Everlast (The Chronicles of Nerissette) (Entangled Teen) Read online

  “It’s all about image with Heidi,” Jesse said, “but what you don’t get is that she has to be that way. Without the image she’s just a girl whose dad doesn’t want anything to do with her. A jerk who walked out of her life like she was no big deal.”

  “Yeah, well, she’s not the only one whose parents aren’t around anymore.” I pulled away from him and hurried toward the exit of the maze. “At least she’s still got a mom.”

  “Crap.” Jesse grabbed for my hand. “I didn’t mean it that way. Well, I guess I meant it that way, but I didn’t think about how that sounded when I said it.”

  I turned back to look at him and sighed. It wouldn’t do me any good to be annoyed with Jesse. He wasn’t smart enough to get how insensitive of a jerk he happened to be. “It’s fine.”

  “I didn’t mean your grandmother is wrong for caring about your grades and stuff,” he said lamely.

  “Gran Mosely isn’t my grandmother. She’s just—” What was she really? Sure, she was the woman who took care of me for the state foster care system, but she was so much more than that. She was like family but not. “It’s complicated.”

  “She loves you, and she takes care of you,” he whispered, leaning closer. “And I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything about your parents.”

  “Forget about it.”

  He leaned his forehead against mine and wrapped his arms around my waist. I froze, trying to figure out the best way to get away from him and put some space between us. He was too close, especially for a guy who was dating someone else. And way too close for any guy who had made a habit of ignoring me before now.

  “We should probably go back inside,” I said quickly. “You can come back to my tower and hang out with Heidi if you want.”

  “Why would I want to hang out with Heidi?” Jesse asked, his forehead still pressed against mine. “I’m already here with you.”

  “Because she’s your girlfriend?”

  “Not really. We go out and stuff, but it’s not like we’re boyfriend and girlfriend or anything. The only reason she wants me around is that she thinks it will help her become the junior princess for the winter formal court.” Jesse’s face was so close to mine that I could smell the onions from our dinner on his breath.

  “That’s not what Heidi told me earlier.” I tried shifting backward to get out of his arms, but he tightened his grip on me. “She said the two of you were together.”

  “Only until the winter formal’s over,” Jesse said. “But now I think we’ve all got bigger things to worry about than some silly dance, don’t you? Unless being pulled through a book and into a different world is how you normally spend your Saturdays.”

  “No. I thought this was your idea of a good time.” I jerked away from him, hard enough this time that he didn’t have a choice about letting me go. I tried to pass it off as some sort of really weird joke instead of just being massively, uncomfortably awkward.

  “So what would you like to do?” Jesse asked as he stepped closer again.

  “I think we should go back inside,” I said, my voice unnaturally high.

  “Really?”

  “I’m tired, and I think I bruised something when I landed on that floor earlier. I should really rest. Tomorrow’s a big day. A really big day. Got to learn how to run a kingdom and all. Maybe do some magic or something. Who knows, huh?”

  Jesse reached for my hand. “I’ll walk you to your door.”

  “That’s okay,” I said, my voice cracking on the last syllable. I spun away from him and grabbed my skirts so I could run without falling on my face. Things were awkward enough. “I’ll tell Heidi you said hi.”

  “But I didn’t,” Jesse yelled after me as I bolted across the lawn.

  “’Night,” I called out when I reached the door, not bothering to turn around and see where he was. I pulled the door open and hurried inside.

  “Good night, Princess,” I heard him say, his voice sounding amused while I slid the glass patio door closed. I turned to see him standing in the middle of the grass, his hands in his pockets and a stupid grin on his face.

  He gave me a jaunty wave, but instead of waving back, I turned and sprinted toward the stairs. I ran back to the main foyer and hurried up the winding staircase. The third floor of the East Wing, fifth corridor. Now, if only someone had left the lights on so that I could see Esmeralda’s signs. I didn’t even know which way east was.

  I stopped at the top of the steps and looked around. When I’d first seen the dome above me I’d turned right and went down the stairs. That must mean the East Wing was to my left. I turned and tried to figure out what I’d done next. I had to be in the first hallway on the second floor. I ran toward the end of the corridor and found myself at a fork. Which way had I gone?

  I leaned down and brushed my hand against the bricks, trying to find the one with the carving on it. Why didn’t people leave lights on around here? Okay, so it wasn’t environmentally friendly, but couldn’t they come up with something? I couldn’t be the only person who got lost around here at night.

  I felt the edge of a carving and kneeled to get closer look. Two Es and an eleven. Why was there an eleven? My tower was at the end of the castle and it was only at corridor five. Where was the eleventh corridor supposed to be tucked away then? Were there hidden corridors or something? Somehow I wouldn’t be surprised if there were.

  “Why isn’t it ever easy?” I ran my fingers over the carving again.

  Wait, Esmeralda had said something else about using the stones to get where I wanted to go. Tell them where I wanted to go, and they’d show me?

  Worth a shot.

  “All I want to do is go to Three E Five,” I said, hoping that whatever it was they were supposed to do would happen.

  Green light burst out of the wall and surrounded me as I sucked in a mouthful of smoke. Coughing, I waved my hands in front of my face to clear the white clouds. I opened my eyes and realized that I was no longer in the same dark hallway. Instead, I was kneeling in front of my own double doors, a torch burning merrily away beside me.

  “By the stars,” I said, my voice wheezing.

  The freaking cat had a teleport built into the castle. When she said they’d take me where I wanted to go I thought they’d have a map or something that popped up. This was just too much.

  I stood, brushed the dirt off the front of my skirt, and turned my head, trying to see how much mud I had gotten on the back of my gown while I’d been talking with Talia. Oh well. Even if it were caked on I was pretty sure whoever did the laundry would have some sort of magical powder to get the stains out.

  “I have no idea what I’m supposed to say to you.” I waved my hands at the door. “And I’m way too tired to remember German. Any chance you could help me out? Please?”

  The door opened with a creak and I slipped inside, patting its main panel as I went. “Thanks.”

  The door squeaked once again as it shut, and I felt it warm against my palm.

  Inside the suite all the candles were lit, and there was a roaring fire going in the fireplace. Heidi was sitting on a wooden, straight-backed chair like the ones in the library, dragging a comb through her newly dull hair.

  “Have fun?” She slammed the comb down on the small table beside her and stalked over to me so that we were face-to-face, my back to the door.

  “It was okay, I guess. I mean, except for the fact that I think I may have insulted some—well, okay, most—of the royal court.”

  “So flirting with my boyfriend is only okay?”

  “Uh…” I felt my jaw drop open, and I instinctively tried to step backward, but there was nowhere to go.

  “Little hint,” Heidi said, her breath ghosting over my face. “If you’re going to try to steal someone’s boyfriend, don’t do it standing where anyone looking out of the tower can see you.” She motioned to the open window.

  I walked over and looked straight down onto the maze where Jesse and I had been earlier. Uh-oh. Hopefully all t
hat stuff about holding girls over her head earlier had just been a bluff. “I wasn’t trying to steal… Jesse was the one who was flirting… I told him that the two of you were dating,” I said. Even to me it sounded weak.

  “The stupid jerk. We’ve been dating since eighth grade and he tells you it’s a dance thing.”

  “I knew he was lying,” I said. “I didn’t flirt back. He’s a jerk.”

  “Yeah, but he’s a fabulous-looking jerk, so you might as well have kissed him. You’re the princess. He’s the handsome prince. I’m a maid. I may not be in all the accelerated nerd classes like you, but even I can figure out what that means.”

  “When we get back to Bethel Park he’ll realize he was being an idiot and want to get back together with you,” I said, trying to be reassuring.

  “Jesse Harper can find another cheerleader to drag him along behind her.” Heidi’s shoulders straightened, her chin lifting higher, as a familiar sneer graced her lips. “I’m nobody’s second pick.”

  “Right. Good. Good for you,” I said.

  “Maybe I’ll try my luck with Winston,” she said. “I bet having a dragon for a boyfriend could have some definite advantages.”

  “You don’t want to date Win,” I said maybe too quickly.

  “Why?” She raised an eyebrow. “Are you two together?”

  “No.” Ugh, how stupid was that? Sure, he was handsome. And funny. And smart. And the only guy who it didn’t completely suck to talk to. But we were definitely just friends. No matter how great he was and how much I wouldn’t have minded us being more than friends.

  “So what’s the problem with me going after him? If you don’t want him…”

  “Just…” How could I explain that the last person I wanted to see with Winston was Heidi? There was no way she was good enough for him. “You don’t have anything in common.”

  “So?”

  I looked around the room, desperately trying to find a way to find something to change the subject to. My eyes landed on the hard chair she’d been sitting in, perched right next to a large, overstuffed one with velvet cushions.

  “Why don’t you want me with Winston?”

  “Why were you sitting on that hard chair?” There. Ignore the question. “With all the comfy things in here, you’re sitting on that?”

  “The other chairs are in league with the mattress. This is the only one that will let me sit in it.”

  “Oh.”

  “Now, let’s talk about Winston and why you don’t want him dating someone else.”

  “Let’s not.”

  “So what else do you want to do? As far as I can tell it’s talk about Winston or take the chance of letting me give you a makeover so that you actually look like you deserve to be a queen.”

  “How much of a makeover?”

  “Think reality television.”

  “What do you want to know about Winston?”

  Chapter Eleven

  I woke the next morning before Heidi and pulled on the same clothes from the day before. They weren’t my favorite running clothes, and I was going to have to go barefoot since I couldn’t run in my flip-flops, but they were better than a ball gown. Maybe, if I was lucky, one of the fairies could find me some clothes to wear later so I wouldn’t feel like a total idiot running five miles in a pair of dirty jeans?

  I opened my door to the Fate Maker waiting outside, a grim smile on his lips. “Your Majesty,” he said. “You’ve risen early.”

  “I was going for a run like I do every day.”

  “A run? Why would you want to run? Aren’t you happy here in the palace?”

  “The palace is lovely, but I want to get out and get some exercise. I don’t know how long we’re going to be here kicking off this whole End of the Waiting thing, but I need to stay on top of my swim training for when we go home.”

  “I don’t think that would be wise.” The Fate Maker glared at me. “There’s no need for you to run about the countryside exposed. Someone might harm you. Or even worse, kidnap you and hold you for a ransom we can’t afford. You make a rather appealing target.”

  “So I’ll take Winston with me. He’s a dragon now. He can protect me,” I said, my hands clenching into fists.

  How dare this guy tell me I couldn’t go for a run? I’d run every day since I was nine years old. Mom had been a marathoner, and even though I didn’t love it like she did, it was always the time we’d spent together before the accident. I didn’t care what the Fate Maker said. I was going for my run.

  “He’s still not safe on his own yet. The dragon isn’t a reliable escort.”

  “Then I’ll take…” I wasn’t going to take Jesse, and if I couldn’t take Winston along, who could I take? Someone so annoyingly responsible that even the Fate Maker couldn’t complain. “I’ll take Rhys Sullivan. He’ll keep an eye on me.”

  “Lord Sullivan is busy overseeing the army. He doesn’t have time to cater to your whims, Your Majesty.”

  “He can’t take the day off? Or, here’s an idea: he can bring the army along with us. They could all probably use a run.”

  “The men are not dressed for such strenuous exercise.” The Fate Maker grabbed my arm, his grip tight.

  “Then they can change.” I jerked my arm away and glared at him. “I want to go for a run.”

  “You’ll go back into that room.” He pointed at the door behind me. “You will change and you will get these ridiculous ideas about running out of your mind.”

  “Going for a run isn’t just some stupid idea.”

  “It isn’t safe, Your Majesty, and besides, there’s no reason for you to worry about keeping in shape.”

  “But when we go back…” My stomach clenched, and I tried to keep my knees from knocking together.

  “Your fate is here, not there, and you’ll put these silly ideas of going home behind you, too.”

  “But once Fate’s rule has ended then we’ll go home. Me and Mercedes and Win and everyone else who’s from that world. You’ll send us all home, and these people can rule themselves.”

  “You listen to me, you spoiled, ungrateful child. Fate’s not giving up her rule on this realm.”

  “But I thought her time was over. I thought the prophecies said that her rule was at its end.”

  “And I am her loyal servant. I will give her this world to feast upon. Now we can all play along with this whole prophecy to make Esmeralda happy, but let me be very clear—this is my world, and I am not going to let you destroy it.”

  “I—”

  “You’re the one who’s going to give me this world. You’re going to rededicate Nerissette to the whims of Fate.”

  “And if I refuse?”

  “I’ll have you kept in chains until the day the head of the Dryad Order drops that crown on your little head. Now, do as I say,” he ground out.

  I straightened my spine, trying to look braver than I felt. I hated feeling weak, and after years of being bullied by Heidi and her crew of brain-dead sycophants I knew that cowering away from him would only give him more incentive to be cruel.

  “I will turn your friends into hostages, and let you watch while I break them,” the Fate Maker said, his voice a low, angry growl. “Now, change your clothes, and come to breakfast. Or I might have to stop by the aerie to see how Winston is faring.”

  Instead of waiting for me to answer he snapped his fingers and disappeared. I stood, trembling, and watched the smoke clear. My knees wobbled, and I had to fight against the sudden wave of nausea that flooded through me.

  I turned to the door and narrowed my eyes. The door didn’t even hesitate; it opened without a sound and began to hum like the chattering of a swarm of bees.

  Heidi stumbled into the room from the closet, her hair sticking up in all directions. She rubbed her eyes and looked at me, oblivious to the smeared mascara underneath her eyes. “Is everything okay? I heard yelling.”

  “How much did you hear?” I slunk over to my bed and flopped down on it.

 
; “The dorky dark wizard from yesterday is basically psychotic, and we’re now his prisoners. You don’t do what he says, and he’ll throw you in the dungeon in chains and torture the rest of us.”

  “That about covers it, yeah,” I sighed.

  “So basically we’re screwed,” Heidi said, her voice dripping with condescension. “I’d like to say I told you so but somehow that doesn’t seem like it’s going to help.”

  “No, it doesn’t.” I sat up. “So what do we do?”

  “Well, my dad always says if you can’t make the other person’s legal team see that you’re right then you take them out at the knees,” Heidi said. “So, that’s what we do. We find out how to hurt him, and we do it.”

  “What?” I looked at her with wide eyes. “Your answer to this problem is to go club a wizard in the knees? I don’t think that’s going to work. Besides, I’ve never actually hurt someone before. Not physically or anything.”

  “No, stupid.” Heidi rolled her eyes at me. “We find out what he needs and take it from him. Psych him out. Look, you’re on the swim team. You do those swim meets or whatever.”

  “Yeah? So?” I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to fight the chill that lingered from my encounter with the Fate Maker.

  “So, have you ever done something to psych the other swimmers out before you compete? Like hide their iPods? Move their towels? Say something nasty right before stuff gets started? Anything to give you an advantage by throwing off their game?”

  “That’s a crappy thing to do. If I’m going to beat you in the pool I’m going to do it because I’m faster, not because I somehow ruined your race. I don’t need to cheat to win.”

  “Well, now you do,” Heidi said. “Because you can’t win by playing fair in this game. Now, we’re going to get you dressed for breakfast, and you’ll go down and play nice with the Fate Maker. Get him to relax and think that you’re going to do things his way.”

  “Then what?”

  “Find out what his weakness is. Once you know it, we’ll use it to destroy him and get back home because I was right and you were wrong, and this is not a place we are supposed to be.”