Faery Worlds - Six Complete Novels (128 page)

I stood, a little shaky as a result of all the high drama. I didn’t know how he thought he was going to protect me. We were sorely outnumbered. And my mom had thought a private school was safer than a public one. At least at a public high school I could have hidden myself in the crowd.

With the help of his friends, Adam stood up and glared so hard at me I suffered from whiplash.

“You are so dead you stupid bitch,” he said loud enough only for those closest to him to hear.

I cringed. Should I hope for another pinecone to fly at him? No, that might actually kill him this time.

Before he could make his move, however, the bell signaling the end of lunch sounded shrilly across the campus. At least I could enjoy a few more hours of life before Adam Peders sought his revenge.

* * *

As soon as the final school bell announced the end of the day, I was out of class and sprinting down the hallway like some marathon endorphin junkie looking for the finish line. I had grabbed my books for homework between my last two classes, and now I was on my way to Robyn’s car before Adam could find me. It didn’t matter that I had not actually thrown the pinecone, and there was no way I could explain what had happened. They already thought I was crazy and the truth would only prove it and give them a reason to do actual harm to me.

I skidded to a stop in front of Robyn’s car just as the rest of the student body started trickling into the lot. It took me a whopping two minutes (time I could have used racing to the trail that would have taken me the back way home) to remember that Robyn had a meeting with her Wicca friends today, that Tully had a group science project to work on, and that Will and Thomas had band practice until four. In a sense, it took me two minutes to realize I was a goner.

I cursed and kicked the tire of Robyn’s car. I knew she wouldn’t take it personally and the only option I had left was to panic. What was I going to do? There was no way on this green earth that Adam was going to let my little infraction slide, and I knew he would enlist his thugs to help him hunt me down. Where were our teachers when you needed them? Ugh, that’s what I should have done. I should have ducked into one of the classrooms, feigning confusion on a homework assignment. At least I would have been safe for a while. Now I was merely a sitting duck.

A shout and the sound of my name made me jump. Slowly, I turned my head back towards the school’s main building.

I watched Adam and his gang emerge from the hallway, their heads swiveling as they searched me out. It was too late. My friends were preoccupied and I had nowhere else to go; no one to rescue me. If I tried to walk home now, they would follow me and wait until no one else was around . . .

Adam’s dark head turned in my direction, and he pointed. My heart leapt into my throat. I started moving again, walking as fast as I could towards the public bus bench. If I was lucky, the bus would pull up and I could get on. I didn’t care if it took me further from home, as long as it took me further from Adam Peders. I hopped the bench, and then hurried over to check the schedule. I cursed as tears of true desperation began to form in my eyes. The next bus wouldn’t come for another forty minutes. I was doomed.

My attackers drew closer, crossing the parking lot as if it were a field of cheery daisies. My stomach was in knots and my breathing was becoming shallow. It was when Adam was only fifteen feet away that I first heard the growl of an engine. The sound grew louder until it was right beside me, rumbling smoothly.

“Meghan.”

I took my eyes off of Adam and his friends, all of whom had miraculously stopped in their tracks. I glanced down and my jaw dropped. It was Cade. He was sitting behind the wheel of a fully restored, classic Trans Am, the silver phoenix emblem standing out against the black paint job. I didn’t know a whole lot about cars, but Logan had been really into sports cars since he could walk, and I’d learned a thing or two. The Trans Am would make most car enthusiasts drool in envy.

Cade had removed the t-top, presumably to enjoy the fine weather, and was currently leaning slightly towards the passenger side. I watched in numb shock as he shifted the car into neutral and set the parking break. Then, reaching over, he pushed open the passenger side door.

“Get in,” he growled.

Tully and Robyn would have been horrified if they knew I was about to get into a car with some strange guy I had met only twice, and who had admitted to details only a stalker would know. I guess it was a good thing they weren’t around for once. The person I had been only a month ago would have been horrified as well. But I was different now, ever since I’d met Cade, and he had insinuated that my visions were not a product of my imagination. No, I still did not trust him. At least not completely. But I had two options to choose from: I could get into the car with him, or I could take my chances with Adam and his knuckle-dragging buddies. I had been wishing for a miracle, and if that miracle exuded danger and mystery and drove a fast car, well, heck, who could blame me if I was grateful? Beggars couldn’t be choosers, right?

I glanced back at my tormentors. Adam and his followers weren’t looking at me anymore; they were gawking at the Trans Am.
Boys
. I stepped forward and climbed into Cade’s car, and that was when the enchantment broke.

Adam stepped forward angrily. “Listen you little slu-”

Cade was up and out of his car so fast I wondered if he hadn’t vaporized and somehow reformed just outside his door. Although he stood with his back to the cars whipping by on the highway, his own vehicle acting as a barrier between him and my classmates, he must have looked quite intimidating.

“You no longer have any dealings with Meghan, and if you ever torment or insult her again, I’ll be sure to pay you a special visit at your earliest inconvenience.”

Something threatening must have showed on Cade’s face, because despite his calm voice, Adam paled and nodded his head. Or maybe it was the fact that Cade towered over them.

Adam grabbed his friends roughly and pushed them along, claiming that they had better things to do.

Cade got back into the car, this time at a more normal speed. He closed the door a little too roughly and snapped on his seatbelt.

“Buckle up,” he said, his voice hard.

I obeyed, too shocked from what had transpired in the past five minutes to do anything else.

He shifted the car into gear and pulled out onto the highway, gaining speed and heading north. The engine rumbled and the wind tossed my hair over my shoulders. Luckily, it happened to be another one of those ideal fall days, but there was a subtle chill to the air that drew goose bumps from my skin. I pulled my sweatshirt more tightly around me and glanced over at the boy, no,
young man
, sitting next to me.

Cade looked very much the same as he had the last time I’d seen him. He had on a different designer t-shirt, this one a little more fitted than the first one I had seen him in. I caught a glimpse of something metallic circling his neck. I squinted. It looked like a thick braided chain that didn’t quite meet up just in front of his throat. It seemed familiar, but at the same time, completely foreign. I shook my head and forgot about it as I studied him further. My eyes lingered on his shoulders then trailed down his arms to find his knuckles white from gripping the steering wheel more tightly than necessary.

I decided he must be a football player. Why else would he be so lean and muscular? Then I remembered that he probably wasn’t from this world. It had made me laugh at first, thinking that Cade might not be human. But if I was willing to admit his dog wasn’t of this planet, why couldn’t I bring myself to believe that Cade himself was from the Otherworld? The Otherworld. The information had been vague on the internet and I hadn’t found time yet to visit the local library.

I shook my head slightly and glanced at his face from the corner of my eye. His features were so well-formed, as if he was the final, perfect draft of several failures before. It was during my shameless staring that he decided to flick his eyes in my direction. I felt myself flush. Surely he saw me studying his profile and most likely he thought I was some gawking, moon-eyed teen. Well, I couldn’t blame him, I kind of was. I expected him to laugh and make some clever remark about my being attracted to him. Ugh, it would be mortifying. But when he finally opened his mouth, it was to release a deep sigh. His tense stance seemed to melt away, his arms loosened and his knuckles regained some of their color.

“Forgive me Meghan, I’m early. And I shouldn’t have spoken so gruffly to you earlier.”

I blinked in surprise. Of all the things for him to say, I had not expected that. Yes, he was a day early, but what did that matter when he rescued me from certain death? Okay, that was putting it a little dramatically, but it would have been pretty bad had he not shown up right when he had. Another coincidence? Or had I somehow summoned him as I had summoned the pinecone?

“I wasn’t angry at you, but I just finished work less than an hour ago and it oftentimes leaves me a bit rattled. Besides,” now he turned and gave me a mischievous grin, “those, uh,
young men
, didn’t help improve my mood any.”

Interesting . . . I couldn’t hear my conscience shouting out its warnings anymore . . . And
young men
? That was putting it kindly.

The wind tossed his dark auburn hair around and he reached up with his left hand to rub the back of his neck. I dropped my gaze for a while and glanced out his window. We were coming up to the top of the Mesa and a quick flash of the view of the Pacific Ocean, held at bay by the pale gold of sand dunes, rushed by. That sight always warmed my spirits, and despite the anxiety I now felt, it had the same effect. I turned and looked in the other direction.

“It’s alright. You helped me out, actually,” I finally said, my voice subdued.

I felt him more than noticed him stiffen beside me. Could he really be angry at Adam and his friends on my behalf? Suddenly, the butterflies I had felt when reading his notes were back.

To distract myself, I cleared my throat and said, “Why are you early?”

Another sigh from Cade. “I finished my assignment early and I had a feeling you would be needing my help.”

“Something to do with Otherworldly senses?” I braved. It was probably a long shot, but it wouldn’t hurt to fish a little.

He was quiet for a long while, but eventually he said in a voice as docile as my own, “You could say that.”

We both descended into silence after that. We came to the traffic light and turned left to go down the hill, leaving the corner market and the small collection of restaurants behind. As we made it to the bottom of the hill, I took in a great breath and asked, “Where exactly are we going?”

I didn’t want to sound suspicious, but as the fear of Adam wore off, my awareness of being in a strange car pushed itself forward.

“To Shell Beach,” Cade answered in a clipped tone. “The ocean calms me, and there is a particular spot that is a little more isolated than Pismo.”

A shiver ran down my arms and I suddenly had the desire to leap from the car the second we reached the stop sign in the far distance.

“I only wish for isolation because what we are sure to discuss cannot be heard by other ears. The beach is good because there will be other people around, in case you are worried I’m going to try something. And the waves make it impossible for others to overhear. Be calm Meghan, I mean you no harm.”

I relaxed, but only a little. Once Cade hit the main part of town, he down-shifted his car and took on a more leisurely speed. The hum of its engine helped soothe my nerves a little. The streets in town were busy with people trying to get their errands done before heading home, so the traffic was more dense than usual. I shot up from my slouched position. I was supposed to have caught a ride home after school.

“What is it?” Cade asked, sensing my unease.

“I have to call my parents. They think I’m going to be home soon.”

“When we get to the beach, you can call them. Tell them whatever you need to.”

I nodded. I hated lying to my parents but if I told them a classmate and I decided to get together to work on some research after school, it wouldn’t be a complete lie. True, I was doing research, to some degree, but Cade wasn’t a classmate and I didn’t think any of my classes would require asking someone who was potentially from the Otherworld questions about Celtic gods and goddesses.

The spot Cade chose to have our talk was a familiar one to me. The access to the beach itself was along a small road that ran between the edge of a bluff and a charming maritime neighborhood. We both got out of the car and Cade didn’t bother locking the doors since the top was off. He offered to put my backpack into his trunk and I nodded in agreement. We headed down the staircase that spilled out onto the gritty sand below. Several more rocks and a half dozen or so sea stacks littered the beach and shore. I liked this spot in particular not only for the huge towers of rock and the tide pools off to the north, but also because the tourists tended to flock to the sandy and pier-adorned Pismo just to the south of this point. I didn’t like crowds and to me, long sandy beaches were a bit boring.

There were a handful of people walking below. A husband and wife and their two young sons; an older, fit woman playing fetch with her dog; a young college student and his girlfriend, perched upon a rock, waiting for the sunset. Not so many people that Cade and I couldn’t talk and not so few that, if he were to attack me, I couldn’t scream and draw their attention. He had chosen well.

Once we reached the bottom of the stairs, I pulled out my cell phone and dialed my home number. To my great relief, Bradley answered the phone.

“Yeah,” he said, sounding a little out of breath.

I could hear my brothers screaming and chasing each other around in the background.

“Bradley? It’s Meg. Could you tell Mom and Dad I’ll be home a little late today? I’m going to be doing some research with a classmate for this group project we have to do.”