The Inner Circle, Book 3 of the Glass Wall ( A YA Urban Fantasy Romance ) (16 page)

Leaning down, he lightly kissed my cheek, and
it wasn't until then that I realized I had been holding my breath.
Any protest I would have uttered dissolved in my throat. I closed
my eyes knowing that I wasn’t strong enough to walk away from
him.

At first, it was just a brief brush of the
lips. I didn’t move. I just thought about how soft and gentle his
lips were. And then he swept me against his hard chest. I could
feel every inch of him.

And then, the kiss that had started out so
tender and feather-light deepened into a bold statement of passion.
My hands slid up his chest to lock behind his neck as his fingers
tangled through my hair.

But as his lips moved to the side of my neck,
I shivered and abruptly pulled back.

I couldn’t let him continue, no matter how
much I wanted him to. I
had
to be stronger.

Spinning a lock of my hair between his
fingers, he looked down at me as I gathered my scattered wits. And
swallowing against the sudden dryness in my throat, I managed to
croak, “I don’t know why I did that. It won’t happen again. It
can’t.”

He didn’t reply. He just studied my face, a
little sadly. And then he pulled back, letting his hand trail down
my neck and shoulder.

We stared at each other in a strange,
dreamlike way, and I probably would have kissed him myself if
Jareth hadn’t chosen that moment to suddenly reappear.

Jareth took one look at us and then asked in
a voice thick with sarcasm, “Missed me terribly while I was gone,
did you?”

I darted out from under Rafael’s arm and ran
up to Jareth.

Now was my chance to convince Rafael that I
didn’t care for him. All I had to do was kiss Jareth. I stared up
at him.

He apparently caught enough of my thoughts
because his eyes widened in surprise.

I stood there, fully intending to kiss him.
But I couldn’t.

Instead, I settled for hanging onto his arm
and saying, “Come on, Jareth. Let’s go. I don’t want to be here
anymore. I want to be with you.” But it didn’t come off nearly like
I’d wanted it to.

Boldly, I forced myself to look at Rafael,
but I could tell with one glance that he wasn’t falling for it.

All he said was, “Take good care of her,
Jareth.”

And then Jareth was grumbling and we shifted,
and a split second later we were standing in the greenbelt outside
of Al and Betty’s house.

Jareth instantly released his grip on my
wrist and stepped away as I took a deep breath of the cold, biting
air.

“You can’t fool either of us, Sydney,” he
said tightly. “We’re Fate Trackers. It’s obvious that your fate
line is entwined with Rafael’s. And even if he can’t read his own
lines, he can most assuredly read mine. He sees that you and I are
walking different paths. He’s never going to believe that you’ve
fallen in love with me.”

I clenched my jaw. “But I’m a human,” I said
stubbornly. “I can dream. I can change things.”

Jareth just snorted and rolling his eyes,
looked away. It was a gesture that I’d seen so many times before.
But there was a sadness about him this time that tugged at my
heartstrings.

Reaching out, I touched his arm. “I’m sorry
about everything,” I said.

He jerked away. “I don’t need your pity,” he
replied. His tone was barely civil as he looked at me with
unblinking dark eyes.

“You’re brothers,” I said, shaking my head at
the thought. “It’s hard to believe.”

“Not really.” Jareth’s lip curled in outright
disdain. “I’m an experiment. Nothing more.” His jaw was taut and
his hands were clenched tight. “But I’m curious. How did you know
the box was there?”

Rafael had asked me the same thing. I
hesitated, not really wanting to talk much if the Mesmers were
eavesdropping, but then, they’d already seen the man in the black
top hat several times anyway.

“I keep seeing him,” I admitted. “The man in
the top hat. The same man we saw in the Hall of Mirrors. He pointed
at the cupboard and told me to look.”

Jareth whistled through his teeth. “There are
many tales of the Shadow People,” he said. “They’re not necessarily
benefactors.”

I shivered a little, and when he fell silent,
prompted, “And?”

He looked at me, startled, and shook his head
as if to clear it. “We only know that they banished the lizard
people from Earth. Some say because they wished to protect
humanity. Others believe they wanted the humans for
themselves.”

I wasn’t sure what his momentary distraction
meant, but I took no chances. Linking my arm through his, I pulled
him down the path towards the backyard. I wasn’t going to say
anything important until I was in the chicken coop.

“Maybe the Shadow People are just like
everyone else,” I said. “Some good, some bad. I just know that the
guy with the top hat has only tried to help me.”

He shrugged. “Who’s to say?” And then he
added bitterly, “Just ask yourself why someone helps, that’s
all.”

“I could ask the same about you,” I replied
sarcastically. “Why do you help me, Jareth?”

“I’m obviously a fool,” he answered with a
glare. “You’re only trouble. I should have never given you my
number to begin with.”

I glared back and guided him towards the
chicken coop. He didn’t resist. Well, not until I tried to get him
inside, and then he balked at the door.

“Are you insane?” he asked testily. “Why are
we coming back here?”

I just shoved him in and slammed the door
shut.

“We can’t have the Mesmers listening in,” I
said, indicating the chicken coop wire tacked to the walls.

Jareth frowned, but he apparently followed my
thoughts. “Interesting idea … if it works,” was all he said.

“Works better than your bubble!” I
replied.

Jareth snorted, but didn’t reply.

Tapping my fingers against the wall, I let
myself freely wonder what to do next.

I’d found out information today, that was
certain. But I still didn’t know what Melody was up to with Jareth
or how she or the Brotherhood were controlling him.

And I hadn’t made any real progress
discovering what kind of emotion would stop, much less destroy the
mutant tulpa. It was going to be hard to do all my thinking and
planning in the chicken coop. I was going to have to get Al to move
faster on a better Faraday solution.

Jareth wandered to the window and was staring
out, lost in thought. His shoulders were tilted down, and his
expression was sad.

Walking up to him, I grabbed his hand and
gave it a reassuring squeeze. “We’ll figure out what’s going on,” I
promised.

Jareth eyed me in irritation. “You’re just a
human. How could you possibly help me?”

I scowled back at him. “As your friend, it’s
my job to ignore your attitude right now. If I’d just discovered
what you did today, I’d probably be lashing out, too.”

He didn’t reply. He just stood there. And
then he buried his face in his hands and asked me in a tortured
voice, “What kind of experiment am I, Sydney? Everyone is playing
some kind of game here. The Mesmers. Marquis. Melody. Rafael.” He
seemed drained of all hope and energy.

“Should I tell you what I think, or what you
want to hear?” I asked honestly.

His lips curled slightly as he tilted his
head back, and his black hair fell over his face. “What do you
think I want to hear?” he asked in a snide tone.

“That you’re in control of it all,” I replied
bluntly.

He blinked, and I knew that I was right on
target.

“But what you should hear is this,” I
continued, grabbing his arm in case he wanted to shift away before
I could finish. “We’ve all got to start working together, and we
should trust each other. We can’t keep on trying to do this alone.
That means you, me, and …” I paused and twisted my lip before
adding, “And Rafael.”

I could feel Jareth’s muscles tense under my
arm.

Wiping the smirk from his face, he growled,
“You’re a nuisance, Sydney.”

But he didn’t say anything else, and I knew
that was some form of tacit agreement.

“You’re right,” he said after a while.
“Rafael may be part of the Inner Circle, but his fate line runs a
far different path than Marquis and Melody’s. He’s clearly not on
their side. I’ve … always seen that.”

I knew Rafael was good, but I still felt
relieved to have Jareth confirm it. But my relief was replaced by
concern. “But Melody, what will she do to him—” I began.

“Melody can’t tell that their paths are not
aligned,” Jareth supplied. “Not any longer, anyway. There are only
three Fate Trackers left. Rafael, Melody, and myself. And you
already know that she can’t read her own fate.”

And then the chicken coop door was yanked
open, and Grace poked her head inside. “What are you guys doing in
here?” she asked curiously.

“Nothing,” I answered lamely, unable to think
of a plausible excuse.

And then Jareth was pushing past me to slouch
away, and Grace ran after him.

At the garage, she paused to yell over her
shoulder, “Samantha called. She wants to know if you can cover an
evening shift tonight. A barista’s sick.”

And then she followed Jareth around the
corner of the house.

I stayed in the chicken coop for a few
minutes, finalizing my plans. And I was just preparing to leave
when I spied a small roll of loose chicken wire in the corner.
Grabbing it, I tucked it under my arm.

With my hand on the latch, I began to
visualize my first tulpa. I still didn’t officially know how to
create them, but I knew that they had to be based on emotion. An
emotion opposite of fear.

I decided to start with happiness, and that
made me think of watching Saturday morning Pokémon cartoons as a
kid. Thinking of Pikachu, I imagined the little yellow creature
floating around me with a happy little smile on his chubby
face.

Holding onto that image, I tore out of the
chicken coop and ran to my room.

I only had the courage to enter the place
because Jerry was in there. After kissing his fuzzy head and
feeding him, I kicked the chicken wire under the bed and grabbed my
clothes.

I kept Pikachu firmly in my mind the entire
time that I showered and changed into a clean
Bean There, Baked
That
T-shirt and jeans. And as Betty gave me a ride to work, I
whistled the Pokémon theme song under my breath and visualized
Pikachu dancing alongside us.

If nothing else, it put me in a better mood,
and when we arrived at the coffee shop, I gave Betty a cheerful
wave and disappeared inside.

Once inside, I felt comfortable enough with
Samantha’s presence that I temporarily set my Pikachu experiment
aside. It was exhausting to concentrate that hard on something for
so long.

Donning my apron, I trudged to the front room
to clean tables.

The place was relatively empty, except for
Reese squealing and giggling with several of her friends around a
table near the Christmas tree. She kept looking over her shoulder
and continually flipping her long black hair in a way that I knew
meant she must be trying to catch some guy’s attention.

The guy turned out to be Jareth. He sat
several tables away, chatting with Samantha.

“Perhaps you should start making yourself
useful around here, Jareth,” Samantha was saying. “As it appears
that you’ve moved in.”

“Physical labor isn’t my forte,” Jareth
replied, cocking a brow. “Just keep sending muffins this way,
dragon, whatever amount you think is worth the rent.”

Samantha glanced up and graced me with a
cordial nod. And then turning back to Jareth, she wiped her hands
and said, “Ah yes, your babysitter has arrived. I’ll be leaving
now.”

Jareth laughed as she walked away, but then
the front door opened, and all signs of amusement fled from his
face.

I followed his gaze.

It was Rafael, and his arm was firmly planted
around Raven’s waist.

I was
instantly consumed with jealousy.

Both Raven and Rafael looked as if they’d
stepped straight off a fashion runway, Raven with her
platinum-blonde chic hair and a red form-fitting dress on her
perfect willowy figure. And Rafael. Well, he always looked
stunning, eyeliner and all. But the gray jacket and the light
lemon-colored casual shirt underneath were particularly
flattering.

And then Melody stepped up right behind them,
dressed from head to toe in a leopard-print dress and six-inch
pumps. Her high cheekbones were heavily bronzed, and her lips were
painted a bright ruby red. She looked directly at me and
smiled.

There was a distinct touch of malice in her
smile.

Why, oh why, had I ever helped to save
her?

As they settled at a table near the window, I
watched Reese and her friends glance curiously their way.

Reese’s eyes briefly ran over Melody with no
sign of recognition, and she deliberately ignored Raven. But the
moment she recognized Rafael, she reached into her hobo bag and
pulled out a makeup pouch. Refreshing her lipstick, she pouted and
patted her lips with a napkin and turned to bat her lashes at
him.

She still hadn’t given up on him.

Catching myself staring, I scurried back to
the counter and hurriedly stacked the tray of dirty cups and
plates. I didn’t care if there were no other employees up front. I
fully intended on hiding in the back.

But then Ellison chose that moment to
appear.

“Samantha said you have the register,” he
said, snagging the tray from me. “And the bar ‘till I’m done.”

“I’ll trade jobs with you,” I said, reaching
for the tray.

“Nope,” he disagreed with a shrug. “I’ve got
to talk to Samantha before she leaves.” He nodded at Rafael and
added, “They’ll just want hot chocolate, anyway. You’ll do
fine.”