now we're getting dangerous." Lend brought my ball back and, wrapping himself around me,we threw it together. After pinballing off the bumpers on both sides,it knocked down a whole three pins.I jumped up and down, screaming. "That's like, practically a strike,right?""Good enough for me!”

“Disco bowling? Seriously? Is there such a thing?"He laughed. "I've never been,but you mentioned bowling a few weeks ago,and I figured tonight of all nights I could go ahead and impress you with my mad lack of bowling skills.Besides which, you look way too hot to waste on trick-or-treaters.They have a costume competition-you're a shoo-in."I laughed,giddy,and grabbed his hand to kiss his knuckles.I knew he'd rather stay at home,but he planned tonight around making me happy. And he wanted to show me off,which appealed to my vanity more than I cared to admit. Best. Boyfriend. Ever."Pictures,please?And if we're going disco bowling,you have to dress up."He pretended to sigh,but his glamour hair grew out into a massive 'fro and I squealed with delight. Then it shifted into shorter hair with a yellow-blond side part. "I figure with an ascot and blue pants I can do a mean Fred to your Daphne,right?"Tonight was perfect.”

“And even though when he got older he had the potential to be quite popular (read:hello,hottie),he felt like no one could ever know the real him.Until me,that is.Which made me all sort of happy.”

“The woman who ran my last foster home didn't think it was safe,so we had to stay inside and watch some Charlie Brown cartoon three times.I've never liked beagles to this day.”

“I frowned."You didn't dress up!"He grinned,opening my door for me. "Sure I did.I dressed up as the non-invisible man!"I smacked him in the chest. "Lazy.""Hey,I wear a costume every waking hour. You only dress up once a year,which I believe makes you the lazy one.However,you look really hot in pink tights,so I'll let it pass.""How noble of you.”

“You're an absolute genius! I'm the best Daphne ever!""And so humble,too.”

“I groaned,holding my stomach. "Easton Heights never covered this.Cue dramatic voice-over: 'On the next all-new episode: Halloween gone dangerously wrong. Carys consumes lethal amounts of sugar. Will she live to see Homecoming? And,more terrifying,Will anyone ask her now that she's gained three pounds?'"Arianna frowned as she pinned my wig into place. "No one made you eat an entire bag of Tootsie Rolls.”

“Let's talk about happy things.What should I be for Halloween? I can't decide between a sexy vampire or a sexy fairy.I've got a whole tub of glitter body gel for either costume,if you want to be the one I'm not!"Faeries and vampires were glittery now?Honestly.”

“I stared in disbelief at the letter gracing the front page. C+? C+? Didn't he know how much time I spent studying for this stupid,pointless test? Didn't he know I'd spent half the night before taking it battling the forces of evil? Didn't he know I needed to get into Georgefreakingtown?The C+ sat there,mocking me.It was probably a good thing I didn't have Tasey in my bag, or I would have burned that heinous letter right off the page.”

“My dramas mostly involved whats-as in, What on earth is that horrible creature about to rip out my throat?”

“What if a zombie came in,reeking of death and decay? He'd totally go for te Vicious Redhead Soccer Girl sitting right by the door.I could take a zombie. That ruler on the teacher's desk looked like a sharp edge,and how cool would my classmates think I was? Especially if I had Tasey.I sighed,leaning my head back and staring up at the ceiling.It would never work. No ruler would be sharp enough. Besides which,I never bring Tasey to school.And even if I saved everyone in the class,I'd probably still be expelled due to the school's zero tolerance policy on violence.I'd just have to live without the everlasting appreciation and admiration of my classmates.”

“Fun-run" indeed,what a misnomer. That'd be like saying "calm gremlin" or "pleasant hag." Or 'entertaining history textbook.”

“I nodded and smiled enthusiastically. "Party!""Lend'll whine.""He's cute when he whines.""There's something wrong with you," she said.There were a lot of things wrong with me, but loving Lend was definitely not one of them.”

“Where are you going?" I asked,feeling guilty for not being able to hang out with him."To find a faerie to kill me,of course." He winked at us,then pretended to fall straight through when the faerie door opened. Even Arianna laughed as the door closed behind him."Where did you find that one?""I have no idea.I'm a magnet for crazies, I guess.""They must be able to sense a kindred spirit.""You're one to talk.Don't you have more hordes of the undead to lead in a glorious revolution?”