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imagine what his first impression of my scarred Seelie is. Considering he recognized that Rys—despite looking like an angel—is dangerous, I’ve got to wonder how he’s taking this all in stride. I would’ve thought that discovering that Faerie and the fae and magic were all real would’ve knocked him completely sideways.
It did for me, and I was raised on stories about this place.
Welp. Let’s see how he reacts to this.
The door turns easily under my hand. Okay. Not locked. Pushing it in, I swallow back my sudden nerves, tell myself again that this is Jim, and enter his room.
It’s a touch smaller than the one Rys gave me, though it’s set-up pretty much the same. I see a taller, more narrow dresser, a shower box like mine, and a massive bed taking up the middle of the room. There’s no sheer canopy surrounding it, no posts, though the bedding is the same white and gold theme as most of the house.
Jim was sitting on “his” side of the bed when I walk into the room. He’s still wearing the same clothes—faded blue and green flannel, worn jeans, and work boots—that he had on yesterday. They’re rumpled, like he slept in them, and then I remember the gold dust. Of course he slept in them.
Duh, Hel.
His dark brown eyes light up when he sees me. “Babe, you gotta feel this bed. It’s so damn soft. I don’t know if I’ve ever gotten such a good night’s sleep before.”
Yeah. That would be courtesy of Rys’s glittering, knock-out dust.
But I can’t tell Jim that. So, only delaying the inevitable, I shuffle my way toward his bed, purposely approaching the foot of it instead of the side where Jim’s standing now. I lay the flat of my palm on the corner of the mattress. “That’s nice.”
“I know, right? And that shower stall? It’s better than any hotel.”
A wistful smile tugs at my lips. How long has it been since I’ve seen Jim so excited?
“It was a shock when I first landed here,” I admit. “There’s a few perks to being in Faerie. The fancy shower box is definitely one of them.”
“Faerie… I didn’t quite believe that guy—you know, Saxon? When he told me that you got stuck here and that you needed me, I didn’t know what to believe. But it’s true, isn’t it?”
“The fae can’t lie. Doesn’t mean they always tell the truth,” I warn him, “but if you can pin one of them down, they can’t lie.”
“Yeah, I mean, obviously. ‘Cause here you are. Shit, Hel, you took ten years off my life with that disappearing stunt. A whole day and I couldn’t find you. I was this close to calling your folks when Saxon showed up.”
My parents… so they still don’t know that I’m gone?
I’m not sure how I feel about that. For me, it’s been more than two months. Sixty-one days to be exact. I grieved and I mourned and I had finally accepted that I would never see them or Jim again when… yeah. Now I have Jim, but my parents probably think that everything’s fine with me.
How long before time catches up to me and they get worried? With Jim with me in Faerie, who will tell them what happened to me?
And why do I automatically assume that Jim’s also going to end up stuck here in Faerie?
Jim immediately can tell that something’s not right. He drops the accusatory tone, gentling his voice as he says, “Helen... you okay?”
First Rys, now Jim. I gotta make a better effort not to let these two know I’m spiraling as hard as I am.
“Yeah. I mean, I’m doing the best I can. But that reminds me… I really need you to stop calling me that.”
“Calling you what? Your name?”
I nod. “You haven’t been here long enough. You don’t know… in Faerie? If someone gets a hold of your name—if you give it to them yourself—you’re basically turning it into a magic word. They can control you with it.”
“You’re kidding me.”
I wish I was.
“The two fae you’ve already met know you’re Jim. It’s okay. Don’t tell them you’re James Fuentes. Not even James. If they hear you say your name, if you tell them, you’re completely fucked. I mean it.”
“Wait… is that why Saxon called you ‘Hel’? I thought it was weird, like he was being too familiar with you.” Jim pauses for a second. And then, almost too casually… “There’s not… I mean, you two—”
I blink. “Are you asking me if something’s going on with me and Saxon?”
