Эприлинн Пайк: Illusions

“Why did you follow me out here? I’m making some headway with Yuki and you two hanging around could ruin everything. Go! Dance!” he said, gesturing toward the door.

“Tam,” Laurel said, her eyes wide. “Your hand. Look at your hand! ”

Tamani looked down at his hand.

It was covered with sparkling powder.

Not powder. Pollen.

David raised an eyebrow. “Happy thoughts?”

Tamani could see Laurel’s chest heave as she sucked in a nervous breath. “I’m not in bloom,” she hissed.

“No,” Tamani said, terror growing in his chest. “No, no, no! It’s not possible!” Tamani exclaimed.

“Tamani,” Laurel said, her voice eerily calm, “it’s the first day of winter.”

“No!” Tamani felt like about twenty gears had clicked into place in his mind. He shoved his glove back onto his hand, concealing the damning evidence. He reached out to grab Laurel’s arm, not too tight, but tight enough for her to recognize how serious he was. “If Yuki is a Winter faerie, then we are all in very serious danger. She doesn’t just know you’re a faerie. She knows I’m a faerie. There’s no way she couldn’t. Every word out of her mouth since she arrived has been a lie. Every word.” He swallowed. “And she knows how much I’ve been lying to her, too.”

He placed his phone in Laurel’s hand, curling her fingers around it. “Call Shar. He’s on Aaron’s phone. Tell him everything. I’ll keep Yuki at the dance as long as I can. Then I’ll find a way to bring her back to my apartment. You and Shar have to think of something by then.”

“Can’t we wait till tomorrow?” Laurel asked, panic creeping into her voice. “I don’t think we should rush—”

“There’s no time,” Tamani interrupted. “Klea is coming to pick Yuki up and she’s not coming back. Whatever she was sent here to do — it’s done. It has to be tonight.” He hesitated, wanting to stay in the lobby with Laurel. But he gritted his teeth and stood tall. “I’ve spent too much time out here already — she’s going to be suspicious. You guys need to go.”

Laurel nodded and turned to David. “I’ll call Shar from the bathroom — I’ll be right back.”

Tamani watched her walk off. Then he grabbed David’s shoulder, looking him hard in the eye. “Keep her safe, David.”

“I will,” he replied soberly.

It wasn’t good enough. But then, where Laurel was concerned, nothing ever was. It was as good as it was going to get. The human boy hadn’t failed her yet. Tamani could only hope his luck would hold.

He took a moment to try to calm himself as he headed back into the gym. Yuki was standing by the punch bowl and hadn’t noticed him yet. He watched her with new eyes — seeing her as the dangerous creature he now knew she was. She looked so innocent in her sparkling dress. Only now did he fully understand. The large bow in back was just perfect for hiding a blossom.

It took everything he had to smile seductively as he approached her. She had to know his words were a lie. But there was one thing — even from the beginning — that she had always believed. He pulled her back in his arms possessively and his cheek went to hers, his lips pressing softly up her neck and to her ear. “Come home with me tonight?” he whispered.

She pulled back a little, looking at him with wide eyes.

“It’s our last night,” he said.

A long moment passed and Tamani could feel a single bead of condensation building up at the back of his neck as she continued to say nothing — to look into his eyes, searching for truth. “Okay,” she whispered.

TAMANI SLID HIS KEY INTO THE LOCK AND STARTED to turn the handle when Yuki placed her hand over his.

“Tam, wait,” Yuki said softly.

Tamani felt his gloved hands start to shake and he tried not to imagine all the damage a Winter faerie — especially one not bound by the laws and traditions of Avalon — could inflict upon him. The kind of damage that would make death a reward by comparison. He turned to her and touched her arm as tenderly as he could manage. “You okay?”

She nodded shakily. “Yeah, absolutely, I just…” She hesitated. “I need to tell you something.”

Was she trying to come clean? How much was she going to confess? She knew he was a faerie. She must; a Winter faerie could sense plant life at a distance, as well as control it. Did she know he was a sentry too? That he was Laurel’s guide, warden, and protector? How much did she suspect he knew about her?

Tamani smiled casually and ran a hand down her cheek. It was too late for confessions. “Come inside first — you’ve got to be freezing.”

He could almost see her reach out and cling to the excuse to wait just a few more minutes before unveiling her secret. Tamani turned the knob and pushed it open, wondering what Shar had waiting for them inside. Would Yuki be dead before she drew her next breath? To kill a Winter, even a wild one, struck Tamani as a kind of sacrilege. He trusted Shar — trusted him with his life — but this was bigger than anything they had ever encountered and Tamani wasn’t ashamed to admit there was an icy pit of fear in his stomach.

He reached for the light switch and flipped it up.

Nothing happened.

“That’s weird,” Tamani said quietly, but loud enough for both Yuki and anyone who might be lurking in the dark room to hear. “Come on in,” Tamani said. “I’ll go grab the light in the kitchen, see if that one works.” He felt rather than saw Yuki pause, before crossing the threshold. As if she sensed the danger that was lurking.

Tamani felt his way to the kitchen, running his hand along the wall and reaching for the kitchen light switch. A warm hand — a human hand — covered the switch. He felt someone grab his shoulder and a hand cup around his ear. “Tell her to come over to you,” David whispered, as he carefully repositioned him a few steps to the right. “Tell her the electricity must be out.”

“Come this way,” Tamani said. “The electricity must be out.” She was still standing in the doorway, silhouetted by a dim streetlight that scarcely touched the murky blackness.

“I can’t see.” Her voice sounded strange, like a little girl’s. There was something inside her, telling her this was wrong.

“I’ll catch you if you fall,” Tamani said, making his voice purr.

Hesitantly, she took a few steps toward him.

“I’m right here,” Tamani said, as David nudged him just a little more to the right.

He heard a clang and Yuki let out a frightened yowl. There was a flurry of motion and David was gone from his side. He heard a couple of dull thuds, two sets of staccato clicks, then more shrieks from Yuki.

The light overhead burst to life, making Tamani cringe and screw his eyes shut against the onslaught. He blinked and surveyed the scene, his eyes searching for Shar.

But Shar wasn’t there.

It was David, pulling off a pair of night-vision goggles. Chelsea, too, standing at his side, a length of rope in her hands. Some kind of backup plan. It was strange to see them standing in their finery with tools of capture in their hands.

Yuki was gasping as she struggled to escape from a metal chair someone had bolted to the floor, her hands cuffed securely behind her, one set for each wrist, with the other end locked around the back of the chair. Enough slack to throw herself against them pretty hard, but not enough to lean forward more than about a foot.

Tamani’s jaw dropped. “What have you done? She’s going to kill us!” Tamani hissed. But David wasn’t talking. His face had gone white and he was staring at Yuki in horror. Tamani suspected he’d never tied someone up before.