The Glass Wall (Return of the Ancients Book 1)

by Madison Adler

  Ajax stood about ten feet behind me, his lips pulled back in a snarl and the black velvety fur along his spine bristled menacingly.

  “Uh … hi, Ajax,” I rasped through dry lips.

  For a brief moment, he quit growling and shifted his gaze to look at me. It was then that I realized he hadn’t been watching me at all. His wasn’t a friendly look, it was more of a condescending I-suppose-I-might-vaguely-know-who-you-are look, and then he refocused his eyes over my shoulder and resumed his growl.

  Uncertainly, I pivoted and scanned the greenbelt behind me. I didn’t see anything.

  Ajax kept growling. He moved to stand in front of me. I couldn’t see how his lips could be pulled back any more than they were; he showed every inch of gum as well as teeth.

  He stopped abruptly.

  “What is it?” I asked, my voice shaking. Nervously, I clutched Jerry close in my pocket.

  Relaxing, Ajax moved off and began to sniff in the leaves, not even attempting to acknowledge my presence.

  Unnerved and piqued, I shot him a poisonous look as I hurried back to the house.

  As soon as I started moving, he fell into step beside me and escorted me all the way home, keeping close by my side until I reached the edge of the lawn before he bounded away to disappear back into the greenbelt. I couldn’t help but feel that he had guarded me from something threatening, even though he had done it with tremendous reluctance.

  Shaking off my anxiety, I returned to the cheerful holiday preparations. It was midnight when we finished and finally went to bed. It had been very fun. I’d never experienced such a cozy evening.

  Chapter Seventeen - Thanksgiving

  We all woke up late the next morning and began to cook, blaring music through the house as we made pumpkin pies, salads, yams, and the turkey. Al was in a great mood and sang loudly with every song we played. We tried all kinds of music out on him from country to opera, and even some of Jareth’s latest hits, though that was Grace’s choice, not mine. Al did a surprisingly good rendition of each song. He really did enjoy singing.

  The day flew by with lightning speed, and it was already almost 6:00 p.m. when the doorbell rang.

  “I’ll get it!” I offered, thinking it was Maya.

  I was almost at the door when the bell rang again, followed by pounding. Obviously, my mother would never behave like that. Curiously, I opened the door.

  Jareth leaned lazily against the doorframe, decked out in his full rocker regalia: black leather pants, gloves, makeup, chains, wild hair, and all.

  The white pigeon perched on his shoulder eyed me with a baleful glare.

  “Uh … what are you doing here?” I frowned, annoyance rising to squelch all other emotions. Glancing over his shoulder, I saw a couple of news vans parked on the edge of the road. A few guys with cameras were snapping pictures of us.

  “I’m here for the Thanksgiving!” Jareth smirked at me.

  “I don’t remember inviting you,” I retorted.

  “How cruel!” Jareth grabbed my fingers and pressed them against his heart.

  Irritated, I jerked my hand away.

  “It’s your fault, my dear Sydney.” He indicated the news vans with his chin. “Ever since you placed that ridiculous charity order, they’ve been following me everywhere. And even though I thought it entirely impossible, you’ve only made me more popular, alluring, and attractive.”

  “You forgot egotistical.” I added sourly.

  Jareth responded with a howl of laughter. Maneuvering to stand beside me, he slid his arm about my shoulder. Pressing his cheek against the top of my head, he waved to the cameras.

  Aggravated, I stepped back, and he used that opportunity to step into the house.

  “Good … evening?” I heard Al’s puzzled voice.

  Jareth coolly turned to survey him and shrugged. “I’m sure you know who I am.” He lifted his hand, and the pigeon fluttered from his shoulder to land gracefully on his gloved hand. “But allow me to introduce Galahad.”

  “Galahad … the pigeon?” I snorted.

  Again, the bird shot me a menacing glare that strangely reminded me of Ajax.

  “Galahad is even more vicious than a Doberman.” Jareth eyed me aloofly. “Do not let appearances deceive you.”

  I blinked, a little taken aback at the coincidence.

  Murmuring to Galahad, Jareth lifted his hand and the bird fluttered to roost on the living room curtain rod. “He won’t bother anyone.”

  Betty arrived, along with a squealing Grace.

  “I can’t believe it! Jareth is here! Here!” she gasped and whipped out her cell phone. “I’ve got to tell Ellison to hurry up!”

  “I’m staying for Thanksgiving,” Jareth announced, placing his arm around my shoulders.

  I shrugged his arm off. “And who invited you? Do you think you can just show up and barge into people’s houses and eat their food—”

  “Jareth is welcome to stay!” Grace interrupted, practically dancing around him.

  “See? I was invited.” Jareth shrugged, pointing to Grace. “She’s such a nice kid. Why can’t you be more like her?”

  I rolled my eyes and rejoined, “Why can’t you be more like Rafael?”

  At that, Jareth’s countenance shifted in a manner that I’d never seen before, and suddenly, the mountain of Betty’s boxes behind me collapsed. I whirled just in time to see a pair of scissors embed themselves into the carpet. I blinked, surprised, as Grace and Al ran into the room to investigate.

  Swallowing apprehensively, I peeked at Jareth from the corner of my eye.

  For a brief moment, I thought he struggled to regain his composure, but then he was smiling at me with his usual smart-aleck expression, and I figured that I had imagined it.

  “What was that?” I asked anyway, and pointed to the scissors sticking into the carpet.

  “Looks like a bad stacking job.” Jareth shrugged nonchalantly.

  I took a deep breath. I probably was being too suspicious.

  “I’m hurt, Sydney. You said I was just barging in here and eating your food without a care. How could you think I’m so selfish? Didn’t I just feed the homeless and cheer up little imps in a hospital?” With a melodramatic sniff, he lifted a black-gloved finger. “I didn’t come empty-handed. What is that I hear?”

  I strained to listen. I was about to say “nothing” when there was a knock on the back door.

  “I told them to use the back,” Jareth explained with another shrug. “There aren’t any cameras back there.”

  Suspiciously, I threaded my way through Betty’s boxes to the back door. I was convinced that Jareth had just conjured up whatever he needed.

  I was right.

  On the back porch, there was a sizeable cloud of mist swirling around an elegant woman dressed in a white velvet evening dress and a glittery silver cape. Beside her on the ground were several large boxes.

  “That’s sufficient, Princessa,” Jareth said from over my shoulder. “We’ll take it from here. You may go.”

  Princessa didn’t even look at me as she nodded crisply and then strode away on her six-inch spike heels, across the backyard and into the darkness toward the greenbelt.

  “Well, let’s get these in!” Jareth picked up two of the boxes and headed to the kitchen.

  I followed with the third.

  Plopping his boxes down on the counter, he withdrew a wicked-looking knife from his boot, twirled it, and slit the cardboard open.

  I eyed the blade uncomfortably. He seemed very adept at handling it.

  Catching my expression, he laughed and leaned close, whispering in my ear, “A knife is such an archaic weapon and far too messy.”

  I couldn’t tell if he was joking.

  Laughing again, he shoved the knife back into his boot and began pulling out packages of blueberry muffins and stacking them on the counter.

  “That’s a lot!” I said, surprised.

  Jareth shrugged. “I don’t want to eat anything else.”
<
br />   “What’s in here?” I asked, indicating my box.

  “What else?” He appeared annoyed at the question. “Blueberry muffins.”

  I wanted to laugh, but I wasn’t sure if I should. Shoving the microwave a little to make room for my box, I accidentally knocked the alien detection kit off the counter.

  Jareth had lightning reflexes. He caught it easily with one hand.

  I held my breath, half expecting it to start shrieking, but the little green lights just kept blinking steadily.

  “What is this?” Jareth eyed the contraption with mild interest.

  Moving to grab it, I muttered, “Nothing important!”

  The doorbell rang again.

  Jareth rolled his eyes and placed the alien detection kit in the middle of the muffins. “I do believe that must be Rafael.”

  As I headed for the front door, Grace bounded into the kitchen and began snapping pictures of Jareth.

  “Are you going to send those pictures to your friends?” he asked, taking an obnoxiously huge bite out of a muffin.

  “Uh … yeah. I was going to…” Grace admitted sheepishly.

  “You’d better!” Jareth laughed, lounging against the counter to pose with his muffin. “I can never have too much scandal or publicity—preferably scandal.”

  Rolling my eyes, I opened the door.

  Rafael stood on the porch with his blond hair styled remarkably like Jareth’s wild mess. Dressed in a stylish gray suit that perfectly matched his eyes, he wore his favorite blue eye shadow and this time, he even had several rhinestones embedded under his brow. With an enchanting smile, he handed me a wrapped bottle of wine and asked, “I hope I’m not late?”

  I found myself staring at his rhinestones in fascination.

  “Come in! Come in!” Al appeared behind me. “How’s our champion swimmer?”

  I stood back, allowing Rafael in. The news vans were still outside. I frowned, preparing to close the door, when I spied Marquis and the others walking up the driveway, carrying what looked like more wine.

  “Show our champion into the kitchen, Sydney.” Al tousled my head. “I’ll wait for everyone else.”

  Grateful to escape the flashing cameras, I slipped in front of Rafael to show him the way. As he entered the kitchen, a deafening shriek tore through the house.

  Clamping my hands over my ears, I looked at the alien detection kit in surprise. The little food processor blade-like thing was spinning in frantic circles as a series of red lights flashed across the front panel. Then, Al was there, clamping his beefy hand over the shrieking gadget. As he took a few steps back, the howling died abruptly.

  We all stared at each other. Both Al and I opened our mouths to offer an explanation when Marquis arrived and the thing began to scream again. With a wave, Al shook the device apologetically and disappeared down the hall.

  “Odd toy,” Jareth remarked, snagging another muffin.

  “Uh … it’s a robot,” I lied nervously and added, “You know, for school.”

  “Really?” He sent me a disbelieving look as everyone exchanged greetings.

  Then Betty suggested, “Why don’t you girls take our guests to the family room?”

  “I’m staying to help you in the kitchen, Betty!” Zelphie announced with a bright smile. She searched in her purse and pulled out an apron and matching pair of oven mitts and put them on.

  Betty blinked a little but smiled warmly, and as they began to bustle about the kitchen, Al reappeared to kiss the top of Betty’s head and grab the phone.

  “I’ll be back to help, Betty,” he said, “just as soon as I make a quick call to Jack.”

  I watched him disappear back down the hall again, wondering why he needed to call the senior janitor all of a sudden. I wasn’t sure that was a good thing.

  Looping her arm through Jareth’s, Grace pulled him toward the family room, ordering everyone else to follow just as the doorbell rang yet again.

  This time, Ellison stood on the porch with one hand clamped around Tigger’s collar. “What’s up with the cameras?” he asked, pushing Tigger in with his foot. “Grace said there was a surprise.”

  “Yeah, it’s turning into a madhouse around—” I began, rolling my eyes.

  I didn’t get any further. Tigger raised his nose, took a sniff, and began to bark wildly, heading off to the living room. Ellison and I followed to find him howling at the pigeon perched on the curtain rod.

  “You’d best watch out, dog,” Jareth drawled from behind us. “Galahad doesn’t care for four-legged creatures.”

  “Look, Jareth!” Ellison gasped, pointing to the rock star leaning over Betty’s boxes.

  “I know.” I expelled an exasperated breath.

  It was hard to talk, because Tigger kept on interrupting with his infernal howling.

  “Tigger!” Rafael walked in and whistled. “You’d best leave. Galahad isn’t one to be crossed.”

  As the bloodhound clamped his mouth shut and slunk away, Betty breezed through the room carrying a tray with a teapot, cups, and spoons. “Why don’t you all settle down and have some tea in the family room? Dinner will be ready soon!”

  Ellison followed her, but Rafael and Jareth lingered behind. I dawdled a little myself, so I could eavesdrop and pretended to straighten some crooked boxes.

  “And why did you come here, Jareth?” Rafael regarded Jareth with a speculative gaze.

  “Because I can now, Rafael,” Jareth retorted, folding his arms in a defiant gesture.

  A slight mocking smile curved Rafael’s lips. “For now, that is true enough,” he said. Standing in the dim living room light, with his eye shadow and glittering rhinestones combined with his flaring hair, he looked fascinatingly wicked.

  Jareth paused and his gaze turned suspicious. “What do you mean?”

  “This is a party!” Rafael replied. Throwing his arm around Jareth’s shoulders, he drew him to where I was standing. “Let’s not spoil the night. We are guests!”

  “Uh, yeah,” I agreed, realizing I had been boldly staring at them. Apparently, I wasn’t very good at eavesdropping.

  With a droll smile, Rafael dropped his other arm lightly about my shoulders and guided us both to the family room to wait for the dinner to be ready.

  We entered to find Marquis and Harmony sitting on the couch, looking as if they would much rather be anywhere else. Grace and Ellison were obviously relieved to see us and latched onto Jareth at once. Pulling him to the table, they began to shove a variety of items in his face to sign while they took pictures of him doing it. He didn’t appear to mind in the slightest.

  Remembering the red tube, I figured now would be a good time to bring it up.

  Shaking Rafael’s elbow, I began in a low voice, “Hey, I have something that I think belongs to you.”

  His charismatic gray eyes turned down at me with mild curiosity. “Really?”

  I was going to give it to him real quick, but then I noticed Marquis looking my direction. Instead, I nodded vaguely. “Yeah, but, I can give it to you later. It’s no big deal.”

  I didn’t like Marquis watching me. After all, I still had his red tube, and I wasn’t sure what he’d do if he found out I’d taken it. Moving to the table, I began to set the teacups out on saucers and add the spoons. It felt better to keep busy.

  With his hands in his pockets, Rafael moved around the room and inspected the odd collection of paintings and family portraits tacked all over the walls. With great amusement, I noticed as he paused in front of a small mirror, tilting his head from side to side, and adjusting one of the rhinestones under his eyebrow. I’d never seen a guy so vain and yet so nice, in my entire life.

  The room was quiet except for Jareth’s obnoxious comments as Ellison snapped pictures of Grace posing next to him. He was obviously basking in their attention. Grace smashed her cheek next to his as she put her two fingers up behind his head like bunny ears. Jareth responded by leaning over and kissing her cheek.

  “I’m going to faint
!” Grace giggled and asked Ellison breathlessly, “Did you get that? Did you get the kiss?”

  “I can always do it again!” Jareth laughed slyly.

  “You don’t have to!” Ellison intervened quickly. “I got it.”

  At that, Jareth laughed heartily.

  I rolled my eyes a little and began to pour the tea. Marquis was the oldest guest in the room, so I decided to offer him the first cup to be polite. My hands shook a little as I walked over to him. He made me nervous.

  “Would you like some tea?” I forced a smile and handed him the cup. I moved too fast and the spoon started sliding off the saucer.

  “Keep that away from me!” Marquis’s eyes flashed angrily. Half rising to his feet, he pushed my hand up and back with a violent gesture.

  The tea splashed everywhere as the cup and spoon launched out of my hands and rolled under the table.

  “Well, excuse me!” I snorted before I could stop myself.

  Marquis blinked, shocked that I had dared respond to him in such a manner. With a huff, he spread his arms along the back of the couch and deliberately turned away, dismissing me.

  “Forgive my father’s manners, Sydney.” Rafael appeared by my side and gave my shoulder a gentle squeeze. “I assure you that I’m mortified on his behalf.”

  The vein on Marquis’ temple began to pulse.

  “It’s ok! I’m sure it was an accident.” I said, even though I didn’t believe for a second that it was. I moved a few chairs and crawled under the table to retrieve the cup and spoon. Once there, I paused, enjoying a momentary haven and wanting to stay there the rest of the evening.

  Suddenly, someone yanked the chair in front of me away, and I looked up directly into Rafael’s eyeliner-ringed eyes.

  “Allow me to help.” He pointed to the cracked teacup.

  “Thanks, but I’ve got it.” I frowned a little. My peaceful haven hadn’t lasted long.

  I collected the cup and reached for the saucer just as Rafael did the same. As his fingers brushed mine, I jerked back, but he caught my wrist with his elegant fingers.

  I glanced up.

  He was watching me with veiled amusement. Still holding onto my wrist, he asked congenially, “And how has Jerry been of late?”