Мишель Роуэн - Reign Check

“I’ll be home later, I promise.”

“What time?”

“Uh … later ?” I felt bad about being so vague, but it couldn’t be helped.

“Okay, well, instead of dinner out, maybe I’ll order Chinese food delivery. Will you be here by six?”

“Sure. I promise.” I glanced at Michael. “No later than six. And Chinese sounds great.”

“All right, then. Say hi to Melinda for me.”

“I will. Bye, Mom.” I hung up and let out a long, shaky exhale.

My father was under the impression Mom was newly married and happy without him all these years. The truth was, she’d been married four times in her ongoing search for Mr. Right and had just got rid of the most recent Mr. Wrong a couple days ago.

What would she say if she found out my father hadn’t really abandoned us on purpose? Would she consider giving him another chance?

The idea filled me with a strange sense of hope.

I pulled myself out of thoughts of playing matchmaker with my mom and dad and looked at Michael.

“Have you found the gateway?” I asked.

“Not yet.” His face looked strained from how much he’d been concentrating.

“Is there a problem?”

He scanned the street. “No. I just need another minute.”

“Really?” I was surprised. He hadn’t had any problem finding the shifting gateway that would lead us directly into the Shadowlands the other times he’d taken me there.

“After what happened with Elizabeth, I … I’m still recovering my strength,” he admitted.

My aunt Elizabeth had taken Michael’s amulet away from him, and he’d almost faded away to nothing before we got it back just in time. He’d regained his form quickly, but I guess it wasn’t something he could snap back from like a moment of wooziness.

“You’re okay, though?” I asked with concern.

He nodded. “I’m fine. Although, it might take me a few more days to completely regain my strength.”

“Can I help find the gateway? I do have a dragon’s tear, after all.” I extended my arm to show him my bracelet. “My father said it could help me get to the Shadowlands, but he didn’t tell me exactly how to do it. It’s like he automatically assumes I just know all this demon-related stuff. And, well, I don’t.”

Michael took my hand and turned it over so he could look closer at the crystal. “Do you wear this all the time?”

I nodded. “I haven’t taken it off once. Mom asked about it, so I told her I got it at the mall for five bucks.”

“It’s very valuable. Priceless , as a matter of fact.”

“You mean it’s not the latest trendy dark-world accessory?”

“Definitely not. I’ve never actually seen one before, only heard of them.” He ran his thumb over the thin gold chain and his touch made my skin tingle. “But, yes, I think we can use it to help us find the gateway, if you’re willing to give it a try.”

“Cool. Just tell me what to do. You can be my tutor.”

He laughed a little at that. “Never been anyone’s tutor before. But it’s really just a matter of concentrating on what you want — focusing your thoughts toward your goal. In this case, it’s finding the gateway, which is pretty simple. I’ve heard a dragon tear’s magic can do much more than that. But we’ll start with baby steps.”

“Baby steps are good.”

“Be careful. Magic sometimes comes with a price.”

“That sounds ominous. But I used it before and nothing bad happened. Of course, it wasn’t for this sort of thing.”

He shook his head. “I’m sure it’ll be fine, then. You’re not tapping too deeply into its magic. Besides, your father would never give you a gift that could potentially hurt you.”

“Let’s hope not.”

“Just concentrate. See the gateway in your mind. Focus on it.”

“And then what?”

“And then”—he shrugged—“you’ll either know where it is or you won’t.”

“Not an exact science, is it?”

“Afraid not.”

“Okay, here it goes.” I closed my eyes.

Concentrate on the gateway. I knew what it would look like. A translucent rectangle the size of a door, with glowing edges around a swirling kaleidoscope of color. Barely there, hanging in midair or against a wall. I focused all my thoughts on that image. Show me where it is.

After a few seconds I felt a sensation like fingers squeezing a sponge in my head. Hadn’t felt that the last time I’d tried to focus on the magic in my crystal. But maybe I hadn’t been concentrating quite this much. I felt the crystal heat up against my wrist. It was normally cold and had never warmed to my body temperature before.

Then, suddenly, I sensed where the gateway was. As if a GPS device had clicked on in the center of my brain, directing me to the right place, I knew where it was. Michael had been right — we were close.

I opened my eyes and felt a twinge of pain. I grimaced and brought my hand to my head. “Ouch.”

“What?”

“Headache.”

His hand was on my forehead. “Is it bad?”

“No, not really.”

He brushed his lips against my temple.

“Probably shouldn’t let my father see that, either, huh?” I grinned at him.

“Definitely not.”

The headache had faded to nothing as quickly as it had arrived. “Come on. I know where it is.”

I led him around a corner up ahead. We were only three blocks from the school and at the edge of the downtown business area. The gateway to the Shadowlands was near the back of a Starbucks and down an alley.

I felt suddenly nervous at seeing my father again, but I tried to be brave. “Okay, let’s go.”

“Princesses first.”

“Such a gentleman.” I turned from him toward the swirling gateway.

He grabbed my hand before I went through. “Princess, I just wanted to say thank you.”

“For what?”

“For wanting to ignore the rules when it comes to me. You don’t know how much that means.”

I smiled at him. “I guess I’m a rebel.”

“You’re so completely different from how I expected you to be. I still can’t get over it. You’re not a spoiled brat who thinks she can get whatever she wants whenever she wants it.”

“Maybe if I’d been born a princess, I’d be more like that.”

“Somehow, I doubt it.”

“I only want a few very specific things,” I said pointedly. “But I do get cranky if I can’t have them.”

I really didn’t care about any rules, especially those that told me who I was and wasn’t allowed to like. And I’d make that very clear to my father.

Michael was my boyfriend. And if my father didn’t like it … well, that was just too bad, wasn’t it?

I stepped through the gateway feeling a new surge of purpose. I could change things. I knew I could. Just because it had been one way for thousands of years didn’t mean it always had to be that way, did it? Shadows shouldn’t be forced to be servants. And they should be able to date whoever they wanted, whenever they wanted, without anyone telling them they couldn’t.

How difficult could it possibly be to change some stupid and outdated rules?

The moment after I stepped through the gateway there was a familiar feeling of vertigo, where I couldn’t see or hear anything. But before there was a chance to get scared or think about anything at all, I’d already arrived on the other side.

The gateway from the human world opened up at a beautiful pastoral clearing between the Shadowlands and the faery realm. Green grass replaced snow-covered pavement. The scent of spring flowers hung in the air. It was warm enough for me to remove my winter jacket immediately.

A second later, Michael appeared next to me — just like magic. He pushed his dark hair back from his face. “So are you ready to see your father again?”