Page 51 of The Cursed Fae

Nervous laughter bubbled up inside of me.

“Because there is really no other excuse for double digit missed calls in the last hour.” My best friend glared at me through the phone and tapped her wrist. “Well, time’s ticking.”

Then she noticed my tears.

“Winter? You aren’t really dying, are you?” Lena’s tone had lost all edge.

I wiped my face with the back of my free hand. “No. Nothing so dramatic. It’s just been a really tough few days. I’m sorry if I scared you.”

Missy jerked a thumb toward the door, though she rarely entered or exited a room in such traditional fashion. “This is touching and all, but I’m going to go.”

“Thank you,” I mouthed.

“Is someone else there?” Lena asked, peering around as though that would help her see beyond my camera’s field of vision.

I stared at the spot where Missy had been an instant earlier. “Nope. Just you and me.”

“Then tell me what’s going on and whether it has anything to do with why you haven’t called before today. This better not be about some boy. I don’t have the money to fly out there and kick his ass.”

I laughed uneasily and settled in for a long chat.

“It sort of does,” I admitted.

Telling Lena the whole saga of my life since arriving in Arcane Landing wasn’t really an option. If I started talking about bloodsuckers and fae, she would find the money to fly out there to have me committed. But I’d opened the door with my hasty excuse for all the phone calls, and she deserved a version of the truth.

I told her about Laz and our beach date but substituted a car crash for the vampire attack. In hindsight, lying about an accident seemed like the best way to predict a future one.

“Things have been weird with Laz since. Then I found out he’s been sort of lying to me about something, and I don’t really know how to handle it.” I shook my head. “This all sounds super lame when I say it out loud.”

It did. Because it was. Without the finer details, the story just sounded melodramatic.

“This isn’t like you, to get all bent out of shape over a guy,” Lena said, though her comment lacked suspicion. “You must really like him.”

“I do.” Averting my eyes, I added, “I just wish you were here to tell me what to do.”

“I don’t need to be there to tell you what to do. Confront the guy. Ask him why he lied. See? Simple solution.”

“You make it sound so easy. He’s also my roommate’s brother. Her twin brother. So that complicates the situation.”

Lena’s brows drew together in confusion. Instead of pressing the issue of Laz, she switched to Tina. “Oh, yeah, the person you’re living with that I know nothing about. Tell me about this roommate of yours. What’s she like?”

“Well, for starters, she gave me a list of rules on day one. So there’s that.” I rattled off the ridiculous guidelines as best I could from memory. “She warned me away from Laz, too. Told me I was just a shiny new toy to him.”

“What the fuck? She sounds awful. I’ll hate her for you,” Lena declared. “Especially if she’s the one who designed that room. I’ve been dying to ask—what’s going on behind you? Is this Tina girl part of a coven?”

My best friend did not know how close she was to the truth, but I laughed it off.

“Oh, this isn’t my room. This is just some funky study lounge. They aren’t all this weird.”

We talked for the rest of Lena’s drive home from work. She told me about the hot older man who’d moved in next door to her and his shirtless morning jogs. We laughed about a couple who’d sat in her section that night, with Lena recounting all their awkward first date conversation.

She didn’t mention the generous tipper who didn’t eat his food. Of course, I didn’t ask. The vampire had been close enough to Lena to steal her phone and return it without her noticing. That was all the confirmation I needed. He would continue to watch her, to stalk her. I knew that much was true. But the vampire had kept his promise—Lena was safe. Now I needed to keep mine. First, I needed to figure out what he meant by my “real magic”. Then I could learn to use it.

The conversation with Lena left me feeling bittersweet. It was great talking to my best friend, but it also highlighted just how different our lives had become in a week. I’d only been in Arcane Landing for a single damn week. That divide would only grow the longer I lived in a supernatural community.

Except… who was I kidding? The divide had always been there. I just hadn’t noticed it before. In a world surrounded by humans, I had found someone most like me—an outsider.

“Penny for your thoughts.”

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