Page 10 of Fake Dating a Human 101

Dranian scrambled after her, making sure to keep up—no, making sure topass heronce he reached the road. Fairies were far superior to humans in strength and speed. He imagined this exercise might be rather humiliating for Lily, though when she sped up to match his pace—no, to passhim…

Dranian’s eyes widened at Lily’s back. Her face was relaxed, her strides appeared easy; she looked as though she could run for the next several hours.

Of all his traits, competitiveness was the one Dranian cared about the least. Being good at things often brought unwanted attention, often demanded speeches to be made, questions to be asked, all of which were best avoided. So, that wasn’t what this was. This wasn’t a competition. This was by no means an actual race.

But he couldn’t exactly be outgalloped by a human.

Dranian lifted his nose into the air, tilting his head back as he put his greatest effort forth to sprint past Lily, leaving no room for her victory whatsoever. He raced and raced and raced, breaking out of the forest into the morning sunlight, past the glistening gold vineyards, until he came to the end of the path where an abandoned stick hut rested in the shadow of a stalky pine. Beyond the hut’s broken door, Dranian spotted a chair. He huffed with an almost-smile and headed toward the hut, wondering if it would be considered gloating if he were to pull out a chair and sit to wait for Lily until she caught up.

4

Lily Baker and the Rules

The music didn’t start right away. Lily only heard it after three days in the Ever Corners, and even then, she wasn’t convinced of what she was hearing. The tune mixed into the wind, hardly a sound at all, just a high note of a woodwind instrument. But the crazy part was that Dranian swore he couldn’t hear a thing.

Lily shook off the thought as she followed him into the village, accidentally kicking up dirt as her feet dragged. She was sticky with sweat from running for so long. She could have smacked the grouchy fairy for making her sprint like that, but when she’d finally reached him, he had a look on his face that somewhat resembled a smile, and Lily figured she shouldn’t ruin such a rare and precious thing. If she’d had her phone, she would have snapped a picture of his expression before it went away, just to prove to the others it had really happened.

Dranian strutted a little taller now, and Lily smirked and shook her head. If all she had to do to get him to change his attitude about this trip was to let him run ahead of her for a while, she would have done it ages ago.

“The girl who can survive anything… can she survive us?”

Lily’s feet came together. The music tickled her ears like it was a physical substance.

She wasn’t crazy. It was really there, and now the song had… words?

She turned to look behind her, scanning the strange village streets with their crooked trees, their braided stick arches, and their glowing flower curtains. Something told her to go find the source of the music. It was the same feeling she got when she had a case to be solved that cost her sleep and days of mildly unhealthy obsessive attention. That addictive behavior was the reason Chief Adams wanted to promote her to detective.

The girl who can survive anything.

This freaky fairy park couldn’t have possibly known to use that word—survive. The song couldn’t have been talking about her.

“Lily.” Dranian only used her name when he wanted something, was strangely trying to apologize for something, or was feeling impatient with her and didn’t want to outright say it.

“Do you seriously not hear that?” she asked him. It sounded like the tune was coming from the faraway hills, which was totally impossible. It also seemed louder now, like they were getting closer to it.

But, once again, Dranian said, “No.”

Lily sighed and turned to face him just as he reached for the hood of her police hoodie and yanked it up over her head. He positioned it around her face, roughly stuffing her hair inside.

“If you can,” Dranian murmured, “conceal your scent as much as possible. Andespeciallykeep your eyes down. Don’t make eye contact with any fairies we pass in this village.”

“For real? How do I conceal my scent?” Lily folded her arms as she waited for him to finish his fussing.

Dranian leaned forward and sniffed. He made a face. “Unfortunately, it will be difficult,” he admitted.

Lily burst out laughing. “Well, I wouldn’t smell so bad ifsomeonehadn’t made me run a marathon today,” she pointed out.

Dranian opened his mouth. He closed it again. Another shadow of a smile almost showed itself. “Stay close. If anyone grabs you, scream so I know. If anyone offers you gems, refuse even if you see visions of a wealthy life. If anyone offers you a drink that’s bubbly and silver, refuse even if you—”

“How about I just refuse everything?” Lily offered.

Dranian nodded. “That will work.” He turned and led the way onto a busy street where garland wrapped fences and white cottony dust covered the roads as if it was placed there to mimic snow. Tiny, glowing fairies buzzed above them like fireflies, and pretty, pointy-eared creatures moved into their path, eyeing Lily and Dranian while sipping on steaming drinks from crystal mugs. They wore long, deep blue gowns, vests with glittering green threads, chunky scarves, and large coats with fur-lined hoods. Some wore wreaths with flowers that sprouted as they passed. Dranian ignored them all, walking like a military man on a mission.

“They’re preparing for the two months of Yule ceremonies,” he muttered over his shoulder. “That’s why everything is extra flashy.”

“Ah.” Lily wondered if the House of Lyro would be decorated like this; frost-kissed and smelling of pine. “What can we expect the House of Lyro to be like?” she asked. “You’ve hardly briefed me on it.”

“You won’t be going in there,” Dranian stated.

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