Reign Fall (2 page)

At least, I thought we were. It had been a long two weeks.

I suddenly realized Melinda hadn’t said anything after Rhys walked away. Her face was haunted.

I touched her arm. “Hey, you okay?”

She seemed to snap out of whatever trance she was in and gave me a weak smile. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“So, you and Rhys, huh? You’re officially together?”

She blinked. “I don’t know.”

I frowned. “What do you mean, you don’t know? Two weeks ago you were head over heels for him. Now you two are...together, right?” I only winced a little saying it out loud.

“He’s using me,” Melinda said, as if she’d read my mind.

I tried not to gasp out loud. “What?”

“He doesn’t really like me. He likes you. I’m not stupid, Nikki. I can see that for myself. He’s using me to make you jealous.”

Oh boy.
My stomach churned. “He doesn’t like me. And I don’t like him. Not
like
like.”

“If you say so.”

“I do.” I cringed at my bad choice of words when wedding prophesies were involved. “So...I don’t understand. You just kissed him. You’re still going to date him, even feeling this way?” She shrugged. “Sure. For now. I want people to think I have a boyfriend. Maybe then...” Her expression shadowed. “Maybe then he’ll finally leave me alone.”

“Who are you talking about?”

Melinda shook her head. “Forget it. It’s nothing. I...I’ll see you at lunch, okay?”

“Yeah, okay.” I watched her walk away. It didn’t take me too long to clue in to who she was talking about. Patrick, her trainer. He seemed very possessive of her when they’d been together

—almost as if he was an older, overbearing boyfriend. Being with Rhys might get Patrick to keep his distance. Was that what Melinda thought?

The bell rang, which meant I was now late for class. I grabbed my books, shut my locker, and hurried to my right—

—only to bash right into someone.

I clutched my books tighter to my chest and looked up with surprise—and dismay— at who it was.

Chris Sanders stared at me, his brows drawn tightly together. He didn’t move, he didn’t speak.

He just stared.

When I first came to Erin Heights, Chris was the most gorgeous guy I’d ever seen in my life.

Dark-blond hair, blue-gray eyes, a killer smile, broad shoulders, a fantastic body. He was a year older than me, a senior. Absolutely perfect.

And, total shocker, he’d asked me to Winter Formal, during which—while drunk—he showed me just how non-perfect he really was when he tried to attack me in the back seat of a limo. He thought he could get whatever he wanted, whomever he wanted, whenever he wanted. But he couldn’t have me.

I’d managed to shift to my “Darkling” form, which was the term for a half-demon/half-human like me. Let’s just say: wings, horns, and about twenty times more strength than I normally had.

Plus I could throw energy balls—both destructive and great self defense against drunk dates who outweigh you by seventy pounds. I’d kicked his butt and chased him away. Later, however, I’d been afraid he’d tell everybody my secret.

He hadn’t. Chris, too, had a few secrets of his own. His mother was a dragon oracle—a dragon-shifter who could foresee the future. This made Chris half-dragon, something he hadn’t known. I wasn’t sure if he even knew it
now
. But the side effects of being half-dragon were beginning to weigh heavily on him.

Gone was the perfect appearance he’d had before. Now he looked...crazy. And scattered. His very unfashionable gray sweatshirt had a rip in the sleeve. The old Chris never would have worn something like that.

I had no idea what was going on in that brain of his, but it wasn’t good and it wasn’t anything he could control. That his mother was also a licensed psychiatrist didn’t seem to be helping matters at all.

“Chris—” The halls were empty except for the two of us. “How are you?”

“You’re in danger, Nikki.”

I blinked. “What?”

He drew closer and I forced myself to stand my ground. “You need to be watchful. Wary.”

“Two things I am lately, so don’t worry.”

He shook his head. “I see it.
Sort of
see it.” He brought his hands to his temples. “It’s coming.

And it wants to hurt you. You have something it wants.” A shiver went down my spine. “What? Who?”

He glanced over his shoulder. “I need to go. But I have something for you. I dreamed it and I drew it. It’s fuzzy and I can’t see anything clearly, but it might help you.” He pulled something out of his back pocket, a dirty piece of paper that had been folded multiple times. He pressed it into my hand.

“What is—?”

He clutched my wrist and my eyes shot back to his.

“Destroyer of worlds,” he whispered, “you must survive. No one else can find the truth but you.”

And then he let go of me and walked away, disappearing around the corner at the end of the hall.

I stood there in stunned silence.
Destroyer of worlds?
That was a false prophecy; knowing that gave me closure and confidence. But Chris had seen it in a vision. Him just saying the words out loud had been enough to trigger a sick feeling in my gut.

Shifting my books to tuck them under my arm, I unfolded the piece of paper Chris had given me. Cold fear slithered through me. It was a roughly drawn sketch of a dark figure with large black wings stretching out behind it. I didn’t know what it meant, but it felt like something I shouldn’t just ignore, even though I desperately wanted to do just that. What Chris had said repeated in my brain, over and over again, even though I desperately wished I could block it out.

“It’s coming. And it wants to hurt you. You have something it wants.”
So much for this being a shiny new year.

Biology was one class I couldn’t skip, but I wished I could. Rhys was in it with me.

Our teacher, Mr. Crane, gave me a questioning look as I slunk in through the door five minutes late, interrupting him in the middle of whatever he’d been saying.

“Nice of you to join us, Ms. Donovan.”

“Happy to be here,” I replied easily, earning a couple laughs from the back row. I wasn’t normally a smartass, but it still came easily to me.

He gave me a stern look, which I tried to ignore as I took my seat. I’d spent more time than I would have liked with Mr. Crane over the break, including Christmas dinner, since he was currently dating my mother. Talk about awkward. And I didn’t think it would help me earn an easy A. I figured he was going to take the opportunity to be extra strict with me to show that his relationship with my mother had no influence over his grading.

Luckily, today it seemed as if he was going to give me a break and not make a big deal over my tardiness. He started talking again, about everything we’d covered so far in class, and how it was all leading up to our big exam at the end of the month. I tried not to think about it too much.

I’d been focused on a lot of things lately, but studying wasn’t one of them.

Before long, it all became background noise as my problems swirled in my head. The sketch Chris gave me freaked me out. What was that supposed to be? Something with wings? I’d only seen two things that had wings in person—faeries and demons. Despite being fierce, dangerous, and territorial, faeries had delicate-looking wings. Rhys used a glamour to cover up any noticeable faery traits he had. Namely his wings and the pointed tips to his ears he had in his own world. And demons—they had large leathery wings unless they were in human form.

“You must survive. No one else can find the truth but you.”
Chris Sanders = crazy. That was probably all this was. I wondered, should I try to help a guy who’d made my life more difficult, or should I just stand by and watch him self-destruct?

Something caught my eye and I turned just a little to see that Rhys had placed something in the very center of our shared desk. A small white box.

I stared at it for a moment, but didn’t make a move to touch it.

He finally tore his seemingly undivided attention away from Mr. Crane to give me a sidelong glance. “It’s a gift.”

My heart started to pound. “Why?”

“Do I need a reason? Open it.”

Instead, I turned my eyes straight forward but soon realized that Mr. Crane’s voice had become muted and impossible to understand. Rhys had the ability to magically put a privacy bubble around us, so no one could hear what we were talking about. It was helpful a lot of the time, but right now I didn’t want to be private with the faery king.

“You shouldn’t be buying me gifts,” I said.

“I didn’t buy it.”

I hissed out a breath. “Then you shouldn’t be
stealing
me gifts.”

“It’s not bought or stolen. Cross my heart.”

I glanced at the little white box again, hating that I felt curious about what could be inside.

“You should be giving presents to your new girlfriend, Melinda. Remember her?”

“I did get her something from the mall as a belated Christmas present. This, however, isn’t from the mall. I thought you’d like it.” He was silent for a moment. “It’s not an engagement ring, I promise.”

I relaxed a little at hearing that. Stupid prophecy.

Finally, when the room didn’t become unmuted, I knew he was going to keep the bubble over us all class if I didn’t open the box. I dragged it in front of me with the tip of my index finger.

“It’s not going to bite you,” Rhys said with amusement. “It’s just a little something from the Faery Realm.”

Great. Maybe it was a miniature unicorn. I’d always wanted a pet.

I exhaled slowly, then finally took off the lid and raised the box so I could see what lay inside.

It was a single red rosebud. Perfect and beautiful. It had a sweet, fragrant scent—I’d never smelled anything so incredible in my life.

“It’s so pretty,” was all I allowed myself to say.

“It’s not just any rose. It’s very rare: a faery rose. It will never die. It will always be as beautiful as it is at this very moment.”

I looked at him with surprise, but his attention was back on Mr. Crane and the room’s volume increased, which meant he’d lifted the privacy bubble. I bit my tongue so I wouldn’t say anything else. What was I going to say? He’d just given me a tiny, rare piece of immortal beauty while he’d given, or
would
be giving, Melinda something he’d picked up at the mall.

He spoke again, without meeting my gaze, “Probably a lot better than what the Shadow could ever give you, right? Then again, I am a king and he’s only a lowly servant. You should try to remember that.”

Whatever mildly warm and confusing feelings I’d started to feel for the boy seated next to me went frosty at the edges. “Thanks for the rose. And for the reminder that you’re an elitist jerk.” I supposed I could have refused the gift entirely, but instead I put the lid back on the box and tossed it into my bag hanging off the back of my chair.

I was glad he reminded me why I didn’t like him all that much. For a moment there, I’d completely forgotten.

o0o

I didn’t look at the rose again that day. Rhys’s attitude had successfully put a sour taste in my mouth. I wondered when he planned on going back to the Faery Realm permanently. The sooner the better, as far as I was concerned.

By lunch, Melinda seemed like she’d snapped out of whatever funk she’d been in that morning. She was friendly, smiling, laughing with friends and looked at Rhys as if she really did like him every bit as much as she had before.

I resolved to keep a close eye on her and make sure she was okay.

She, however, wasn’t the talk of the school. I listened to Brittany and Larissa discuss another important subject over the lunch table. They were both part of the “Royal Party,” or what the more popular kids at Erin Heights High had named themselves. Kind of ironic that me, a princess, and Rhys, a king, were now a part of it, and nobody knew except the two of us.

Brittany and Larissa were both beautiful, the kind of girls you’d expect to be cheerleaders, but they’d decided they didn’t have time for things like that. Larissa had dark hair and tanned, flawless skin—no freckles on her nose like I had—and Brittany was a redhead whose only major appearance flaw was that her favorite color to wear was pink, a color that inevitably clashed with her hair.

“What is up with Chris lately?” Larissa asked. “Did you see him this morning?”

“Yeah.” Brittany nodded, then twisted a finger through her long red hair. “I heard he had a mental meltdown a few weeks ago.”

“Then he should go somewhere else. Like a hospital. Doesn’t his mother work with crazy people? I mean, how could she let him leave the house wearing
that
today? He used to be so hot.”

“
So
hot,” Brittany agreed.

“And now he’s”—Larissa grimaced—“so
not
. Such a waste. I would have gone out with him in a minute before, but now he’s definitely not a prospect.” Her gaze moved across the table and fell on me. “What did you do to him, anyway? You’re the last girl he went out with before he got all weird.”

I just shrugged a shoulder. “No idea.”

“Really helpful, thanks.” Her expression tightened. “And then there’s Melinda...” I looked at her sharply. “What about Melinda?”

Larissa sent a look down the table to the girl in question who was currently out of earshot. “I don’t know. She’s acting so distracted lately. I’m starting to get worried about her.” Yeah. That made two of us. But I wasn’t going to share that with Larissa.

Melinda laughed at the end of the table and I shot a glance toward her. The laugh sounded fake, but no one else seemed to notice. Her laugh was in response to something Rhys said as he gave her the belated mall-bought Christmas gift: a silver bracelet with a heart charm. He glanced in my direction as if to see if I was paying attention to how happy Melinda was with him.

This wasn’t going to be a fun week.

o0o

Chris didn’t bother me again over the next couple of days, instead choosing to stay at the sidelines of the school and act strangely. Not strangely enough to require a guidance counselor intervention, though.