Cherie Colyer - Hold Tight

I held my breath and prayed Reed would leave. To my relief, he let the daggers fall to the ground near his feet.

“This isn’t over,” he said and vanished.

Caden sighed. “I’d be surprised if it were.”

Isaac turned to face me. Caden’s flames ate the last of the ice and extinguished themselves.

“Don’t go trying anything witchy on me,” Caden said as he walked by Isaac. “I’ve already been yanked away from All-Legs Tiffany, a bottle of Dom Perignon, and a bowl of fresh strawberries. Roasting a power-charged high schooler sounds good right about now.” He studied me with bright red eyes. “That faerie really did a number on you.”

“Appears so,” I replied. Mentally, I could only deal with one supernatural problem at a time. If Caden was there to collect on our deal, I’d have to go with him, but I was pretty sure whatever it was I’d be required to do would be my breaking point and I’d burst into tears.

Caden held my chin and stared deep into my eyes. “I will torch you,” he said calmly when Isaac went to knock his hand away.

I squinted, wondering what Caden was looking at. My soul, maybe. What did a witch’s soul look like? Better yet, what did a demon’s soul look like? I leaned closer, trying to get a glimpse of his. His pupils were bottomless black dots. Couldn’t see his soul, though.

“I can reverse what’s been done,” Caden said.

“You’re here to help me?”

Caden’s eyes faded to warm brown, and he let go of my chin. “Yes.”

My first thought was, What are you waiting for!

“For a price,” Isaac spat.

Of course it wouldn’t be that simple.

Caden shrugged. “That’s generally how it works. Are you offering your soul as payment?”

“No! He’s not,” I said forcefully. “I’m not that bad.”

“Really? How long has it been since you ate or drank anything Reed’s given you?” Caden demanded. “By the color of your soul, I’m going to guess seven days.”

“Five.”

“That’s worse. It means your cellular structure is changing quicker than an average human’s.”

“I just need more time for his poison to get out of my system.”

“How’d you know she was here struggling with this?” Isaac asked.

I was glad for the distraction.

Caden waved a hand dismissively. “My investments are linked to me. It’s how I keep tabs on them. Most of the time, I get a low signal like background noise. About fifteen minutes ago, Madison’s went supersonic.”

“You never said anything about being linked to me,” I said.

“It’s in the fine print. You only need to ask, and I’ll undo what Reed has done.”

I was about to ask the price when Isaac stepped between Caden and me.

“We’re handling this our way,” Isaac said.

“How’s that going?” Caden snapped. “Look at her! I bet she’s wishing she had a glass of faerie wine right now.”

“Am not!” It was too early to drink. I was thinking a bacca ball would be nice, though.

“Liar.” Caden’s stone-cold glare dared me to argue.

It annoyed me that he could see past the brave façade I put on for my friends, but I bit my bottom lip to keep from saying something I knew I’d regret later.

Isaac stood rigid in front of me, rubbing his thumb against his fingers and creating a visible charge of white energy. Caden’s threat loomed heavy in the air. He’d set Isaac on fire once; I really didn’t want to see that again.

I laced my fingers through Isaac’s to show a united front. “Caden, I’m fine. I just need another day.” Or twenty.

“You’re no good to me this way,” he said, looking past Isaac.

“You can’t make her ask for your help,” Isaac challenged.

Maybe not, but Caden could ask me a carefully worded question that I would have to answer honestly—and at that moment, if he’d asked, Do you want the emptiness taken away? I’d have said yes. Or, if he really wanted to be a jerk, he could threaten to tell Isaac we’d kissed. I’d have hastily given him anything he wanted to keep that a secret.

What he did say was, “You have twelve hours to solve your faerie issues, Madison. This time tonight, you’re either clean or you ask for my help. Do we have an agreement?”

“Yes,” I replied before Isaac could say anything. One way or another, I needed to be rid of Reed permanently.

Caden raised an eyebrow.

“I promise,” I added reluctantly.

We watched Caden leave and then went back inside, no longer hungry.

We needed a plan, and help that didn’t come from a demon. We called Josh.

Josh leaned against the dresser. “Refresh my memory. How’d you convince Reed to go home the last time you guys met?”

“I threatened to roast the entire Seelie Court,” Isaac replied. He sat on the bed next to me.

“So we know his weakness. I say it’s time for a repeat performance.”

Isaac combed his fingers through his hair. “Can’t. I promised Reed I wouldn’t harm a member of his court.”

“You did. We didn’t.” Josh pointed to me and himself, a self-satisfied expression etched across his face.

I was trying to decide if threatening a vindictive faerie was the best course of action when Isaac spoke up.

“Still can’t. We know the door is located in Madison’s house, in the spot where she first summoned Brea, but it’s invisible to everyone except faeries. Unless Fae reveal it, we can’t access the portal between realms ourselves.” He glanced at the clock on the DVD player.

“How’d you find the door last time?” I asked, tucking my legs underneath me.

“A spell from my grandfather’s grimoire.”

One day I was going to have to read this grimoire. It seemed to be a collection of very interesting and useful spells.

“So we cast it again,” I said. Hell, we should have done that the day Isaac had found out Reed was here.

Isaac let his head fall back. He looked at the ceiling and replied, “Can’t. Tore the page out of the book and burned it.”

“Why’d you do that?” Josh asked.

“It was part of our agreement. Reed didn’t want anyone else finding a door and sending some deadly spell through it.” Isaac laced his fingers behind his head as he thought.

“He’s smart,” I commented. “You have to give him that.”

Josh took a seat in the sphere chair, forearms resting on his knees. “Fine. We can’t burn down his castle or tree stump or wherever it is faeries live. We can still exploit his weakness.”

“What’s that?” I asked.

“His sister. We nab her and hold her prisoner until Reed relents and goes home without you.”

“That could work,” Isaac said. “I can’t help execute the plan, though.”

“I got this one,” Josh said.

My head pivoted from Josh to Isaac and back. “How exactly are you going to hold a creature prisoner that can only be seen if she chooses to be seen?”

“Meadowsweet,” Isaac answered. He grabbed his grandfather’s grimoire and fanned through the pages as he continued. “We create a faerie ring with it.”

“A what?” I asked.

“A faerie ring,” he repeated. “They were popular in the fifteen hundreds.”

Josh nodded. “We can trap her at Madison’s, near where the door has to be.”

“And if Reed calls our bluff?” I asked.

“Who’s bluffing? Either Reed leaves or Brea stays. End of story,” Josh said.

“So we’re going to create a circle out of meadowsweet and leave it in my kitchen until Reed says uncle and steps back through the door?” I paused. “Don’t you think my dad is going to wonder why a girl with pointed ears and sparkly cheeks is standing in a ring of leaves?”