Kaleidoscope (Faylinn Series) (12 page)

He sighed and pressed his shoulder against the lockers. “Cal, I told my dad I would head straight to his shop after school. Just tell me now.”

“This is important, Cameron,” I said seriously. “Please?”

His misty blue eyes grew uneasy and he reached his hand out to me, setting it on my arm and rubbing reassuringly. “Are you okay?” Just hearing the worry in his voice made me want to cry, a feeling I had stifled until now. I had been tough, but there had been no sympathy from anyone before now. I had simply been expected to accept this. Why was it that sympathy sparked the need to cry?

I bit my lip. I didn’t want to make him anxious the rest of the day, but I couldn’t say I was perfectly fine either. He could read the discomfort clearly on my face.

“Cal?”

I shook my head and tried to assure him. “It’s nothing that can’t wait until later. I just really need you to meet me. Say you will, please?”

“Of course. I’ll tell my dad I’ll be a little late.”

“Thank you.” I gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “Just meet me at my car.”

He nodded, but the look of concern never left his face as I walked away.

The end of the day couldn’t come fast enough. I was constantly fussing with my hair, making sure my ears were covered at all times. When I awoke this morning and checked my ears, the points had become more prominent. They were definitely faery ears now. I wasn’t even sure when they had started to form. I don’t think Declan would have missed them if they were there Saturday morning, but maybe they hadn’t been big enough to notice. Cameron wouldn’t have known to look for them at dinner. It scared me how fast they had grown. Were my wings going to be the same way?

“Is it just me or did Jake Winter sprout into a Greek god over the summer?” Lia asked as she took a bite of her sandwich at lunch.

“Jake, really?” I followed her gaze to a group of guys punching each other and goofing off without a care in the world.

She shrugged meekly, so unlike her.

“I’m sorry, but do you remember what Jake said to you the first time you met him?” She rolled her eyes, knowing exactly what was coming. In my best Jake Winter voice I said, “Hey, are you lost? Because heaven is a long way away from here.”

“Winter is such a tool,” Cameron said as he plopped across from me on the grass. I hadn’t even noticed him coming up to us.

“See, even Cam remembers that fateful day,” I said, feeling validated.

He shrugged. “That’s only because that was the day you had chopped off all your locks, Cal, and you were bawling your eyes out next to Lia when he came up. He was so insensitive that he didn’t even see you crying. He just proceeded to gawk at Lia.”

I looked up at him without a word to say, but he wasn’t looking at me. His eyes looked to the ground, holding something I couldn’t read. Frustration? Uncertainty?

He remembered that?

“Okay. Okay. He’s a tool and I’d never give him the time of day,” Lia said, conceding.

“Thank goodness,” I said and turned my attention back to her. “But don’t let me stop you if he’s the man of your dreams.” I chuckled.

She glared at me, but gave a small grin. “Speaking of hair. Yours is especially nice today, Callie. I’m digging the braids,” she teased.

“What’s wrong with the braids?” I lifted my hands to my hair, double-checking my ear’s whereabouts.

“Nothing. I just have never seen you wear braids before. It’s very Britney Spears.”

“I was thinking the same thing,” Cameron cued in at the wrong time. “You haven’t worn braids since we were in middle school, Cal.”

“I just felt like changing things up a bit. There’s only so much you can do with curly hair.” They both eyed me, questioning my poor excuse of an answer. “Lay off the hair,” I commanded jokingly, but I think it came out more like pleading.

Cameron’s eyes read my lies. “Huh, you sure there’s no other reason?” he asked.

I eyed him, warning him not to go any further and mention our earlier conversation. This ended with Cameron. I was not going to tell Lia. If he wanted to get on my bad side he’d keep up with the questioning, but he knew better.

He diverted his gaze from my glare. “You going to finish that sandwich, Lia?” he asked.

She looked at the unfinished sandwich in her hands and then back at him, handing it over. I don’t think he even wanted it, but it ended the conversation about my hair.

When the final bell rang for Cameron to be finished with school I waited in my car, more anxious than I thought I was going to be. I shouldn’t want to tell him. It had been a battle in my head all day. As much as I wanted to tell him, I could still back out and make up some bull crap story about why I was so on edge. The inside of me laughed knowingly. I should want to hide this from the entire world, but I felt a little lighter thinking I was only moments away from sharing this huge secret with my best friend.

I put the car in drive as soon as he sat in the passenger seat.

“Where are we going?” he asked after closing the door.

“Away from the school.”

“Why?” he pressed. “Callie, you’re killing me here. You can’t even tell Lia? Why can’t you just tell me now?”

“Because I have to show you and I can’t show you in the middle of our school parking lot. We need to go somewhere private.” I pulled out of the parking lot and headed toward the canyon.

I looked out of the corner of my eye to see him with lifted eyebrows and a hint of a smirk on his face. “What are you going to show me?”

“It’s better if we don’t talk about it and you just see them for yourself.” I kept my eyes back on the road.

“Them,” he said flatly. “Calliope, are you going to show me something dirty?” he teased.

“What? No, you perv!” I punched his shoulder. “Just prepare yourself okay? Open your mind to all possibilities. It’s going to be really hard for me to tell you this and I need all of your support.” His stare was even more skeptical now. Before he could say anything, I said, “Don’t ask any more questions. Just sit there. Please. I don’t have the patience to argue with you right now.”

He was silent for a minute, a serious expression on his face. “You’re not dying are you?”

Breathless laughter escaped my lips. It kind of felt like it but “No,” I amended.

He sighed. “Gosh, Callie. Don’t scare me like that.”

“You thought I was dying, really?”

“Well, you’re being so secretive. It’s making me really nervous.”

“Then think a little less depressing and more unbelievable okay?”

I felt him shift and peered over at his anxious face. I could see the wheels turning in his blue eyes as he tried to piece together what I had told him so far. Whatever was flipping through his mind, it wasn’t going to be even remotely close to the truth.

“At least give me a hint.”

“Nothing I can say to you will hint at what I’m about to tell you, okay? It’ll only confuse you. Now hush. You’re making me more nervous.”

Up on the road, I drove into the canyon. It wasn’t more than fifteen minutes from school, giving us seclusion and practicality so he could get to his dad before he started to question his whereabouts.

When we pulled up to the trees, Cameron didn’t move. “C’mon,” I prompted as I got out of the car. He slowly exited the vehicle, apprehensive, as I knew he would be. He paused by the passenger’s side of my Cabriolet. I snatched his hand and pulled him into the trees. His steps weren’t willing. He was basically dragging his feet along the dead leaves and grass. My patience was being tried.

“What? Are you scared of me now? It’s just me. C’mon, Cam.”

“Callie,” he murmured. “Where are we going?”

“To a place where we can’t be interrupted,” I said without looking at him. “Or seen.”

“You’ve officially freaked me out,” he emphasized.

We were deep enough now. I was just praying Kai or Declan wouldn’t show up. Not that I’d ever seen them anywhere in the trees except for by my home, but I wasn’t prepared to show them my ears yet. I needed my human moment to freak out first. I faced Cameron. The look on his face wasn’t making this any easier.

“Please, Callie, the suspense is killing me. What’s so important that you had to isolate us from the rest of the world?”

I took a deep breath, unbraiding one braid at a time as I tried to calmly explain. “There have been some changes in my appearance over the last couple days. Something that isn’t exactly
normal
.” I kept my gaze firmly planted on him and gained the courage to pull my hair back, unveiling the new addition to my body.

Cameron’s eyes swelled out of his head. “Calliope, what happened to your ears?”

I dropped my hair and took a step toward him. “Cam, I’m just as freaked as you are right now, so I’d like you to tone down the piercing shrieks just a notch.”

“Calliope,” he said it this time in awe and amazement. “How? What did you do to them?” He gently pushed my curls back, revealing them once more.

“Me?” I pointed at them crossly. “You think I would have done this on purpose?”

Cameron looked at me blankly, completely speechless, but he didn’t retreat. He stayed standing in front of me, my unwavering constant. I prayed he would stay that way after this.

“Cameron, what has pointy ears, wings and is about three inches tall?” His expression twisted as he tried to put together what I was telling him. I waited for some recognition to appear on his face; something to tell me this wasn’t
that
farfetched. But who was I kidding? This was crazy.

“Are you seriously trying to tell me you’re a faery?”

I sighed; relieved I didn’t have to say the words myself and nodded.

He laughed humorlessly. “You’ve got to be kidding me! What?” Cameron looked at me with a puzzled smile. “Callie, you’re joking with me, right? You got me real good.” He didn’t wait for me to correct him. He laughed easily now, his expression relaxing. “You really had me going. Those are some
amazing
costume ears. I really thought—”

“Cameron,” I asserted. “Touch them. These are my real ears.”

His face fell and his laughter became uneven huffs of air. I took a hesitant step toward him, measuring his degree of uncertainty, hoping he wouldn’t run away from me and he didn’t. Slow even breaths calmed his amusement. His laughing stopped altogether and he bit his lips. One of his hands slowly lifted to my face. The touch of his fingertips softly trailed up my cheek to my ear. They were cautious as they inched their way up and around the curve. I watched his eyes, so unsure and nervous. He pinched the point.

“Ouch!”

“Holy crap!” He jumped back, stumbling over his feet. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. . .”

“Cameron,” I cautiously said, his name the only familiar thing that had fallen from my lips.

His breathing accelerated, his eyes were wild with uncertainty. “I. . .I. . .you. . .you. . .” He couldn’t speak. He couldn’t look me in the eyes. Maybe this wasn’t the wisest decision. He blinked as if he thought every time he reopened his eyes my ears would be gone. “Cal,” he breathed, shifting one step back. “What in the. . .”

“Cameron, please don’t run,” I begged, hands outstretched to him. I couldn’t bear to see his back fleeing from me now.

He shook his head and finally met my eyes. “Run? Callie, I wouldn’t ever run from you. But I mean. . .c’mon. . .this is insane.” Cameron’s light sapphire eyes traced every feature of my face.

I stayed quiet. If I gave him a little more time to let his mind process this, just maybe, he could think it was possible. I needed him to believe me. I needed Cameron.

“You have pointy ears,” he said slowly.

I nodded, but he shook his head.

“How. . .what. . .how. . .” I swallowed ready to start explaining when he slowly said, “Your eyes.” His eyes bore into mine. “They are
really
green. I’ve never seen them so bright.” His eyes squinted as they explored me. The only sound I heard was his quiet quick breaths. “And they are. . .
bigger
.”

My heart jolted. “What?”

“Your eyes. They were never this big. They’re not unnaturally big, but they were definitely smaller before.”

“My eyes?” My eyes had changed too? Oh no. . .
What if my wings had started to grow in?
I reached back, but felt nothing, only the smooth cotton of my sweater.

“I noticed something was different on Saturday, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. And I’ve never seen them so green. Maybe it’s the lighting.” He closed his eyes, shaking his head once more. “But you’re not three inches tall. . .” Cameron was even more baffled now.

“Well technically no faery is. Or so I’m told. Those are called pixies.”

He didn’t look amused. “Well thanks for the term rundown.” I shrugged. “Callie, how is this even possible? How do you know that you’re a faery? Maybe it’s just some rare human deformity.”

“It’s not a deformity, Cameron,” I assured.

“You don’t have wings,” he fought back.

“They aren’t far behind these.” I pointed to my ears. “And who’s to say what features a faery possesses anyway? No one actually believes they exist. The only knowledge everyone goes by is in storybooks and Disney movies.”

“How. . .” He wasn’t grasping this. I couldn’t blame him. But at least he wasn’t running.

“Would you believe me if I told you my dad was a faery? That he could back up my story. Although, if he knew I revealed this to you, he’d probably kill me.”

“Your dad,” he said skeptically.

I nodded, letting him soak in the information. This might take more convincing than I thought. Maybe I shouldn’t have told him so soon. I should have waited. He couldn’t deny it if I had wings.
I
couldn’t deny it if I had wings. But had I revealed myself in full faery form he probably would have fainted and that wouldn’t be safe this far up the canyon.

Cameron didn’t speak for what felt like an eternity. In reality it probably wasn’t more than a minute, but time wasn’t flowing normally in my mind.

“Cameron, speak,” I pleaded.

He breathed out a low huff of air. “Whoa. . .so what? You’re like half faery, half human? Are you even human at all?”

I lifted my shoulders meekly. I didn’t even know anymore. Was I still a human? Gosh, I still wanted to be human. Even just to keep a sliver of whom I thought I was. But as I thought about being human, standing in the shade of the forest, I felt less human than ever. The trees fought for my allegiance.