Descendant (11 page)

Kye grins. “Are you embarrassed that you spent the night here with me?”

I look away. “You know what everyone will think.”

“So what? Who cares what everyone thinks? And we won’t be in trouble, because—” He stops walking and turns to look behind us.

Something clicks in my brain and realization dawns. “He knows, doesn’t he? About you, I mean. Akers knows about your Gift.”

Kye nods, waving farewell to the faeries and sprites. “Thank you for a memorable party.”

“Yes, thank you,” I repeat. “I’ll never forget it.”

A sprite flutters to us, its greenish glow pulses, and I hear Alena’s words again. “Don’t forget Nematona’s warning. The Elen must not find the Keys.”

The early morning cold seeps through my clothes, touching my skin and stealing my breath. Kye wraps his arm around me and we walk huddled together back toward the Inn. With every step, the fuzziness in my brain fades, leaving a puddle of confusion. I wonder if Kye did this on purpose. He must have at least known it would happen, but I’m not as angry as I should be. I feel like I’m coming down off a sugar high, and I yawn as exhaustion settles into my muscles.

“I think I had more questions,” I tell him.

“I know.” He squeezes my waist as I lean my head heavily on his shoulder. “When your brain clears, you can ask them all. I promise.”

We’re
  standing at the elevator ready to push the button when it dings and Mr. Akers steps out, fury dancing in his eyes. “Do you know what time it is?”

My feet feel like they’re glued to the floor.

Mr. Akers takes both our wrists and pulls us in. “Did you have a good time playing with the faeries?” His words are sharp enough to cut. This isn’t the man who laughed with Kye in his office. He rounds on me. “What am I supposed to tell your mother when she hears the two of you snuck off and stayed out all night?”

My eyes go wide with realization. It’s a small town. Gossip travels fast.

Kye calmly punches the second floor button. “Lan, don’t get mad at her. You know how easy it is to lose track of time when you’re under a faery enchantment.”

“So do you, Kye.” Akers jabs his finger in Kye’s chest. “Which is why I’m disappointed you let it to happen to Abby.”

Kye straightens his back. “She needed to see. You know she needed to see what can happen. She was the only student on the bus whose vision you couldn’t alter when Finn showed up. The only one who heard and saw everything. Like it or not, this thing with the Elen involves her somehow.”

Akers’s face pales, but the spark in his eyes doesn’t die.
“Nevertheless, you should know better than to let her eat faery food. Why would you put Abby in that kind of danger?”

“What danger? You once told me there’s no safer place than a faery party.” Kye throws his arms up. “How is giving her knowledge of things that could help her putting her in danger? She has Sight already—the faery food only helped clarify her vision. Now she’ll be able to see all the creatures, including the Elen.” My confusion compounds when he meets my eyes and his are soft with regret. “Besides, she needed a break. Why do you think she collapsed at school? The faeries cleared her mind—both of our minds—for a while.”

“Well, hope you got good and focused at the party.” Akers backs Kye against the wall with a hand on his chest—not hard, like a shove, but it concerns me just the same. “Did you have a good time? Get your hormones settled well enough to think with your head?”

Kye looks down at the hand on his chest, confused. “What’s wrong with you? You had to know this was coming.”

Mr. Akers lets his hand drop with a heavy sigh. “Boone was here.”

“What?” The color drains out of Kye’s face and his eyes grow wide. “Are you sure? You saw him?”

Akers laughs, but it’s dry and mirthless. “Yes.” He points at me. “And so did she.”

A
ny hope I had of sleeping is now gone. Mr. Akers takes Kye and me to his suite where I explain to them about the guy with the scary aura.

Kye tries for a smile but fails. “Why didn’t you say something before?”

I consider telling the truth—that memory, logic, and rational thought simply flies out of my brain the minute Kye walks into view—but that sounds sort of pathetic, even to me.

“Why didn’t you call security?” Akers asks, exasperated. “What if he did something to one of your friends? What if he kidnapped one of them? Or attacked them?”

I can’t look at either of them, so I stare at the floor, feeling guilty. Why does he have to put it that way? “How was I supposed to know the guy was dangerous? He could work here or be a chaperone from the other bus. I’d never heard of the Elen before tonight. Why would I call security?”

Mr. Akers shakes his head in disgust. “Well, it’s too late to worry now. We should’ve warned you sooner.”

“You should have said a lot of things sooner.” I sigh and fall back onto the bed.

“I wish that had occurred to me before I caught him trying to break into your room.” Upon seeing the panic on my face, he presses his palms together and pulls out his soothing voice. “Don’t worry, he didn’t succeed, and I’ve banished him from the building. He won’t be back tonight.”

While his words are something of a relief, I’m still shaken by the very idea. “So, now what? Do we pack up and go home? I’d hate to cancel the party. Rose would be devastated.”

“No, let’s not raise an alarm yet.” Kye runs his fingers through his hair, thinking. “We should stay near the forest. There’s something big happening and we need to know what we’re up against.”

Mr. Akers rubs his chin. “You’re right. At this point, it’s best if we stay as close as possible to the earth’s power sources—and this place oozes with them.” His eyes bore into me. “Maybe if we stick around, Abby will be able to See something that can help us.”

A trickle of fear runs through me at his words.
How much does he know about me?
Kye flops next to me on the bed, his arm around my waist pulling me close so he can whisper in my ear. “It’s okay, Abby. Landon—Mr. Akers—knew before I did.”

I can’t move for the shock I’m feeling, but as I lay next to Kye, it occurs to me that a lot of people in Jackson have special Gifts. Including my drama teacher.

L
ater, I sneak in my room, exhausted, and feel my way to the empty bed, grateful to know the strange man didn’t actually get inside. In the dark, I strip off my boots and jeans and slide between the
crisp, cool sheets. A snore reverberates against the wall. “Shut up!” someone mumbles, and after a muffled thud, the snoring stops. I grin into my pillow, wondering who hit whom.

Considering I’ve been up all night, I should be able to get right to sleep, but I can’t shut down my brain. After lying awake for half an hour, frustration takes over and I rub the crystal hanging from a chain around my neck, quietly humming the sleep tones. Muscle by muscle, inch by inch, my body goes into hibernation mode, letting go of questions, tension, and thoughts. I feel my energy wane and am finally able to drift off, wondering if Kye is struggling to fall asleep too.

M
y friends are gone by the time I wake up, and I feel guilty for ditching them last night. After washing my face and applying some makeup to cover my dark under-eye circles, I braid my hair, pull on jeans and a heavy sweater, and head downstairs to the café, where I find Jen pouring syrup on a stack of pancakes at the same table from last night.

“Where’s Rose?”

Jen gestures with her fork to the other side of the room where Rose is sitting on some guy’s lap, feeding him bites of waffle.

“What is she doing?” I reach across the table and snatch a bite of the omelet sitting in front of the empty chair. “Oh, that’s good.”

“Rose wants to take you to see the Fountain Paint Pots, so she’s trying to procure us a form of four-wheel-drive transportation.”

“What does she want him to do, ride us there piggyback?” I commandeer Rose’s water and catch the eye of the waitress from last night, pointing at the menu. She nods.

Jen shoves another bite in her mouth, talking around her food. “He came in a Jeep.”

Realization dawns and I cover my mouth with both hands to keep from busting out laughing. When I’m confident I can hold it in, I ask, “Is she planning to invite him and his friends?”

“I kind of doubt it.” Jen swirls her fork in the air. “There are three of us, and a Jeep only seats four people.”

The waitress sets another glass of water on the table. “Know what you want this time?”

I haven’t even looked at the menu, but breakfast is easy. “Can I please have some pancakes and sausage? Oh, and orange juice.”

She writes my order on her pad. “Anything else?”

“Nope, that’ll—”

Jen interrupts, “Can we get some ketchup?”

The waitress glances at Jen’s pancakes with a grimace. “Sure.”

I scrunch up my face. “Ketchup?”

“Rose will want some for her hash browns in about three minutes.”

Across the room, Rose is pouting. She bats her eyes and whispers in the guy’s ear. A minute later, she drops a set of keys on our table, takes her seat next to Jen, picks up a fork, and proceeds to shovel food into her mouth at warp speed.

“I hope you already ordered,” she says without looking at me, “because we need to get out of here before Jared figures out what just happened.”

As if on cue, the waitress bustles out of the kitchen with my plate and Rose’s ketchup. I down two pancakes in five minutes, and the three of us throw some bills on the table and run.

Rose curses under her breath. “Why didn’t we bring our coats with us?”

“Well,” I answer, stepping into the empty elevator. “I don’t know about you two, but I didn’t know I’d be in a hurry to go anywhere.”

Rose snorts. “Jeez. You might have had an idea if you came back last night. Where were you, anyway?”

“Um.” The elevator dings. I dig the room key out of my pocket and hurry down the hall. “It’s sort of a long story.”

“Yes, well, we figured that.” Jen sticks her card in the lock before I get there, cursing about it being warped, then takes mine and throws open the door. I snatch my coat off the rack, remembering how Kye had tried to keep me warm last night. I haven’t seen him since a few hours ago when he kissed my forehead and told me to get some sleep, but I’m pretty sure he’ll be looking for me when he wakes up.