Not Your Average Happy Ending (7 page)

His finger traced the scar on my face from the accident a year ago. It was lighter now, less noticeable, but it still made me self conscious. Ash never said anything about it though. He kissed my cheek and ran his thumb over my lips making me shiver. “I’m serious.”

My face heated. He knew how to get to me.

“Do you remember the first time we kissed?” he asked, still running his thumb over my lips.

I gulped and nodded. Even though we’d been together for five months he still made me nervous. And even though he’d kissed me many times since our first kiss, I still wouldn’t forget how I’d felt that night.

“You have no idea how long I’d wanted to do that,” he said. “And honestly, I was scared out of my mind before I did.”

“You? Scared? I don’t believe it.”

“I agree it’s hard to believe, but it’s true.”

“Well, I’m glad you finally had the guts.”

“Me too.” He grinned. “We have the weirdest story ever.”

“Agreed.” It was true. How many people could say they fell in love with their fairy godmother? Or father. Or brother. That sounded totally creepy.

He leaned in, touching his lips to mine. The kiss was short and sweet, but still made me tingle all over. He pulled away, a smile on his lips.

“Is that it?” I asked.

“Not quite.” His eyes blazed before he pulled me close, kissing me more deeply than before.

I melted into him, missing his familiar touch I’d come to love. He tasted like lime again. Always lime. I slid my hands around his neck and he tightened his grip around my waist with one hand and touched my cheek with the other. I don’t know how I survived without kissing him the past few weeks. It was always like…magic.

A few minutes or hours later, I pulled away. “Wow,” I said, looking up at him.

“Uh…” he trailed off and cleared his throat. “I’ve missed that.”

“Me too.”

We stood there, still wrapped in each other’s arms, but not saying anything. I rested my head against his chest and listened to his heartbeat slow. It was the perfect moment. I wanted to stay there forever. But I also had to know what happened to him and Sam. “So,” I started. “About Washington. I’m guessing you didn’t find Dax.”

“No.” His voice had an edge to it and when I looked into his eyes, the gold was more pronounced than before. He reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “We’ll find him. Don’t worry.”

“You’re leaving again?”

He sighed. “I can’t just let him go. He almost killed you.”

“Well…maybe if you stay here, he’ll come looking for
you
. Then you’d have more help to catch him.”

“I don’t need help,” he said, frowning.

Why did he always have to do that? He always had to be the hero. “You’re so stubborn,” I said, turning away from him. “You can’t ever admit you might need a little help.”

He moved in front of me and folded his arms. “I have a good teacher,” he said.

I raised an eyebrow. “If you’re calling me stubborn—”

He silenced me with a kiss.

“Am I interrupting something?”

I pulled away from Ash and we both turned to look at Sam who leaned against a tree with a smug look on his face. He had on new clothes and his hair was spiked and gelled. He looked like he was going to a party, not being inches from death an hour earlier.

“Way to ruin the moment,” Ash said, glaring at him.

“I try,” Sam said.

“You look better,” I said.

Sam smiled. “Thank you for noticing.” He looked at Ash again. “I was just coming to tell you, a few members of the Council showed up at my house. You probably want to get out of here. You know what will happen if they find Kendall in our world.”

Ash stiffened and pulled me close. “Thanks, Sam. When you’re up to it, meet me at Kendall’s house later. We need to plan our next move. I need to go check on Logan as well.”

Sam nodded. “Logan’s fine. My dad was with him earlier. Still the same. Still sleeping.”

He sighed. “Great.”

Sam turned around. “Someone’s coming. You’d better leave. Oh, and Kendall, keep an eye on him. Don’t let him leave until I get there.”

“Okay.” I sighed. I didn’t want them going after Dax again. I didn’t want them to get hurt. And I knew I should tell Ash about my side and passing out, but I didn’t want him to worry. So, I just stood there. Only half listening to what they were talking about until Ash grabbed my hand and took me home.

Ash

Kendall was quiet as we sat in her living room. I had already asked her what was bothering her several times, but she claimed she was fine. I knew better though. Girls never made it easy to figure out why they were upset, and Kendall was no exception. I knew better than to push her though. She’d tell me when she was ready.

The front door opened and Ellie walked in. She looked exhausted. Dark circles were under her eyes and she yawned as she came in the room. She threw her backpack on the floor and kicked off her shoes, not bothering to say hello.

“You okay, El?” Kendall asked, as she walked past us.

“Fine. A little tired. I haven’t been sleeping well lately.” She glanced in the mirror on the wall and touched her face.

“Why not?” I asked. She really did look awful. Even her long hair was a mess. And she never left the house looking less than perfect.

“Um…school. I’ve had a lot of homework.” She shrugged and went into the kitchen.

I frowned. Something was off. Since I’d known Kendall, Ellie was always happy and outgoing. She never missed a chance to talk to us or make fun of me for whatever reason. Hopefully Kendall could see something was going on as well. “Ellie seems a little different,” I said.

“I’ve noticed that too,” Kendall said. “She says she’s fine, but I’m not sure I believe her.”

“Huh. Sounds like something you’d say. You’re fine but you’re really not.” I knew I shouldn’t have said it, but I always seemed to get in trouble when I opened my big mouth.

She frowned. “I already told you. I’m tired. That’s it.”

Sure she was. She seemed fine earlier. “If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine. But something’s wrong. I know you better than you think I do.”

She folded her arms and whispered something under her breath, but I didn’t catch it. Probably cursing me for bugging her about it. I let it drop, but was determined to bring it up again later.

I looked up as Ellie walked back through the room and didn’t even acknowledge we were there. She rounded the corner and instead of her light skip, her footsteps were heavy on the stairs. I don’t know why it was bothering me so much that she was acting strange. Girls had mood swings a lot. It was normal. But for Ellie, it wasn’t normal.

“I’m thirsty,” Kendall said. She got to her feet and I couldn’t help but notice the way she wobbled a little. After regaining her balance, she walked into the kitchen. When I didn’t follow, she poked her head back in the living room. “We have Oreos.”

I jumped to my feet. I’d never had Oreos until I met Kendall. They were probably my favorite snack food. I could eat a whole package in one sitting. True story.

Kendall was prepared, as usual. She had a couple of packages out on the table and was pouring me a glass of milk when I came in. “So, you haven’t told me a lot about your trip with Sam yet. You keep avoiding it.”

“I wouldn’t call it a trip. It wasn’t fun at all. Not really fun to think about either. That’s why I keep avoiding it.”

She frowned, her hazel eyes worried. “What happened, Ash?”

I sat down at the counter and dug into my Oreos, wanting to ignore the question, but knowing I couldn’t. I probably could have done the same thing she was doing to me and not answer, but maybe if I told her about my bad day, she’d tell me about hers.

I decided to start at the beginning. “The first week, nothing happened.”

She put her hands on her hips and stared at me.

I raised my hands. “Honest. Nothing happened the first week. We didn’t see any sign of Dax anywhere. We just kept wandering around in a bunch of trees.”

“I thought you said Sam had a lead.”

“He did.” I shoved an Oreo in my mouth and ignored her stare as I chewed. After a swig of milk, I continued. “Which brings us to today.”

“The whole banshee episode,” she said. “I didn’t know they were even real.”

I grimaced. “They’re real all right.”

“Why did she attack you guys?”

“Actually, I’m not really sure. The only thing she said was she knew my…uh…biological father. And he was looking for me. I don’t know if she’d get a reward or something for finding me, but we didn’t really get that far into the conversation.” I left out the part about Kendall’s impending death. I wouldn’t allow it to happen. And I’d never tell her about it.

A slight breeze filled the room and I told myself to keep it together. No need to lose control of my power at the kitchen table in front of Kendall.

“Your father, the djinn?” she asked, dipping an Oreo in her glass of milk.

“Yep. That’s the one. Let’s not call him my father though. His name is Linkin.”

“So, what happened?”

“Well, I banished the banshee, as Sam said…and then Sam and I woke up in a cave. I don’t know how we got there, but we were tied up and we couldn’t teleport or use our magic. We did end up escaping, obviously, but not before running into Linkin and Shenelle.”

She set her glass back on the table. “You saw your dad? And Shenelle?”

“Yes.” I wanted to correct her about the whole “dad” thing, but seeing the terrified look on her face, I decided against it.

“How did you get away from them?”

“I’m not sure. It was too easy, actually.” I thought about teleporting away with Sam. If they wanted to stop me, they would have.

“I’m so glad you’re okay. What happened to your shoulder?”

“Sam pulled it out of socket. And snapped some muscles and stuff. Leif didn’t really tell me all the details. When the banshee got a hold of Sam, she flew up past the trees and dropped him. He was falling and I flew up and caught him. It hurt like crap.”

“Wait.
You
flew up and caught him?” She looked like she was going to laugh.

“Yes. I used my girly fairy wings to fly for once.” I wasn’t going to admit it was kind of cool. I was supposed to hate my silvery wings, not like them. Still…it was kind of an adrenaline rush. Not that I was planning on doing it again anytime soon.

“So, you saved Sam’s life.” She smiled. “You’ve saved mine. You save people a lot.”

“It’s not like I look for people who are in trouble. Trouble always seems to find me.”

She reached across the table and placed her hand on mine. “I was worried about you.”

I brought her hand to my lips and gave it a small kiss. “I’m fine. I promise.”

She blushed, but didn’t pull away. “Will you take me flying sometime?”

“Never.”

She laughed. “I’ve always wanted to fly.”

“I haven’t.” I grumbled.

She pulled her hand away. “You never told me what Linkin wanted with you.”

I hesitated. “Um…nothing. He just wanted to chat.”

Her eyes narrowed and she put her hands on her hips. She always knew when I was lying. “To chat? He could have called you on the phone to ‘chat’.”

I shrugged and looked away. “Djinn’s don’t really use phones.” I made myself busy, counting out the Oreo’s in front of me. I didn’t want to tell her why he wanted me. Why he actually wanted
her
.

“Don’t do that. Don’t keep things from me because you don’t want to scare me. I’m a big girl, Ash. Out with it. I know you know.”

“Kendall—”

“Just tell me already!” Her eyes were wide as she stared me down and I knew she wouldn’t let it go.

I pointed to her neck. “He wants the necklace.”

She dropped the cookie she was holding. “What?”

“That’s what he said. He wants your necklace. He didn’t say why, but for some reason it’s important.”

She touched the necklace and frowned. “If I give it to him will he leave us alone?”

“You’re not giving it to him. You can’t even take it off. There’s a reason he wants it so bad, and I’m thinking that’s a bad thing. If he gets it, I have a feeling things will go from bad to worse.”

“All this for a necklace? I don’t get it.”

“Neither do I.” I reached across the table and touched the blue stone on the end of it. It was warm. Like always. “We’ll figure it out. My mother left it with me for a reason. There’s something she wants me to protect. And in the meantime, I’ll protect you.”

She gave me a shaky smile. “How will you protect me if you leave again?”

I opened my mouth to answer and Sam and Misty appeared next to Kendall in the kitchen.

“Let’s get this party started,” Sam said. “You have Oreo’s? Awesome!” He reached for the bag and popped two of them in his mouth.

Kendall laughed, but it sounded forced. I knew she was worried about me leaving again. I didn’t know what else to do though. Dax was still out there. He could hurt her again. And who knew what Linkin would do. The thought of him being anywhere near Kendall scared me more than I wanted to admit.

“So, what’s the plan?” Sam asked as Kendall set a glass of milk in front of him.

I glanced at Kendall, but she wouldn’t meet my eyes. “I’m not sure yet.”

Sam raised an eyebrow, looked at Kendall for a second, then looked back at me with a nod.

“We still need to find Dax,” I said. “We know he’s not with Linkin, but I’m sure he’s somewhere close. I don’t think he’d go far, since I’m positive he and Shenelle are helping him use his djinn powers.”

“Well, I’m not going back to Washington. That’s for sure.”

I glared at him. “That’s the only lead we have, Sam.”

“Dude. I just got schooled by a banshee. Scariest moment of my life. I guess breaking up with Melody was pretty scary too…but that’s beside the point.”

“If you don’t want to come, that’s fine. I’ll go by myself.”

A strangled cry echoed through the room and I looked over at Kendall to see her bent over in pain. She dropped the mug she was holding and it shattered on the floor, a few pieces of glass slicing into her bare feet.

“Ash,” she gasped, clutching her side.

“Oh, no. Not again,” Misty yelled.

“Kendall!” I jumped off my chair and ran to her, just as she screamed and passed out in my arms.