The Lost Prince

“Also, you might want to avoid Kingston today, man. I mean, like the plague. Just a friendly warning.”

I gave him a wary look. Not that I had any intention of talking to Kingston, ever, but … “Why?”

He shuffled his feet. “Oh, just … because. See ya, Ethan.” And he took off, bounding over the parking lot, his huge coat flapping behind him. I stared after him, then shook my head.

Why do I get the feeling I’ve just been had?

Yep, the half-breed had definitely been hiding something, because Kingston was out for blood. I wouldn’t have noticed, except he made a point of glaring at me all through class, following me down the hallway, cracking his knuckles and mouthing “you’re dead, freak,” at me over the aisles. I didn’t know what his problem was. He couldn’t still be pissed about that fight in the hallway, if you could even call it a fight. Maybe he was mad because he hadn’t gotten to knock my teeth out. I ignored his unsubtle threats and made a point of not looking at him, vowing that the next time I ran into Todd, we were going to have a talk.

Other than glaring at me, Kingston left me alone in the halls to and from class. But I expected him to try something during lunch, so I found a hidden corner in the library where I could eat in peace. Not that I was afraid of the football star and his gorillas, but I wanted to go to that damn demonstration, and they weren’t going to ruin it by getting me expelled.

The library was dim and smelled of dust and old pages. A No Food or Drink sign was plastered to the front desk, but I stuffed my sandwich under my jacket, slipped my soda can into my pocket, and retreated to the back. The head librarian stared as I walked past her desk, her hawk eyes glinting behind her glasses, but she didn’t stop me.

Opening my soda, making sure it didn’t hiss, I sank down on the floor between aisles M–N and O–P with a relieved sigh. Leaning against the wall, I gazed through the cracks in the books, watching students moving down the mazelike corridors. A girl came down my aisle once, book in hand, and came to an abrupt halt, blinking. I glared stonily, and she retreated without a word.

Well, my life had certainly reached a new low. Hiding out in the library so the star quarterback wouldn’t try to stick my head through a wall or put his fist between my teeth. Return the favor, and I’d be expelled. Morosely, I finished the last of my sandwich and checked my watch. Still thirty-five minutes to class. Restless, I plucked a book off the shelf next to me and skimmed through it: The History of Cheeses and Cheesemaking. How fascinating.

As I put it back, my thoughts drifted to Kenzie. I was supposed to meet her here after school for that stupid interview. I wondered what she would ask, what she wanted to know. Why had she even singled me out, after I’d made it perfectly clear that I wanted nothing to do with her?

I snorted. Maybe that was the reason. She liked a challenge. Or maybe she was intrigued by someone who wasn’t tripping over himself to talk to her. If you believed what Todd said, Mackenzie St. James probably had everything handed to her on a silver platter.

Stop thinking about her, Ethan. It doesn’t matter why; after today you’ll go back to ignoring her, same as everyone else.

There was a buzz somewhere overhead, the soft flutter of wings, and all my senses went rigidly alert.

Casually, I picked up the book again and pretended to flip through it while listening for the faery atop the shelves. If the piskie tried anything, it would be squashed like a big spider under The History of Cheeses and Cheesemaking.

The piskie squeaked in its excited, high-pitched voice, wings buzzing. I was tempted to glance up to see whether it was the piskie I’d saved in the locker room or Todd’s little purple friend. If either were back to torture me after I just saved their miserable lives and stuck my neck out for the half-breed, I was going to be really annoyed.

“There you are!”

A body appeared at the end of the aisle, orange eyes glowing in the dim light. I suppressed a groan as the half-breed ducked into the corridor, panting. His ears were pressed flat to his skull, and his canines were bared as he flung himself down next to me.

“I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” he whispered, peering through the books, eyes wild. “Look, you’ve got to help me. They’re still after us!”

“Help you?” I glared at him, and he shrank back. “I’ve already helped you far more than I should have. You swore you would leave me alone after this. What happened to that?” Todd started to reply, and I held up my hand. “No, forget that question. Let me ask another one. Why does Kingston want to bash my head in today?”

He fiddled with the end of his sleeve. “Dude … you have to understand … this was before I knew you. Before I realized something was after me. If I’d known I’d be asking for your help … you can’t get mad at me, okay?”

I waited, letting the silence stretch. Todd grimaced.

“Okay, so I … uh … might’ve asked Thistle to pay him back for what he did, but to make sure he didn’t connect it to me. She put something in his shorts that … er … made him swell up and itch like crazy. That’s why he wasn’t here yesterday. But, the catch is, he knows someone did it to him.”

“And he thinks it was me.” Groaning, I leaned my head back and thumped it against the wall. So that’s why the quarterback was on the warpath. I raised my head and glared at him. “Give me one good reason I shouldn’t kick your ass right now.”

“Dude, They are here!” Todd leaned forward again, apparently too panicked to take my threat seriously. “I’ve seen them, peering in through the windows, staring right at me! I can’t go home while they’re out there! They’re just waiting for me to step outside.”

“What do you want me to do about it?” I asked.

“Make them go away! Tell them to leave me alone.” He grabbed my sleeve. “You’re the brother of the Iron Queen! You have to do something.”

“No, I don’t. And keep your voice down!” I stood and glared down at them both. “This is your mess. I told you before, I want nothing to do with Them, and your friends have caused me nothing but trouble since the day I got here. I stepped in front of Kingston for you, I let a piskie and a half-phouka into my room last night, and look where it got me. That’s what I get for sticking my neck out.”

Todd wilted, looking stunned and betrayed, but I was too angry to care. “I told you before,” I growled, backing out of the aisle, “we’re done. Stay away from me, you hear? I don’t want you or your friends around me, my house, my family, my car, anything. I’ve helped you as much as I can. Now leave. Me. Alone.”

Without waiting for an answer, I whirled and stalked away, scanning the room for invisible things that might be lurking in the corners, ready to pounce. If the fey were hanging around the school like Todd said, I would have to up the ante on some of my protection wards, both for my truck and my person. Also, if Kingston was ready to put my head through a bathroom stall, I should probably head back to class and lay low until he and the gorilla squad cooled off a bit.

As I neared the librarian’s desk, however, a faint, muffled sob came from one of the aisles behind me, and I stopped.

Dammit. Closing my eyes, I hesitated, torn between anger and guilt. I knew what it was like, being hunted by the fey. I knew the fear, the desperation, when dealing with the Fair Folk who meant you harm. When you realized that it was just you against Them and no one could help you. When you realized They knew it, too.

Spinning on a heel, I walked back to the far aisle, cursing myself for getting involved one more time. I found Todd sitting where I had left him, huddled in the aisle looking miserable, the piskie crouched on his shoulder. They both glanced up when I approached, and Todd blinked, furry ears pricking hopefully.

“I’ll drive you home,” I said, watching his face light up with relief. “Last favor, all right? You have what you need to keep Them away from you—just follow the instructions I gave you and you’ll be fine. Don’t thank me,” I said as he opened his mouth. “Just meet me here after class. I have this interview with the school reporter I have to do first, but it shouldn’t take long. We’ll leave when I’m done.”

“School reporter?” Todd’s smile shifted to an obnoxious leer in the space of a blink. “You mean St. James. So, she’s got you wrapped around her little finger, too, huh? That didn’t take long.”

“You wanna walk home?”

“Sorry.” The smirk vanished as quickly as it had come. “I’ll be here. In fact, I think Violet and I are just going to stay right here until classes are over. You go do your interview thing. We’ll be close, probably hiding under a table or something.”

I made a mental note to check under the table before I did any interviews that afternoon, and left without another word. This time I did not look back.

Damn the fey. Why couldn’t they leave me alone? Or Todd, for that matter? Why did they make life miserable for anyone caught up in their twisted sights? Human, half-breed, young, old, it didn’t matter. I was no safer today than I had been thirteen years ago, just more paranoid and hostile. Was it always going to be like this, constantly looking over my shoulder, being alone so no one else got hurt? Was I ever going to be free of Them?

As I stepped through the library doors, my thoughts still on the conversation with the half-breed, something grabbed my shoulder and slammed me into the wall. My head struck the cement with a painful crack, expelling the air from my lungs. Stars danced across my vision for a second, and I blinked them away.

Kingston glared down at me, one fist in the collar of my shirt, pinning me to the wall. Two of his goons stood at his shoulders, flanking him like growling attack dogs.

“Hey there, asshole,” Kingston’s hot breath whipped at my face as he leaned close, reeking of smoke and spearmint. “I think we need to have a little talk.”

The demonstration, Ethan. Keep it together. “What do you want?” I snarled, forcing myself not to move, not to shoot my arm up his neck, wrench his head down and drive my knee into his ugly mouth. Or grab the hand on my collar, spin around, and slam his thick face into the wall. So many options, but I kept myself still, not meeting his eyes. “I haven’t done anything to you.”

“Shut up!” His grip tightened, pressing me harder against the cement. “I know it was you. Don’t ask me how, but I know. But we’ll get to that in a minute.” He brought his face close to mine, lips curling into a grim smile. “I hear you’ve been talking to Mackenzie.”

You’ve got to be kidding me. All this time I’ve been saying “go away,” and this still happens? “So what?” I challenged stupidly, making Kingston narrow his eyes. “What are you going to do, pee on her locker to let everyone know she’s off-limits?”

Kingston didn’t smile. His free fist clenched, and I kept a close eye on it in case it came streaking at my face. “She’s off-limits to you,” he said, dead serious now. “And unless you want me to make it so that all your food comes through a straw, you’ll remember that. You don’t talk to her, you don’t hang around her, you don’t even look at her. Just forget you ever heard her name, you got that?”

I would love to, I thought sourly. If the girl would leave me alone. But at the same time, something in me bristled at the thought of never talking to Kenzie again. Maybe I didn’t respond well to threats, maybe Todd’s unknown faeries had me itching for a fight, but I straightened, looked Brian Kingston right in the eye and said, “Piss. Off.”

He tensed, and his two friends swelled up behind him like angry bulls. “Okay, freak,” Kingston said, and that evil smirk came creeping back. “If that’s how you want it. Fine. I still owe you for making me miss practice yesterday. And now, I’m gonna make you beg.” The pressure on my shoulder tightened, pushing me toward the floor. “On your knees, freak. That’s how you like it, right?”

“Hey!”

A clear, high voice rang through the hall, a second before I would’ve exploded, demonstration or no. Mackenzie St. James came stalking toward us, a stack of books under one arm, her small form tight with fury.

“Let him go, Brian,” she demanded, marching up to the startled quarterback, a bristling kitten facing down a Rottweiler. “What the hell is your problem? Leave him alone!”

“Oh, hey, Mackenzie.” Brian grinned at her, looking almost sheepish. Taking your eyes off your opponent, I thought. Stupid move. “What a coincidence. We were just talking about you to our mutual friend, here.” He shoved me against the wall again, and I fought down a knee-jerk reaction to snap his elbow. “He’s promised to be a lot nicer to you in the future, isn’t that right, freak?”

“Brian!”

“Okay, okay.” Kingston raised his hands and stepped away, and his cronies did the same. “Take it easy, Mac, we were just fooling around.” He turned a sneer on me, and I glared back, daring him to step forward, to grab me again. “You got lucky, freak,” he said, backing away. “Remember what I told you. You won’t always have a little girl around to protect you.” His friends snickered, and he winked at Kenzie, who rolled her eyes. “We’ll see you around, real soon.”

“Jerk,” Kenzie muttered as they sauntered off down the hall, laughing and high-fiving each other. “I don’t know what Regan sees in him.” She shook her head and turned to me. “You okay?”

Embarrassed, fuming, I scowled at her. “I could’ve handled it,” I snapped, wishing I could put my fist through a wall or someone’s face. “You didn’t have to interfere.”

“I know, tough guy.” She gave me a half smile, and I wasn’t sure if she was being serious. “But Regan is fond of the big meathead, and I didn’t want you to beat him up too badly.”

I glared in the direction the jocks had gone, clenching my fists as I struggled to control my raging emotions, the urge to stalk down the hall and plant Kingston’s face into the floor. Why me? I wanted to snap at her. Why won’t you leave me alone? And why do you have the entire football team ready to tear someone in half for looking at you funny?

“Anyway,” Kenzie continued, “we’re still on for that interview, right? You’re planning on showing up, I hope. I’m dying to know what goes on in that broody head of yours.”

“I don’t brood.”

She snorted. “Tough guy, if brooding was a sport, you’d have gold medals with scowling faces lining the walls of your room.”

“Whatever.”

Kenzie laughed. Sweeping past me, she pushed open the library door, pausing in the frame. “See you in a couple hours, Ethan.”

I shrugged.

“I’m holding you to it, tough guy. Promise me you won’t run off or conveniently forget.”

“Yes.” I blew out a breath as she grinned, and the door swung shut. “I’ll be there.”

I didn’t go.

Not that I didn’t try. Despite the incident in the hall—or maybe because of it—I wasn’t about to let anyone tell me who I could or could not hang out with. Like I said, I don’t respond well to threats, and if I was being honest with myself, I was more than a little curious about Mackenzie St. James. So after the last bell, I gathered my stuff, made sure the hall was clear of Kingston and his thugs, and headed toward the library.

About halfway there, I realized I was being followed.

The halls were nearly empty as I went by the cafeteria. The few bodies I passed were going the other way, to the parking lot and the vehicles that would take them home. But as I made my way through the quiet hallways, I got that strange prickle on the back of my neck that told me I wasn’t alone.

Casually, I stopped at a water fountain, bending down to get a quick drink. But I slid my gaze off to the side, scanning the hall.

There was a shimmer of white at the edge of my vision, as something glided around a corner and stopped in the shadows, watching.

My gut tightened, but I forced myself to straighten and walk down the hall as if nothing was wrong. I could feel the presence at my back following me, and my heart began to thud in my chest. It was the same creature, the one that I’d seen in the locker room that night, when the piskie found me. What was it? One of the fey, I was certain, but I’d never seen this kind before, all pale and transparent, almost ghostlike. A bean sidhe, perhaps? But bean sidhes usually announced their presence with hair-raising shrieks and wails; they didn’t silently trail someone down a dark corridor, being careful to stay just out of sight. And I certainly wasn’t about to die.

I hoped.

What does it want with me? I paused at the library door, grasping the handle but not pulling it open. Through the small rectangular window, I saw the front desk, the librarian’s gray head bent over the computer. Kenzie would be in there, somewhere, waiting for me. And Todd. I’d promised I would meet them both, and I hated breaking my word.

A memory flashed: one of myself, fleeing the redcaps, taking refuge in the library. Pulling a knife as I hunkered between the aisles, waiting for them. The sadistic faeries setting fire to the wall of books to flush me into the open. I escaped, but my rush to get out was taken as me fleeing the scene of the crime, leading to my expulsion from school.

I drew in a quiet breath, pausing in the door frame, anger and fear spreading through my stomach. No, I couldn’t do this. If I went in, if They saw me talking to Kenzie, they could use her to get to me. I didn’t know what They wanted, but I wasn’t going to draw another person into my dangerous, messed-up life. Not again.

Releasing the handle, I stepped away and continued down the hall. I felt the thing follow me, and as I turned the corner, I thought I heard the library door creak open. I didn’t look back.

I walked out to the parking lot, but I didn’t stop there. Getting in my truck and driving home might lose my tail, but it wouldn’t give me any answers as to why it was following me. Instead, I passed the rows of cars, stepped over the curb, and continued on to the football field. Thankfully, it was empty today. No practice, no screaming coaches, no armored jocks slamming into each other. If Kingston and his friends saw me sauntering casually across their turf in a very blatant show of Screw you, Kingston, what are you gonna do about it? they would try to bury me here. I wondered if anyone else could see me, and if they did, would they tell the quarterback I was figuratively pissing on his territory? I smirked at the thought, vaguely tempted to stop and make it literal, as well. But I had more important things to deal with, and a pissing contest with Kingston wasn’t one of them.

Behind the bleachers, I stopped. A fence separated the field from a line of trees on the other side, so it was cool and shady here. I wished I had my knife. Something sharp, metal and lethal between me and whatever was coming my way. But I’d been caught with a knife before, and it had gotten me in a lot of trouble, so I’d left it at home.

Putting my back to the fence, I waited.

Something stepped around the bleachers, or rather, shimmered around the bleachers, barely visible in the sun. And even though it was a bright fall afternoon, with enough sunlight to melt away the chill, I suddenly felt cold. Sluggish. Like my thoughts and emotions were slowly being drained, leaving behind an empty shell.

Shivering, I gazed stonily at the thing hovering a few feet away. It was unlike any faery I’d seen before. Not a nymph, a sidhe, a boggart, a dryad, anything I recognized. Not to say I was an expert on the different types of faeries, but I’d seen more than most people, and this one was just … weird.

It was shorter than me by nearly a foot and so thin it didn’t seem possible that its legs could hold it up. In fact, its legs ended in needle-sharp tips, so it looked as if it was walking on toothpicks instead of feet. Its face was hatchet thin, and its fingers were those same thin points, as if it could poke its nail right through your skull. The skeletons of what used to be wings protruded from its bony shoulders, broken and shattered, and it hovered a few inches off the ground, as if the earth itself didn’t want to touch it.

For a few seconds, we just stared at each other.

“All right,” I said in an even voice, as the creepy fey floated there, still watching me. “You followed me out here—you obviously wanted to see me. What the hell do you want?”

Its eyes, huge and multifaceted like an insect’s, blinked slowly. I saw myself reflected a hundred times in its gaze. Its razor slit of a mouth opened, and it breathed:

“I bring a warning, Ethan Chase.”

I resisted the urge to cringe. There was something very … wrong … about this creature. It didn’t belong here, in the real world. The faeries I had seen, even the Iron fey, were still a part of reality, sliding back and forth between this realm and the Nevernever. This thing … it was as if its body was out of sync with the rest of world, the way it flickered and blurred, as if it wasn’t quite there. Wasn’t quite solid.

The faery raised one long, bony finger and pointed at me.

“Do not interfere,” it whispered. “Do not become involved in what will soon happen around you. This is not your fight. We seek no trouble with the Iron Court. But if you meddle in our affairs, human, you put those you care about at risk.”

“Your affairs? What are you?” My voice came out raspier than I wanted it to. “I’m guessing you’re not from the Seelie or Unseelie Courts.”

The faery’s slitted mouth might’ve twitched into a smile.

“We are nothing. We are forgotten. No one remembers our names, that we ever existed. You should do the same, human.”

“Uh-huh. So, you make a point of making certain I know you’re there, of tracking me down and threatening my family, to tell me I should forget about you.”

The faery drew back a step, gliding over the ground. “A warning,” it said again and tossed something at my feet, something small and gray. “This is what will happen to those who interfere,” it whispered. “Our return has just begun.”

I crouched, still keeping a wary eye on the faery, and spared a glance at what lay on the ground.

A piskie. The same one I’d seen earlier that day with Todd, I was sure of it. But its skin was a dull, faded gray, as if all the color had been sucked out of it. Gently, I reached down and picked it up, cradling it in my palm. It rolled over and blinked, huge eyes empty and staring. It was still alive, but even as I watched, the faery’s tiny body rippled and then … blew away. Like mist in the breeze. Leaving behind nothing at all.

My insides felt cold. I’d seen faeries die—they turned into leaves, branches, flowers, insects, dirt, and sometimes they did just vanish. But never like this. “What did you do to it?” I demanded, surging back to my feet.

The thing didn’t answer. It shimmered again, going transparent, as if it, too, were in danger of blowing away on the wind. Raising its hands, it gazed at its fingers, watching as they flickered like a bad television channel.

“Not enough,” it whispered, shaking its head. “Never enough. Still, it is something. That you can see me, talk to me. It is a start. Perhaps the half-blood will be stronger.”

It drifted back. “We will be watching you, Ethan Chase,” it warned, and suddenly turned, as if glimpsing something off to the side. “You do not want even more people hurt because of you.”

More people? Oh, no, I thought, as it dawned on me what the faery was implying. The dead Thistle, the “half-blood” it mentioned. Todd. “Hey!” I snapped, striding forward. “Hold it right there. What are you?”

The faery smiled, rippled in the sunlight and drifted away, over the fence and out of sight. I would’ve given chase, but the sound of movement behind the bleachers caught my attention, and I turned.