Reign Check (11 page)

Without another word, he walked away, leaving me standing there alone.

9

For the rest of the week I tried to act as normal as possible and put the prophecy as far out of my mind as I could. Every day I’d wait for something horrible to happen and was both relieved and slightly surprised when nothing did.

I told Melinda that Rhys was already taken and, while disappointed, she took it in stride with an optimistic “They’ll probably break up.”

The faery king attended school every day, although I wondered why he bothered. He didn’t have to go to school at all, did he? But there he was in biology with me and also sitting with the Royal Party at lunch in the cafeteria. After how we’d left things on Tuesday, though, he stayed very quiet. He didn’t ask me any more questions about the prophecy, which was fine with me, since I didn’t know anything more than what I’d already told him.

Rhys continued to study me when he thought I wouldn’t notice. I wondered what he was thinking, what he planned to do next. But nothing happened.

Thankfully, there were no more dissections to deal with after the frog incident. Mr. Crane was nice enough to let the students who bailed that day—there were four in total, including me and Rhys—do a virtual dissection on the computer.

I missed Michael more every day.

I swore I saw him a couple more times that week, a face in the crowd, but the moment I turned to look at him and ask why he was there, he’d disappeared.

My imagination was seriously distracting and not even slightly helpful.

I considered using my dragon’s tear to find a gateway back to the Shadowlands so I could see Michael, but I stopped myself. He’d said if my father had anything to tell me, he’d come here. Until that happened, I wouldn’t be a pest to either of them.

Just after school finished on Friday, I stood by my locker with Melinda. She was going through her list of things to do before the party tomorrow night. After the week I’d had, I was actually looking forward to it.

“I just realized you haven’t picked a name for the gift exchange yet,” she said.

“I haven’t?”

She grabbed a cloth pencil case from the interior of her locker and shook it. “Remember, it’s a ten-dollar limit to keep it fair for everyone.”

I reached into the case and grabbed a tightly folded piece of paper. Pulling it out, I looked down at the name written on it.

Chris Sanders.

Well, that figured, didn’t it?

“Somebody good?” Melinda asked with a grin. “No, don’t tell me. It’s supposed to be a secret.”

I had to buy Chris a present. There weren’t many things I could think of that were less awesome than that.

“Hey, Nikki!” I heard from across the hall. It was Rhys.

“Yeah?” I replied guardedly.

“Can I talk to you?”

“Uh, sure. Just a sec.”

Melinda leaned toward me and whispered, “Rhys is coming to the party tomorrow night, too. Isn’t that great?”

“Yeah. That’s … that’s great.”

“He accepted the invite just this morning.” She grinned. “I’m even being all tacky and putting up some mistletoe. It’s going to be great.”

“Nikki,” Rhys said again, less patiently.

“Sounds important,” Melinda said, not without humor. “Maybe he’s broken up with his boring girlfriend and wants you to set things up between him and me.”

The girl had a one-track mind. Did she ever think of anything more important than guys? “You never know.”

“I have to get to my dance lesson in twenty minutes,” she said, glancing at her watch. “I have another one tomorrow afternoon, but do you think you can come by my house at about five o’clock so you can help me with the decorations? I should be finished with ballet by then.”

I forced a smile. “I’ll be there.”

“See you later,” she said. And then her attention shifted. “See you at the party tomorrow, Rhys.”

“Bye, Melinda,” Rhys replied.

She walked away down the hall, and I could have sworn she was swinging her hips a bit more than usual. Melinda could have any guy she wanted, and she’d absolutely decided it was going to be Rhys. Fabulous.

“What do you want?” I asked Rhys, walking over to him. I didn’t even attempt to make it sound superfriendly.

“I’m going now.”

“Oh.” I tried to ignore the sudden pang I felt in my chest. The only one in the human world I could talk to about nonhuman subjects was leaving. “Going back to Faeryville already? Just like that? One week and you’ve got all the information you need?”

“No, not leaving completely. I’m going to see the oracle. Right now.”

Right now?

I’d pretty much given up all hope that Rhys would tell me when he was going. I’d asked him daily in class when he was seeing the dragon. He’d either changed the subject or ignored me entirely.

“Well?” he prompted after a moment. “Do you want to go with me or not?”

I stared at him. “I thought you didn’t want me to come along.”

“I don’t.”

“Then why would you do this?”

“Because if I ignore a chance to get to the bottom of your prophecy, I will have failed my people.”

Despite myself, I couldn’t help but smile. “Are all nonhuman guys so serious all the time?”

He frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Michael …” Just saying his name made me miss him even more. It had been four long days since I’d last been with him, even though I’d imagined seeing him around the school a few times this week. “Well, he’s always serious. Not much with the joking around.”

“Michael is your Shadow servant?”

I flinched. “I guess you could call him that.”

He raised an eyebrow. “If you want a jester to amuse you and tell funny stories, I suggest you look to someone other than a Shadow for that. And other than me, for that matter.”

“That’s not what I’m saying. I mean, I’ve seen you smile and joke around a bit.”

“I used to be that way. But being king doesn’t leave me a lot of time for having fun. Not anymore.”

“So going to Melinda’s party tomorrow night is just … more stern and serious research?”

He smiled at that, and it struck me then how rarely he smiled. Like Michael, he was much better looking when he did. “Humans are interesting creatures to observe in social situations.”

I shook my head. “You
so
don’t sound sixteen.”

“And how does someone who’s sixteen sound?”

“Like me.” I grinned.

His smile widened. “I’ll have to remember that.”

Stop smiling, Nikki
, I told myself.
Rhys is not your friend
. “So, uh, the oracle thing—”

“I have an appointment scheduled in an hour. Are you coming with me?”

I nodded. “I’m coming.”

“Then let’s go.”

No more questions, no more chitchat. It was time to get a second opinion about my prophecy. Maybe I could get it in writing, like a doctor’s note, to prove I wasn’t going to destroy anything or anyone anytime soon.

“How are we going to get there?” I asked.

“I have a car and chauffeur waiting out front.”

He was very organized.

“Thanks, Rhys. For … for taking me with you,” I said awkwardly.

He gave a slight shrug. “You’re welcome. Just don’t tell my advisers about this. I don’t think they’d understand my motivation.”

Was he breaking the rules by doing this? Rhys the rebel. Who knew? I felt a strange sense of gratitude toward the faery king for letting me tag along. Otherwise, I would have had to find another dragon, and they weren’t just listed in the Yellow Pages. Believe me, I’d already checked.

I followed him through the hallways to the front entrance of the school but I abruptly stopped walking when I saw somebody familiar.

“Mom?” I said with surprise. “What are you doing here?”

My mother, dressed in a knee-length white winter coat cinched at the waist, turned to look at me. There was a big smile on her face. She stroked her dark hair—a stark contrast to my blonde—away from her forehead and secured it behind her ears.

“Hi, honey,” she greeted me. “I wanted to surprise you and pick you up today. I was just about to call your cell phone to let you know I’m here.”

My attention moved from her to the person she’d been talking to. The one who’d put the superchipper grin on her face.

“Hi, Nikki.” Mr. Crane, my biology teacher, nodded in my direction.

My mom put her hand on Mr. Crane’s arm. “I’m so glad I came inside the school. I got a chance to meet Nathan.”

“Nathan?” I repeated.

She smiled and looked at the first-name-basis teacher in question. “He tells me you’re improving in his class. Maybe bring that C you got last year in biology up to at least a B?”

“Or better,” Mr. “Nathan” Crane said. “I think your daughter can do anything she sets her mind to. She’s very bright.”

I didn’t like the way he was looking at my mother. He was looking at her like she was a … a
woman
.

Admittedly, a lot of men looked at her that way. She was only thirty-four years old, which, she constantly reminded me, wasn’t that old at all. She dressed fashionably and she worked out regularly at the gym. At least he didn’t mistake us for sisters. It had happened more often than I’d like to admit.

“I thought we could head to the mall,” she said to me, “and maybe grab some dinner there?”

“I …” I looked at Rhys, who was keeping a low profile to my left. “I kind of already made plans.”

“Plans?” she said curiously. Her gaze shifted to the faery king for a moment and then moved closer to me as she lowered her voice. “Is that the boy you mentioned to me the other day? Michael? Are you dating him again?”

I forgot to breathe for a moment. Inhale, exhale—it was a lost concept for me. My temples started to itch. I concentrated on not letting my emotions get away from me in case there was a random horn appearance. Why had I told her about that? Had Rhys heard what she just said?

“Uh … no. This is … um, Rhys.” It sounded as strained as it felt.

“Oh, someone new. Very good. I firmly believe the best way to mend a broken heart is to focus on someone new and wonderful.” She raised her voice above our conspiratorial whisper. “Nice to meet you, Rhys.”

“Likewise,” Rhys said.

No one else could know about me and Michael. I’d broken up with him to protect him, but if any rumors started, then his life would be in danger whether we were really together or not.

And I didn’t particularly appreciate Mom making it sound as if I were doing the same thing she always did: lose one guy and replace him immediately before she had a chance to feel unwanted. That was
her
problem—she couldn’t bear to be alone for long—not mine. Rhys most certainly wasn’t Michael’s replacement in my life. However, I couldn’t exactly explain that to her without telling her everything else as well.

“So, anyway, we’re out of here,” I tried to say calmly. “I’ll be home in a few hours, okay? Maybe we can do the mall thing another day.”

“Susan,” Mr. Crane said, “since it sounds like you’re free, perhaps you’d be interested in grabbing an early dinner with me?”

She turned to him. “That sounds wonderful.”

No, it did
not
sound wonderful. I felt the color draining from my face. My biology teacher was totally making a move on my mom. She’d been single—well, seeking a quick divorce from the last jerk, anyway—for only a week, and now somebody else was already asking her out? And true to her serial-dating record, she didn’t seem to mind at all.

“Nikki, we need to go now,” Rhys said.

“See you later, honey,” Mom said. “Have fun.”

Mr. Crane just gave me an awkward wave.

Without another word, I followed Rhys outside. There was a Lincoln Town Car waiting. The driver got out and opened the back door so we could get inside.

I couldn’t believe this. Mr. Crane was totally going to be Husband Number Five, wasn’t he? This was horrible.

Not that I didn’t like him okay for a teacher. But as a stepfather? I didn’t want a stepfather. I wanted my
real
father.