Page 13

Lily Baker and the Homecoming Dance

This was worse than any joke Shayne had ever played. Lily sat by the fire, staring at the licking flames as everyone else woke up. Dew had formed along her bare arms in the early hours. Her skin was freezing; she’d been fighting shivers all night until the sun peeked over the distant mountains and warmed the forest. By then, she wasn’t just devastated anymore.

She was angry. Angry at Shayne.

He’d promised her he was going home.

Shayne was a liar. How poetic, that he’d always accused Lily of being one.

The memory of the way he’d looked at her in the dark by the fire. Of his hand dragging along her cheek, finding its way into her hair as he’d pulled her into a kiss… Lily closed her eyes, angry all over again. She would never forgive him for doing that. For trying to trick her with heart flutters and honesty and telling her to do outrageous things like ‘go home and live a happy life.’

“The vote is in,” Luc announced as Dranian sat up, sneezed, and made Cress spring up with a startled gawk five feet away. “We’re all going home.”

Dranian blinked and looked around. He scanned the trees. Twisted to look back at the creek. “Wait…” He said it too quietly for anyone to notice.

“What in the name of the sky—why are Lily’s ankles tied up?!” Mor roared. He strutted over to Lily and yanked the makeshift gag from her mouth first. Then he ripped the nest of branches from around her ankles, only to realize Lily’s wrists were tied, too—with her own sweater. Mor’s jaw tightened. He whirled. “Luc, what did you do?”

Luc sat upon a high rock, tearing petals off a flower one by one. “What makes you think I did all that?” he asked. When Mor’s silence spoke volumes, Luc sighed. “I’m saving her life,” he said nonchalantly. “She’s just ungrateful.”

“You’re going to prison. You’ll rot in jail forever for attacking a cop,” Lily promised now that she could speak, pulling Luc’s gaze off his flower. He scratched the side of his neck.

“Is there free food in human prison?” he asked.

Lily kicked a wad of dirt at him. It smacked against Luc’s coat, and he snarled. Then he dragged himself off the rock, ignoring Mor shooting daggers at him with his eyes, and he crouched down before Lily.

“Dear Lily,” Luc folded his hands, “I don’t want to have to enslave you with your real name in front of all your puffed-up assassin guardians, but I will if I must. If I’m being honest, they don’t frighten me as much as they think they do—”

Mor grabbed Luc’s shoulder and ripped him back. “See what happens to your tongue if you try uttering her name,” he invited. “You’ve gone too far, Zelsor!”

“Where’s Shayne?” Dranian’s murmur barely sailed into the conversation, but it made everyone look around. Lily watched them as they realized, way too late, that Shayne wasn’t there. She saw Mycra turn and gaze toward the landscape. She was the only one who didn’t look surprised.

Lily couldn’t believe her eyes.

Mycra? The psycho stranger? She already knew?

Fresh frustration burned through her that Shayne didn’t tell any of his assassin brothers what he was doing. That he snuck off in the night like a thief. That he didn’t say goodbye to Mor, Cress, or even Dranian—he wouldn’t have said goodbye to her if she hadn’t caught him in that cave.

Mor dropped to a knee and untied the sweater from Lily’s wrists.

“Careful,” Luc warned. “She’s a flight risk.” He dug into his coat and pulled out a red paper bird. Lily watched him hand it to Mor. “But I have exactly what I need to ensure she comes home.” Mor turned the bird over in his fingers. He exhaled a sigh of annoyance as he opened it.

“Mor knows we can’t go home without Shayne,” Lily objected, climbing to her feet. “No origami craft is going to change that. You’re un- real , Luc!” she said. “For a minute, I actually thought maybe you were on our side. But it’s pretty clear to me now that you’re just crazy. Dranian is wrong about you!”

“Lily…” Mor’s low-toned voice made Cress and Dranian look up across the firepit. He stared at the note in his fingers with an expression that turned something in Lily’s stomach. Then he said, “We’re going home.”

Lily’s mouth parted.

“What?” Cress demanded. “We are? We haven’t even had breakfast yet.”

“Yes.” Mor handed the paper bird off to Cress, and Dranian huddled in to read it over his shoulder.

“Without Shayne?” Lily asked as Cress’s face paled.

“Without Shayne,” Mor agreed. He looked off, working his jaw, and folded his arms.

“It might not be goodbye forever,” Shayne had promised. But nobody promised something like that unless there was a chance it would be forever. Lily had collected enough evidence over the last few days to determine that there was a good chance that kiss last night had been the last one he ever planned to give.

Lily released a sound of disbelief. “What is Kate going to say when we show up at home and Shayne isn’t with us?” she said.

“Katherine is in trouble,” Cress said through his teeth. He held up the note and waved it in front of Lily’s face. “I’ll not stay here another faeborn-cursed moment! Get your things, Human! We’re leaving now!”

Lily’s arms fell back to her sides. “What did you just say…?”

Kate?

Her gaze flickered across the camp to where Luc had found a comfortable spot leaning against a tree with his hands in his pockets. He hadn’t said anything about Kate being in trouble.

Lily marched over to Cress and stole the paper crane. She read it.

“Give Cress his body back, Dranian,” Mor instructed. “He’s going to need it.”

From the corner of her eye, Lily saw that Dranian’s fists were balled. His borrowed turquoise gaze was aimed at the woods across the creek. He looked like he might run for it.

“Dranian,” Mor warned.

Dranian turned his scowling face to Mor. Then to Cress. He reluctantly dropped his shoulders and nodded.

His hand came out slowly toward Cress.

“It’s about time, you fool!” Cress snatched Dranian’s hand out of the air, and they both shuddered. In the blink of an eye, they switched places.

Cress inhaled a deep breath and let it out slowly, patting himself on the chest. “How exhilarating to be back!” He even raised both arms and flexed his muscles. “Look, Mor. I’m gorgeous again.” But his excitement vanished, his turquoise irises turning cold and sharp. “Now, let me go deal with whoever shows up at the café today.” He swallowed.

Lily lowered the note. It slipped from her fingers in a gust of wind and sailed into the creek.

They were going… back?

Kate and Greyson were in trouble?

Fae scouts would go after them before the end of the day today?

Lily turned away from the others. She clutched her police hoodie in her grip, digging her fingers in.

Everything was happening too fast.

She let her eyes slide closed, and she swallowed. She’d never had a panic attack before. This couldn’t possibly be what that was. But her hands shook, and an overwhelming wave of nausea washed through her abdomen. Was this what Dranian felt when he lost control?

Lily pictured Kate alone at the café. She’d probably been picking up double shifts to cover the counter after everyone left. She was vulnerable, like she’d been the last time a Shadow Fairy had appeared and kidnapped her, and had tied her to a chair, and had nearly…

Lily marched into the woods. The others continued their discussions, continued gathering their things behind her as she wove between trunks and stepped over fallen logs. Winged bugs spiralled past, and the same milkweed-like bulbs floated around, whisking away as she rushed by. She pushed strands of pink blossom-filled vines aside, carving a path through the flora.

She finally grabbed a tree, leaning against the trunk for support, her inhales tight and heavy. She clawed at the collar of her t-shirt, trying to remember breathing techniques through the haze of her mind. She squeezed her eyes shut.

This wasn’t her. She didn’t panic. She wasn’t afraid of anything.

With the exception of one, single thing.

Lily had stayed by Kate’s side, protecting her for all these years, only to leave her open to danger now. Everything Lily had done in the last year had been for Kate. Every design at Desmount Tech, every decision about the café, even allowing the fae assassins to stay around once she was finally convinced they were safe—that was all for Kate .

She only hoped that if Kate, her only sister, was in trouble, she would know to run. Because Lily had no other family left apart from Kate and Greyson. She hadn’t been able to protect her first mother. She hadn’t been able to protect her second mother or father, either.

“The girl who can survive anything… can she even save anyone?”

Lily’s eyelids peeled open.

The music. High and fresh, curling over her skin like it was close enough to touch. She had the strangest urge to dance her way through the forest. To walk—no, run —to the source.

She realized her sweater was no longer in her hands. She turned to look the way she came, guessing where she’d dropped it, but instead of seeing the forest, an enormous teal sea spilled into her vision. She faltered before she took a step forward, looking down to find bubbly seafoam licking up the edge of a black rock beneath her feet. The sea went on for miles in every direction with no other shore or island in sight. The taste of salt moved along her tongue, and the wind turned warm and strange.

The Lady of the Lake. The one whose voice was trapped in a flute. Shayne had warned Lily not to listen.

She smacked her hands over her ears. She pressed so hard, she thought she’d crush her skull.

Like a painting being peeled away in strips, the vision of the sea disappeared, and she found herself back in the forest.

Bright emerald leaves fluttered overhead in a patch of breeze, distant birds chirped, and the creek waters echoed through the plants. Lily swallowed, realizing whatever tightness of breath and nausea she felt a moment ago was gone. She spotted the sleeve of her sweater on the ground a few feet away, mostly hidden by a blue quartz-like cliff. It wasn’t where she guessed it would be. In fact, it looked like it was in the opposite direction of the way she came.

Lily marched over to it, flinging aside a string of pink flowers dangling from a crooked tree. She found herself on a cobbled path, and her feet came together. She’d never seen this path before.

A tune filled her ears, loud enough to tickle along her spine, poke at her insides, and wave her forward.

She spun, drawing her gun and aiming it at a being she knew was behind her.

The moment she saw two youthful fairies standing there with pure white hair, rich red coats inlaid with gold buttons, and glittering blue eyes, she knew she should have run instead.

One of them lowered a flute from his lips. His mouth curled into a twisted smile.

“Hello, Lily Baker,” he said.