“But not long enough to make it to the gate. It’s not exactly around the corner.”
I shrugged. “Then I’ll get us a hotel. I’m guessing you don’t have any money?”
“Only what we nicked off the guy whose car we borrowed.”
I closed my eyes. “You stole money from the guy you mind-controlled? You gotta know that’s lowest common denominator kind of stuff. Shouldn’t you be hunting yourself down right about now, Bounty Boy?”
“You’re forgetting murder. I killed Armand, too. That was a long time coming. Cross that one off my life’s to-do list.”
“Congratulations. Petty theft, grand theft auto, kidnapping, plus murder. That’s a full rap sheet. When you get home, you should arrest yourself right quick.” I thumbed through the various types of single-serve trail mixes that would do in a pinch.
“I’ll be expecting a royal pardon once you’re properly instated.” He cast me a sliver of a smile, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly as he took in my tone that was more playful than antagonistic. “The last driver got us burritos. Those were alright.”
“Oh, right. What do you guys eat?”
“Deer, elk, rabbits, potatoes, vegetables, fruit, grain. Things we can hunt and grow.” He motioned to the prepackaged high fructose corn syrup varieties laid out on the shelf. “Not quite the same.”
“We have all that too, just not here.” I grabbed all the trail mix on the shelf and took it to the counter. “Two hot dogs and a coffee,” I said, adding food for the guys to my order. Then I looked over at Bastien again, taking in how much bigger than me he was. “Make that six hot dogs.” I paid for our food, filled up my coffee with enough cream and sugar to make it not disgusting, and walked out of the store with Bastien, passing the guys three hot dogs apiece. “Sorry. This is sort of the worst food our world has to offer. Convenience store hot dogs. Ick. But it’s better than nothing, so there you are.”
Bastien raised his scruffy eyebrow at me. The cut dividing through the horizon of his left eyebrow made him look just the right amount of unhinged and charming – though I couldn’t imagine him putting the moves on anyone. “You’re not eating? I feel like it’s a trap if you’re not going to have one.”
I held up one of the bags of trail mix. “I don’t eat meat,” I announced, waiting for the barrage of questions or jokey insults that usually came when you told heavy meat eaters and hunters you were a vegetarian.
Bastien scoffed. “Funny. That’s not a thing. Everyone eats meat.”
I lowered my voice and leaned in. “Not everyone. Would you be able to eat a deer or a cow after having a conversation with him? They’re not the same to me as they are to you. I can hear them. I know their feelings and their dreams. It’s not just picking off the lower rungs on the food chain. For me, it feels more like cannibalism.” I shook my head, embarrassed at their dropped-open mouths. I’d never spelled it out like that for anyone, except Judah and Lane. It felt strange to have my inner workings so exposed. “Eat up, though. I’m not poisoning you. And I’m not preachy about it, so eat as much meat as you want. I don’t care, so long as I don’t have to eat my friends.”
Reyn’s eyebrows furrowed, his angular features softening as he watched me fidget at being so exposed. “That’s horrible to feel. I never thought of your gift like that.”
“It’s fine. Lots of humans are vegetarians without having my talking to animals thing going on. It’s really not all that weird here.”
Bastien shoved half a hot dog in his mouth and grimaced. “I think this is definitely poisoned. It doesn’t taste like food.”
Reyn handed his to Bastien. “Well, I can’t eat them now. Not in front of her. Not after hearing that. Maybe Judah can eat mine.”
“Judah’s kosher, so he doesn’t eat hot dogs.”
“Huh? What’s that?”
I waved my hand. “Never mind. And seriously, it’s fine for you to eat meat in front of me. I don’t care.”
Reyn straightened, puffing his chest gallantly. “Well, I do. I won’t go against the Lost Daughter of Avalon.”
I lowered my chin and cast Reyn a mildly exasperated look. “Okay, you’re going to have to cool it with that kind of talk. I’m nothing as special as you’re making me out to be. So far my awesome skills include driving a car.”
We piled back into the vehicle, and instantly I was hit with a wave of exhaustion. I checked on Judah, who was still sleeping in the backseat, the lucky duck. My hands were on the wheel, but it took me a full rendition of the chorus of Lost and Forgotten’s “We Can’t Handle the Silence” before I put the keys into the ignition.
“You alright, half-pint?”
I leaned my head back on the headrest and turned my chin in Reyn’s direction with a sleepy smile. “That’s a cute nickname. Much better than Lost Daughter of Avalon. My coffee’s too hot to drink yet, but I need some caffeine if I’m going to drive much longer. I really need to sleep, guys. Tell me when it’s safe, and I’ll pull over.”
“It’ll never be safe,” Bastien ruled, absolute in his dogged wish to get us to Roland. “But I guess if you can’t go any further, we could always use the necklace on another human to take us to the gate. Can you sleep back here? I can scoot over.”
“I could probably sleep standing up at this point, but I’m not okay with you warping someone. It’s not cool. That guy probably has a family and a life, and you sent him back bleeding from his ears. No. I can get us to a motel or something. I’ll nap for a few hours and be good as almost new.” I shrugged off the protests I knew were coming. “Best I can do, guys.”
“No. We really shouldn’t have stopped even for this.”
“If that’s your way of thanking me for feeding you and paying for gas, you suck at it,” I said to Bastien.
“Thank you for feeding us,” Reyn offered. “If word gets out that you’re still alive and we actually found you? There are people who don’t like Morgan le Fae, Rosie. People that hate her so bad, they’d kill her heir to make sure her reign ends.”
“And you’re taking me into a world full of these people? Thanks a lot!”
“Not full,” Bastien amended. “Just scattered in there. You’ll be fine. We’re here, and we know how to keep those kinds away from you. The best way to do that is to keep driving. Keep moving. Find the Cheval Mallet and get ourselves good and lost in Avalon.”
I rubbed my forehead. “I… But… What you’re doing is wrong!”
Bastien shrugged, turning my exasperation into a glower. “I don’t really care about that. Give me the necklace, Reyn. I’ll go get us a new driver.”
“No!” I shook the sleep off my body as best I could. “I’m fine. I can get us there. How much longer?”
Reyn watched me pull out of the parking lot dubiously. “Um, are you sure? It’s at least another day. Maybe longer. It’s hard to tell with your sun.”
I whimpered, but sat up straighter, gripping the wheel as I pulled back into the worst traffic I could’ve picked to keep me awake. I rolled down the windows to let the fresh spring air revive my senses, and took the lid off my coffee so it would cool faster. I turned on my phone out of habit and saw I’d missed fourteen calls from Jill and one from Lane. I called Lane, knowing Jill would only say more things to make me come home, and I didn’t have that option anymore.
“You scared me! Don’t ever leave your phone like that! Are you alright?” came Lane’s harried greeting.
“I’m fine. We just stopped to get gas.”
“Where are you?”
I pulled the phone away from my ear and tried to focus on the sign in the distance. I was too tired and too far from it for the letters to make any sense. “Reyn? What’s that sign say?” I handed the phone to him.
After Reyn answered her, and gave a few perfunctory status reports, he gave me back my phone. Lane’s voice sounded scared, which I didn’t like. Fear never suited her. She was too heroic for that. “I’m a few hours behind you, but I’ll be there. I don’t know how th
is happened! Your locket was supposed to keep you hidden.”
My mouth went dry. “I lost my necklace after the game last week! I’m so sorry. I meant to tell you, but I was hoping it would’ve turned up by now. Then my body sort of went crazy, but with finals, I went on radio silence so I could study. So I didn’t call you, but maybe I should’ve.”
Lane swore, which she didn’t often do. “Well, that explains it. Your necklace is special, baby. It conceals your abilities. It lets you talk to animals without allowing your magic to be tracked. It does a few other things, as well.”
“Oh.” I’m sure there were other things I could’ve said, but my mind was sufficiently blown. She’d given me my mother’s gold locket on my first day of kindergarten. It was engraved on the back with the simple phrase, “You are my Sunshine, My only Sunshine.” It was supposed to remind me that even while we were apart, Lane was still with me. I’d always had a bit of a mommy complex with her, running to her arms when life grew too confusing to handle alone. Whenever I got scared or lonely, I touched my locket, and imagined my best girlfriend by my side. It was her love that made it feel magical. Now that there was real magic to the jewelry? Somehow that made the whole thing feel less enchanted. Funny how that happens.
“Talk to me, Ro. I know you’re upset.”
I ignored the elephant in the car and went with the most pressing issue. “Lane, I can’t keep driving much longer. I’ve been going all night, and I need to sleep. What are my options?”
Lane paused. “Give the phone to one of the guys.”
I handed my phone to Bastien, who held it away from his face like a toddler might. “Duchess Elaine of Avalon? This is Bastien of Province 1.” I eavesdropped on the conversation, but Bastien’s side made little sense to me. “Oh, that magic’s not around anymore. I’m sure you’re right, that it’s the best, but Avalon hasn’t had access to those charms in years. We might be able to do the magic concealment one, though, if you can walk us through it.”
I kept going until Bastien told me to pull off at the next exit. All that time, and we’d made it exactly one exit. I parked in the lot of a diner, and their waft of breakfast food had never smelled better. I rolled up my window so I didn’t lunge through it to get at the delicious food. My trail mix was beginning to lose some of its appeal. They’d only had the kind with soy nuts and wasabi peas – like it was made by people who didn’t like trail mix to begin with, so they just threw whatever they wanted to get rid of in there. Gross.
Bastien handed me the phone when he finished with the call. “She said to take us to a market. We need to buy a few things that can help us hide you from anyone who’s using a magic tracker.”
“Huh? I thought your magic didn’t work on our side.”
“Most of it doesn’t, but magical objects can hold onto their power, hence the necklace,” Reyn explained as I started up the car again. “How do you think we found you?”
“You used a tracker? But I don’t have magic.”
“It’s not a normal thing to be able to talk to animals. You lit up like a beacon when you started doing that. What you do takes up a lot of magic.” Reyn threw his head back. “That must be why you sleep. Normally Fae don’t sleep unless they’re using a huge chunk of magic, like if a Brownie takes on a household. Those things take a lot out of the person, so sleep is necessary. Your animal thing must work the same way.”
“Oh. My bad.” I drove through the side streets and parked in the superstore’s lot, gearing myself up for going shopping. “Crack me with the list. I’ll go pick up whatever you need so we can hide me.”
“Like I’m letting you out of my sight. Let’s go, Princess.” Bastien opened his door, making the decisions and taking charge. I wasn’t so sure I was liking him, but I was too tired to protest more than an inaudible grumble.
12
Bastien’s Butt
The motel was skeevy, but I didn’t have any expectations it wouldn’t be. I had a limited income that didn’t budget for lavish hotel rooms, so we set up camp in the brown carpeted room that smelled like pot and unwashed man feet.
Whatever. All I saw was the big, glorious bed. I tossed the keys on the nightstand, pulled my wavy brown hair from its messy ponytail and flopped onto the mattress. I hugged the pillow as I kicked off my shoes. Then I burrowed under the maroon comforter and pen-marked off-white sheet. Bastien carried Judah in and laid him down on the floor, then he stood up to stretch his back through my protest. “No, no. Judah shouldn’t sleep on the floor. Can you put him in the bed with me?”
Reyn raised his eyebrow. “I thought you said he wasn’t your husband.”
I turned abruptly at the weird statement. “Um, he’s not. What’s that got to do with anything? Judah shouldn’t be sleeping on the floor like that. He’s a person, not a dog.”
Bastien threw up his hands. “Sure. Why not? I’m the pack mule. I’ll put a man in bed with the Lost Daughter of Avalon. No danger there.”
“That’s a good little pack mule,” I teased him in my most patronizing tone. “And what danger are you talking about?”
“Of being labeled a loose woman, like your mother,” Reyn explained while Bastien carefully placed Judah on the furthest edge of the large bed from me. Both of them cast Judah and me uncertain looks. “It’s not acceptable in our world for a young woman to share a bed with a man unless they’re married. Since your father took ill twenty-one years ago, your mother’s filled her castle with dozens of the most attractive male servants Avalon has to offer. She’s scoured the country for the best of the best, and she takes them into her bed at her whim.”
I put the pillow over my face so I could muffle my growl, wishing just once that I’d get a sliver of information about my birth mother that didn’t make me cringe. “Look, Judah’s got a girlfriend named Jill. Judah and I live together off-campus to save money. Judah’s my oldest friend. We share the bottom bunk at our place, and have slept in the same bed probably the same amount of nights we’ve slept apart. He grew up down the street from me, and both our moms are single parents, so we slept over at each other’s places all the time. Never anything funky going on between us.” I positioned my pillow under my head and flexed my toes under the sheet. “Why am I explaining this to you? Don’t make my life sound weird. I’m going to sleep. I don’t care about my reputation as a loose woman or whatever. I care about sleep. That’s all.”
Reyn sounded wary, but tried to keep the urging in his voice diplomatic. “In Avalon, the men outnumber the women two-to-one, so courting is a serious matter. Sleeping in a bed with a man who’s not your husband just isn’t a thing good girls do.”
“I get it. I’m a loose woman of questionable morals. Rosie the Floosy. That’s what they should call me.” I scooted to the middle of the bed so I could be closer to Judah. I always slept best when his steady in and out lulled me to rest. I touched my hand to his arm and closed my eyes.
Reyn and Bastien set to making their potion or whatever, talking to each other in hushed tones to give me the space I needed to drift off to sleep.
The peace didn’t last long. A hair was yanked out of my head, jerking me awake. “What the flip? Why?” I rubbed the spot with a drowsy frown.
Reyn’s voice was further away, so I knew Bastien had been the one to do it. “We need your hair for the protection charm. Your aunt said it’s how she’s been able to keep you hidden this long.”
I rolled over, my eyes closed. “Lane never woke me up by yanking hair out of my skull. Dude, I don’t think you understand sleep.” In the next breath, something wet snuck into my ear. My body jerked and I recoiled from the intrusion, eyes wide when I took in Bastien’s mischievous grin. He had dimples that were deep enough wells to be seen through his stubble, though it didn’t appear as if he exercised them often. He had a fantastic smile. His brown eyes were a milky caramel in the dim lamp’s light.
“You don’t sleep with someone’s wet finger in your ear? That’s odd. That’s how they do it where I’m from.�
��
“Oh, shut it.”
“I’m bored. Been in the car for too long, and now we’re going to have to just sit here and wait, hoping this spell works while you lie around.”
I wasn’t the best person when I missed too much sleep. I didn’t have that sunshiny glow that could last through all-nighters, like Jill did. She could go out partying all night and show up for class the next morning without missing a beat. I was ninety, apparently, and Bastien was strolling straight into the lion’s den. I rolled onto my back to stare up at him, my shirt twisting under the covers. “Look, crackfish, hand me that remote there.” When he looked around in confusion, I pointed. “The black thing right there.” I clicked on the TV with it and flipped around to find a channel that played old sitcoms he could easily follow along with. “Have a seat.”
Bastien looked around as if willing imaginary furniture to become real. There was the bed and the old upholstered chair with too much dust on it to be comforting. Plus, Reyn was sitting in it, leaving Bastien to skulk around the room and put his finger in my ear. I patted the side of the bed with lidded eyes. Bastien raised his eyebrow at me. “Uh, are you sure? That’s not a thing in Avalon. That’s more of a proposition.”
“I propose you sit anywhere you feel like so long as it’ll get me some peace and quiet.” Perhaps I shouldn’t have closed my eyes, but I wasn’t expecting Bastien to sit down on my head. “Ah! Get off me!” I pounded on his butt with both fists until he got up, laughing.
“You said I could sit anywhere I wanted.” He held his stomach, having a good old hardy-har-har at my messy hair and grouchy expression. He held up his hands in a truce when I threw my pillow at him. He picked up the pillow and then did something so sweet, I had to remind myself this was the same guy who’d just squashed his butt to my face. Bastien tucked his hand under my cheek and lifted my head a few inches, sliding the pillow underneath, and laying my cheek back down on the fluffy haven. Then he kissed his thumb and silently pressed it between my eyebrows, rubbing out my frown where he saw it playing on my features.
Ugly Girl Page 9
