Shadow (Touched by the Fae 2)

Okay. Now that’s different.

If Carolina thought she could get away with it, I’m sure she’d find a way to spend every waking second with me, pushing me toward coming up with a plan to defeat the Fae Queen. Between me losing my shit if she tried and her parents calling her every night to make sure she was on her way home, she can’t, but she makes up for it by spending all day here with me inside the Wilkes House.

“My parents are taking me out to our family’s lake house for a long weekend to see if it helps to get out of the city,” she adds, overcompensating by over-explaining. Like usual. “My dad’s worried about all the time I’ve been spending out of the house and my mom is convinced that, with the right remedy, they can fix me. I tried to tell them no, but they weren’t having it. I’ve got to go.”

“That’s okay.”

“I’d rather stay here.” I’m sure she would. She nibbles on her bottom lip, ducking her chin. “I don’t like leaving you here alone.”

“Hey, I promise, it’s gonna be okay. Don’t look so sad, Lina. I’m a big girl,” I tell her, trying to say it with a teasing tone so that she doesn’t think I’m being ungrateful. “I don’t need a babysitter. I’ll be fine for a couple of days.”

“I know you will. Just in case, though, I got a couple of things for you that I thought might come in handy.”

She disappears into the kitchen, returning a few seconds later with a shopping bag. “Here.”

There’s a baseball cap tucked inside. I can use that to cover my ears. Smart. Two boxes of dye. And a pair of oversized sunglasses.

Look at her. She’s given me a DIY disguise kit.

“In case you want to leave the house,” she says, confirming my guess. “It’s been a while since they’ve posted any updates about you on the news, but my mom keeps in touch with my psychologists at the facility. They haven’t given up on you yet. I wasn’t sure if you’d want to color your hair—I got brown and red ‘cause both will cover up the white-blonde pretty easy. The hat will cover it up, too, if you don’t want to go that far.”

I was thinking the same thing. “Thanks. This is a big help.”

I mean it, too. I’m so over sitting inside of the abandoned house. Even if it’s just walking around Acorn Falls, it’s better than hiding in the dark.

Carolina reaches into her back pocket, pulling out a clear plastic sandwich baggie full of money. “This is for you, too. I’m not sure how long I’ll be gone for and you might have to get some stuff while I’m out.”

“I can’t take that from you.”

“It’s the least I can do, Riley. Trust me. Don’t spend it if you don’t want to, but I’ll feel better knowing you have it.”

“Okay. Sure.” I hold out my hand. She drops the baggie into the cup of my palm. After the close call that first night, there hasn’t been a single accidental touch over the last few days. I disappear it into the front pocket of my hoodie. “For emergencies.”

She hesitates. I can tell there’s more on her mind than just her upcoming trip. I’m proven right a second later when she adds, “You know… you don’t have to stay here by yourself. You can come with me. My parents won’t care. The lake house is nice. You’ll be hidden and safe there.”

Not this again. I have to say no. She knows it, too. Doesn’t stop her from asking.

And, okay, it’s a nice gesture—it’s just a totally empty one. We’ve never talked about it explicitly ‘cause of the whole ‘Carolina doesn’t talk about herself’ thing, but it’s obvious that her family is pretty well-off. I mean, they’ve got a freaking lake house. Of course they have money.

They’re also super overprotective of her. How much do I want to bet they’ll flip out if they learn that Carolina isn’t going to out-patient therapy during the day? That she’s spending all of her free time squatting inside the Wilkes House with Riley Thorne, Black Pine escapee?

I can’t pretend they don’t have a television or read the news. My face was plastered on every news channel, paper, and website. The second they figured out who I was, I’d be on my way back to Black Pine and hell if I’m ever stepping foot in there now that I know that it’s a place where the fae stick humans to forget about them.

Then there’s Carolina’s fae. The Dark Fae female has absolute control over her, and she’s holding Lina’s freedom over her head like a carrot on a stick. I know that’s why my new friend is so eager to keep me happy. Her fae wants to see the Shadow Prophecy play out and, so long as I’m the halfling Shadow they’re focusing on, Carolina will do anything she can to get me to face off against the Fae Queen.

Once Melisandre is gone, Carolina doesn’t have to rely on her fae for faerie food; the geas she’s under disappears under the contract she made. She won’t ever be able to eat real stuff again, but she also won’t have to beg her fae for a bite to stay alive.

Until then, she might want to stay on my good side. She has no choice except to do what her fae requires her to.

It’s something else I’ve been thinking about when I’m by myself. I like Carolina, she’s been good to me, and I’ve even gotten into the habit of calling her Lina. We get along, both of us bonded by the shitty hand life dealt us when we got involved with the fae.

Even so, I’m not that naive. Sure, she might mean it when she insists she wants to be my right hand man—and she does, because my lie detector tingle hasn’t gone off once these last few days—but if her fae changes her mind and asks for something else, she’ll do it. I accept that. Carolina could hand me over in a heartbeat if her fae decides I’m taking too damn long.

It’s better that I stay here.

I shake my head.

She sighs. “That’s what I figured.”