Page 10 of Wanted: A Roommate Who Isn't Evil

He took a large bite of his strawberry treat and moaned at the taste he would miss all season until the shop’s triumphant return. Closing down felt like a great crime. Had the shop been in the Ever Corners, he might have done some wicked scheming to ensure the owners weren’t allowed to close their doors to him. He might have purchased the place with gold. He might have forced the owner to reveal his name and enslaved him to make ice cream forever without stopping. He might have done worse things.

But, alas, the human species were a different sort. Violent still, at times, but far less tricky, and therefore, fairy meddling often made crowds too curious.

He ran his tongue around the full brim of the cone to catch the drips as he ventured down the street, ducking around passing couples and one particularly motivated jogger. Humans tended to be chatty, he’d learned; they all walked in groups, deep in discussion, talking about boring things that didn’t matter. None of them paid Luc any attention as he headed deeper into the alleys of bustling shops and down fresh sidewalks. He took a glance at the sun and mumbled a curse at it. He’d been so pleased to see it shining this morning when he thought its glow was promising a good day ahead.

It had lied. The sun was a liar.

He took a large bite of his ice cream to make himself feel better, and he swept around the bend—

He tore himself back.

Luc’s shoulders pressed flat against a brick wall.He found his hands were shaking, gripping his cone, cracking the sugary shell. Pink cream dripped down his fingers. He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly.

It wasn’t nerves, it was likely anger. Also, it was probably calculation. And possibly panic.

Alright, it was nerves.

His fox heart didn’t settle, even when he closed his eyes and inhaled, exhaled, inhaled again. When he peeled his eyes open, he inched toward the edge of the wall, carefully peering around with just one silver eye.

Two fairies stood in the street. Fairies with elongated, pointed ears, coated in the smell of ash and darkness, with eye colours that could only be made by magic. For a split second, Luc forgot about his ice cream.

He bit down on a curse as he took off down the alley, hurrying in the opposite direction, too worried about the popping sound that would follow him to airslip. But even as he darted in and out of crowded spaces, never looking back, never stopping, he could not unsee the black pearl armour the Shadows had been wearing.

It seemed the Army had returned.

They were back for answers.

Back forhim, certainly.

It wasn’t until he was four buildings away that Luc allowed himself to slip into a store, and as he passed through the doorway he became one with the air.

He never should have gone near downtown. He had caused a mess for the Shadow Army, and now they were out for his blood. This was the first season he hadn’t checked in with them at their designated meeting place. It was the first time he had refused to fulfill his role as the liaison for the Dark Queene. The first time they were allowed to abandon all concern for whose son he was.

It was the first time he’d ever truly felt he belonged to no one. And he was desperate to keep it that way.

Luc dropped onto the sidewalk in front of his new apartment building. His fingers felt wet. He glanced over to see that by some ancient fairy miracle, his ice cream was still intact. He quickly licked up all the drips as he punched the secret code into the keypad and pushed his way in through the doors. He airslipped up the stairs. He could have airslipped right back into his apartment, but he wasn’t sure if the North Fairy was back. He imagined he might get stabbed if he appeared before the one-armed assassin without warning.

Luc appeared at the end of his hall and made his way to 3E with thoughts of murder on his mind.

He thought the Army would have stopped looking for him after he’d disappeared without a trace the day he exacted his revenge on Mor.

Would he truly have to kill them all? Every last fairy of hisdivision? Is that truly what it would take?

He would do it. He would end them all, one by one, if they did not cease their search. His fox bead felt heavy and eager in his pocket.

“Oh dear,” he muttered as he yanked out his key and let himself into his new home.

The North Fairy was nowhere to be found. Luc still tiptoed in, peering around every corner, eyeing every shadow and movement out the window as darkness fell upon the city. Only time would tell if Dranian had babbled of Luc’s existence to Mor. Though, if Mor knew Luc was here, he would have already shown himself.

Luc’s shoulders relaxed as he thought about that. He nodded to himself. No one was in this apartment. No one was waiting to spring out of the cracks and stab him clean through the heart.

No, Trisencor couldn’t possibly have known yet.

It seemed his devious little comments to Dranian had worked.

5

Dranian Evelry and the Thing Stuck on His Tongue

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