Hold Tight (The Embrace Series) (9 page)

Caden then lounged on a worn leather couch, holding his half-drunk beer in one hand and the television remote in the other. By the way the light flashed around him, I guessed he was flipping through channels on the television. The last scene remained constant.

Isaac’s fingers slipped from mine. “I don’t think he’s our guy.”

“I have to agree,” Josh said.

“How is it we can spy on someone we barely know, but we can’t get a glimpse of Natalie?” Kaylee asked.

Isaac stood. “Something else is blocking our ability to narrow in on her.”

“What if she’s dead?” I asked, my voice hitching. I really didn’t want to think the worst, but with no news at all, it seemed less and less likely Natalie was going to show up at home saying it was all a misunderstanding. “Maybe when a person dies, their aura or whatever dies with them.”

Isaac shook his head. “There are witches who use divination to help the police find people. The cops think they’re psychic, but a true psychic doesn’t need a crystal ball or scrying bowl. Besides, when someone dies, they leave behind an echo.”

“Like what I feel when I visit my mom’s grave,” I said, getting it.

“Exactly.”

“What if Natalie’s being kept in a cage? The metal might interfere with our powers,” I suggested, cursing to myself when an image of her cold dead body stuffed in an old beat-up freezer chest seeped into my mind.

Isaac flipped on the lights at the switch. “Maybe, but I think we’d pick up something. Not to be gruesome, but a lot of cold cases have been solved by divination, and some of the places their discoveries have led them are pretty far off the beaten path.”

“We’re assuming she was taken against her will and that our spell failed,” Josh said. “What if she doesn’t want to be found? She knows about the powers; she might have learned how to hide from us.”

“Could she do that?” I asked at the same time Kaylee asked, “Why would she do that?”

Isaac looked at Kaylee first. “No way of knowing that until we find her.” To my question, he said, “I’ll ask my parents if it’s possible for someone without powers to block us from pinning down their location.”

“Let’s hope the answer to that question is yes.” I focused on the air above the chandelier, creating a puff of wind that snuffed out the flames of the white candles. One at a time, I did the same to each pillar candle. Smoke curled upward, and the smell of burnt embers wafted around us.

I texted Sarah to ask if we had missed any news. We hadn’t. Sarah was staying with Lauren, who, I found out, hadn’t stopped crying since they’d found Natalie’s car. My heart went out to her because I knew how much of a mess I’d be if anything happened to my best friend.

Depressed and defeated, I had Kaylee drive me home. I insisted she text me the moment she was safe in her house. I didn’t care if I sounded like a mother hen. If there was a lunatic snatching unsuspecting girls, I wanted to know the people I cared about made it to their destinations safe and sound.

Chapter 8

Visited by a Princess

Dad and Chase were already in bed when I got home. I deposited my boots on the rug next to the front door and headed upstairs to take a shower.

The hot water eased my tired muscles, but the longer I stood under the spray, the more my mind wandered. The pitter-patter of water hitting my skin woke my nagging inner voice that insisted I’d missed something. I retraced my steps from Lauren’s house to the gas station, trying to remember if anything had been out of place. I replayed my conversation with Caden and then what my coven had learned, or didn’t learn, by scrying. No matter how many times I went over the details, the outcome was the same: Natalie had disappeared with no trace of where or why.

I chalked up the mental henpecking to being overtired, and I stayed under the spray until I heard the tone indicating I’d received a text. It was from Kaylee, letting me know she’d made it home safely.

With a towel wrapped around my body and my hair dripping down my shoulders, I headed toward my bedroom. Halfway down the hall, a tantalizing fragrance greeted me. I was still trying to figure out what it was when I walked into my room. My eyes immediately landed on my dresser and Mom’s large crystal vase filled with lavender irises, soft yellow carnations, and deep red daisies. The bouquet brightened my room and gave it the feel of summer. It took a moment for me to notice Brea stretched out on my bed, reading my brother’s copy of
Peter Pan
.

“This book always cracks me up,” she commented in a voice that sounded sweet like church bells. “Whoever heard of pixie dust making humans fly?”

“That’s part of the story’s magic,” I said, shutting my door. “I thought you left.”

She closed the book and sat up. “You said I may linger, so linger I am. I borrowed a pair of socks.” She held up a dainty foot to show me. She’d chosen a bright yellow pair with smiley faces on them. “And boots and a jacket when I went outside.” She pointed to the discarded outerwear lying in a heap next to the bed. “Did you know there’s a humongous evergreen decorated with a million lights near a sailor statue?”

“It’s a fisherman,” I said, knowing which statue she was referring to. “The mayor thought it would be nice to have a Christmas tree there this year. They did a big lighting ceremony and everything.” I rifled through my dresser, looking for something to put on. “Hey, wouldn’t people see a coat and boots moving about on their own if you wore my stuff out in public?”

She scooted to the end of the bed so that her feet dangled over the edge. “No more than you’d see my clothes if you didn’t have the Sight, but since I was covered from head to toe, I saw no need to hide.”

“You mean you let others see you?” Even with her pointed ears tucked in a hat, she wouldn’t look human. Her features were too perfect, and her skin glistened like fresh snow.

“Faeries have magic too, you know. I can blend into your world if I so choose.”

“You disguised yourself using a glamour,” I said.

Josh was good with glamours. I’d once seen him go from a happy, healthy guy to a worried boyfriend with dark circles under his eyes in the time it had taken him to walk up the stairs.

I slipped on my baby-blue pajama bottoms and ducked into a white T-shirt before losing the towel. “Did you go see the tree by yourself?”

“I had plenty of company.” Her nose squished and lips pursed in a way that gave the impression it had been crowded. “What did you do today?”

“A girl from school’s missing. A group of us went out to look for her.” My throat closed over the last few words. It was hard to believe Natalie was gone.

Brea’s mouth pulled down into a scowl as she shook her head and mumbled something in a language I didn’t understand.

Not wanting to relive the last ten hours, I leaned closer to the colorful bouquet, inhaled, and changed the subject. “They’re beautiful. How’d you find daisies this time of year?”

She hopped off the bed and sniffed at one of the large red blooms. “I’m of the Summer Court, remember? I saw the dead flowers and breathed life back into them.”

I imagined Brea’s thin fingers touching the frozen ground in our garden out back, awakening the seeds beneath the dirt. I pictured the flowers growing in fast-forward—like the time-enhanced sunflower I’d seen on the Discovery Channel—and then Brea picking them to bring inside.

She plucked an iris from the vase and stuck it in my wet waves. “You’re pretty enough to be a princess, you know that?”

I felt my cheeks warm. “Are there a lot of princesses where you’re from?”

“There’s only me right now, but I suspect I will be joined by another soon.”

“You’re a princess?” My jaw dropped. I’d never met someone of royalty. I wasn’t sure if I should bow, curtsy, or offer her a cup of tea. I was sure, however, that I shouldn’t have asked her to do the laundry.

She tucked her shimmering silver-violet hair behind her ear and used an iris to hold it in place. “I suppose you’ll be sending me home now.”

“You need to be sent home?” I really should have read the rest of
The Fae
before I’d returned it to Isaac’s collection.

“No, but if you no longer require my services, you may ask me to return there. Then if you know when I leave your realm, you will know when it’s best to close the door you opened.”

“I don’t mind if you stay,” I admitted as I tossed the clothes I had worn that day in the hamper and went to hang up the coat Brea had borrowed. “If you’d like, that is. Just don’t let my brother or Dad see you. I’d have a hard time explaining your pointed ears and sparkling cheeks.”

Her fingers trailed over my dresser as she spoke. “I wouldn’t want to overstay my welcome. Besides, it’s not just—”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the flower she’d put in her hair fly across the room. She spun around, mouth open and hand raised, paused, and snatched a daisy from the vase.

“Didn’t like the iris?” I picked it up and stuck it in the middle of the bouquet.

“The red matches my top better.”

A fashion-conscious faerie
, I thought. She really wasn’t any different from me or my friends.

“Brea, you said you help humans in exchange for their company. Consider sticking around me repaying my debt.” When she continued to look hesitant, I added, “It’s been three days, and I didn’t even know you were still here. Really, it’s okay. Stay as long as you’d like.”

The corner of her mouth quirked upward. She inclined her head in a formal manner, and I could totally picture her ruling a kingdom.

I climbed into bed and grabbed my pillow, placing it in my lap as I leaned against the wall. “Tell me something else about your home.”

She joined me, sitting with her legs tucked under her. “What do you want to know?”

I peppered her with questions: “Where do you live? Do you go to school? Why are there different realms? How about boys? Anyone special at home?”

Brea giggled. “You are a curious one.” She peered off to the side, thoughtfully. At last, she said, “Let’s see…my family’s home is quite big. Have you been to Bavaria?”

“Germany?” I’d never been out of the United States.

“Yes. There’s a castle there, Neuschwanstein. It’s quite uncanny how much the white brick, arched windows, and many towers capped in blue resemble my home. Makes me wonder who copied from whom.” She tapped her lip and then continued, “We don’t have schools like you do. Our elders teach us what we need to know.”

“Sort of like being homeschooled,” I said. “How about the realms? What’s with that?”

With a dismissive wave of her hand, she replied, “Humans and Fae didn’t exactly get along when we shared one world.”

“Faeries used to live here? Why’d things change?”

“Some faeries—a lot of them, actually—liked to play tricks on humans. Innocent pranks, really: hiding a set of keys, stealing trinkets, taking the last of the cream.”

“I bet that’s why humans think faeries work for cream,” I interrupted. “But none of those things warrant banishment.” Humans played pranks on each other too, but they weren’t exiled to another realm.

She looked away, sheepishly. “Well, it was probably the stealing of babies and the tainting of human food with
victus nutrimens
—faerie food—that caused the uproar all those centuries ago. Humans weren’t completely without blame, though. There were those who trapped faeries and did awful experiments on them. That was long before I was born.”

“So our ancestors didn’t get along and totally ruined it for us.” I brought my knees to my chest and rested my chin on my pillow.

She ran a finger over the stitching on my comforter. “Not all Fae are as charming as I, and not all humans are as accepting as you.”

“I suppose.” I stifled a yawn. “What are the guys like in…what’s the name of your home?”

“Sanctus, and the boys are stubborn, egotistical, and can be quite vindictive.” She paused. “Ha! Adorable, gentlemanly, and benevolent I’d like to see.”

I laughed. “I take it you aren’t seeing anyone right now.”

“What?” Her eye snapped to mine. “Right now? Of course I don’t see anyone!”

“Really? I find it hard to believe that a princess isn’t dating anyone.”

“Dating? Oh, no.” She waved her hand from side to side. “Definitely not.”

“The guys in Sanctus can’t be all be bad.” I closed my eyes for a moment.

“You’d think differently if you met a male Fae.” She paused. “You’re tired.”

“It’s been a long day,” I admitted. Then I wondered if I was supposed to offer her my bed. After all, I couldn’t ask a princess to sleep on the floor. I wasn’t even sure if offering up the couch downstairs would be appropriate.

Before I could say anything, though, she stuffed her feet into my boots, snatched the jacket from the closet, and waltzed to the door. “I think I’ll visit the Hammond Castle. I’ve never been. You?”

“No.” I glanced at the clock on my nightstand. It was almost midnight. “But they’re closed.”

“That’s not a problem.”

“If you say so.” I yawned and crawled under the covers. “Thanks for the bouquet.” I breathed in deeply, savoring the delicious fragrance. “It’s amazing.”