Кирстен Уайт - Paranormalcy

Arianna stood her ground, spitting on the path in front of him. “She’s not going anywhere with you.”

Reth raised an eyebrow. “What charming company you keep, my love.” He flicked a hand lazily and Arianna went flying into a tree.

The sun glinted off something on David’s knuckles as he swung at Reth’s face. What good did he think that would do? His fist connected, and Reth fell backward, clutching at his face with an inhuman shriek. My jaw dropped as David turned toward us. “Let’s go, now.”

He turned his back too soon. From the ground Reth raised his hand and whispered something.

I shrieked as my wrist burned and I was dragged forward. I dug my heels into the dirt, but the pull was too strong and I fell forward, knocking Lend out of the way. There was nothing to hold on to. I clutched at my wrist like I could somehow tear away the fire.

Lend jumped on top of me, grabbing me around the waist and bracing us both with his feet. We slowed. Reth raised his other hand and the fire flared, pulling from my heart now, too. I screamed in agony. It hurt so bad I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t think. A door melted into place behind Reth. A few more feet and I’d be his forever.

“No!” Lend squeezed me even tighter. David spun to hit Reth again, forcing the faerie to move one of his hands; I gasped with relief as my heart was released. He froze David on the spot.

Reth dusted himself off, maintaining his pull on my wrist. “Barbaric race, really. Now then.” He glared at Lend and raised a hand.

“No, don’t hurt him, I’ll come, I’ll come!” I sobbed. At least then the pain would be over and Lend would be safe.

“No!” Lend yanked me backward, gaining a few feet on Reth.

Smiling, Reth opened his mouth. He was going to kill Lend.

Water, foaming and flecked with bits of ice, shot past us, whipping my hair forward with the force of its motion. Before hitting Reth, the water curved, turning back on itself and swirling around us.

The fire in my wrist died, the invisible threads cut. Lend and I sat safe in the middle of the vortex, watching Reth’s image ripple through the water.

“Really now,” Reth snapped, looking past us. “I would hope that you, of all things, would understand. You know what she means to us. All of us.”

“That is my son.”

Reth’s nose wrinkled in distaste. “I see. Very well, he’s of no import to me. I’ll take Evelyn and be on my merry way.”

“She is under my protection as well.”

“She’s no thing of yours. The waters have no claim.”

“Neither does the air.”

“We made her!”

My blood froze. What did he mean?

“Creation is not claim,” Cresseda said.

“And yet you claim the boy,” Reth sneered.

“Leave.” Cresseda’s voice had gone from bubbling brook to roaring waterfall; it was power, eternal and unassailable.

Reth straightened his waistcoat and picked up his walking stick. “Very well. I’m not the only one who will come looking, though. Until next time, my love.” He waved his cane at me and stepped back through the door.

ONE OF A KIND

A rianna wasn’t dead. Or deader, I guess. I never thought I’d be so relieved about a vamp, but the girl had guts. Back at the house, David patched up her ribs while Stacey and Luke holed themselves in upstairs, avoiding me after hearing what had happened. I didn’t blame them. I was like a plague: where I came, bad things followed.

“How did you hurt Reth?” I asked as David finished checking Arianna’s ribs. I realized Reth had a new name, but had no idea what.

David stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled something out. It looked like brass knuckles but the wrong color. Iron. Brilliant. “Designed them myself.”

Was he cool or what? “Can I get a set?” Lend and I asked at the same time.

David laughed. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“What if Reth comes back?” Lend asked.

“There’s a reason he didn’t come to the house. We’re not very faerie friendly here. But I wouldn’t underestimate your mom’s power. Now that he knows the water elementals are protecting Evie, I don’t think he’ll try anything. Soon he’ll forget he was ever interested in her.”

I hoped that was true, but I seriously doubted it. It sounded too dismissive, too like Raquel. I wasn’t just some pretty thing Reth wanted to dance with—his interest in me ran far deeper. There was some sinister purpose behind it all. Still, David was obviously faerie savvy, and with Cresseda’s protection, maybe I really would be safe. Until I had to leave here, of course.

“There are a few other tricks,” David said, walking to the counter. He grabbed a loaf of bread, took out two slices, and handed them to us. “Keep a bit of stale bread in your pockets all the time.”

“Okay,” I said, frowning dubiously at the bread.

He laughed. “It works. Faeries don’t like things that tie them to our earth. Bread is the staff of life for humans—they won’t touch it. Same thing with iron; it binds them here, rings too sharply of imprisonment. That’s why it hurts them.”

“Cool!” Bread, at least, I could take with me everywhere. “Can I have my taser back, too?” Tasey wasn’t much good against faeries, but I felt kind of naked without her.

Frowning thoughtfully, he finally nodded and gave it to me. I had to restrain myself from stroking the pink grip.

Arianna fixed her clothes, glaring at me. “Why’s the faerie so obsessed with you anyway? You’re not that cute.”

David cleared his throat loudly. “Lend, why don’t you take Evie into town, get her some clothes and things?”

My heart leaped in my chest. That sounded promising. “I can stay?” I had been waiting for him to kick me out since we got here. I figured it was a sure thing now with the added Reth threat. I wouldn’t want me around, either.

“Of course.” He smiled at me. “You brought my son back. You’re always welcome.” I wouldn’t cry, not again, but that one sentence meant the world to me. Maybe I wasn’t totally alone, after all.

Lend frowned. “You’re trying to get rid of us so you can talk about all this, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Fine.” Lend held out his hand. “Keys? And a credit card?”

David pulled a card out of his wallet and handed it over with the car keys. “Be back before dark.

You’re still grounded.”

“I promise not to have any fun,” Lend said solemnly.

“Get out of here, you bum,” his dad said, shaking his head.

We climbed into a plain silver sedan. Maybe I’m weird, but watching Lend drive was sexy.

“So,” he said, “I’m guessing you have some questions?”

“Just one: what’s the limit on that card?” He looked shocked until I started laughing. “Kidding. I’m not going to push my luck, don’t worry. I would, however, like to get pants that aren’t yours, no offense. And I do have a few questions—real questions.”

He smiled. “I figured. How about I start at the beginning?”

“A very good place to start.”

“You already know my dad was APCA. Some of the things they were doing really bothered him.

The imprisonment, regulations, forced sterilizations, tracking—”

“Whoa, hold on—forced sterilizations?”

He glanced at me. “You didn’t know? They were worried about what would happen if a werewolf got pregnant by another werewolf. Had this whole panic, ethics debate, so on and so forth, then made any paranormal-human hybrid breeding with another paranormal or human totally illegal, and, umm, made it so no werewolves they caught could ever reproduce.”

All those neutering jokes I had made—they weren’t jokes. “Oh,” I whispered, horrified. “I had no idea.” I thought about all the werewolves I knew, Charlotte especially. She had always been so sweet and attentive. She would have made a great mom. And IPCA took that away from her after everything else she had already lost. “I think that’s the worst thing I’ve ever heard.” Then it really hit me—would they have done that to me? Would I have been seen as a breeding risk? Even the term, “paranormal breeding.” They really thought of all paranormals as animals. What else did IPCA do that I didn’t know about?