Jared shook his head. “This is a one-time deal, expiring soon.” He jump-started the bike. “Like now.” Mina sighed and really wished she had a cell phone to text Brody that she wasn’t in danger.
But as soon as Jared peeled out of the parking lot and sped along the road, Mina had to rethink her last thought, gripping onto Jared’s waist so she wouldn’t fly off the bike. Maybe she was.
Chapter 16
Jared sped along the interstate and fifteen minutes later he was pulling up to Emerald Lake. He turned off the motorcycle and removed his helmet, laying it on the seat. Turning, he held out his hand for Mina’s helmet as well.
“What are we doing here?” Mina asked, pulling off her backpack.
“Practicing,” Jared answered.
“Practicing what?”
“How to stay alive.”
Mina thought he was joking, but one look at Jared’s set face and she knew that he wasn’t joking. “Okay. Why now?” she had to ask.
“Why not now? Do you have anything else planned?” Mina started to open her mouth but Jared cut her off. “I do, so it’s now or never.”
Annoyed, Mina followed Jared out to the water’s edge. He stopped by a tree and broke off a short branch from a maple tree. Jared closed his eyes and the stick began to glow.
Mina’s eyes opened wide and she stared in awe. She already figured out that he was Fae, but watching him mold and shape a branch with power was certainly impressive, and hauntingly beautiful. His eyes closed in concentration, it was almost as if he was communicating with the branch.
This was real magic, she realized, beautiful and pure. Mina smiled and looked at Jared. She didn’t see the annoying boy from school. She saw someone that was ethereal and glowing with power. The rush of it took her breath away, long enough for her to forget, for a moment, that she didn’t entirely trust him.
Mina’s smile only faded when she recognized the shape he was molding the branch into. It was a weapon, a wooden sword, much more dangerous looking than any of Charlie’s. The beautiful moment passed as Mina realized her mistake. She was miles from the nearest house, without a phone. She was with a strange boy who had powers and had just morphed a tree into a sword. Jared never told her exactly whose side he was on. Once the wooden blades stopped glowing, she snapped out of her reverie and took a step away from him.
Jared just looked at her, eyebrows raised, and handed her the sword.
“What’s this for?” she asked, worrying over the answer.
“It’s a weapon, dummy.”
“And what am I supposed to do with it?”
“You’re not really that dull, are you?”
Mina stuck out her tongue in response. She swung it around a few times while Jared began to concentrate on a second branch.
“So where do you live? Never Never Land?” she joked.
Jared opened one eye to address her, still concentrating on the branch. “Something like that.”
“Aren’t the Fae supposed to be my enemy?”
“Some of them are. Which is exactly why I brought you here.”
With the second sword completed, Jared took off his shoes and stepped toward the water’s edge, motioning for Mina to do the same.
“Not happening,” Mina felt her blood turn cold just looking at the water.
“It’s either shoes, or I wish away your clothes,” he threatened. Mina jumped out of her shoes so fast, she stubbed her big toe on a tree root and had to waddle out to the lake bed like a wounded duck.
“Ouch, ouch, ouch!” she mumbled, shifting from foot to foot. When she reached the water’s edge, she turned and stared at him, rolling her eyes impatiently. Jared motioned for her to step deeper into the water.
Next thing she knew, with no warning, Jared rushed Mina quickly stabbing at her with the sword. She jumped backward and barely missed being gutted by the blade. “What the heck!” she shouted. Jared turned again and swept his foot out, catching her behind the knee and she fell backward into the water. Cold liquid burned her lungs as she inhaled the water. Mina flailed her arms and got on her knees and crawled to the edge and began coughing.
“Why’d you do that!” she shouted.