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"My life"-I gasped-"is over. It's over. Everything. "
He frowned dubiously. "Who would want to go to a place called Georgetown, anyhow? Ridiculous. Now, I could understand your devastation if it had a distinguished name like, say, Jacktown, but as it is, you're overreacting. Why do you want to go to more school? I went once for a few hours and nearly lost my mind. "
"But, I-it's all I had planned, and-"
He waved his hand in the air as though swatting away all my pesky dreams. "Make new plans. You don't really want that anyway. You might think you do, but that's not your world. " He smiled at me, his blue eyes the only thing coming in clearly through my tears. I cried even harder.
Sighing, he shuffled awkwardly from foot to foot. "Do you want me to get Raquel? Or your jumpy boyfriend?"
"No!" I couldn't face Lend, couldn't tell him that I wasn't good enough. Raquel, either. She'd be disappointed in me. I'd tried to be normal, tried to make a home for myself in this world, and failed utterly and completely. Why could Lend be so good at both worlds but I couldn't manage in either? Why was I so bad at life?
Jack threw back his shoulders. "It would appear, as usual, that everything is up to me. Good thing I'm always ready for a challenge. " He took my hand in his and opened a door, pulling me through. I was crying too hard to protest when Lend's necklace was jarred from my hand. I looked back as the door closed, the necklace gleaming in a crumpled heap on the floor of my life.
"Jack, I-" My breath came in gasps now, and I couldn't manage to get out more than a few words at a time. "I don't-want to-please-"
He stopped dead in his tracks, frowning at me. Raising one eyebrow as though considering a particularly puzzling problem, he put his free hand behind my neck and hesitated for a moment.
Then he kissed me.
Shocked out of my shock, I registered his lips on mine, but it wouldn't process. They were full and warm enough, but the strange mashing motions he was making were far from the kisses I'd so often enjoyed with Lend.
And . . . it was Jack. Jack. Of the many things I'd considered doing to him, most involved violence. None of them involved lip-on-lip action.
I jerked my head back, but it wasn't hard to get away, since he pulled back at the same moment.
He wrinkled his nose. "Well, that was . . . interesting. Always wanted to try it, but now that I have, I'm pretty sure I never want to again. "
Furious, I smacked him in the shoulder with my free hand, hating that we still had to have one clasped so I wouldn't be lost forever. "You"-smack-"little"-smack-"freak!"-smack. "What was that?!" SMACK.
He dodged another volley. "And I had been under the impression that afterward was a little less"-he winced as I connected hard-"painful. "
"Listen, creep, if I wanted you to kiss me, I would have asked! And I didn't. And I wouldn't! And if you ever try that again, so help me, I will find that fossegrim and throw you to a watery death!"
And then-as if his awkward, terrible kiss weren't bad enough-he started laughing.
"SHUT UP!"
He shook his head, grinning smugly. "See? Two goals accomplished. One: try out kissing. Miserable failure, no doubt your fault, but a noble effort nonetheless. I should find your friend Carlee. She's probably better at it than you are. "
Why couldn't my glamour-piercing eyes have a laser function? I wouldn't kill him. I'd just burn the word "freak" into his forehead.
"Aren't you going to ask me what my second goal was?" He batted his eyelashes at me.
"No, I'm not. "
He nudged me in the ribs with his elbow. "You aren't crying anymore, are you?"
I'd have to let go of his hand to throttle him. So that option was out. "Being so mad I'd like to kill you is better?"
His smile tightened. "Being angry isalways better than being sad. Another of my mottos, in fact. Now, do you want to go cry by yourself in your room, or do you want to have an adventure?"
I hesitated, wary as always of Jack's idea of an adventure but not wanting to go home, either. And he had a point-at least I wasn't sobbing anymore. I knew as soon as I walked back into my room with that letter, I'd lose it. Even thinking about thinking about it was making me tear up, and . . . forget it.
I squeezed his hand harder than necessary. "What did you have in mind?"
He narrowed his eyes and smiled, cherubic face suddenly wicked. "Let's go play. " He dragged me along behind him as he sped through the Paths. He kept changing direction, altering his course to the right or left as though following a constantly shifting trail. I'd never seen anyone go anywhere but straight ahead before.
"Do you know where you're going?" I asked, increasingly nervous. I wasn't keen on the idea of being lost in the Faerie Paths with Jack or anyone else. And the longer we were stuck in the dark, the more I had to fight the panic.
