Page 73 of Faerie Marked

“No.”

Before I had a chance to react, Melia grabbed both my hands and brought them to the crystal ball, broken arm included. I yelped with pain, and then gasped with shock, jerking away an instant too late.

Too late. I’d touched the quartz. The last of the spell fell away with the familiar dousing of icy cold water, leaving my skin shivering and my stomach heaving. Leaving me exposed.

27

Numb with shock, I stared at Melia, but she was staring at the crystal ball. The interior of it had filled with black swirling smoke.

It did not show me the hooded and masked man. It showed menothingexcept the black swirling smoke. As complete disappointment began to sink into me, the smoke changed. In a flash of red and orange light, the interior of the crystal ball burst into flame. The sphere began to hum and vibrate as if it were a bomb about to go off. How—

Melia and I jumped back in tandem and knocked into the rear desks in our attempt to get away from it.

“Down!” she yelled, and a moment later the crystal ball exploded. Quartz fragments ricocheted across the space, raining down on us in a shower of fire and splinters and sparks.

We had both dropped down to the floor with our arms covering our heads for protection. Only one arm for me and I felt the shards of quartz slice across my exposed skin. My broken arm barked in pain from the jolting.

“What the hell happened?” She was screaming to be heard above the explosion still reverberating. “What is going on?”

“I’m sorry!” I apologized immediately. It was all my fault.

“Why are you sorry? What did you do?” she continued to screech. “This is not normal!”

I shifted to try and cover her bare skin before the shards of crystal pierced through and drew blood. Feeling responsible if she got hurt. Tears slipped from my eyes as the shower of sparks at last came to an end. “I’m so sorry, Meli. I wanted to tell you. I wanted to tell you everything but I didn’t think I should.”

My shifter senses returned with a rush of pleasure, as though my inner wolf was eager to be free. Eager to lord her freedom over my Fae half so soon after being stifled yet again.

I can’t be contained.

Out of vials. What was I going to do? This was bad. Very, very bad.

My breathing hitched and my heart nearly beat out of my chest in a rush like hyperventilation. Panic filled me. Out of vials and no way to get to Barbara for more. No information on the hooded killer either, so…all for nothing.

Instead of anger, as I’d expected from my friend, she sat still for a moment and considered me. The crystal shards made their final descent to earth, the sudden silence strange and heavy around us. “What is going on?” she repeated, softly this time. “Tell me what happened, Tavi. Please. I need to know.”

Oh, this was going to sting. And her reaction could go either way at this point. She could understand…or she could end our friendship. The weight of that settled in my chest like an elephant sitting there.

I took a deep breath to try to dislodge the elephant there. “I’m not who I say I am,” I began hesitantly. “And that’s why I couldn’t touch the crystal. You saw what happened.” I hiccupped on another deep breath, rocking back until my spine pressed the desk behind me. “I’m so,sosorry. You’re not hurt, are you?”

“No, but you clearly are. And I think it’s about time for you to tell me what’s happening so I can stop worrying,” she said, biting her lip. “Why do you look different? Tavi…yousmelldifferent.”

On another hiccup, I spilled everything. Everything I’d tried to hide, the potions and Barbara and the real reason why I had applied to the academy. I told Melia about Elfwaite and Kendrick, about my birthday party and my father’s murder. Everything.

She listened with blank expression and no questions, though I saw a shadow form behind her eyes. A new tension, a stiffness to her shoulders. Frightened of me? Or frightened for me?

The latter would be more than I deserved for lying to her for so long. For deceiving my only friend.

“The shifter who attacked me tonight is more than likely a member of the Grimaldi pack who decided I was better off dead than alive,” I said, adjusting my legs to get more comfortable. The exhaustion riding me so hard for the last few hours had disappeared. “But I’m not sure. Not really. I didn’t think it would be a problem yet. I also didn’t think it was a shifter doing the killing. It seems I was so wrong.”

Melia didn’t miss a beat. She reached out and took my free hand in hers, brushing aside fine splinters of quartz like diamond dust along my palm. “I don’t care if you’re half wolf,” she told me softly. “As far as I’m concerned, you’reFae, and youbelongin Faerie. You’re one of the kindest people I know and you’ve always been there for me when I need a friend. You work hard, you accept everyone, and so what if you have no fashion sense?” The sentiment drew out a mutual if ragged chuckle from both of us. “But it sounds like you need more help in this situation than the Fae can give you. The old prejudices are no joke. On both sides.”

Tears burned my eyes and I swallowed them back. Yes, I’d made the best kind of friend, I told myself again. The kind who stuck around when times got tough. I was lucky. So lucky.

“You are going to need some shifters to help you on this one,” Melia continued decisively.

Um…no way. “I can’t go to them,” I insisted. I tightened my grip on her hand. “You don’t understand. Uncle Will is never going to forgive me for what I did. Odds are good he doesn’t even know Kendrick sent his goons after me. I doubt they’re working together on this one.”

Although…maybe they were and maybe myunclewas the one hunting me.

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