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"It changes. Never in the same place twice. Makes it rather difficult to find, especially when one is being nagged, but now we-" He stopped, triumphant. "Here. Put your hand out. Tell me what you feel. "
Rolling my eyes, I put my hand out next to his, against the emptiness and-there was something there. Or not something, even, but the idea of something. It wasn't tangible, and I wasn't sure how I was feeling it at all, other than the slight stirring under my fingers, the recognition of place in the midst of nowhere. I imagined it was akin to amputees feeling phantom limbs, only in this case it was a phantom door. There was nothing there, but there
should be.
Jack watched me intently. "You can feel it, can't you?"
I shook my head. "I think so; I don't know. It's weird. "
"There's no reason I can do it and you can't. In fact, you can open a lot more than just doors. This would be easy if you'd put your busy little mind to it instead of worrying about grades and schools and kissing. Especially kissing. Nasty thing, that. "
"Yeah, nasty when it's with you. But how can you do this?"
"I think the faerie food changes you a bit. Besides, if you watch long enough, and want something badly enough, you'd be amazed at what you can do. What you will do. The Faerie Paths meant freedom for me. "
My heart twisted sadly in my chest, reminded of Jack's life with the faeries. Like Vivian, but Jack seemed so sure of himself, saner than she had been. Which wasn't saying much, but still. He wasn't completely unbalanced. "I'm so sorry about your childhood, Jack. That must have been hard. "
He grinned, a baring of teeth. "Ah, but look at what a fine young man I've grown into. I have no one but the faeries to thank for who I am today. "
"You can leave, though! Why do you still go to the Faerie Realms at all? Why not come back to Earth entirely, leave it behind?"
"Come back to what? Besides, you know that once you've tasted fey cuisine, you never go back. Can never go back. "
"Couldn't you bring a lot with you or something? Store it?"
He shook his head. "I'm afraid one way or another Faerie and I are linked. I'm not done with them yet. "
His smile seemed to me a more thorough glamour than any I'd ever seen. Just when I thought I was learning something about him, that smile would crop up, wiping away any real emotion. How could I ever read what was underneath it?
"Moving on," he said. "The door. You can feel it. "
"What am I feeling, exactly?"
He traced his fingers almost reverently along the space where the door waited for us, staring at the blackness. "You know when you're on the edge of wake and sleep, and the dream you're leaving feels more real to you than anything the world has to offer? When you open your eyes, it's as though part of you stayed, and you know you'll never feel things quite as deeply, experience them quite as truly as you had in that tiny space of awareness between darkness and light. We're going into that. " I held my breath, and he snapped out of whatever state he was in. Winking, he opened a door. "Welcome to the Faerie Realms. "
Chapter Thirty-Three
Matchmaker, Matchmaker
Before I could tell Jack no, we were through the door and into the Faerie Realms. The only times I'd ever been there had been with Reth, in rooms of golden rocks, swirling meadows, and way-too-fancy furniture. I never thought I'd want to go back, but I'd take Reth's rooms in a heartbeat over this.
The sky above was crimson red, a vast expanse broken by pinpoints of glimmering black, like the absence of stars. Although I could see clearly, the air was thick and heavy as a summer night, carrying a hint of charred cinnamon. We stood on the pitch-black banks of a massive lake, silver but completely unreflective in defiance of the sky. Hulking rocks broke the monotony of the plain around us, scattered as if by violence, twisted and tortured things. The entire scene was mesmerizing, beautiful but wrong.
"Jack," I whispered, pulling on his hand. "We shouldn't be here. "
"You're right," he said, and I let out a relieved breath. "Forgot the supplies. " He put his hand out and we slid sideways, the air shifting as the nightmare landscape was replaced by a room. I swayed dizzily.
"Sorry about that. " Jack let go of my hand and went to a table in the corner. "Once you're actually in the Realms it's easier to get from place to place. Takes some time to get used to, though. Mind the rug if you're going to vomit. "
I clutched the edge of a couch for balance and looked around. This had to be the strangest room I'd ever seen. The walls were pale green rock and lit by an unseen ambient light, the furniture similar to what I'd seen with Reth, scrolling woodwork and rich velvets. However, scattered through all the faerie finery were dirty socks, discarded pants, and dingy sneakers.
Leave it to a boy to make the Faerie Realms look like a dump.
Jack lifted a tattered cardboard box and set it on the oak table, then grabbed a luminous fruit from a bowl. It looked like a peach, if peaches were blue and made from pieces of heaven. He closed his eyes as he bit into it, a rapturous, ravenous expression on his face. I'd never tasted anything as good as that fruit looked. I breathed through my mouth, trying not to smell it. After he finished, he offered me the bowl. "Want one?"
"I'll pass, thanks. "
He shrugged. "You have no idea what you're missing. Ah well. I work better on a full stomach. Now that we've got supplies, we can get back to it. "
