Page 22 of Golden Star

“Ideally, yes,” I say. “But practically… Riven told me there were creatures out there. Ones that could kill us if we’re not careful.”

“You’re sounding just like Aunt Martha,” Zoey says. “Focusing on what’spracticalinstead of on what’spossible.”

“I’m not like Aunt Martha,” I say, irritated at the comparison.

“Since you’re saying it, and you can’t lie, then I guess you believe it,” she says. “But you definitely sound just like her right now.”

I sigh, knowing she’s never going to let the whole “not being able to lie” thing go.

“We’ll be fine,” she continues, waving me off. “We’re just going to look for your bracelet in the bushes, grab it, and come right back. We’ll stick close to the stream. Plus, it’ll be daytime. How dangerous could it be?”

She says it so casually, but I can tell by the gleam in her eyes that she’s dying to see the fae realm for herself.

Of course she is.

She wouldn’t beZoeyif she wasn’t.

“You’re not just interested in the bracelet, are you?” I ask. “You also want to go sightseeing?”

“Can you blame me?” She shrugs, not bothering to hide it. “You’ve been telling me about this beautiful place with magic and fae and hot men riding leopards. Of course I want to see it. And you want to get your bracelet back. Our interests are aligned. Isn’t that whyyou rushed over here in the first place? To get my help?”

“You’re forgetting one important thing,” I tell her.

“And what’s that?”

“Riven and I made the deal that I can’t go back to the fae realm for a year.”

She scrunches her brow, deep in thought.

We’ve already reached a dead end. Because I’m not going to be able to get my bracelet back. Riven’s deal made sure of it.

I pretty much knew that before coming over here. But I also knew that I needed to tell my best friend what happened.

I didn’t want to deal with this alone.

“Loopholes,” Zoey finally says, and she goes back into her room, giving me no choice but to follow. “That’s how you’re avoiding lying—you’re finding loopholes to step around telling the truth. Riven threatened using the loophole of how he never saidwhenhe’d get you back home. It was his way of getting around what the deal initially seemed to be. Maybe we can find another loophole now.” She stops pacing, zeroing in on me. “What was theexactwording of the deal?”

I think back, combing through the memory.

“He said that if I agreed to stay in Presque Isle for a year, he’d bring me safely home,” I say, sure of it.

“That’s it?”

“Yes. That’s it.”

“I can work with that,” she says, pacing around her room again. “He said he could get around his side of the deal by notimmediatelybringing you home. Because the two of you didn’t specify timing.”

“Yes,” I say, curious about where she’s going with this.

“I thinktimingis key here,” she continues.

“How so?”

“Because he said you needed to stay in Presque Isle for a year. But did he say that the year needed to be all at once? Like… can it be spread out over time? A few weeks here, a month or so there? Can it justadd upto a year?”

“I don’t know.” I smile, since as crazy as it is, she might be on to something. “But there’s only one way to find out.”

Sapphire

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