Not Your Average Happy Ending (6 page)

“Oh, Kendall. The girl of his dreams,” Shenelle said in a high annoying voice. She laughed and rolled her eyes. “Pathetic what love can do to a person isn’t it?”

He glanced at Shenelle and back at me. “Yes. Her. I need that necklace.”

“I don’t think so. Not unless you tell me why it’s so important.”

His golden eyes glowed as he frowned. “It belongs to me.”

“No. It doesn’t. And neither do I.” I pulled Sam to the edge of the cave, focused on Kendall’s face and willed myself to her. The last thing I saw before Sam passed out on me was Linkin reaching for us as we disappeared.

Kendall

A crash sounded upstairs making Misty and I jump.

“What was that?” I asked, getting to my feet. No one else was home, so it was either someone breaking into my room, or…

What else would it be? Maybe it was Ash? I started toward the stairs.

“Wait.” Misty grabbed my arm and pulled me to a stop. “It could be Shenelle. Or Dax, even.” Misty grimaced. “Let me check it out first. Ash would kill me if something happened to you.”

“But what about you?”

“I have magic on my side. I can at least defend myself. You can’t.” She pushed past me and went up the stairs, one at a time. Her hands were up like a shield in front of her face.

“Be careful.”

She nodded and disappeared at the top of the stairs. I held my breath as a door to my room creaked open. Misty let out a shriek, making my blood run cold. “Ash? What happened?”

Ash was back? I took the stairs two at a time and rounded the corner to my room, shocked at the scene before me.

Ash and Sam were in a heap on the floor. They looked exhausted. Not to mention filthy. Sam was bleeding and unconscious. Ash smiled when he saw me, but pain was evident on his face. He clutched his shoulder and winced when I wrapped my arms around him.

“Ash, what…?”

“I’m fine,” he said. “Nothing I can’t handle.” He smiled, though I could tell it was forced.

“You’re hurt.”

“Just a scratch.”

I was pretty sure it wasn’t just a scratch, since he couldn’t hide the pain in his eyes. “Stop being an idiot and tell me what happened.”

He sighed. “My shoulder is either dislocated or broken. I’m fine though. I’m more worried about Sam right now.” He looked at Misty. “We need to get him to his dad. I’m pretty sure he’s been poisoned.”

“What?” I asked. “How?”

“We…uh…sort of got attacked by a banshee.”

My jaw dropped. A banshee? There were banshees too? The thought sounded ridiculous. Although, I was dating a fairy, so I guess it wasn’t
that
ridiculous. I glanced at Misty, not surprised to see tears streaming down her face. She still cared about Sam. A lot. Even if she denied it.

Sam opened his eyes then and smiled at Misty. “Your hair’s different.” He twisted a strand of her dark hair around his finger. “You smell like pancakes.”

Misty looked frazzled for a second before looking back to Ash. “Pancakes?”

Ash shrugged and closed his eyes as if it hurt him.

Sam glanced around the room. “Wow. Lots of pink in here. Are we in the fairy court?”

“I think he’s delirious,” Misty said. “What do you need me to do?”

Ash stood. “I can’t teleport him and myself again. I need your help.”

Misty nodded and she and Ash got Sam to his feet. Sam groaned and then chuckled to himself, leaning onto Ash for support. “Guess what, guys? Ash banished a banshee. Ha! Get it? Banished? A banshee?”

“Ash?” Misty said slowly, her eyes wide.

“He’ll be fine. Let’s get him out of here,” he said.

“But…you can’t just…” I held tears back. I didn’t want him to leave me again, but couldn’t bring myself to tell him. I didn’t want to sound needy, because I wasn’t. I was just worried about him. Especially since he was hurt. And what if he didn’t come back?

He turned and reached toward me. “I’m not leaving you here, Kendall. You’re coming with us.” He laced his fingers through mine and squeezed.

“But you just said you can’t teleport anyone because you’re hurt.”

“I can teleport
you
fine. Sam is weak and so am I. If we’re both weak, it makes teleporting near impossible. I’m surprised I made it all the way here and didn’t get stuck somewhere.” I took a deep breath and wrapped my arms around his waist. I hated teleporting and it was best if I didn’t see anything. I buried my face in his chest, feeling the heat from his body. He wrapped one arm around my waist, his other arm hanging limp at his side. “Ready?” He asked. Even if he acted tough, I knew he was in pain. His voice gave it away.

“Yes,” Misty and I said in unison.

“Group hug,” Sam slurred. “We’re buddies.”

Wind and darkness greeted me as we teleported out of my house. I had my eyes closed of course, but it still felt like my body was ripped into two and slammed back together. It was over in seconds, but I wobbled when I opened my eyes.

The room spun and I blinked a few times while Ash rubbed my back. He knew how much I hated traveling like that.

“Leif,” Ash yelled through the room.

Sam groaned again. “That was weird,” he said as Ash sat him down on the couch. “Hey. This kind of looks like my couch.” He smiled. “My nice, comfy couch.” He patted the cushion with his hand.

“Ash? What’s going on?” An older man came through a door on the other side of the room. He had long silver hair and looked a lot like Sam. He seemed very familiar.

I let Ash leave my side as he told Leif what had happened to Sam. Misty was still hanging onto Sam’s arm, and he looked like he could pass out any minute. Leif pushed Sam back so he was lying on the couch, and as soon as he did, Sam’s eyes rolled back into his head. Leif and Ash knelt beside him, a light coming between Leif’s fingers as he placed them on his chest.

I was having déjà vu. “I’ve been here before,” I said, more to myself than to anyone else.

The walls looked like a tree. I remembered that. Vines and leaves hung around the room with wooden furniture placed here and there. I gasped as a scene I’d tried to forget flashed through my mind.

Pain. Blinding, horrible pain.

My hand went to my side and I felt the scar through my shirt. I shivered.

“Kendall? You okay?”

I knew I should answer, but nothing would come out. All I could do was think about that horrible night when Dax stabbed me. I was positive Ash had brought me here. I remembered Leif as well. He healed me. I think.

“Kendall?”

I looked at Ash’s hand on my arm. I didn’t know what to say or do. I was pretty sure I was going to lose it though. The pain was so real. I swear I could still feel it.

Sam groaned and I squeezed my eyes shut as he cried out in pain.

“Kendall, he’s going to be fine,” Ash said. He glanced toward the couch and then back at me. He studied me a moment before turning to Misty. “Take Kendall outside. I’ll be out in a minute.”

Misty grabbed my arm and pulled me out the door, just as Sam started screaming. The door slammed closed and Misty’s grip tightened on my arm. “He’ll be fine. He’ll be fine. He’s going to be fine,” she kept saying. I’m pretty sure she was trying to reassure herself and not me.

I looked around, trying to distract myself and noticed we were in some kind of forest. It was really green and the house really was a big huge tree. The branches and trunk looked like polished wood, even though the tree was obviously alive. A few windows peeked through the leaves and a stairway rose up on the side of the house into what looked like an attic. It was beautiful. And crazy that it was even real. Magic people, banshees that attacked people, tree-houses. What had I gotten myself into?

Another scream came from inside and Misty covered her ears. I wanted to help her and tell her everything would be fine, but I was trying to keep myself from falling apart.

There was silence for a moment and I breathed a sigh of relief. I hoped Sam was okay. I was about ready to go back inside when I heard a string of curses come from the house. It was Ash. I’m sure he was getting his shoulder healed.

I shivered, remembering the pain when Leif healed me. I wondered why healing hurt so bad. You would think it would take all the pain away. But no. It was awful. Something I never ever wanted to do again.

He swore again and I smiled. At least he wasn’t screaming like Sam was. Cursing meant he was coherent.

Misty sat down on the porch and wrapped her arms around her knees. “This sucks.”

I sat down next to her. “Tell me about it.”

“I thought I was over him. Obviously I’m not.” She put her face in her hands. “I’m such an idiot. I hate boys. I’m sure human boys aren’t this complicated.”

I snorted. Right.

I didn’t want to break it to her though, so I kept quiet. Ash swore again, making us both jump. “At least Sam doesn’t have a potty mouth,” I muttered.

She laughed. “I’m sure he would have been swearing too if he wouldn’t have been hallucinating. And Ash doesn’t usually swear, so he must be hurting pretty bad.”

“I know. I’ve only heard him like twice.”

The door opened then and Misty and I jumped to our feet. Ash stepped through the doorway, looking much better than before. He wasn’t pale anymore and his shoulder seemed fine. He looked tired though. He reached for my hand and gave it a squeeze. “You okay?”

I nodded. “I am now.”

“Sam’s asleep inside if you want to go check on him,” Ash said to Misty. He put a hand on her shoulder. “He’s going to be fine. He keeps asking for pancakes for some reason.”

Judging by the grin on his face, I was positive he knew how Misty felt about Sam.

“Thanks, Ash.” She blushed and gave me a small smile before going inside.

“Walk with me?” Ash asked.

“Sure.”

“Are you really okay?” I asked as he led me down the porch steps.

“I’m fine. Promise. Leif is a dang good healer, so don’t worry about me.”

“You could have fooled me with your potty mouth in there.”

He snorted. “Sometimes the only word you can think of is a swear word.” His cheeks reddened. “Sorry about that.”

I laughed and squeezed his hand.

He led me down a path surrounded by trees. The trees were so close together it looked like we were in a tunnel. The canopy was so thick I couldn’t see the sky above. “I wanted to show you something,” he said, stopping in front of a row of trees. I wasn’t sure what he was doing, since there weren’t any big openings to go through.

He placed his hand on the tree trunk closest to him and it glowed before making an opening big enough for us to walk through. I looked up at him and he winked before pulling me into the most beautiful place I’d ever seen. It was a small clearing full of flowers of every different color I could imagine. My mouth dropped open at the beauty of it all, and Ash chuckled. “I told you my world was green and full of flowers.”

“It’s beautiful.”

He shrugged. “It’s better than a bunch of rocks and dirt I guess.”

I nudged him with my shoulder. “You guess?” I reached out, touching the petal of a huge white flower in front of me. It was as big as a pumpkin, but delicate and thin. I could see silver veins running through it. It was soft too and reminded me of Ash’s wings.

“Figures you’d touch the fairy flower first,” he said.

“What can I say? I like fairies.” I glanced around, and for the first time, noticed little creatures zipping from flower to flower and through the trees above us. They looked like bugs, but I knew they weren’t.

Ash must have seen my confusion. “Pixies,” he said.

One of the tiny creatures flew over to us and landed on Ash’s shoulder. I was surprised how human like they were. This one looked like a teenager, only with large red and black butterfly wings. Her red hair went to her waist and she batted her beautiful eyelashes at Ash.

“Hi, Chloe,” he said. “This is Kendall.”

She gave me a curious look and waved shyly at me.

“Your wings look great today. They match your hair,” he said. “Last time I saw you they were blue.”

She giggled and blushed before flying away.

“She seems very taken with you,” I said.

He shrugged. “What can I say?”

“Very funny,” I said, wandering away from him and looking at more of the flowers. “What can pixies do exactly?” I watched a beautiful purple winged one sit down on a tree branch. She didn’t pay any attention to us, just braided her long, dark hair. Another one with short blue hair landed next to her and stretched her wings. She flipped onto her stomach and put her chin in her hands, watching us.

“They keep the flowers blooming, the trees healthy and anything else nature-ish you can think of. Curious little things. I’m glad they’re around. They do tend to make things nice looking.”

“They have gorgeous wings.”

“They do.” He watched me for a few more seconds before taking my hand and pulling me into a fierce hug. “I’ve missed you,” he spoke into my hair. I wrapped my arms around him, breathing in the smell of rain. His hands slid around my waist and pulled me closer. “You have no idea how good you smell,” he said.

I smiled, seeing how I just thought of how good
he
smelled. “You don’t smell chips do you?” I remembered the last thing I ate and grimaced.

He chuckled. “No. Vanilla. Always vanilla.” He took a step back and searched my face. “You’re so beautiful.”

“Ash…” I said, embarrassed. I still wasn’t used to his compliments. His eyes softened and I noticed they were a little darker than usual. Instead of the silvery blue, they looked a little gold. Weird.