Wayward: St. Croix Falls Book 1

by Melody Personette

  “Me what?” Mia asked, bombarded with a sudden multitude of sights and sounds did not belong in a high school. More nymphs and goblins and Fae walking around. Girls and guys with scales and gills on their necks.

  Angie took her hand, guiding her through the throng of students, all of whom were now eyeing Mia as much as Mia was eyeing them. A shiver ran through her. An instinctive knowing that she was surrounded by dangerous creatures rolling through her. “I mean what about you? Do you have anyone in mind?”

  Mia snorted. From the chilly reception she was getting, she doubted any guy there would ask her out, and Mia was too scared to ask one of them out. “Nope. I’m going on my own.”

  Angie let out an undignified noise. “No friend of mine is going alone. I’ll find you someone.”

  “No thanks,” Mia whispered when they got to her locker. Two gorgeous merfolk with long shiny hair and aquamarine eyes with scales across their face and down their bare arms sneered at her.

  Mia jumped back and Angie discreetly placed herself between the mermaids and Mia. “I’d rather not have my date try to eat me or kill me during the dance,” she whispered.

  Angie flicked her hair over a shoulder and rolled her eyes. “Don’t be so dramatic. None of the Fae eat people… except for the occasional rogue goblin, but none here.”

  Just then someone shouted her name behind her, and Mia spun around expecting to see the Kai she’d become friends with. But what she saw instead made her draw back a step in surprise. Kai had grown several feet in stature, making him tower over most people in the hallway. His skin had a green tint to it and webbed ears stuck out between strands of his shaggy black hair. His eyes were now a stony gray and when he smiled, he showed off rows of sharp teeth.

  Angie flashed Mia a I-told-you-so smirk at Mia’s reaction. She scowled and quickly took a step forward, refusing to prove Angie right. OK, so goblins were… a little scary looking but Kai was still Kai. A lovable troublemaker. Him and Angie would look good together.

  Kai stopped in front of her and grinned, spreading his arms out wide. “You can see me now,” he exclaimed. Despite his sudden growth spurt he was still as skinny as he was before, making him look a bit less intimidating. “I’m a goblin.”

  Mia nodded, grinning. “I can see that. Makes sense with all your mischief making.”

  Kai winked. “I know right? I’m so happy you can see us now. I mean… not happy about how it happened. That was horrible and if you want me to inflict some awful, painful prank on Lilac I will, but it is nice to not have to hide or pretend anymore. Or lie. I hated lying,” he rambled, waving his hands.

  “It’s fine. I get why you had to. We’re cool. However,” Mia said with a mischievous smile. “If you do feel so inclined as to play a prank today, I wouldn’t be against something going horribly wrong for Lilac today.”

  Kai’s gray eyes glistened with excitement and he tapped his nose at her. “You got it. Hey, I’ll see you in lit.”

  “Yep see you then,” Mia called as he ran through the halls toward a throng of much bigger, beefier looking goblins. They all welcomed him with open arms, thumping him on the back and inviting him into their conversation.

  Both girls watched for a minute. Mia’s heart warmed at the sight. Sure, his family may be a little strict, but she could see how much they loved each other, how much he loved them.

  “Anyways, that is why I can’t go to the dance with him,” Angie said, gesturing at the goblins hanging out.

  Mia raised her eyebrows at her in doubt. “Because he has family?”

  “No. Well, yes actually. They all go together. Every dance.”

  “Every single one?”

  “Yep.”

  “Well I think you should break the cycle,” Mia said, grinning as she pulled out her key and unlocked her locker. Just as she grabbed her books, the bell rang.

  Angie jumped. “Rotting roots! I have to go, or I’m going to be late for class. I don’t know if I’ll make it to lunch today, I have to meet with Kelsey and a few others about the dance, but I’ll try to catch you after school.”

  “I’m hanging out with Rhett after school, remember?” Mia called, Angie already halfway down the hall.

  Angie’s face soured. She waved Mia’s words away. “Then text me. Keep me apprised.”

  Mia grinned and gave her a thumb’s up. “Will do!”

  Mia grabbed her stuff and shut her locker. Only when she turned around, did she get the sinking feeling that she’d made a mistake. Rhett had told her to stay with him, Angie or Kai all day. That there could be trouble now that everyone knew that she knew about the Fae. When she turned around, she saw several students giving her the stink eye and several more sneering at her. Whoops.

  Keeping her head down, Mia hurried to class hoping no one would try to kill her before the end of first period.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Thankfully, the day went by rather uneventfully. For the most part anyways. Kai ended up getting detention after school when someone ratted him out as the one who had turned Lilac’s hair bright orange and given her a case of the sneezes. He and Mia had a good long laugh about that, right after she asked how he did it. He said he was a regular customer of Cillian’s. In exchange for his blood – apparently goblin blood had healing properties – Cillian provided him with whatever concoctions he needed for pranks.

  However, after that, Mia didn’t win any favors. Everyone knew why Kai had done what he did, and they all looked like they wanted to kill her. At least it was now easy to pick out the human students. They were the ones who just avoided her at all costs instead of looking like they’d like to flay her alive.

  Angie was right when she said she would be busy for the rest of the day. Mia didn’t see her at all. Who knew planning a dance would take so much time and effort? As the whole day dragged on, Mia grew more and more excited about the end of the day. The thought of seeing Rhett left her heart fluttering and her face warm.

  Mia practically ran out of the school building and came to a stop when she saw Rhett waiting for her in the parking lot. He leaned against his car, legs crossed and sunglasses on, the epitome of cool. Her stomach did little flips at the sight of him as she descended the stairs and walked toward him. She could practically feel his gaze on her, despite the sunglasses obscuring her view of his brilliant green eyes.

  “I see you skipped school,” Mia said trying to play it cool too.

  Rhett smirked, pushing his sunglasses up into his hair so she could see his eyes. “Didn’t see the point if I couldn’t drive you.”

  “Ahh, I see, blaming your lack of school attendance on me then?’

  He winked as he opened the passenger door for her. “You know me too well.”

  Mia grinned. She threw her backpack into the back seat and slid into the passenger side. Rhett shut the door behind her, and a little thrill ran through Mia. She didn’t even try to scold herself for this behavior. After the sort of crazy few days she’d had, she deserved to be excited about hanging out with a ridiculously attractive guy. Who just so happened to be Rhett.

  They left the school parking lot. Mia watched as the town flew by and Rhett headed toward the woods, on the road Angie had taken to the party at the Falls. Wow… that felt like a lifetime ago. Had it really only been a few weeks?

  “Are we going to the Falls?” Mia asked as trees surrounded the road.

  “Yep. There’s something there I want to show you. I think, now that you know the truth, you’ll appreciate them more,” Rhett said, flashing her a quick smile.

  Mia grinned back. They parked in the small parking lot next to a wooden play area and Mia followed Rhett down the path toward the picnic area where the party had been held weeks ago.

  “So why exactly do you think I’ll appreciate the Falls more? I mean they’re beautiful but… do they have some sort of magical power or something?” Mia asked, falling into step beside him.

  Rhett gave her an amused smile. “No… Well… sort of. The waters have
some, ah, unique qualities. This way,” he said, turning off the path and into the dense woods. He held his hand out to help her over a log and Mia accepted it.

  “What kind of qualities?”

  His eyes shown with secrets as he glanced at her. He didn’t let go of her hand when she made it over the log. Mia didn’t mind one bit. “You’ll see,” he sang mysteriously.

  Mia laughed. “You’re being very secretive today.”

  “Maybe I’m just looking forward to your reaction.”

  “A good reaction or bad one?” Mia asked, narrowing her eyes.

  Rhett gave her hand a squeeze. “I’m not sure, though I know which one I’m hoping for.”

  “Not helpful.”

  This time it was his turn to laugh. He shook his head as he led her further into the woods and away from the picnic area. They walked a little further until Mia heard the crashing sound of water against water in the near distance. The closer they got the louder the sound became. When they broke through the trees, Mia found that Rhett had taken them a different route. No longer were they on the cliffs overlooking the Falls but were now down below on the bank of the lake. Cool mist blown on the wind sprayed her face and made her shiver. Rhett let go of her hand, so he could shrug his leather jacket off and put it around her. Mia smiled gratefully, putting her arms through it. She inhaled his woodsy scent mixing with the watery smell of mist.

  “Come here,” he murmured softly, his hands on her shoulders. He guided her right to the brink of where the water met the rocky, grassy ground so she was directly in front of the waterfall.

  His breath tickled her ear and made goosebumps break out along her whole body as he leaned in close, hands still on her shoulders. “Tell me what you see,” he whispered.

  Mia resisted the urge to lean into him and blinked several times, forcing herself to focus. She stared into the water tumbling over the rocks and into the lake. There was water and mist and rocks and trees. Mia shrugged. “I see a waterfall and a forest,” she said.

  Rhett chuckled in her ear. “Close your eyes Mia.”

  Mia closed her eyes and this time she did lean into him. Rhett didn’t seem to mind. His hands ran up and down her shoulders. It felt oddly intimate. “Focus your mind. Focus on seeing past the water and the trees. Clear your head and concentrate on being able to see past the veil to the truth,” he murmured.

  Mia was more fixated on the tingles that shot through her arms with his every touch even over his leather jacket and how good it felt to lean against him and feel his warmth. But when he told her to focus again, Mia sighed and gave her head a little shake.

  Concentrate.

  She cleared her mind of all thoughts like he’d told her to. Mia imagined peeling back the layers of the world around her. The waterfall, the sounds, the trees. When she opened her eyes, a little gasp escaped her, and she would have stepped back if Rhett hadn’t been right behind her.

  The waterfall was still there. Everything was still the same. But now Mia could see what Rhett meant. Like the first time she’d been there, she saw a glimpse of a world beyond this one in the tumbling waters, in the spray of the mist, in the sound of water crashing into water. Only now it was crisp and clear like a moving picture and it wasn’t just a glimmer. What she saw was a full-on world far more beautiful than anything here. The forest in the waterfall was hazy in a dreamlike way. Thick and ancient looking trees adorned with moss and vines surrounded an aqua lake where little multi-colored lights danced across the surface. It was the most beautiful place Mia had ever seen in her life.

  “You see it, don’t you?” Rhett murmured, jolting Mia from her trance. She’d almost forgotten he was there.

  She nodded, unable to take her eyes off the place. “What is it?” she whispered.

  “My home,” he said wistfully. “Faerie. A world of wild magic. Where untamable magic abounds and where darkness and light collide in the form of us Seelies and Unseelies.”

  “It sounds… dangerous,” Mia whispered.

  “Yes,” Rhett sighed.

  When she glanced over her shoulder at him, she saw that nostalgic look on his face again. “That’s one of the things I love about it. The danger. The wildness. Here everything is so contained. Everything has its place, is tamed. But there?” He shook his head and met her gaze, a roguish smile on his lips. “There, anything can happen. You can do anything. Be anything. Lines are blurred, and rules are bendable. Dangerous? Yes. But so very beautiful in its own right.”

  “You miss it,” Mia whispered. It wasn’t a question, more of an observation. She could see the yearning for his homeland churning in his eye.

  Rhett met her gaze as she turned to face him once more and his hands slid down to her forearms. “I do.”

  “Do you think you’ll ever make it back?”

  “One day, I hope so. But we’ve lived in this town for so long… it feels more like a pipe dream now.”

  Mia frowned. She wasn’t sure what possessed her to do it, but her hand came up and touched his cheek. Her heart went out to him. No one should have to live barred from their home. “You’ll get back there,” she said. “One day.”

  His whole face softened. He leaned into her touch, closing his eyes. In that moment he looked so at peace. Not some wild, dark creature of the courts, but almost… human.

  “One day,” he murmured, one of his hands sliding down her arm and grasping her hand. Mia’s lips parted as he raised her hand to his lips and kissed it with a reverence that made Mia’s whole body warm. “One day I’ll take you there with me.”

  “I’d like that,” she breathed as his eyes flickered open and collided with hers. The green in them smoldered and sparked. He leaned forward, gravitating toward her like they were two magnets that couldn’t resist one another. Mia didn’t stop him, leaning forward too as her hand slid down his face and to his neck. Everything slowed.

  Time seemed to stop around them, for them. Mia would have asked if Rhett was somehow doing it if she wasn’t so caught up in the fact that they were practically nose to nose. All she wanted to do was close the gap between them. She felt his breath against her cheek and then on her lips. As if that nearest made something snap between them, Mia held her breath and took the leap.

  Her lips crashed into his the same moment his to hers. Their kiss went from zero to sixty in a matter of milliseconds. There was no gentle caressing or soft touches. Rhett devoured her with a wildness, an untamable hunger that Mia couldn’t catch up with. His hands ran through her hair and pulled her in closer, deepening the kiss. With his every touch Mia felt sparks of magic and power against her skin, alighting every nerve in her body and making her toes curl.

  Mia could have gotten lost in his kisses, in his touches forever, if not for suddenly feeling a wetness soaking into her socks. Rhett pressed against her, his lips trailing her jawline when her foot suddenly slipped. She let out a gasp and broke away as she flailed, trying to grab hold of him before she fell into the lake. Rhett’s hands already against her back reeled her forward, but with too much force. He lost his footing on a slippery rock and suddenly they both went down. Mia let out a shriek, but he managed to cushion her fall as she sprawled out on his chest. They just laid there, dragging in breaths and recovering from their little make out session, when at the exact same time they burst out laughing. Mia let her head fall against his chest as her face flamed with embarrassment. Only she could ruin a moment like this by slipping and nearly falling into a lake.

  “You OK?” Rhett gasped out, still laughing.

  Mia nodded, pushing up with her hands splayed across his chest. “Yeah,” she giggled. “Sorry… For a second there I think we both almost got soaked.”

  He shrugged, eyes dancing with laughter and a light Mia had never seen in them before. “I wouldn’t mind a little swim.”

  “In our clothes?”

  “Well…” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

  Mia laughed, smacking his chest as she pushed off him. She rolled onto her bac
k, so they laid side by side on the damp rocky ground. “In your dreams.”

  “Too bad. It would have been fun.”

  “Oh, I’m so sure,” Mia snorted, shaking her head.

  She placed her hands on her stomach and stared up at the sunny sky, her whole body still warm from kissing him, from getting so caught up in Rhett the whole world had fallen away. Was that what it felt like to fall for someone? Losing all control? Not caring about anything or anyone else in the entire world except that one person who made your heart pound in your chest and make you feel alive inside? Because that was what Rhett did for her. Rhett made her feel alive. Made her feel indiscernibly different and special and brought a magic into her life Mia hadn’t even known existed.

  They laid there in comfortable silence for a few beats, shoulder to shoulder until Rhett reached over and twined his fingers through hers, resting their hands on her stomach.

  His head shifted the same time Mia’s did, so they were looking at each other. The happiness on his face looked good on him. Mia wasn’t sure she’d ever seen him like that. Sure, she’d seen him smile and heard him laugh but not like this… Not with such abandon, without any sort of guardedness. It was like for the first time since meeting him Mia got to see the real Rhett, the one he didn’t let anyone else see. Her heart swelled at the fact that he thought her trustworthy enough to share his true self with her. She had the sudden want to kiss him again.

  “Thank you,” he said out of nowhere.

  Mia’s eyebrows drew together. “For what?”

  His mouth formed a small, tentative smile as he leaned forward and caressed her lips gently with his. “For coming to town,” he murmured pulling away and stealing Mia’s breath. “For putting up with my bad attitude at the start. I thought… I thought it would be easier to make you hate me at the beginning. I thought it would be for the best, for both of us. But now I realize I was a total idiot. It pained me every time I saw you scowl or glare at me. I was putting myself through unnecessary torture. I just hope… you don’t hate me for the way I acted at the start,” he murmured, his free hand coming up and brushing his knuckles against her cheek.