“I also put a couple of books on hold at the library. Wanna go with me to pick them up?”
Jack grimaced. “I guess, but it sounds like I’ll be up late.”
“Don’t worry.” Natalie consoled him with a smile. “You’re only interested in the head honcho and god of the underworld.” She gathered up the pages and nodded toward the door.
On the way to the public library, Jack couldn’t help wondering if they’d run into any classmates there. “So we got kinda sidetracked, but I agree that we should be prepared for people’s questions.”
Natalie glanced over at him. “Okay. Got any ideas?”
He did. He just didn’t know if Natalie would go for it. “Well,” Jack cleared his throat, “wouldn’t it make sense to just go along with what most people will be thinking?”
They stopped at a light and Natalie turned toward him. “That we’re going out?”
He squirmed a little in his seat and looked out the window. “Yeah.”
The light turned green and Natalie accelerated. “It’s the obvious answer, but I’m surprised you suggested it. How’s that going to go over with your future fiancée?”
“Uh…” That was not the comment Jack was ready to respond to. “I don’t have a fiancée. And it’s not really relevant. She lives in Petoskey.”
“Does she even know her father is doing this?”
“I don’t know.” Jack felt the heat in his cheeks and covertly drew in a calming breath.
“You know, if my dad tried that—and I wouldn’t put it past him—I’d be pissed.” She stole a quick glance at Jack. “I’m sure it’s different if you grow up expecting it though.”
“Yeah.” His answer was clipped.
“I know it’s not my business and you can tell me to just shut up, but is this what you want? Do you even know this girl?”
Jack blew out his breath. “Of course. We were classmates from kindergarten through seventh grade. Until I moved here. I… I feel like I’ve always liked her.”
“And you think she’d be okay with this?” She flicked her finger back and forth between them.
“She’d understand,” Jack responded, grateful that Natalie hadn’t forgotten where the conversation started.
Her face was unreadable as she pulled into the library lot and parked. Sliding the gear shift forward, Natalie turned to Jack. “How about you? Would it be terrible to have to pretend to be my boyfriend? Because I do think it would stop the questions.”
Jack couldn’t help it. He laughed. “Seriously? What would be terrible? You can only improve my reputation at school—seeing as how, well, I don’t have one. I was more worried about you. You’re the one everyone knows.”
“Well, I think that’s a bit of an overstatement. You may not know a ton of kids because you haven’t lived in Ketchton most of your life, but you haven’t gone unnoticed by the female population. Emma’s not the only girl who’d like to get to know you better.”
“Come on. You’re just saying that. It’s not necessary.” Jack reached for his door handle.
“I absolutely am not.” Natalie grinned and opened her door. “And I have no problem with the plan.”
He hoped Natalie didn’t think her claims would bolster his confidence, because she’d only managed to put butterflies in his stomach. He’d never aspired to be noticed. “I wish you hadn’t told me that about girls at school. Now I’m going to feel self conscious all the time,” he said as they met in front of the car.
“Except you don’t need to worry about it.”
“Easy for you to say.”
“No. Easy for me to do.” She slipped her hand into his. “You don’t have to worry about the other girls in school when you have a girlfriend.”
She was right. It seemed he had a girlfriend.
For now.
Chapter 8
Betrothal
Jack’s brain worked to comprehend how the hero Pryderi could have such a techno-sounding theme song. Eventually the wrongness brought him to consciousness. He’d been dreaming as his phone rang. Grabbing it from the night stand, Jack answered without bothering to see who it was, so as not to wake up Jase. “Lo.” He flopped onto his pillow with the phone on his ear.
He heard only a tentative whisper. “Jack?” He pulled the phone from his ear to read the display. “Natalie?”
“Oh God, Jack, I’m so scared.”
Jack sat up, fully awake. “What? Why?”
“Red eyes.” She sucked in a jerky breath.
“Where?” Jack’s heart thumped in his chest. Blindly, he searched for his jeans with his free hand.
“At my window. What do I do?”
“Turn on every light in your room. Right now.” Jack found his jeans, but didn’t put them on. What was he going to do? Rush over there? He’d only expose himself to the hellcats or whatever else might be out there.
“Okay. They’re on.”
“Downstairs, too. And especially the outside lights.”
“Is it one of those evil cats—hellcats?”
“Could be. I assume all your windows have screens? If that’s what’s out there, they can’t enter unless there’s an opening. And they’re made of darkness; they can’t exist in the light.”
Natalie laughed, but her voice shook. “My dad is going to kill me for having all these lights on.”
“Tell him you had a nightmare.”
“This is a nightmare.”
Jack chuckled softly. “True.” His smiled faded though, as he realized what the visit meant: Zalnic knew about Natalie.
“Okay, all the lights are on.”
“Good.”
“I guess I’ll let you go.” She sounded reluctant and still terrified.
“Wait.” Jack pulled on a shirt and crept from his room. The days were still warm enough that his dad hadn’t kicked the furnace on yet, so the house was chilly. Snagging the afghan on the back of the couch, Jack settled into the cushions and pulled the cover up to his chin. “Let’s just talk for a while.”
“Okay.” He heard the relief in her exhalation.
“Hey, look, this is getting more and more dangerous. It’s not too late to decide to stay here.”
“No way.”
“Natalie. If we split up, I can’t protect you.”
“That’s why we have Dan and Callie to coach us on what to do.”
Jack wasn’t going to argue with her too much. Not after their little tiff earlier today. Instead he tried to think of something else to take her mind off the hellcat or whatever was out there. “So… do you have a favorite movie?”
The question proved to be a great conversation starter—as well as a distraction. After a while though, Jack heard the sleepiness in Natalie’s voice. Before he could suggest they say good-bye, she simply stopped responding. “Natalie?” he half-whispered. With the house quiet around him, Jack detected her even breathing. He snuggled deeper into the couch and propped his phone between his ear and the pillow. He’d been up late reading a mythology book, so in no time he was asleep also.
“So do you get to kiss her?” They were on the bus, and Wes was on the edge of his seat—literally—as he leaned up against Jack’s seat-back.
“I don’t know.” He should have seen this coming. Jack knew his friend well enough that he should have predicted the reaction when he told Wes he and Natalie agreed to pretend to be in a relationship. “We didn’t go into details. We’re just trying to cut down on speculation about the time we spend together.”
“Making-out would definitely be more convincing. And if you wanted to, she couldn’t say no or be mad, right?”
“Okay, Wes, do I need to explain it again?” The loss of sleep last night eroded his patience. “It’s not about me getting away with stuff—it’s about doing what we need to do without added hassle. You’re trying to introduce hassle!”
“Okay, okay, dude.” Wes raised his hands and snickered. “Just looking out for your best interest.”
Still, the damage was
done. Wes’s suggestion had taken root, and when Jack saw Natalie at her locker, he suddenly felt awkward. How would he act if he actually were her boyfriend? Would he kiss her? Hug her?
She looked fantastic in jeans with tall boots and some kind of blouse-like top. Had she dressed up for him? When she saw Jack heading her way, she gave him a warm smile that made his pulse surge a little. Just pretend, he thought, and returned her smile.
“Thank God for unlimited minutes, huh?” she said.
“Yeah, no kidding.” Jack hung up his jacket and pulled out the books he needed.
Natalie leaned on her closed locker, books resting on her arm.
“Should I walk you to class?”
“It’s what any good boyfriend would do,” she whispered, smiling.
He chuckled to hide his embarrassment while mentally chastising himself. He had to stop over-thinking the scenario—stupid Wes! As they walked down the hall together, Jack found her hand.
No big deal.
“Hey, last night my mom told me there’d be a sect ceremony tonight. Do you think you can come?” Jack asked.
“Ceremony?”
“To send me—us—off, you know, like blessings and probably trinkets for good luck.”
“Well, we could certainly use both of those. I think it’ll be okay. Just let me know when and where.” She slowed. “This is my class.”
In what Jack thought was a very boyfriend-like gesture, he bent down to whisper into her ear. “Write down your schedule for me, okay?” The message was benign, but if anyone was paying attention, it would appear intimate.
When he drew back, Natalie’s face was flushed. She rose on her toes, kissed him quickly on the cheek, then ducked into the classroom.
Jack took a deep breath as he hurried to his class, refusing to think about the warmth that still lingered on the side of his face.
The rest of the day went pretty much the same. Natalie wrote down her schedule and Jack met her or walked her to class whenever it was practical. Students noticed. Two of Jack’s classmates commented—one was a high-five. There was a tense moment when they passed Brett in the hall, but he blatantly ignored them. A red and purple bruise stained his left cheekbone.
“Want me to drive you home?” Natalie asked at the end of the day.
Jack hadn’t thought about that. “Nah, it’s out of your way, and I’ll see you later anyway.”
There was an awkward moment where he wasn’t sure if she expected him to kiss her good-bye, but he decided not to. As he walked to the bus it occurred to him that he would have liked to kiss her, just not under those circumstances. Although chances were slim that it would ever happen, for some reason it was important to Jack that if he did ever kiss Natalie, he wanted her to know he wasn’t pretending—that he truly wanted to kiss her.
Wes lifted his hand to high-five Jack as he shuffled down the bus aisle. Jack rolled his eyes at his friend, ignoring the gesture. “There’s definitely a buzz going on about you two, dude.”
“I’m not surprised.”
Wes leaned close and spoke in a low voice. “Even if it’s fake, this is gonna be good for you.”
Jack sighed and changed the subject. “Hey, will you talk to Tommy tomorrow since I won’t be at band practice?”
Wes didn’t quite wince, but the skin around his eyes tightened. “What do you want me to tell him?”
As the bus lurched into motion, pulling away from the school, Jack furrowed his brow. “Mmm. He probably heard about the fight with Brett, I think the whole school did. Tell him my parents grounded me.”
“He’s not gonna be happy.”
“I know, but I can’t afford to delay the plan any longer.”
Wes shrugged. “Sure. You got it.”
“Cool, thanks.” Jack lowered his voice. “Did you hear about the sect ceremony tonight?” When Wes crinkled up his forehead, Jack explained.
“I bet Elder Whitehead will be there.” Wes punched Jack’s shoulder. “Maybe Shera too. Hey, did your dad ever talk to him?”
“I don’t know. Believe it or not, I’ve had other things on my mind lately,” Jack responded dryly. The question though, continued to pick at his brain after he got home from school. He gave his mom enough time to hang up her jacket and wash her hands before he sauntered into the kitchen. With his head in the refrigerator, Jack asked, “Hey, did dad ever find out why Elder Whitehead called?”
“Apparently he asked a lot of questions about your venture.”
“Hmm.” Jack didn’t trust his voice to not convey his disappointment.
“You realize you’re cooling off the kitchen and we haven’t turned the furnace on yet,” his mom teased.
With an embarrassed laugh, Jack selected an apple from the fruit drawer and closed the refrigerator.
“Oh yeah, he also asked if we’d made any marriage contracts for you yet.”
He jerked his head up to find his mom’s smiling eyes over a slight smirk.
“Really.” He walked to the sink, trying to play it cool. His heartbeat picked up pace as he ran cold water over the apple and reached for a towel. When he turned, his mom stood at the counter, chopping an onion. Jack contemplated the apple. How could he pass up the obvious opening to ask a few questions? He leaned back against the sink. “Mom?”
“Yes?”
“You and Dad had an arranged marriage, right?”
“Yep.”
“Did you resent your parents for doing that?”
“Well, to start with, that’s mostly how it was done then, so I didn’t think too much about it.” His mom paused a moment, knife poised over the cutting board. “Actually, I had two arranged betrothals.” She resumed chopping as she spoke. “Because my grandfather was a shaman, our family had some status and an agreement was made for me when I was maybe three. The other family was immensely pleased as my healing abilities emerged—until the position of functional shaman was phased out. I guess they felt their son deserved better than a registered nurse.
“After that, my family agreed to betroth me with your father. Even back then the usefulness of telepathy had diminished, making him lower in status than me, but my parents jumped at the chance. That was what I minded the most.”
Jack must have worn a surprised expression because his mom’s face crinkled in amusement. “No, not your father—I thought he was quite a catch—what bothered me was the way my parents seemed so relieved after the contract was made, like they were lucky to get rid of me. I actually felt sorry for your dad getting someone else’s leftovers.”
Eyes shining, she stared into the past. “Fortunately, your dad didn’t see it that way.”
Jack realized he had a white-knuckled grip on the apple. He chalked up her watery eyes to the onion—the sharp aroma filled the small room—but he could swear she was blushing.
Awkward.
“Turns out I was lucky,” his mom reminisced. “I never had to grow to love your dad. I fell in love almost immediately.”
That was about all Jack could take. “Uh… cool. I should probably get to my homework now.” He moved toward the door.
She reached out and touched his arm as he passed. “Jack.”
He stopped, eyes darting to the side to meet her gaze.
“Do you want your dad to make an agreement with Elder Whitehead?”
Jack sighed and examined the door frame as if the answer might be written there. “I… I’ve always had a thing for Shera, but I thought she was untouchable—out of my league.” He knew his mother was offering to influence his father on Jack’s behalf. “Then that girl, Emma, disappeared and I saw a golden opportunity to prove myself, to elevate my standing so…” He flicked his eyes to hers and shook his head. “But what if she… How do I know…”
Understanding dawned in his mom’s eyes and she squeezed his arm. “Your concern for Shera’s feelings says a lot about your integrity, Jack. I hope she deserves you,” she said softly and then kissed his cheek before returning to the cutting board.
&nbs
p; Jack’s heart thudded unevenly as he realized he stood on the threshold of seeing his wishes come true. The surge of adrenaline should have been fueled by excitement, elation.
So why did he feel so frightened?
Jack shrugged into a dress shirt and was three buttons from the top when he heard Natalie’s car pull up. She’d texted him earlier to let him know she would attend the ceremony and to ask for directions. Instead, Jack offered to ride with her so she didn’t have to walk into the ceremonial lodge alone. She agreed gratefully.
He grinned at a yell from Jase followed by pounding footsteps on the stairs. “That girl’s here, Jacky!” The six-year-old appeared in the doorway, face flushed and eyes wide. Jack laughed. “Well, go back down and let her in.” Jase spun and thumped back down the steps.
Jack studied his appearance in the mirror. Spying a glass of water on Jase’s nightstand, he wet his fingers and ran them through his shaggy hair. Unfortunately that’s all he could do. Though his lip was nearly healed, his black eyes had faded from purple to puke green. Pretty gruesome.
A steady babble from Jase floated up the stairs—he was no doubt telling Natalie all about his cars. Cars were Jase’s passion. Jack shrugged at his reflection and decided he should go rescue her. The seriousness on her face as she examined the car in Jase’s chubby hand bloomed into a grin when she glanced up and saw Jack.
“Hi.” She wore some kind of long, filmy shirt over leggings with boots. The lamp behind her created a striking silhouette of her shape beneath the translucent blouse. Jack suspected she had on more make-up than she usually wore for school—a healthy glow warmed her pale skin. Topped with the smile, the effect was stunning.
“Wow,” Jack said. “You look awesome.”
A blush deepened the color on her cheeks. “Thanks, you look pretty good yourself.”
“Yeah, this shirt really brings out the green around my eyes, doesn’t it?”
She laughed, but before she could comment, Jase inserted himself between them and held a car up to Natalie. “I got this one from Santa last year.”
She took the car and turned it, properly admiring the vehicle from all angles. “I like this one,” she said reverently. “Very cool.” Meeting Jack’s eyes, she stretched her eyes wide while her lips formed a silent ‘O’, conveying how adorable she found his little brother.
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