by Rachel Angel
“Oh, and before I forget…” He pulled a long, narrow plastic box out of his jacket. “This is for you.”
Harley smiled at the two small roses intertwined with fine black lace.
“It’s to wear on your wrist,” Red said.
“It’s beautiful.”
“See,” he said as he broke the corsage out of the plastic box and slipped it onto her wrist. “I’m wearing black with a touch of red, and you’re wearing red with a touch of black.”
“That’s cute,” Harley said, touched by his thoughtfulness.
He held his arm out for her, and she hooked hers in his.
“Have a good time,” April called out.
Red led Harley outside, and they crossed the central mall of the campus.
“Isn’t it a beautiful night,” Red said, his pace slow and lazy as they made their way.
Harley looked up at the night sky. “It’s amazing how many stars we can see from up here.”
“That clear mountain air.”
“You know,” Harley said. “I didn’t thank you for inviting me to this ball. I’m sure I wouldn’t have gone if you hadn’t.”
Smiling, he set his hand over hers as he led her to the entrance to the ballroom. They could already hear the music inside, and Harley suddenly felt like just dancing and having a good time. The past weeks of constant studying, and intense training had been difficult, and it felt good to let go and have fun.
Red opened the door and let Harley into the dimly lit ballroom. Small red lights flickered at the ceiling, while colorful beams of light danced throughout the dancehall. In the distance, dozens of kids danced to the music, but as the beams of light dimmed to almost nothing, Harley could barely see anything in front of her.
“It’s so dark,” she said to Red.
“Let me see if I can’t find a light switch.”
Confused, Harley frowned at his suggestion and turned to him just as a huge flood lamp bathed the space with glaring light. Beside him stood Kingsley, Oak, and Zed with Cici and Ashley. Gone were the colorful lights and the dozens of dancing kids. Instead, they stood in the center of a large warehouse with floor to ceiling boxes.
“Trying to play dress up?” Ashley said, looking at Harley’s dress.
“Isn’t that what you wore to the prom?” Cici asked Ashley.
“Yeah. Red asked if I had an old, outdated dress that I didn’t wear anymore, and I pulled this out of the back of my closet.”
“If I remember correctly, you filled it out a bit better,” Cici said, glancing at Harley’s chest.
Harley’s heart raced, not only because she now found herself alone with all of them, but because of the trust she’d put in Red. She was so disgusted with herself and with him, she didn’t even want to look at him.
“You know,” Cici said. “I think I have just the right accessory to go with that dress.” She turned around to pick up something and turned back, throwing an egg at Harley.
It landed just about her left breast, breaking and smearing the elegant silk with its slimy content. Seconds after it broke, Harley noticed the foul smell. Then Ashley threw another one, landing it on her hip. The boys joined in, landing the smelly eggs on her legs, her arms, her chest and one particularly painful one that landed over her ear.
Harley caught a glimpse of Red as he threw a spoiled egg at her, a sinister grin on his face. The egg landed at her throat, and while it hurt, it didn’t compare to the pain she felt in her heart.
She felt silly and foolish for having allowed herself to believe that he could really be interested in her… that he even had it in him to be nice.
When an egg came flying straight at her face, she closed her eyes and tried to turn away, but the egg landed just over her right eye.
After wiping the slimy egg and shells off her face, she opened her eyes and saw the shocked silence of the dozens of kids who’d been dancing a few moments earlier.
The glamour, Harley thought.
After a moment of shock, the dozens of kids started laughing. They pointed at her and laughed; loud belly laughs and hysterical giggles.
“What the hell are you doing arriving at the ball looking like that?” one guy shot out.
“Geez, you stink,” a girl said. “I mean, you really stink.”
In Harley’s head, there was a dark moment of gathering her thoughts as she just stood there. Her mind was suddenly blank, and it was as if her vision had narrowed down to almost nothing. She could hear her breathing, hear her heartbeat, and the ridiculing snickers of the kids seemed to get farther away.
She wanted to run, to hide. She wanted to crumble to the floor and cry. She wanted to call her mother and father and beg them to take her out of there.
But then she saw the victorious grins of Cici and Ashley. No, she thought. I am not going to give them the satisfaction. I am not going to let them win so easily. If they want to tear me down, they’re going to need more than stinky eggs.
Smiling, she looked at them. Their victorious grins faded, and their brows creased.
“Nice,” Harley shouted as she applauded them. “Quite a nice prank. I gotta admit it. You got me. Although, come to think of it, it’s not very original. I mean, I once saw a scene in a movie that was kind of like this.” She walked up to Cici and Ashley. “You’d think you guys could come up with something a little more interesting than spoiled eggs.”
Seething, Cici narrowed her eyes and her jaw tensed.
Harley turned and walked a few paces away. “You know,” she said as she tugged a lace strap off her shoulder. “You really leave me no choice.”
The guys who’d been laughing and snickering were suddenly silent as they watched her.
“I mean,” Harley went on, tugging the other lace strap off her shoulder. “I came here hoping to have a good time and dance a bit.”
Red licked his lips as his eyes remained riveted to her while Oakley shifted his hardening cock over in his tight pants.
“You see,” Harley continued, rolling the fabric of the dress down, exposing her black lace bra. “I really do like to dance.”
“Fucking, holy shit,” a young man near her called out as he adjusted his pants.
Kingsley stared at her, his eyes keen with interest despite Cici’s repeated nudging at him.
“I mean,” Harley said with a sly smile as she rolled the dress down over her belly then shimmied her hips out, exposing a black thong. “I so rarely get the chance to dance.”
“Ooh!”
“Yeah!”
“Take it off!”
“Woo! Woo!”
The enthusiastic cheers gave Harley more confidence. Letting the dress fall to her ankles, she stepped one sexy foot out of it and with the other foot, brought it behind her to grab the soiled garment. She turned it inside out, and with the clean side, wiped the eggs off her face and out of her hair.
“Fucking right,” Oakley said.
Ashley turned to him and tried to slap the lustful gaze off his face. He glared down at her and returned his interested gaze to Harley.
Harley walked up to them, adding a sexy strut to her usual step. She pitched the soiled dress into Red’s face. “Here,” she said. “I don’t think I’ll be needing this anymore.” She smiled prettily at him. “I guess I should thank you. At least you didn’t make me buy my own dress. I guess that’s the upside to being poor.”
She turned and strutted away, knowing that her firm ass would drive the guys crazy. She was proud of her well-toned body. Her daily workouts and combat training had honed it into a tight and fit fighting machine. She was no longer the normal human girl who first entered Fallen Fae Academy a few months ago. She was now one of the top students, and the fittest she’d ever been. Throwing her hands in the air, she called out to every other guy in the place, “Now, who wants to dance?!”
She was quickly surrounded by a host of guys eager to get to know her. She pointed to one of them, a young man with glasses and a shy smile. They danced together to a funky
tune and laughed and had a good time.
When the next song started, she switched to a tall boy with red hair and freckles. Then moved on to a soccer player with broad shoulders and a missing tooth. Then a short, stocky boy with an endearing smile and sincere eyes.
When Red came around, dancing near her and trying to inch closer, Harley ignored him. But when the song came to an end and he came closer still, Harley took advantage of the brief moment of silence.
“Don’t even think about it, asshole,” she shouted out before the next song began.
The guys around her laughed, and she continued to dance with them all.
She let go of her inhibitions; the Fallen Boys and their silly girlfriends had actually opened a door for her. She’d never thought of herself as sexy. She’d always been more of a tomboy, never interested in catching a boy’s gaze.
But now… it was like a whole new world had opened up to her.
As she danced with a tall hunky guy with long blond hair and horny eyes, she noticed Zed and Red leaning up against a speaker, glaring unhappily at her. They were practically green with jealousy.
If this was all part of her initiation, it’d backfired on them… big time.
***
On a brisk October afternoon, Harley sat in the bleachers with April watching a soccer practice. The autumn air was cool, but the sun was warm. The forest around them had lost its green hue, leaving it red and orange and brown. Red leaves from the maples dotted the playing field at one end while yellow leaves from the birch dotted the other.
“Some people say we don’t have a chance of winning if we don’t have Oakley,” April said.
“I don’t really care,” Harley said with a shrug as she watched a spray of leaves float by on the wind. “I’d like to see him leave the school all the same.”
“He wasn’t alone in egging you.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“If they find out you made a complaint… I don’t know what they’ll do.”
“I had to report something, April. I knew there was no point mentioning Zed and Red because of their mother, and considering Kingsley title, I doubt it would have been a good idea to point him out either. I regret not mentioning Cici and Ashley, but I’m sure I’ll have another chance to report them for something.”
“Just be careful,” April warned.
Below, Harley saw Ashley walking along the edge of the field and when she looked up and noticed Harley, she waved.
“Is she serious?” Harley said. “After what she did.”
“She must be. She’s coming up here,” April said. “I’m out of here. Coming?”
“No,” Harley said. “I’ll stick it out and see what she wants.”
“In that case, I’ll go grab a few hot dogs and come back. Want one?”
“Sure. Mustard and onions,” Harley said, keeping her eyes on Ashley as she made her way up into the stands.
“Be right back.”
“Hey,” Ashley said as she walked up to the row in front of Harley. “I haven’t seen you around much lately.”
“Yeah, my classes tend to keep me pretty busy,” Harley said. “You know, class. That place you go to and listen to a professor who teaches you things.” She glanced lazily at Ashley then returned her gaze to the field.
Ashley came up to sit beside Harley. “You know, when I was a kid, I was kind of poor, too.”
Harley stared straight ahead. “Were you? So, what does that mean? You had to do without Paris, or Gucci, or filet mignon?”
“I’m serious. Before my father’s business took off, times were rough. For the most part I was too young to remember, like when my mother’s sisters brought us food because my father hadn’t made any money. When we were older, we shopped almost exclusively at thrift stores. I kind of liked it until the kids at school made fun of me. I hadn’t realized I was wearing someone else’s clothes. Then when I was in third grade, I ate ketchup sandwiches for two whole months. It was horrible. I still can’t eat ketchup to this day.”
“Really?” Harley remembered a time when she had had to eat ketchup sandwiches. Sometimes, just to change things up a bit, she’d had mustard sandwiches.
Ashley gazed wistfully out at the field. “Sometimes I think I react to people like you, poor people, just because the memory of those days is so painful. I remember the humiliation and shame. I hated it. Hated having the other kids look at me and point out what I didn’t have.” She glanced at Harley. “Of course, I also hated not having what they had. It didn’t seem fair. I mean, I know my dad worked hard, and so did my mom. So why didn’t we have any money?”
“I know what you mean,” Harley said.
“Of course, that doesn’t forgive how I treated you. But my being poor as a kid isn’t the only reason I wasn’t nice to you. You see, it doesn’t help, either, that Oakley thinks you’re so pretty.”
Harley turned to her.
“I know I tend to get jealous a little too easily, but… Oakley is the first guy I feel so strongly about. Seeing him look at you the way he does, well… it just kills me. I know I can’t compete with you.”
“I’ve seen how Oak looks at you. I’m sure he loves you very much,” Harley said softening her tone.
“I don’t know,” Ashley said, her voice suddenly small and broken. “I went back to Paris last week. Just a quick shopping spree for a few winter things. I brought a nice sweater back for Oak, and he barely looked at it.”
Harley chuckled softly. “Oak doesn’t really seem to be the ‘nice sweater’ type of guy.”
Ashley sighed and smiled. “Maybe you’re right.”
The practice over, Oak made his way up into the stands to meet them.
“Hey, babe,” he said to Ashley, giving her a quick kiss on the brow.
“Hi.” She brought her large leather purse around to her lap and rummaged inside. “I brought you an energy bar.” She handed it to him and rummaged inside the purse again. “I got these in Paris,” she told Harley. “They’re macarons.” She held out the small box of colorful cookies.
Harley had seen the delicate French cookies before at a pastry shop but had never been able to afford any.
“They’re not as fresh as when I bought them, but they’re still very good,” Ashley said.
Nodding, Harley picked a pale green one out of the box and took a bite. She’d not even swallowed that tiny bite that she felt drunk. The soccer field in front of her rocked and waved like a stormy sea, while the stands around her rose and fell like giant piano keys.
She was hallucinating, and every new hallucination brought with it a wave of nausea. She fell back onto the floor of the seat behind her. Struggling to sit back up she came face to face with a strange bird. It had a huge beak and the span of its wings seemed to take up the entire stands, but it had the body of a mammal… a wild cat… a lion.
Yes, a lion, Harley thought. She remembered going through the old book with April. A griffin; part bird, part cat… or lion, or something.
The griffin flew away, obscuring the sun with its enormous wings. This time a strange man with the head of a bull came running up into the stands. It charged at her, shouting, growling, huffing. It had a weapon in its hand; an ax, or club, or stick.
A minotaur. But it morphed into a complete man, handsome and smiling, then quickly back to a bull, it’s pointed horns threatening her.
Dark creatures seeped through the seats, coming up as devilish ghosts and circling her.
This was the Dark Faery Realm, Harley thought. April had warned her. It was where the monsters of lore lived.
The griffin returned, swooping down on her, the lion’s claw ripping her jeans open. The minotaur, swinging its ax at her.
She wanted to scream, but there was no voice. She wanted to run, but her legs were useless. She struggled for air, but it seemed impossible to breathe.
The field was gone now. The stands were gone. The sky was dark, and the surrounding forest a maze of old gnarled trees. Creatures lurked around ever
y tree, all eyeing her.
One small but ferocious creature came out and chased her. It was fast, despite its short stubby legs, and its teeth nipped at her ankles as she tried to run. Her legs simply couldn’t move her fast enough.
She screamed and the sound came back to her. She heard her name. The creature caught her, shook her. It was so big now. It held her, kept her from moving, and as it tried to pry her eyes open, she squeezed her eyes tight.
“Harley.”
She was shaken again, and the darkness of the gnarled forest faded.
“Harley.”
Another gentle shake and the sun warmed her skin.
“I think she’s coming to.”
Harley groaned, still confused by her surroundings.
“Open your eyes, Harley. Harley, it’s April. You got to open your eyes.”
Harley forced her eyelids apart, but barely.
“Come on, Harley.”
Harley felt a small gentle hand holding hers, but a bigger, stronger hand still clinging to her shoulder.
“April,” Harley murmured.
“I’m here, Harley. Come on. Wake up.”
The bigger, stronger hand shook her gently and she opened her eyes.
Kingsley.
“Can you sit up?” April said.
Harley shook her head and closed her eyes, tears lining her lids. “Where am I?” she mumbled.
“At school. You’re okay. Come on. Sit up.”
Taking a firm hold of her, Kingsley sat her up. She was limp and leaned heavily into him. April brushed the hair out of her face and looked into her bleary eyes.
“You were screaming like crazy,” April said.
Harley nodded. “It was awful.” She shook her head in disbelief. “But this wasn’t a dream. It wasn’t a nightmare. I was wide awake, sitting here with…”
Damn, she thought as she closed her eyes, tears streaking her cheek. She allowed herself to be fooled once more.
“I saw Oak and Ashley leave you when I heard you scream,” April said.
“They’ll be punished for this,” Kingsley said, his voice gentle but authoritative.
But it wasn’t enough to convince Harley. She pulled away from him, and while still feeling a bit weak and not totally herself, she managed to steady herself and glare at him.
