Cherie Colyer - Hold Tight

Reed waited patiently for my answer.

“You’ve proven your magic is stronger than ours. Now, please, defrost him—” I pointed a quivering finger at Josh, then promptly shoved my hand in my pocket “—before it’s too late.”

“Is that a yes?”

I could barely think with Reed staring at me. His entire presence was mesmerizing. From his otherworldly looks to his intoxicating scent, all I wanted to do was give in.

“My family needs me,” I whispered, which was lame. My answer should have been Get lost.

I tried to warm the air, but Josh remained encased in ice.

Reed dropped his arm to his side. “Tell me this, at what point in your grand scheme to rid your world of me did you decide I was worth protecting?”

“I didn’t, but I wasn’t going to let a friend of mine risk his soul for me.” Yet by sparing Reed, I might have killed Josh, the guy who had been like a big brother to me.

“That right there is your downfall.” Reed paced closer, and I stumbled backward. Seemingly unfazed, he continued, “I will visit everyone you have ever loved, and they will meet the same fate as Witch Boy, starting with your father and brother. Then I will freeze this land, and I will make sure you are there to see it all.”

“Why are you doing this?”

He shrugged. “Isaac once threatened to ruin everything I loved. I’m merely doing to him what he failed to do to me.”

“If all you cared about was ruining his life, why pretend to be human? Why take a job with my father? Why not lure me to your realm before I realized what was happening?”

“I donned this appearance—” his body shimmered and transformed to the honey-blond-haired man whom I’d first met on my front porch “—to prove I could be adorable and gentlemanly, something my sister bet I couldn’t pull off, and the job with your father was to demonstrate how well I could blend in and make myself useful.”

“In the middle of ruining everyone’s lives, you’re playing Handyman’s Assistant to win a bet?”

“I do like to prove Rhoswen wrong, and my winning meant she couldn’t interfere in my business here.”

And I thought humans could be petty.

He held out his hand. “We can do this the easy way or, if you prefer, I can pop over to the movie theater and check in on your father and that spunky little brother of yours.” When my mouth fell open, he added, “Yes, I know where they are.”

I gritted my teeth. “Leave them out of this.”

He looked at his outstretched hand and then at me.

My gaze went to Josh. “Fix him first.”

“I can’t, but a kiss of summer will have him back to his old annoying self in seconds. Brea will take care of him as soon as we leave. I’m sure she didn’t go far.”

So am I . My eyes narrowed as I deciphered his words. “Like the flowers? He’s frozen in time, not frozen to death?”

“You spared my life. I spared his.”

“Josh, I promise Brea will fix you,” I said, not really knowing if he could hear me. With a heavy sigh, I placed my trembling fingers in Reed’s palm.

“You needn’t be afraid of me,” he said. With his free hand, he offered me his flask. “Drink.”

I bit my lips and shook my head. He hadn’t won, yet.

“It will make our travels more comfortable,” he warned.

I shook my head again and prayed we would head straight for the door before I changed my mind. He stuffed the flask into his back pocket and picked up his bow without letting go of my hand. “Do not say I didn’t warn you.”

Cold gripped me. A thousand needles stabbed at my veins as I gasped for air. I grabbed my neck with my free hand, choking. Death would have been more merciful than Reed’s magic. He stepped closer and snaked an arm around my waist.

“ Next time, drink the wine ,” he said, though his lips didn’t move.

There wasn’t going to be a next time if I had anything to say about it. But at the moment, I couldn’t say anything—I would have sworn Old Man Winter himself had reached down my throat and yanked my small intestine through my mouth. The cemetery vanished, and the next thing I knew we were standing in my kitchen.

I ran to the sink and threw up.

“We could have driven,” I said hoarsely, then vomited again.

“And give you time to call your boyfriend? No, thanks.”

While I rinsed my mouth out with water, Reed checked the house.

“We’re alone,” he said on returning.

I could have told him that. Dad and Chase were grabbing dinner after the movie, and Isaac and Kaylee were hanging out at her house waiting for Josh’s call, which wouldn’t come now that he was a human ice cube.

The pinecone centerpiece sat in the middle of the table, where it had been for days. The additional meadowsweet Kaylee had added while Josh and I were at the cemetery comingled a little too nicely with Reed’s woodsy scent. The aroma added lightheadedness to my nausea.

“Let’s go,” he said.

I grabbed a pen and paper off the counter. “I don’t want my dad worrying about me.” I nervously rubbed my hemp bracelet against my wrist. “And Isaac and Kaylee, they deserve to know where I am.”

“You have one minute.”

I took a seat at the table and blew out a breath, sending my dark bangs flying. I wrote Dad at the top of the notepad. Reed turned toward the window and drew an imaginary arch through the air. The space between him and the wall shimmered, creating a four-by-two-foot oval void.

The door.

It was what I’d been waiting for. I grabbed the meadowsweet from the centerpiece, muttered the words Josh had taught me, and threw it at Reed’s feet like one throws dice across a table. With a little help from my powers, the sprigs settled on the floor around Reed and the door. One last push of power aligned them in a circle.

Or more precisely, a faerie ring.

“Gotcha,” I said.

Reed’s eyes turned as dark as a blizzard. He banged soundlessly on the invisible wall of his prison.

“Isaac warned Josh that he wouldn’t be able to win in a battle of his magic against yours.” I twirled the pen between my fingers as I spoke. “But Isaac couldn’t help summon Brea to use her as leverage because of that promise he’d made you. So after our last attempt to trick you, I knew we had to get you to let your guard down.”

Reed’s handsome features twisted in fury.

“No more games,” I said. “You walk through the door and lead whatever life you want in your realm. Stay here and you’ll eventually starve, because I’m not letting you out of that ring.”

The front door opened. I peered down the hallway.

“Are we good?” I asked Kaylee.

She glanced over her shoulder at Brea and Isaac and said, “Yeah, we’re good.”

“Rhoswen?” Reed asked. “How could you side with these humans?”

“I did no such thing, Dellis.” She boosted herself up on the counter. “This one”—she indicated to Kaylee with a bob of her head—“summoned me shortly after you freed me.”

“Part of Plan A,” I explained. “If you managed to rescue Brea, then Kaylee would detain her elsewhere.” Josh had called Kaylee through our bond. His message, “I love you,” was code for “Summer faerie on the loose.”

“Rhoswen, free me!”

Isaac and Josh positioned themselves in between her and Reed.

She looked past them. “Dellis, some battles are best not fought. This is one of them. If you were thinking straight, you would agree with me.”

Reed’s glare fell on Isaac, who raised his hands in front of him and said, “I was very hospitable, even insisted the faerie ring be made around a cozy chair. I didn’t harm or threaten her in any way.”

“Reed was just saying goodbye,” I said.