Marny (18 page)

“Then why don’t you tell me.”

She looked over the crowded club, the
strobing lights of the dance floor, the noisy juice bar.

“Not here,” she said.

From any other girl, he would have thought it
was a ploy to get him alone. But Marny seemed impervious to the
fact he was a Flail star and owner of the club, and that made him
like her a bit better. She judged people on her own terms, which
was refreshing. Though he still didn’t trust her.

“All right.” He tilted his head, indicating
she should follow him over to the bar.

He strode to the side of the counter, and
people nudged out of his way. Some of them knew who he was, and
some of them simply responded to his air of assurance.

“Hey, Emmie.” He caught his sister’s eye.
“I’ll be in back for a bit. Buzz me if you need anything.”

Emmie’s teal-colored eyebrows rose almost
high enough to touch her bangs. She glanced from him to Marny, and
he could see her matchmaker antennae unfurl.

“What—”

“Later. Hold the fort.”

“Mmkay.” Her tone told him there’d be no
avoiding her interrogation after the club closed.

He’d deal with that issue when it came. He
could always tell her Marny was an inspector of some kind—which
almost felt like the truth.

“Come on.” He beckoned to Marny, felt her
following as he cut across the corner of the dance floor.

They ducked under the green swag of gauze,
and Marny made a low sound of surprise when she saw the new door
installed in the hallway.

“Yeah,” he said. “Learned my lesson last
night.”

A flush of pink washed her brown cheeks—so
faint he wouldn’t have seen it if he hadn’t been looking for a
response. Good. She was embarrassed, either about spying, or about
getting caught.

He pressed his thumb to the keypad, and the
door slid open.

“I’d say welcome, but you’ve already seen the
place.” He led her in and closed the door behind them.

She glanced at the closed doors lining the
hallway as they headed toward the kitchen. “Not much to see.”

“If that’s an attempt to get me to open the
other doors, it’s not going to work.”

“I expect I’d find a sim system or two,” she
said.

He blinked, but really, it was a reasonable
assumption to make.

“Since I’m a gamer, I’d hope so.” He pulled
out a chair for her at the small table. “Glass of water?”

“Sure.” She sat, hands folded loosely on the
table in front of her. “So, you’ve played Feyland.”

It wasn’t a question.

He set two glasses of water on the table,
then snagged the other chair and sat across from her.

“Who hasn’t played Feyland?” he said. “It’s
only the biggest game release of the century.”

She leaned forward. “Have you ever
experienced anything strange while you played?”

His heart clunked at the question, and he had
to force himself to stay relaxed, legs outstretched, voice
easy.

“You mean like glitches? The game hasn’t
bugged out on me, no.”

While part of him wanted to
answer her honestly, he had
way
too much on the line to just hand out information
to anyone who asked.

Her mouth twitched, but she didn’t come right
out and accuse him of lying.

“Are you sure they were
only
glitches
?”
she asked, her intense brown eyes focused on his face. “Because the
forest out there suggests otherwise.”

He took a sip of water, thinking how best to
answer her.

“Okay,” he finally said. “I admit I was
inspired by the graphics in Feyland to create my installation. Are
you here to sue me for trademark infringement?”

“I wish,” she said. “I told you before, I’m
not an employee of VirtuMax.”

That was an interesting way to put it—and
open to a bit of interpretation. She hadn’t denied any connection
to the company, after all.

“Then you’re Intertech’s mole.”

“Nope.” She pushed her glass away, the water
slapping up against the sides.

“Why are you interested in
my club? Seems to me it’s none of your business, since you’re
so
unaffiliated
.”

“I just think you need to be careful,” she
said.

“Of what?” He made an exaggerated show of
peering down the hallway. “Thugs after me? The copyright police
taking away the fruits of my labors?”

“You have no imagination,” she said. “That
forest isn’t safe.”

“Come on. You’re telling me some scary
creatures are lurking in the woods? The big bad wolf, ready to jump
out and eat me? You have too much imagination, Marny Fanalua.
Besides, I’ve seen you go in and out of my enchanted forest over a
dozen times. You know it doesn’t go anywhere.”

“You better hope it stays that way,” she
said.

“How about, instead of telling me you’re
afraid of monsters, you go back to your comfy Intertech apartment
and let me run my club the way I want.” It was cold, but her words
had kindled a faint dread deep inside him.

The last thing he needed was some meddlesome
girl making him second-guess all his decisions about opening Club
Mysteria. It was fine. He’d been in and out of the forest hundreds
of times. Nothing creepy was going to come out of the woods. He
didn’t know why Marny was trying to freak him out, but she had to
have some ulterior motive.

Her expression hardened. “If that’s how you
want to play it, don’t say I didn’t warn you.” She shoved her chair
back and stood.

“Right.” He rose to face her, once again
surprised he didn’t have to look down to meet her gaze. “If it
tweaks you so much, how about you just stay away. Permanently.”

He didn’t have the time or energy to deal
with her head games. Whatever she was after, she wasn’t going to
get it.

“Are you banning me from your club?” she
asked.

“Now that you mention it, yes.”

He took her elbow to steer her back down the
hall, but she neatly pivoted away from him.

“You really are as dumb as you look,” she
said, shaking her head.

He didn’t expect the words to sting, but they
did, like a small yet annoying insect. “What does that even
mean?”

“You handsome guys are so full of yourselves
you can’t see what’s right in front of your faces. Expecting the
world to fall at your knees, when it’s really just sharpening its
knives.”

“Wow, that’s grim.” He made a guess, the
words out of his mouth before he could check himself. “So, you were
dumped. I’m sorry—but coming into my club and throwing around crazy
suspicions isn’t going to fix your broken heart.”

“Ha. My heart has never been dented, let
alone damaged.” Her words were fierce and sincere.

“If you say so.” He motioned toward the door.
“After you.”

She turned on her heel and strode forward,
hitting the hallway door button with a bit more force than
necessary. As soon as it opened, she stalked into the club. He
followed, fighting the urge to apologize. There was nothing to
apologize for. The bass beat thumped in his chest, and the flashing
lights on the dance floor seemed garish after the quiet
kitchen.

As Marny strode past the bar, Emmie looked
up, her face full of questions. Nyx shook his head. He’d explain
later. Though what was there to explain? A girl with tweaked
theories and ties to big gaming corporations had been nosing
around, and he threw her out. No big deal.

Marny paused near the exit and turned to face
him. At the door, his bouncer raised an eyebrow, and Nyx held up
one hand. Everything was under control.

“I hope you’re right, Nyx Spenser,” she said.
“I really do. Otherwise, opening this club could be the biggest
mistake of your life.”

“Because terrible monsters are going to come
rampaging out of the forest, eat up everyone on the dance floor,
then take over the world.” It was a ridiculous notion.

She frowned at him. “Find me when things
start getting tweaked.”

“Yeah, right. I’ll be sure to do that.” He
folded his arms. “Goodbye, Marny Fanalua.”

And good riddance.

For a second more, she regarded him steadily.
Then she gave a small shake of her head and took her leave. The
open door let in the smell of exhaust and warm concrete.

“Everything okay?” his bouncer asked, pulling
the door shut behind her.

“Sure. No problems.”

Then why did the back of his neck prickle
when he glanced at the glimmering forest?

Marny was too mad to slow down and try to
catch a cab. She leaned forward into the night, not quite running
but moving fast, her shoes slapping the sidewalk. Ahead of her, the
skyscrapers rose, bright beacons shedding so much human light they
washed the stars to invisibility.

Although she wanted to think Nyx Spenser was
a stubborn idiot, she had to admit there was no reason he should
believe her. If she hadn’t seen the fey folk with her own eyes, she
wouldn’t believe herself, either.

Damn, she hoped he was right—that the
enchanted forest was safe, just a small enclosed mystery brought
into the world. Because no matter how much he might deny it, or
claim it was some kind of virtual installation, she knew the woods
were directly out of the Realm of Faerie.

But maybe unconnected.

It was the
maybe
part she was
worried about. She’d explored the forest, tried to trace the
boundary, and ended up either going around in circles or stepping
back into the warehouse. For now, it seemed Nyx was right. How long
that would last, though… She shivered, despite the warm city
air.

“Hey, babe!” Two guys cruising by in a
grav-car waved their drinks at her. “Come party with us.”

Marny ignored them. After a few more catcalls
and a burst of laughter, they drove away.

She wasn’t nervous about being alone at
night—at least not in that part of Newpoint. Because of her size,
people generally didn’t bother her. Plus, she had her knife
strapped to the side of her calf. Uncle Zeg had showed her how to
aim for the vulnerable parts, but her blade offered more than just
protection from humans.

Faeries disliked being around cold iron, and
the touch of it was severely painful to them. She’d put her knife
to good use in the past, and with the enchanted forest currently
growing in Club Mysteria, she might need it in the future, too.

It was going to be harder to keep an eye on
things now that the infuriating and stupidly handsome Nyx Spenser
had banned her from his club.

But since when did she let a little thing
like that stop her?

N
yx
kept an eye on the enchanted forest the rest of the night, watching
while club goers wove in and out of the trees. Everyone came back
out just fine, and nothing freaky emerged.

Still, when it was time to close he felt his
shoulders relax a little. Stupid, to let Marny’s wild speculations
catch hold of him.

What if she’s right?

He pushed the thought away and went to check
in with Emmie at the juice bar.

“Did you guys have a good night?” he asked,
although he’d seen how busy she and Sula had been.

“Great. A couple cute boys left us big tips.”
She finished stacking up the glasses, then shot him a look. “You
didn’t seem to be having much fun, though. What’s with the girl who
keeps showing up?”

“She won’t be back.”

He didn’t feel like explaining anything more.
No need to give his sister weird ideas about the forest. They’d
both been in there, after all. It was perfectly safe.

“Worried she’s going to kick your ass?”

“She doesn’t have the training for it,” he
said.

“Oh?” Emmie’s eyebrows went up. “You two
spent some private time in the back, I noticed. She’s cute, in a
stern kind of way, but I didn’t think she was your type.”