Wade stayed silent and stealthy as the miles slowly trickled by. I swung my wooden sword at everything within reach. I watched Wade out of the corner of my eye. Why did he have to be such a hunk, even by fae standards? And why had he come into the lake after me? Grr, I needed to think about something else.

There was only a ten minute span where I was semi-content whacking at foliage. Eventually the boredom outweighed the fact that I was still ticked at Wade. “Why don’t I have one of those swords like Starren’s?” I asked. “Shouldn’t I have something to protect myself with?” Plus they looked really cool.

Wade snorted. “You don’t have one because you’d probably kill me.” Okay, maybe there was some truth in that. “And swords like that aren’t so easy to come by. Starren had to travel down into the HighCrest Mines and get the ore herself because no one else wanted to go in after it. That sword is one of a kind.”

“What’s so bad about the HighCrest Mines?”

“Ogres.” He glanced back and must have seen the blank expression on my face. “Ogres are similar to trolls, only with the intelligence of a high fae. The High Crest Mines were taken over by them years ago.”

And Starren had gone in there just to get metal for a sword? It was not a good sign that the Council thought it necessary to send someone like her after Jaden. What exactly had he done to get himself locked up in the first place? And why did they really want me to help her? I was having a hard time believing she really needed my help, especially after today. Not that the answers to those questions mattered much. I couldn’t let anything stop me. If I didn’t help, I’d be the one they were hauling away.

I squashed a small sense of guilt about the fact that I was trading some guy’s freedom for my own. He was a criminal. And it wasn’t like I was helping kill this Jaden guy, just bring him in. They wouldn’t do anything to him unless he gave them a reason to; Starren had said so. They would get their guy, I would be off their radar, and everything would be good for all involved. Except Jaden of course.

This trip was taking forever. Poor Cumat, in his fancy clothes. Hopefully Jack the Giant would give him a ride. Ha. Jack the Giant. I hadn’t caught that til just now. Kind of ironic. All this walking was definitely giving me too much time to think. What was with those plants back in the lake? I glanced at Wade, wanting to ask him but afraid to give something away. What that something was, I had no idea.

But this wasn’t the first time nature had helped me. That tree, when I was trying to get out of the creek last week had helped me too. I watched Wade out of the corner of my eye. Thoughts of the tree reminded me yet again of what Wade had done to me. Or tried to do, whatever. Yep, too much time for thinking, for sure. Wade finally pulled us to a stop quite a while later.

“So,” Wade said, then stopped. “About the children’s home you lived in…”

I eyed him sideways.

He winced. “Never mind.”

Okay, what was that? I would have pushed him, but it wasn’t something I wanted to talk about. And he didn’t do well with being pushed anyway.

We’d had so many good times. I would never have believed anyone if they’d told me he’d someday hurt me, betray me. I’d loved him, and I thought he’d loved me.

We kept on in silence, my mind whirling even more. “Here it is.” Wade finally said, sweeping an armful of ivy off the face of a large rock. A door shape glowed in the stone. He gestured for me to go ahead of him.

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“Huh-uh. I’m not going first.” Maybe they hadn’t found a way to kill me, but if they had a cage I wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. If they caught Jaden without my help, they could say I didn’t hold up my end of the bargain and haul me back to Faerie. I wouldn’t put it past Wade, obviously.

Wade rolled his eyes and stepped through. Well this was great. Now he was over there waiting for me. Maybe I shouldn’t have had him go first. Now what? If Starren and Cray’d had any luck and they no longer needed me, the three of them could be waiting to jump me. Okay, two of them, I couldn’t see Cray jumping anyone. Oh well, I was going to have to risk it. Maybe a cage on the other side, but it was that or be stuck in California, with no way home and only the small amount of cash I’d thought to bring. I stepped through after him.

I popped out in a small office similar to Starren’s. The only difference was that this one was bare. Wade was just walking out the only other door. So nice of him to wait and see if I followed him through the portal or not. I took off after him into the long hallway.

He stopped but didn’t turn to look at me. “It could be a while before Cray locks on to the next target. See you tomorrow. Goodnight, Trish.”

I ignored him, pushing past him and charging down the hallway. All I could concentrate on was getting to my bike. I needed to see Nina, just to know she was okay. I wouldn’t put it past the fae to snatch her on some lame charge, just to get me to try harder or some other stupid excuse and the more I thought about it the more worried I got. The hallway was empty, none of the heads sticking out of the doorways right now.

Going about normal life the rest of the day was going to be awkward after spending the morning fighting trolls. Not sure how to explain about my phone, I decided to just not bring it up.

Nina was working in the flowerbeds when I got home.

After leaning against the house in relief for a second, I scooted forward, trying to sneak past her. No such luck.

“Trisha, the school called.”

Crap.

“Apparently one of your teachers was worried about you today.” Nina straightened and wiped a gloved hand across her face. “Mrs. Hemp? She said you were acting strangely. Is everything okay?”

I bit my lip in relief. The doppelganger was working, at least the school still thought I was there. “Sure, everything is fine.” It was fine now, at least.

Nina looked me over good, an eyebrow arching perfectly by itself. I looked down. Shoot. I’d forgotten about the state of my clothes. “You’re sure nothing is wrong?” she asked.

“Wrong? Oh no, nothing is wrong at all,” I said, big cheesy grin on my face, blood drips all over my clothes. Hopefully it looked like paint from over there. My fae blood must believe in sarcasm to let me get that half-truth out.

“If you need to talk, I’m here. And if someone is bothering you, we will get it handled.” I didn’t answer and after a second of staring straight at me, she went back to pulling the last of the dead branches out of the flowerbed. Whew. She was going to ignore the fact that I had skin showing in all kinds of places the clothes I was wearing weren’t designed to show. Oh well, weren’t holey jeans the “it” thing right now?

“What was your bike doing outside of Wade’s apartment all day? Is he giving you rides to school?” And wham, she got me by surprise. Were they spying on me? How did they know my bike was there?

“No, he isn’t. There must be a ton of bikes in this city that look like mine.” Nina’s look told me she didn’t appreciate my little side step. “Really, Nina, I’m fine.” I could have told her that we broke up, but I didn’t want to talk about it right now. I turned and headed for the house.

“Trish, wait.” She pulled her gloves off.

I stopped but kept my back to her, keeping her barely in sight out of the corner of my eye.

“You know you can trust us, right? With anything? You are our daughter.”

Could she just say that? Just feel that way for real? I didn’t know how she could. Plus, she was probably thinking my secret was a school bully or some other teenage problem. How was I supposed to explain this? But at least she was trying. I might like it here, a lot, but that didn’t mean I could completely trust her. I knew better than to trust anyone. And I was starting to trust her too much. I needed to nip that in the bud. So while every part of me screamed to go over and give her a hug, I didn’t listen. “Thanks. May I go now?”

She sighed, the sound so sad it made me want to break down and try to make her feel better. But no. That was probably what she was trying to get me to do. “Sure. Just be ready for supper on time.”

That wouldn’t be an issue. I was starving again. But the whole bike thing, that was an issue. I was going to have to be more careful about where I parked it. And about who was watching me on my way to school.