Wicked Lovely (Wicked Lovely 1)

Aislinn took several calming breaths and added, “Two of them. They’ve been following me for a couple of weeks.”

Carefully, as if he were moving in slow motion, Seth leaned forward, sitting on the edge of his chair, almost close enough to touch. “You messing with me?”

“No.” She bit her lip and waited.

Boomer slithered closer, dragging the front of his body up over her chest. Absently she stroked his head.

Seth poked at the ring in his lip, a stalling gesture, the way some people lick their lips in tense conversations. “Like little winged people?”

“No. Like our size and terrifying.” She tried to smile, but it didn’t work. Her chest hurt, like someone had kicked her. She was breaking the rules she’d lived by, her mother had lived by, her Grams, everyone in her family for so long.

“How do you know they’re faeries?”

“Never mind.” She looked away. “Just forget—”

“Don’t do that.” His voice had a bite of frustration in it. “Talk to me.”

“And say what?”

He stared at her as he answered, “Say you’ll trust me. Say you’ll let me in for real, finally.”

She didn’t answer, didn’t know what to say. Sure, she’d kept things from him, but she kept things from everyone. That was just the way it was.

He sighed. Then he put on his glasses and held the pen poised over the notebook. “Right. Tell me what you know. What do they look like?”

“You won’t be able to see them.”

He paused again. “Why?”

She didn’t look away this time. “They’re invisible.”

Seth didn’t answer.

For a moment they just sat there, quietly staring at each other. Her hand stilled on Boomer as she waited, but the boa didn’t move away.

Finally Seth started writing. Then he looked up. “What else?”

“Why? Why are you doing this?”

Seth shrugged, but his voice wasn’t nonchalant when he answered, “Because I want you to trust me? Because I want you to stop looking so haunted? Because I care about you?”

“Say you do go research. What if they…I don’t know, hurt you? Attack you?” She knew how awful they could be even if he didn’t—couldn’t—get it.

“For going to the library?” He crooked his eyebrow again.

She was still trying to get her head together, to find a line between begging him to really believe her and telling him she wasn’t serious. She pushed Boomer off her onto the sofa cushion and stood up.

“You see them hurt anyone?”

“Yes,” she started, but she stopped herself. She paced over to the window. Three faeries lingered outside, not doing anything, but undeniably there. Two of them were almost human-looking, but the third was as far from human as they got—too big and covered in dark tufts of fur, like a bear that walked upright. She looked away and shuddered. “Not these two but…I don’t know. Faeries grope people, trip them, pinch them. Stupid stuff usually. Sometimes it’s worse, though. A lot worse. You don’t want to get involved.”

“I do want to. Trust me, Ash. Please?” Half smiling then, he added, “And I don’t mind being groped. Perks for helping.”

“You should. Faeries are…” She shook her head again. He was joking about it. “You can’t see what they look like.”

Without meaning to, she pictured Keenan. Blushing, she stammered, “Most of them are pretty horrible.”

“Not all of them, though?” Seth asked quietly, not smiling anymore.