Gossamer (12 page)

Conor gathered our stuff. Lexie jumped in to help. Her eyes were wide and her movements clumsy. She seemed eager to get out of here.

“Just go,” Matt yelled, then glanced around, realizing how loud he had just been. “Just go,” he said in a lower voice.

“Why should I trust you? How do I know you don’t have them waiting back at her house?” Grant crossed him arms over his chest.

“You have no reason to trust me, but I can tell you this, I met Kylie and spent time with her. I’m sure you know what I mean when I say I can’t hurt her.”

Grant eyed Matt warily then looked at me. His eyes softened a tiny bit, he dropped his arms and nodded in agreement. Though Matt’s shoulders relaxed, he still seemed anxious for us to leave.

“Just, please, get her out of here. I will be honest. I can’t keep it secret forever. The deadline is today, and I’m sure you can guess why. Just leave now and I will stall as best I can. I can try for twenty-four hours but I can’t guarantee more than that. You,” Matt spoke to Conor, “remember my scent. I will be with them. If you sense me, move fast. That’s the best I can do, and from here on out don’t trust me. You never know what kind of things they will put me up to.”

Conor nodded. This was beyond weird. What were they talking about?

“Kylie.” Matt focused on me. “I’m sorry.” My face scrunched. I had no idea what was going on. “You will understand soon. I didn’t want to ruin your birthday. I tried hard not to, but time’s up.” With that, he turned and never looked back.

Grant grasped my hand, “Let’s go.”

Conor carried our stuff and Lexie scurried behind him.

“Grant, you are seriously freaking me out, what is going on?”

“I can’t tell you now. I will explain everything when I know you are safe. Conor, what do you think?”

Conor paused, he tilted his chin and took several deep breaths. He stared off into the distance but seemed very alert, as if tuning in to his other senses. “He’s moving away. I think he was being honest. Let’s just get out of here. I’m sorry, Grant, I don’t know how it happened. I screwed up big time.”

“It’s not your fault, man. I shouldn’t have jumped on you earlier. I dropped the ball, too. I thought I was keeping an eye on her and he finds her right under my nose.” He shook his head. “I never sensed danger.”

“Don’t beat yourself up, man. You probably didn’t sense it because he wasn’t posing a threat. He hadn’t actually put her in danger...yet.”

Lexie glanced at me. I shrugged and decided to save further questioning until we got to the car. Even I now worried about our safety, from what, I had no idea, but all this talk frightened me.

“So now will you tell me what’s going on?” We piled into the car. The boys both hopped into the front seat, speaking in quick, hushed whispers about something. I couldn’t take the suspense and leaned forward, craning my neck over the front seat.

“Not yet.” Grant lowered his voice. “First we need to get Lexie home.”

I kept my voice low as well. “There is no way she is just going to go home and not wonder what in the world in going on and anyways, her car is parked at my house.”

He muttered something, flipped on the radio and fiddled with the adjustments until it played louder in the back seat. I glanced over my shoulder at her. Her eyes were large as she raised her hand, palm up, waiting for some sort of answer. I shook my head, still just as clueless.

I shifted my attention back to Grant who spoke in a hushed tone, “Okay, when we get to your house I need you to tell Lexie everything is fine and she should go home.”

“And,” Conor added quickly, “that we had fun tonight and you will call her tomorrow.”

I snorted. “You expect me to tell Lexie that and she is just going to go home.” I glanced back and met her gaze. She chewed the inside of her cheek and tapped her hand on her bouncing knee.

“Yes,” Grant said simply.

I sat there in disbelief. “Okay and say this doesn’t work, what then?”

“It will work.” He’d said it with such certainty I didn’t know how to respond. I leaned back against the seat. Lexie looked at me expectantly. I just shrugged.

We pulled into my driveway and slid out of the car. He gestured, urging me to speak to Lexie. I couldn’t believe I was even doing this. I felt stupid even saying this to her. She would demand answers or be hurt at my secrecy and dismissal of her.

I walked toward her. “Hey Lexie, I think–”

“With conviction,” Conor cut in.

Lexie and I both looked at him.

“Lexie,” I started again, and she stared at me looking bewildered. “Everything is fine.” She arched an eyebrow. I took a deep breath and continued with a smile on my face. “Really, everything is okay. Great, actually, and you should go home now.” Her expression became blank, lacking any of her typical flare. “We had lots of fun tonight.” Lexie nodded, her eyes focused on me. “So you can go home, and I will see you tomorrow.”

She remained quiet for a moment. I waited for her response. Finally she blinked hard and smiled. “You’re right, tonight was fun.” She leaned forward and whispered, “You better fill me in on anything I miss tomorrow at school.”

She grinned and took a step back. “Bye Grant. Bye Conor. I had fun hanging out with you guys tonight. We should do it again sometime. Happy birthday, Kylie” She gave me a hug. “Best birthday ever.” She leaned back still grinning. “See you tomorrow.” And just like that she turned and walked away. I stood there with my mouth agape.

“Let’s get inside.” Grant motioned me to follow.

“But– What– How did that work?” My eyes were wide as I stared at him, completely dumbfounded.

Grant took me by the hand and led me to my front door.

Chapter 9

“What’s going on?” I heard the panic in my own voice. “I need some answers. Now!” My parents still weren’t home, and I prayed they wouldn’t get home before I had a chance to get some information. The last thing I needed was for them to come home and find two boys in my room.

Conor looked over at Grant, probably expecting him to do the talking. He studied me for a minute. “I don’t know where to begin. It’s sort of complicated and parts of it you may not want to hear.”

“It doesn’t matter. Just tell me.” I pleaded with him, then steeled myself. He seemed to search for the right words.

“Okay,” he paused. “You’re a faery.”

My shoulders slumped, and my jaw went slack. “Are you freaking kidding me? Now is
so
not the time to joke around. Please, Grant, tell me what’s going on.”

“Well, you’re actually only half-faery, and I am being serious.”

I examined his face. He did seem sincere. “Great, you’re one of those ‘other-kins’ or whatever the hell they call themselves.”

Conor’s brow creased and he exchanged a glance with Grant, then looked back at me. He finally asked, “What in the world is an other-kin?”

“It’s the name they give people like you,” I motioned in their direction, “who think they are ‘not of this world’ and that they are some kind of mythological creature reborn or some crap.”

“Why would someone think that?” Grant asked sincerely. “Either you are or you aren’t. There is no fine line between that distinction.”

I skeptically eyed him. “Okay, let’s say I believe your I’m-half-faery crap. You’re telling me you boys are faeries too?” Although it was no time to joke I couldn’t help but feel a grin forming on my lips.

“I never said that.” Grant remained dead serious.

“Okay, how do you know I’m a faery then?” I questioned him like I was talking to a three year old. They had to see this from my point of view. You know, the view of y
ou two are a bunch of nutcases, albeit hot, but still crazy
.

“We know because we also come from Tír na nÓg.”

“Tierna–what?” I asked, scrunching my face.

He sought an alternative description. “The Land of Sidhe.” I gave him a blank stare. “I’ve heard some mortals call it The Land of the Eternal Youth.”

I gaped at him. What the hell did I get myself involved in?

“Faery Land!” Conor shouted. “Geez, just think of it as Faery Land. And no, neither Tinkerbell nor any other of your demeaning human faery creations live there.”

I bit my lip, stifling a laugh. I was
so
about to go there, but seeing how much this upset him, was really glad I didn’t have the chance too.

“Okay, you’re from Tiernanouge.”

“Tír na nÓg,” Conor corrected me.

“That’s what I said.” At least I thought I did, except his had more of an Irish accent to it. “Anyway, if you aren’t faeries than what are you?”

Conor answered for both of them. “I’m a púka and he’s a grant. We are a part of the Fae world.”

I felt like I needed to take notes. “Okay so you’re a pooka and he’s Grant,” I continued slowly. “Well, I know he’s Grant, but what the hell is a pooka?”

“I am a
grant,
” he jumped in now. “Grant isn’t the name my parents gave me, it’s just a nickname. A few years back, I started working with some Fae who called me that because of what I was. The name stuck and I was sort of starting over, so I welcomed the change.” He shrugged.

“What’s a grant?” I asked, not even sure I wanted an answer. How could he be so hot
and
so crazy? Maybe I could find a way to live with it, though? So he thought he was a magical being. I could see past that, right?

“Grants have the ability to warn otherworldly creatures and humans of possible danger. Sometimes people listen, sometimes they don’t.” He explained the whole thing very matter of fact. “This skill is useful to Fae, so we typically work for them.”

I looked from him to Conor, seriously waiting for one of them to burst out laughing. This was a joke, one hell of an elaborate one, but really, faeries?

Conor then spoke, “I’m a púka or shape-shifter. We tend to have a bad reputation for being evil but I’m not like that.”

“But, some are?” I asked, unable to believe I even took the tiniest bit of this serious.

“Yes, but, not all,” he stressed. “Most Fae and otherworldly creatures are thought of as evil or sneaky, but usually aren’t. A lot of these stereotypes come from old folktales. For instance, often we are described as looking like animals.”

I continued to stare at him skeptically.

He sighed and went on, “Some of these stories were created by scared humans, but many were actually started by us.” My chin dropped and I raised both my eyebrows. “You see, it makes it easier for us to walk among mortals if they are, for example, expecting me to have the head of a goat, or Grant here to walk upright with the hind legs of a horse.” I gave Grant a sidelong glance.

“That’s typically how grants are described in folklore.” He shrugged.

I studied his legs. They looked human to me.

Conor continued, “Since we physically look like humans, nobody suspects us of anything.” He paused and studied me. “You still don’t believe me, do you?”

“Look guys, I’m sorry but this is a lot to take in.” I couldn’t hide my doubt and looked at them in apology.

“I have an idea.” Conor looked around. He eyed my closet and walked toward it. “Just give me a minute, then open the door.”

I swear if I opened it to find him wearing any of my clothes I would kick their asses out. This was already weird enough. I looked at Grant and he gave me a reassuring nod.

After a few moments, he spoke, “Go ahead now. Open the door.”

I nervously looked from him to the door and back at him. He placed his hand over mine and gave it a gentle squeeze.

“Go ahead, I promise I would never let anything bad happen to you.”

Damn
. Damn him and his gorgeous blue eyes. Reluctantly, I stood and walked to my closet. I took a deep breath and twisted the knob. When I opened the door I was greeted, not by Conor, but by Mocha, the dog that was supposedly Grant’s pet. My hand flew to my mouth.

“What the...” I slowly backed away.

Grant jumped up to my side, and looked into the closet. “Oh,” he sighed in relief. “He’s just a dog, I thought maybe he shifted into a cobra or something scary.”

“Just a dog!” My eyes doubled in size.

He shut the closet door and put his hand on my shoulder. “I told you this was a lot to take in. Will you please sit and hear us out?” He led me back. I collapsed into the bed, completely in shock. My closet door opened and I jumped.

He clutched my hand, “It’s okay, Kyla. It’s just Conor.”

Sure enough, out stepped Conor.

I shifted my gaze back to Grant. “Okay, okay, I believe you. He’s a shape-shifter and you are a grant, just don’t do
that
again.” I pointed an accusing finger at Conor. I thought for a moment trying to gather my thoughts, “You said grants come warning of danger. Why are you here? Did you come to warn everyone about this guy?” I nodded in Conor’s direction. Leave it to me, during a time like this, to still make a joke.

Grant’s face was serious though. “I did come to warn of danger. Unfortunately, my warning is for you.”

“Me? Warn me about what?” No matter how crazy it sounded I couldn’t help but believe them after what I just witnessed. What could be dangerous enough to send a grant warn me? My palms grew clammy and my heart rate increased as my shock shifted into fear.