Page 12 of Fake Dating a Human 101

There was no dream. There was just spinning blackness that swallowed time and thoughts and reality.

It felt like only a few seconds had passed when she heard Dranian mutter, “I haven’t fought that hard in ages,Human.” And some time after that he said, “We’ll have to hide here until I regain strength in my one good arm.”

There were only two kinds of people in the world. Those who solved problems and those who made them. Despite her upbringing and unlucky childhood, Lily had refused at an early age to be the latter. And that one resolve had made her a different sort of girl. It had made her a survivor.

That was why, when the sound of shattering glass made her eyelids peel open to see a ceiling over her head and walls around her, her first move was to roll out of bed, grab her gun, and move into the next room before she’d blinked the sleep from her eyes. It was why she punched as soon as she saw the young woman raise a weapon against Dranian, their colliding spears sending a metallic echo through the cabin.

The woman took Lily’s punch, the spear in her hand swinging around so fast, Lily would have been impaled through the neck if she hadn’t leaned back. Lily kicked as she came up. The woman dodged it in a graceful dance, appearing before her again with the tip of her spear at Lily’s throat. Lily’s gun was against the woman’s head, right between a pair of wild green eyes.

The woman’s gaze flickered over to Dranian—whom Lily only now realized had stopped fighting. He’d become pale and rigid, and he looked like he’d seen a ghost.

“Drop your spear, or I’ll shoot,” Lily warned the woman anyway.

Dranian dropped his spear, and Lily cut him a look of disbelief. “I wasn’t talking to you!” she said. But his expression didn’t waver, and Lily looked from Dranian, to the woman, then back to Dranian again, who seemed like he couldn’t spit out whatever he wanted to say.

Then, as if all the weirdness in the room wasn’t enough, Dranian miraculously found his voice to ask her, “Where’s Shayne?”

Lily almost demanded to know why Dranian would ask that question to a stranger, but the young woman’s face fell, and the next thing Lily knew, the ‘stranger’ spoke words that made Lily drop her gun. Made the beats of Lily’s heart slow, and made none of this seem real.

“You came too late,” the woman said.

Too late.

Toolate?

Was this woman a psycho? She clearly had a few screws loose, but numbness filled Lily’s chest when she studied the woman’s face and saw actual regret there. It was as if this stranger might have really known something about Shayne in her glowing-eyed, tangly-haired head. And that… Lily couldn’t handle that. Not even a peanut’s worth.

“What does that mean?” Lily asked in a low, articulate voice. She nearly raised her gun again. Heat burned around her eyes out of nowhere, even though crying wouldn’t solve anything. Even though crying was for people who didn’t know how to survive like she did. “Tell me what that means!” she repeated. She cut her glare over to Dranian who stood there with parted lips, hugging his injured arm to himself, still staring at the intruder. “Who is this?” Lily asked him instead, pointing to the psycho-woman with her gun.

Dranian didn’t answer. Didn’t move a muscle. Didn’t helpat all.

The woman spoke instead, “It means Shayne Lyro is probably already dead. And if he’s not… he likely wishes he was,” she stated. Her voice was high and sweet like a melody, but it didn’t make the things she said any better. “And running at full speed to that horrible House won’t get us there in time even if the sky deities have kept him alive until now.”

Lily bit down on her lips and drifted a step toward Dranian, forcing him to peel his eyes off the psycho-woman and meet her gaze. “What is she saying, Dranian?” she demanded. “What is this psycho saying?”

Dranian’s mouth moved, but he didn’t answer.

“What in the world happened, Dranian?” Lily roared this time. She tightened her grip on her gun while losing her grip on herself. “I know all youbrotherswere in on something back in the summer. Did that have to do with why Shayne lied to us and came here and ended up like this?!”

Dranian slid back a step. A crease formed between his brows as he shook his head. “Our secret-y thing had nothing to do with this,” he swore. “And I promised my brothers I would never tell of that incident, so don’t ask me about it—I beg you, Lily.”

Lily stared at him with a look that spent the last dime of energy she had left after hearing the woman’s news. “We’ll be too late even if we run; didn’t you hear?” Lily enunciated every syllable. “We’re too late, Dranian! We’re too late for Shayne!” She hiccupped an inhale as that settled in. “So yeah—I’m going to ask about it. And you’re going to tell me every ‘secret-y’ thing you fairies were involved in before Shayne left.”

5

Shayne Lyro and the Secret-y Thing that Happened

Before He Left

Two Months Ago

The floor of Kate’s apartment was filthy. Shayne hadn’t noticed it until he laid upside down on the couch in the living space with his legs up the backrest and his white hair sweeping the floor.

Mor sighed loudly when he came in. He didn’t bother asking what Shayne was doing or why he was upside down. Dranian didn’t ask questions either; he came into the apartment as straight-faced as ever, glanced at Shayne’s toes dancing in the air, and kept walking until he reached the kitchen island with Mor. He pulled out a stool and sat down.

Cress, however, was entirely incapable of passing by without a word.

“Your feet are ghastly, Shayne!” he scolded. “Look!” His finger did an up-and-down sweep of pointing out all the dirt Shayne had collected on his foot-bottoms over the last day. “I shall cut off your feet altogether if youever—”

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