The Lost Prince. Julie Kagawa

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СКАЧАТЬ don’t brood.”

      She snorted. “Tough guy, if brooding was a sport, you’d have gold medals with scowling faces lining the walls of your room.”

      “Whatever.”

      Kenzie laughed. Sweeping past me, she pushed open the library door, pausing in the frame. “See you in a couple hours, Ethan.”

      I shrugged.

      “I’m holding you to it, tough guy. Promise me you won’t run off or conveniently forget.”

      “Yes.” I blew out a breath as she grinned, and the door swung shut. “I’ll be there.”

      I didn’t go.

      Not that I didn’t try. Despite the incident in the hall—or maybe because of it—I wasn’t about to let anyone tell me who I could or could not hang out with. Like I said, I don’t respond well to threats, and if I was being honest with myself, I was more than a little curious about Mackenzie St. James. So after the last bell, I gathered my stuff, made sure the hall was clear of Kingston and his thugs, and headed toward the library.

      About halfway there, I realized I was being followed.

      The halls were nearly empty as I went by the cafeteria. The few bodies I passed were going the other way, to the parking lot and the vehicles that would take them home. But as I made my way through the quiet hallways, I got that strange prickle on the back of my neck that told me I wasn’t alone.

      Casually, I stopped at a water fountain, bending down to get a quick drink. But I slid my gaze off to the side, scanning the hall.

      There was a shimmer of white at the edge of my vision, as something glided around a corner and stopped in the shadows, watching.

      My gut tightened, but I forced myself to straighten and walk down the hall as if nothing was wrong. I could feel the presence at my back following me, and my heart began to thud in my chest. It was the same creature, the one that I’d seen in the locker room that night, when the piskie found me. What was it? One of the fey, I was certain, but I’d never seen this kind before, all pale and transparent, almost ghostlike. A bean sidhe, perhaps? But bean sidhes usually announced their presence with hair-raising shrieks and wails; they didn’t silently trail someone down a dark corridor, being careful to stay just out of sight. And I certainly wasn’t about to die.

      I hoped.

      What does it want with me? I paused at the library door, grasping the handle but not pulling it open. Through the small rectangular window, I saw the front desk, the librarian’s gray head bent over the computer. Kenzie would be in there, somewhere, waiting for me. And Todd. I’d promised I would meet them both, and I hated breaking my word.

      A memory flashed: one of myself, fleeing the redcaps, taking refuge in the library. Pulling a knife as I hunkered between the aisles, waiting for them. The sadistic faeries setting fire to the wall of books to flush me into the open. I escaped, but my rush to get out was taken as me fleeing the scene of the crime, leading to my expulsion from school.

      I drew in a quiet breath, pausing in the door frame, anger and fear spreading through my stomach. No, I couldn’t do this. If I went in, if They saw me talking to Kenzie, they could use her to get to me. I didn’t know what They wanted, but I wasn’t going to draw another person into my dangerous, messed-up life. Not again.

      Releasing the handle, I stepped away and continued down the hall. I felt the thing follow me, and as I turned the corner, I thought I heard the library door creak open. I didn’t look back.

      I walked out to the parking lot, but I didn’t stop there. Getting in my truck and driving home might lose my tail, but it wouldn’t give me any answers as to why it was following me. Instead, I passed the rows of cars, stepped over the curb, and continued on to the football field. Thankfully, it was empty today. No practice, no screaming coaches, no armored jocks slamming into each other. If Kingston and his friends saw me sauntering casually across their turf in a very blatant show of Screw you, Kingston, what are you gonna do about it? they would try to bury me here. I wondered if anyone else could see me, and if they did, would they tell the quarterback I was figuratively pissing on his territory? I smirked at the thought, vaguely tempted to stop and make it literal, as well. But I had more important things to deal with, and a pissing contest with Kingston wasn’t one of them.

      Behind the bleachers, I stopped. A fence separated the field from a line of trees on the other side, so it was cool and shady here. I wished I had my knife. Something sharp, metal and lethal between me and whatever was coming my way. But I’d been caught with a knife before, and it had gotten me in a lot of trouble, so I’d left it at home.

      Putting my back to the fence, I waited.

      Something stepped around the bleachers, or rather, shimmered around the bleachers, barely visible in the sun. And even though it was a bright fall afternoon, with enough sunlight to melt away the chill, I suddenly felt cold. Sluggish. Like my thoughts and emotions were slowly being drained, leaving behind an empty shell.

      Shivering, I gazed stonily at the thing hovering a few feet away. It was unlike any faery I’d seen before. Not a nymph, a sidhe, a boggart, a dryad, anything I recognized. Not to say I was an expert on the different types of faeries, but I’d seen more than most people, and this one was just … weird.

      It was shorter than me by nearly a foot and so thin it didn’t seem possible that its legs could hold it up. In fact, its legs ended in needle-sharp tips, so it looked as if it was walking on toothpicks instead of feet. Its face was hatchet thin, and its fingers were those same thin points, as if it could poke its nail right through your skull. The skeletons of what used to be wings protruded from its bony shoulders, broken and shattered, and it hovered a few inches off the ground, as if the earth itself didn’t want to touch it.

      For a few seconds, we just stared at each other.

      “All right,” I said in an even voice, as the creepy fey floated there, still watching me. “You followed me out here—you obviously wanted to see me. What the hell do you want?”

      Its eyes, huge and multifaceted like an insect’s, blinked slowly. I saw myself reflected a hundred times in its gaze. Its razor slit of a mouth opened, and it breathed:

      “I bring a warning, Ethan Chase.”

      I resisted the urge to cringe. There was something very … wrong … about this creature. It didn’t belong here, in the real world. The faeries I had seen, even the Iron fey, were still a part of reality, sliding back and forth between this realm and the Nevernever. This thing … it was as if its body was out of sync with the rest of world, the way it flickered and blurred, as if it wasn’t quite there. Wasn’t quite solid.

      The faery raised one long, bony finger and pointed at me.

      “Do not interfere,” it whispered. “Do not become involved in what will soon happen around you. This is not your fight. We seek no trouble with the Iron Court. But if you meddle in our affairs, human, you put those you care about at risk.”

      “Your affairs? What are you?” My voice came out raspier than I wanted it to. “I’m guessing you’re not from the Seelie or Unseelie Courts.”

      The faery’s slitted mouth might’ve twitched into a smile.

      “We are nothing. We СКАЧАТЬ