Shadow (Touched by the Fae 2)

“Touched by the fae. Just like you are.”

I don’t want to believe that she’s right. She is, though. Deep down, I know it. Duncan was acting so weird that night, and I sensed something wasn’t right about Diana the first time she tried to touch my hand. The way her eyes flashed gold right before I flipped out and the nursing staff had to sedate me… all I could think about was the fae.

I finally left the sewer because I made a decision to put the fae behind me. Carolina’s appearance in Acorn Falls was a surprise, the reveal that my ears have changed one hell of a shock. I don’t want to think I have anything to do with the fae. I definitely can’t handle being told that, all along, I’ve been right—it was everyone else around me who let me think that I was broken.

I’m out. I’m never going back. And, you know what?

I’m done.

She can tell that I’ve been touched. Did I need the reminder that I gave part of me to Nine only to have him throw it back in my face? Sure, he offered me his name instead, but that touch made me believe I wanted something he couldn’t give me.

Nine is gone. Rys can’t find me.

I’m tired. I’m hungry. And, for the first time in a while, I’m wishing this is all just some horrible hallucination.

Yeah.

I’m done.

Without another word, I turn away from Carolina. Barely ten minutes ago, I was standing in front of the back door of the Wilkes House, trying to find the balls to go inside. I couldn’t. The deja vu was too damn strong.

Now? Now I don’t have any other choice.

At least I know the door’s not locked.

I don’t head straight to the back. Just in case, I’ve got to cover my ass. With the way my luck’s been going lately, somebody will see the for sale sign out front and decide that they want to take a peek inside. Even if it’s just for the night, I’m not taking any chances.

The metal pole holding up this side of the wide sign is cool to the touch. I can feel the chill through my thin gloves, a reminder that it really is October now. Forget losing one week before. Somehow I lost more than three freaking months.

Even worse? With every other bomb that Carolina has dropped on me, the idea that its October instead of June is barely a blip on my radar. My head’s still spinning at the idea that I’m either turning into one of the fae—or that I’ve always been one. And then there’s how Carolina seems to know even more about the Faerie races than I do...

With a grunt, I jerk the pole, lifting the left half of the for sale sign out of the packed dirt. I immediately reach for the second pole.

“Riley?” Carolina’s soft voice floats after me. “What are you doing?”

Isn’t it obvious?

I finish pulling the sign out, then carry it around the back. I tuck it behind a bush on the side, laying it flat against the dried mulch. Good chance someone’s going to notice it’s missing soon. That’s fine. I know I can’t stay here long but, for now, it’s better than the sewer.

“Riley?”

Carolina has followed me. I notice that she keeps looking nervously behind her as if she’s expecting someone to come out and scold us for hanging around the empty house.

Yeah, so she’s definitely not from Acorn Falls. One thing I remember from my years at the Everetts is that the well-to-do community always had a very “mind your own business” policy. So long as you don’t draw attention to yourself, the friendly neighbors are more than willing to leave you the hell alone.

How else could Madelaine and me sneak in and out of this very house all those times without getting caught once? If Rys hadn’t tried to convince me to leave with him that terrible day six years ago, no one would have ever learned about the way my sister and I turned the empty basement into our home away from home.

I don’t know what’s going on. My memories of this house are twisted with the trauma of the day Madelaine died. I remember the fire. There was a fire. My hands are proof of it.

But the house is still standing. Looking almost exactly as it had the morning before Rys set his blaze, the abandoned Wilkes House is here, it’s empty, and it’s open.

And there isn’t a soul in either world—the human world or Faerie—who would believe that I’d willingly turn this house teeming with the horrors from my past into a sanctuary for my troubled present.

The way Carolina is watching me as I wipe the dirt from the palms of my gloves

is another vote in the Riley has finally snapped column. She doesn’t even know the truth behind this particular spot—she’s only here because the Everetts’ old house is down the street—and she obviously thinks I’ve lost it.

Maybe I have. Who knows? Sleeping inside the house where Madelaine died isn’t what I really want to do, either.