Reign (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale, #4)(87)

How did he know? Because when he’d watched Kathleen toss Tom into the water, and she’d cried on the creek bank, he’d heard the Story’s voice loud and clear. The Story told him that they would be lost forever.

For once, Jared was going to prove the Story wrong.





Chapter 5


“Jared! Ohmygosh!” A high-pitched voice rang out loudly through the hallway.

Jared turned from his locker and saw Ever running down the hall toward him. She jumped on him, flinging her arms around his neck. “I thought I’d die,” she said loud enough for the crowd of students to hear.

Whoa! What a transformation! Jared set her down but kept his arms around her, as he looked her over. Ever had used a glamour, so now instead of a short and spiky hairstyle, her hair fell in big waves down to her mid-back. She wore white shorts with a light teal off the shoulder top. Colorful bangles decorated her arms. Even her makeup was rosy in color, compared to the paler shades she preferred. Her eyes looked twice as big, and with her new hairstyle, she didn’t look so harsh. She appeared soft and approachable. Jared couldn’t help but look down to see if the Goth pixie had gotten rid of the black army boots. She had. Instead, she wore delicate leather and gold sandals.

“This is some difference!” he whispered as he leaned down to give her another hug.

“Oh, gag me with a spoon. I feel like a simpering Disney princess,” she whispered back, batting her eyes at him. She pulled away and did a twirl in the hallway, her invisible wings still fluttering with excitement, making any loose papers go flying out of the neighboring lockers.

Jared was impressed. She was doing a bang-up job of drawing attention their way. Everyone in the hallway was staring at them.

Jared scanned the crowd of onlookers and spotted a pair of green eyes filled with envy—Kathleen’s.

“The show is about to begin.”

“I thought it already started,” Ever said, chuckling, as she pulled him after her down the hall.

Jared followed and made sure to pay extra attention to Ever. Despite her total makeover, she was making him uncomfortable. Maybe because he knew it was a ruse, but wasn’t sure if she really thought of it that way. She seemed a little too eager to participate.

Once they neared Kathleen, Jared whispered, “Now.”

Ever turned around and jumped up into the air easily with the use of her invisible wings and wrapped her arms around his neck again, running her fingers through his hair.

“Jared, promise you’ll never leave me.” Her voice was husky with emotion, too much emotion.

He did everything he could not to look at Kathleen and instead to stare deeply into Ever’s eyes. “I will never leave you. I promise.” The words sounded forced even to him, but he hoped it was enough to catch Kathleen’s attention. He ignored every desire in his body to glance back as he headed to his next class.

Ever and him made a big show of not wanting to part in the hallway, and she even gave him one last hug.

“Remember, she’s going to try to touch you. So be careful,” Ever warned as she blew him fake kisses and walked away.

Jared nodded silently and walked into his third-period class. He took an empty chair and waited for their next journalism assignment. Adam and Mark were giving him excited looks and thumbs up. They must have seen Ever’s show in the hallway. Lucy, on the other hand, refused to look at him. Uh oh, another angry female. He should be used to that. Wait, he saw her shoulder’s shaking. Lucy was laughing at him. He was about to pick up a pencil and throw it at her when a familiar scent caught his nose.

He could smell Kathleen before he even saw her. She smelled slightly musty, like she’d been swimming in a creek all day. Her curly red blonde head popped into view, and she pulled up a chair next to him.

“Hi, I’m Kathleen Donovan,” she held out her hand for him to shake it. Jared ignored it completely and turned back toward the front of the room.

Kathleen was persistent. “So, was that your girlfriend? You must really love her a lot.”

“Yeah that’s Ever. She’s the air I breathe. I couldn’t imagine life without her,” Jared replied, trying not to laugh at how ridiculous he sounded to himself.

Kathleen leaned in closer to him, and he physically drew away from her. He saw how his actions affected her, and she wasn’t happy. He needed to go in for the kill to make her really angry.

“Let’s you and me get a bite to eat after school? We could meet at the café down the road.” She tilted her head and flipped her hair over her shoulder.

Here it was, her advance, and he needed to prove how loyal he was to Ever.

“No, I’d rather not. I’d never betray my princess like that.” The words were forced out of his mouth, but he chose them carefully. Based on what he had overheard at the creek behind her house, he’d made certain to use the words, betray, never leave, promise and princess.

Kathleen’s eyes turned dark with anger, and she stiffened in her chair. She brought one hand up to her eyes, and she pulled it gently away, revealing that tears glistened on her fingers.

He’d made her cry. Not a good thing to make a Fae creature cry. They tended to become very powerful when distraught. Kathleen held it together and didn’t say anything the rest of class.

When class was over, Jared was careful to leave before Kathleen. He could see Ever down the hallway waiting for him Her expression said she was bursting with questions.