Regen Read online

  “How are you going to get me to California? I don’t have any way of getting on a plane without my fosters.”

  “We have ways of traveling more quickly than humans,” Starren said haughtily.

  Portals. They had to have portals of some kind. Mom had mentioned them before. “If you find a way that the school doesn’t complain I’m gone and give me an excuse for being home late every day, I’ll help during school hours. If this doesn’t work out I need a place I can go back to and I’ve got Dan and Nina trained.” So that wasn’t completely true, but it must have been true enough or my fae blood wouldn’t have let me say it. I carefully kept all the emotion off my face. So far Starren hadn’t been too happy when I tried to think for myself and so much hinged on this. If they were going to try to force me away from Dan and Nina, I wasn’t really left with many options.

  “You aren’t giving the orders here,” Starren gritted out between clenched teeth. So she had a temper. Good to know.

  “Starren, be careful.” Wade said. He jerked his head toward the corner and headed that way. Starren followed.

  “We are supposed to bring her in on this, no matter what.” Obviously they didn’t understand the fact that my regenerating also helped my body function better in every way, his voice was almost as loud as if he was talking straight to me. “Don’t get her mad. She’ll walk. Trust me, I know her. No matter what the incentive, her temper will get the best of her.” So that’s what he thought of me. Good. I thought a lot worse of him. “The Council won’t be happy if we lose her.”

  Starren closed her eyes and a breath hissed out between clenched teeth. Apparently my personality grated on her. I got that a lot.

  They came back over together, Starren hiding her emotions very well. Stereotypical fae. At least I had broken all the molds growing up with humans.

  “Time is of the essence with this case. We can’t allow a criminal to roam free here. We agree to your terms. Can you start tonight? Tell your parents you will be at a sleepover, or some such human nonsense. It will be close enough to the truth that you should be able to get it out.”

  Wade snorted. I glared. “What?” Starren asked.

  “Trisha? At a sleepover? She doesn’t have any friends.”

  I glared even harder. So what if it was the truth, did he have to be such a jerk about it? I could be a jerk back and remind him that he was supposed to be my only friend. I sighed. That meant I was back to having no friends at all. Amy had been nice at the party, but I didn’t think us hanging out for an hour made us friends.

  Starren rubbed her eyelids. “I should have known. First light in the morning then. Surely you can find an excuse to leave for school early.”

  I nodded. Maybe this would be a good time to make some friends. At least friendly enough to be able to tell Dan and Nina I was heading to the movies or some such nonsense, hit the movie theater for five minutes and then come here. It was enough of the truth that I could get away with it, and they might lift the grounding if they thought I was being social. Now just to figure out how to make friends. On top of not being in school. I sighed again. Things were always so complicated.

  “You may go. Prepare whatever you need before you come back in the morning. Seven-thirty sharp.” She went back to looking at stuff on her desk. My blood started a slow boil. Did she really think she was so much better than me that she could just dismiss me like that? I was going to have to work with two jerks. At first she’d seemed okay, but I should have known better. My mouth opened by itself, about to hurl an insult, but I caught it. If I had to work with them, I needed to keep things as civil as possible. Just until we caught this guy. Then I was home free and could say anything I wanted and there was nothing they could do about it. I stood and stalked to the door.

  Wade held it open for me on my way out, then followed me through the doorway and closed it behind us. I refused to look at him. Cumat was waiting for me on the other side.

  “Ready to be escorted out?” he asked. No doubt they’d had him wait for me because they didn’t want me getting curious about what was behind any of the other doors. They didn’t need to worry about that. I’d met enough backstabbing, rude, obnoxious… and everything else fae to last me a lifetime.

  I nodded at Cumat, not really wanting to talk. He didn’t have the same problem. He chitchatted about everything and nothing as we walked up the hallway, but I wasn’t listening. No matter what, I could not show these fae how I felt about Dan and Nina. That thought kept cycling through my mind, chased by worry. And I couldn’t let them take me away. And I couldn’t get killed by this criminal, or let Dan and Nina find out I was skipping school. Wonderful. Plus, I still wanted to do something to Wade. I just needed to figure out what. Maybe stabbing him or whatever wasn’t really a good idea anymore since he was supposed to be watching my back on this job.

  We finally arrived at the entrance. “We’ll see you tomorrow, right here,” Cumat said cheerfully, like I was coming over for tea, not to hunt some runaway fae guy that I hardly knew anything about. ‘Him or me’ that was going to be my new mantra. And he was a criminal, which meant he had done something. At least that was what I was going to go with. Maybe I’d get a better idea of what in the morning.

  The sun was just about where I’d left it. I hadn’t been in there long. I looked back at the wall I’d just walked through. Nothing. I put a hand out and pushed, but was just met with rough, cool brick. I walked to my bike slowly, trying to sort things out internally. If I did what the fae wanted, they wouldn’t be looking for another way to put pressure on me, so they wouldn’t go after Dan and Nina. And hopefully they wouldn’t be able to find a way around the leave me alone part. The fae were just as tricky as all the human legends said, at least from what my mom had told me. I was just going to have to be great bait tomorrow. My bike was right where I left it. I jumped on, flipped up the kickstand and started for home.

  Once there, I coasted into the driveway, hopped off my bike then quietly tipped it up against the house before heading in the front door.

  “Hi, honey,” Nina called from her usual spot in the kitchen when the door slammed behind me. She must have been waiting. “How was school?”

  “Fine,” I answered, half-way up the stairs.

  “I’m baking cookies.” How had I not smelled that when I walked in? Too distracted. I needed to get that under control or I might end up dead for real. Mom would have whacked me upside of the head if she were here. “They should be done in about ten minutes, if you want to come do your homework down here.”

  Bribery. It was going to work today. I was starved. I turned around right there on the stairs and headed for the kitchen. I acted like nothing was wrong, threw my book bag on the table and leaned up on the green and black swirled marble counter.

  “What kind?” I asked. I probably could have been more polite, but now I couldn’t get the smell out of my mind. Peanut butter.

  “Peanut butter chocolate chip. But they aren’t ready yet.”

  I waited until Nina turned to put a tray in the oven and swiped a large hunk of dough from the bowl. She would yell at me if she saw me do it, always worrying about salmonella poisoning or something like that. How was I supposed to explain to her that I didn’t have to worry about that? She started to turn back and I popped the whole wad into my mouth.

  “How was school today? Did anyone bother you about missing Friday?”

  I shook my head, trying to swallow the dough without choking, the amazing peanut butter/chocolate taste filling my mouth.

  Nina raised an eyebrow, then went back to putting dough on a cookie sheet like nothing had happened. I watched her in silence. When had she become so important to me? It wasn’t so long ago that I would have jumped at the deal Starren had offered today. A foster home that wasn’t really a foster home. That could have been awesome. I could do my own thing, not worry about keeping my secret. But somehow, this was so much more awesome. I dropped my head on the counter. Why was l
ife so confusing?

  “You okay?” Nina asked over her shoulder. I left my head on the welcoming coolness of the counter and did a strange nod thing. She turned back to start putting ingredients away. I lifted my head, waiting for an opening. There. I swooped in for another chunk of dough.

  “Have you thought about what you’d like to do for your birthday?”

  I almost choked on my wad of dough. “What?” I got out around a fit of coughing.

  “We didn’t do anything last week, with everything that happened. I’d really like to have some type of party. Maybe we could invite your school friends?”

  “Ah, no. But thanks.” I was never going to want to celebrate my birthday again. I mean really, what could top my sixteenth? Lying dead out in the woods somewhere. Or mostly dead. Whatever. I still hadn’t sorted that out.

  She leaned over and put the next cookie tray in the oven, brushed off her hands and leaned on the counter. “You sure? It isn’t every day you turn sixteen.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure.”

  Nina raised an eyebrow and stared me down for a moment. I almost cracked.

  “This isn’t about your mom, is it?”

  “No,” I answered. I hadn’t even thought of that.

  “Okay, it’s up to you, honey.” She turned around and checked on the first tray of cookies she’d put in the oven.

  “Nina?” I asked tentatively after a moment. She might not be my real mom, and she certainly wasn’t an awesome fae like my mom was, but she tried. Hard.

  “Yes?” she answered, sounding distracted.

  So many things raced through my mind. I couldn’t get all mushy on her, she would know something was up. But what if we weren’t able to catch this guy? What if the fae did drag me away? After last week, Nina and Dan would believe the worst. Believe that I just didn’t want to be with them. I had to see this through. “Never mind.”

  Nina chitchatted while the cookies finished in the oven. I made a show out of trying to get my homework done while I waited, then polished off six cookies before Nina made me stop, telling me I’d ruin my supper. As if that was possible.

  The rest of the night was spent in beautiful routine. Normally it drove me nuts, but today, with the chance of it all going up in flames tomorrow, it felt nice. Dan got home, kissed Nina and then asked about my day. He seemed to study my answers closer than usual, but didn’t have any comments. After spaghetti, he asked if I needed help with my homework like he did every night, and like every night I told him no, only this time I said it nicer. He really was a good guy, I just had daddy issues.

  I did my homework, spending extra time on each problem. Whatever way Starren came up with to get me out of school, I didn’t want to ruin it by doing sloppy work. My mind kept wandering. How were things going back at headquarters? Hokey, I know, but I didn’t know what else to call the place. The fae distribution center? I brushed my teeth and changed into my pajamas in a daze.

  “Goodnight,” I yelled down the stairs to Dan and Nina.

  Dan came to the base of the stairs. “Going to bed already? It’s only nine.”

  I nodded. Best get as much rest as I could. If I could.

  “Are you feeling okay?”

  “Sure,” I answered. I guess almost sarcasm wasn’t considered lying, because I definitely was not feeling okay right now. “Tired.”

  “Okay then, see you in the morning.”

  I gave him a little wave and headed for my bedroom. I shut the door behind me, went over and collapsed on the bed. No, I seriously wasn’t feeling okay right now. No matter how hard I tried to convince myself it was because of the danger, I knew in my heart it was because there was a chance I was going to be taken from the first family I’d ever been a part of.

  Chapter Five

  Breakfast the next day was quiet. Dan and Nina didn’t have much to say and, with my guilty conscience, I couldn’t think of a thing. As soon as I could get away without starting Dan’s suspicious mind turning, I said my goodbyes and headed out. I took my book bag, checking to make sure the front pocket was still zipped. Not sure what one packed to go on a quest, I’d thrown in some cash and my phone charger.

  Cumat was waiting for me outside the fake wall. “Good morning, Miss Trisha.” First time I’d ever been called that. He took off and I followed him inside, the feeling of passing through the portal not quite as weird this time.

  “What excuse did Starren give the school so they won’t check with Nina about me skipping?” I asked as I followed Cumat down the long white hall. We were probably headed for the same door we went through yesterday, but since I hadn’t counted and all the doors looked the same I couldn’t tell for sure.

  Without answering, Cumat flung one of the doors open, bowed and gestured for me to go ahead of him. I stepped in and then nearly jumped back out of the room.

  “Trisha Penchent, meet your doppelganger,” Wade’s voice came from somewhere over by the far wall. I’d missed seeing him until he spoke up, so busy staring into my own face that I had no idea who else was in the room. I really needed to work on that. The whole tunnel vision thing.

  I waved my hand in front of the other me’s face. She was even dressed like me. This was so awesome. I was never going to school again. Creepy thought though, how had they known what I was wearing today?

  Wade pushed off the back wall where he had been leaning and sauntered toward us.

  “I will tell Ms. Starren you are here,” Cumat said. He left and shut the door.

  “She isn’t perfect. She might not answer questions correctly and won’t talk much, but she should get you through the day without anyone knowing you’re gone. They’ll just think it’s one of your space cadet days.” He lifted an eyebrow and gave me that grin, the one I used to not be able to resist. Used to. The grin slipped off and he got a puppy dog look on his face, one that I’d never seen before. “Trisha, I…

  I growled at him but didn’t have a chance to say anything before the door swung open again. Starren marched in, followed closely by an almost running Cumat.

  “Are you two quite ready yet?” she asked.

  “Yep,” Wade answered, going back to not talking to me now that other people were here.

  “I’m not, how’d you get another me?”

  Starren barely glanced at me. “Someone else’s gift. I told him I wanted another you, here she is. Her clothes have switched three times today, know anything about that?”

  I felt my face flush red. I’d been trying to find a good questing outfit, then figured out the temperature in California might be warmer than here and changed again. I was done asking questions now.

  “Cumat,” Starren said, nodding toward me number two, “take… that to Trisha’s school. Make sure it gets inside, but don’t be seen.”

  Cumat muttered something grumpy under his breath.

  “What?” Starren asked sharply.

  “Nothing. Nothing at all. Come along, doppel.” He waited until the second me was through the door, then slammed it behind them. It had to be hard for the poor guy, a dwarf working for the fae. Lots of species lived in Faerie, not just the fae, and they didn’t usually get along. He probably had a pretty interesting story. At some point long ago in history he would have been considered fae too, but the classes had been split by a previous Council and now dwarves were of the lower class. Assuming that some of Mom’s bedtime stories were more than stories.

  “So are we just supposed to wander up and down the streets of California looking for this guy? How do you even know that’s where he is?” I asked once the door was solidly closed.

  Wade snorted. “No.” He nodded toward the far wall. There was a slight kid sitting there, his blond hair almost covering his eyes, big framed glasses sitting on his nose. Between me number two and Wade, I hadn’t even noticed him. His features were much more petite than Wade’s, not as masculine. Until now, Wade was the only male fae I’d ever met, so this was interesting. This kid may not have looked
like I would have expected, but he was still really cute.

  “That’s where Cray comes in.” He must have seen the blank look on my face. “He can sense fae energy. Anything out of the ordinary passed by an area in the last three days and he’ll know. He’s been out in Cali the last two days already, getting a lead for us. Now it’s our turn to come in and protect him, just in case Jaden has caught on.”

  I watched the kid for a second. Okay, maybe not kid, he had to be older than me to have his powers if he went by normal fae rules and didn’t cheat like I had somehow. What was his story? What made him so sad and quiet? Maybe his girlfriend had killed him. Just the thought made me send a glare at Wade. He shrugged, looking mystified. Like he didn’t know what I was miffed about.

  “Ready?” Starren asked the kid in the back in a surprisingly gentle tone. Sure, she’d started out like that with me at first too. It would be interesting to see how she treated him by the end of the day.

  The kid, Cray, nodded. Starren walked over and grabbed a backpack off her glass desk, then charged for the door. Did she rush everywhere she went?

  Wade took off right behind her, then me after him. I heard Cray’s footsteps following me. Starren turned left out of the door, heading deeper down the long hallway. If we just kept going, how long would it take us to reach Faerie? I squinted, trying to see a change, to guess how long the passage was, but it just stretched on and on.

  Starren stopped three doors down from her office. I made it into the room just in time to see her open another door, step through and disappear. Poof, just like that, she was gone. Wade didn’t even pause, then he was gone too. I waffled for a moment. Mistrust of Starren and Wade aside, this would have been really interesting. But as it was, a little intimidating. I glanced toward Cray, who just looked at me like I was crazy.