Reign or Shine (4 page)

Besides, I figured it was probably fake and would turn my wrist green by lunch. Then I'd throw it away. It was a plan.

I turned the corner at the end of my block and my stomach sank.

"Not you again," I said, feeling my heart speed up as crazy-stalker-practical-joke guy stood blocking my way. "I'm not in the mood this morning."

Michael's hands were stil shoved deeply into the pockets of his blue hoodie. In fact, he wore the exact same clothes that he had yesterday.

"Did you read it?" he asked.

I wil ed myself to remain calm. "Read what?"

"The letter."

"You can let it go now," I said through clenched teeth as I started walking again. "The joke's over."

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"What joke?"

I glared at him. "The joke that makes you feel like you need to stalk me. It's not funny." "I'm not stalking you." "Could have fooled me."

He kept pace with me, since I wasn't slowing down. "Your father needs to see you immediately, Princess."

"Don't cal me Princess! Would you just let it go?" I was sure that my face was now flushed, which did nothing to help the freckle situation. "Leave me alone or I'm going to tel Chris."

"Who's Chris?" he asked.

"Like you don't know. Chris Sanders? Pretty sure he outweighs you by about thirty pounds. You wouldn't stand a chance if I told him you were bothering

me."

Michael's green eyes narrowed. "I wouldn't be so sure about that."

Great. The guy was stubborn as wel as crazy.

With a haircut and trendier clothes, though, he'd fit in just fine at Erin Heights--and he was definitely cute enough to be one of Chris's friends. It was annoying how good-looking I found him, despite what a jerk he was being, but I pushed that aside.

"I did read the letter," I said.

"And? Are you ready to go? I can find a dimensional gateway, but it might take me a few minutes. Then we can see King Desmond."

Hold on. I stopped walking and began to feel sick to my stomach.

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"What did you just cal him?" "King Desmond," he repeated.

My father's name
was
Desmond. I knew that. That was the one piece of information my mom had definitely shared with me--and which I'd never shared

with anyone else.

"How do you know his name?" I asked.

"Because ..." He looked confused. "Because he sent me here personal y. I already explained this to you."

I turned my attention to the sidewalk in front of me and started moving again. "I have to go to school."

"School is meaningless right now."

"Explain that to my mother."

"Princess, please." He grabbed my arm and I tensed. He immediately let go of me. "Please stop walking for a second."

I stopped and turned to look at him. "The name is Nikki. Not Princess."

"Nikki,"
He said it oddly, as if he wasn't certain he should be saying it at al .

I watched the air puff out in front of me with every quick exhale I made. However, when Michael breathed, there were no puffs of frozen air.

That was odd.

"I can prove to you that what I've told you is true." His brow lowered with concentration and then he looked down at his chest. "My amulet. It's not from this

world."

His sweatshirt hung open and I couldn't believe he wasn't cold--the morning was just as frigid as last night. He wore a strange pendant that rested over his

T-shirt--a gold chain with a large green stone, like an emerald, but I didn't

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think emeralds came that big. It was literal y the size and shape of a flat egg. The strange stone appeared to pulse with light under the gray skies. I tilted my head to the side as I studied it.

It was the exact same color as Michael's eyes. What was it made of? I felt a sudden, overwhelming urge to touch the stone, and I reached toward him.

"Princess, don't--" Michael seemed to freeze in place as I moved closer. My fingers brushed against the softness of the worn T-shirt before lightly touching

the stone itself.

ZZAAPPPP!

The painful shock shot up my arm and I jumped back from him.

"What the--?" I held my jarred hand against my chest. I felt as if I'd just stuck my finger into a light socket.

Frowning deeply, Michael took a big step away from me. "You shouldn't have done that." "Why did it do that? Are you plugged into something electric?"

"Just--" His chest moved in and out with increased but non-frosty breathing, and he quickly zipped up his sweatshirt, pul ing the hood over his dark hair. I noticed his throat working, the Adam's apple shifting as he swal owed hard. "Just don't touch me again."

I didn't particularly like the way he said it. As if I couldn't keep my hands off him.

"Your father wil be angry." He stared at me, and something resembling fear replaced his previously guarded gaze.

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"I don't know who he real y is or why he sent you, but I don't want to see him. Feel free to tel him that."

Instead of insisting he escort me to my oh-so-important father/daughter meeting, Michael turned away and stormed off without saying another word.

My hand stil stung from touching his amulet.

Not a practical joke.

Not crazy.

He knew my father's real name. What in the world was going on? 36

I walked to school on autopilot, my thoughts in a mil ion different places, and none of them, unfortunately, on my English test. I was definitely going to fail it. Accepting the inevitability of that was probably the best approach.

Michael was seriously freaking me out. Was it possible my real father had sent him to get me? And what was his amulet made of? Why would he be wearing something dangerous like that?

I wished that when I looked into his green eyes, I'd just see a crazy guy looking out at me. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that al I saw was sincerity.

"Hey, Nikki!"

I looked to my left to see Chris, hanging out by the lockers with his jock buddies. The ones who I'd convinced myself were playing the practical joke on me.

Of course, now I knew it wasn't a joke.

I real y wished it was.

"Hey, yourself." I forced a smile to my face, trying to push away al other thoughts, and approached him. I prayed 37

that no poppy seeds from my hastily eaten breakfast bagel were stuck in my teeth.

One of his buddies grinned. "Why don't we leave you two alone?"

The rest of the guys laughed and walked away down the hal .

I didn't know what to make of their reaction to me. Maybe I had one big poppy seed in my teeth. Maybe they were laughing about Chris asking me to the

dance. Or maybe it was something completely different. Even on a good day, when somebody laughed around me and I wasn't in on the joke, I assumed that they were laughing at me. Sure, cal me paranoid, but when you're the new kid it was true more than not.

Chris smiled at me. "You look great this morning."

I guess I looked more relaxed than I felt, but it was so good to see him--a wonderful, normal guy who made me happy just by his presence and didn't give

me any problems. "You look pretty great yourself."

He leaned closer to me and kissed me. It was a morning greeting I could very easily get used to. After a moment he pul ed away and his gaze moved to

the right.

"Nikki, we seem to have an audience again," he said.

I turned around in Chris's arms and tensed when I saw that Michael stood about fifteen feet down the hal on the opposite side. He watched us, his face

void of expression.

"Do you want something?" Chris asked.

Michael eyed him unpleasantly. "Nothing from you." I tried to grab Chris's arm as he pul ed away from me. "Chris--"

But it was too late. Chris was already moving to stand in front of Michael. They were both the same height, around six feet tal . But where Michael was al

sinewy, al lean lines under those loose-fitting clothes, Chris was solid muscle under designer threads. Michael's hair was shoulder length, dark and shaggy, but Chris's was blond, recently cut, and gleaming from whatever hair products guys use to get that control ed-but-tousled look.

"Do you have a problem with me for some reason?"

Michael's attention was now fixed on me. "I'm not sure yet."

"You're not sure?" Chris repeated. "What exactly do you think you're looking at?"

Michael was looking at me so intensely that I could feel it.

"I'm looking at Nikki Donovan," he said. "I need to protect her."

I found that I couldn't stop looking at Michael. It was as if he'd captured me in his green-eyed gaze and wouldn't let go. I wanted to tel Chris what Michael

had said--al the crazy things about my father that didn't seem to make any sense. But I didn't say anything. I knew I should be looking at Chris, but the only person I could see was Michael--and that haunted, protective look in his eyes.

"I suggest," Chris's voice cut through, "that you look somewhere else and leave her alone."

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"And I suggest," Michael said calmly, "that you mind your own business."

I bit my bottom lip. That was definitely not a good response.

Chris's eyes narrowed. "You need to leave now."

Michael's attention final y moved from me to Chris. "I'l leave when Nikki does."

"She's not going anywhere with you if that's what you're thinking." Chris's expression was becoming less friendly with each passing moment.

Michael glared at him. "I thought I told you to mind your own business."

Chris grabbed a handful of Michael's T-shirt and pushed him up against the lockers.

"You need to leave
now"
Chris growled. "I won't tel you again."

With one hand, Chris shoved him a few feet down the hal way. Michael's cool, slightly sul en exterior had slipped a bit. Under the line of his dark hair, I could see a glitter in his eyes as he looked back at Chris. Was it anger? I wouldn't be surprised. Nobody liked being pushed around first thing in the

morning in front of a growing crowd of students.

But the look in Michael's eyes as he glared at Chris made a shiver run down my spine. It was more than anger. It was the look of a predator. Then he glanced at me for a moment--at my deep frown--and his expression softened.

::Are you coming with me or not, Princess?:: I looked around. Where had that come from? It definitely wasn't my thought.

::Princess? Can you hear me?::

My eyes widened. Could I read his thoughts? Were those Michael's thoughts?

I shook my head slowly. No,
that's impossible.

"I'm staying right here," I said, my voice shaky.

"Fine. I'm not going to force you," Michael said out loud, and it didn't sound remotely friendly. When he turned and walked away I had the insane urge to

run after him, but I didn't go anywhere. I stayed frozen where I was.

Chris watched Michael move down the hal . "Yeah, just like I thought."

Michael's shoulders went rigid, but he kept walking until the door at the end of the hal clanged shut. The crowd dissipated until only Chris and I remained. The bel for first period rang.

He turned to me. "Are you okay?"

I nodded shakily.

"What a loser," he said, then he started to look concerned. "You don't already know him, do you?" I shook my head. "Not real y."

"Thought for a minute he was an ex-boyfriend of yours. Al obsessed. It happens."

"Definitely not." I tried to ignore the sick churning feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"It'l be fine. He won't bother you again."

"If you say so."

"I do." He grinned after a moment. "Thought I was going

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to have to fight him for a moment there--defend your honor, or something."

I forced an unsteady smile to my face. "My knight in shining armor."

"I kind of like the sound of that." He leaned over and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. "You sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine."

When he took off for class, I pressed back against the locker door and slowly slid to the floor. I gathered my knees close to my chest and tried to breathe,

before scrambling through my backpack for my bottle of water. I took two Tylenol to combat my headache.

There was only one thing on my mind then.
Michael.

Before, when he'd fol owed me into the park, I'd been afraid of him. I was stil afraid, but there was something else there now as wel .

"I need to protect her," he'd said. No. I didn't want to think about this. Any of it. I pushed al thoughts of Michael out of my mind and began thinking about Romeo
and Juliet.

Romeo had been hot, dangerous, and mysterious, too. He was also total y obsessed with Juliet.

But that story hadn't ended so wel .

I had everything I wanted, final y, after sixteen years of life. Other than the mountains of snow, life in Erin Heights could not be better. I was dating Chris

now, who was great and brave and al defensive of me, which was nice--during his little confrontation with Michael he'd practical y announced to the world

we were official y seeing each other,

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hadn't he? I wasn't going to overthink things and chance screwing everything up.

My life was good. And I wouldn't let letter-writing absentee fathers or crazy, cute stalkers ruin it for me.

After the test, which wasn't half as bad as I'd expected-- after al , I had seen the movie version with Leonardo DiCaprio at least three times--the rest of the day was a blur. The buzz in school mainly concerned the formal tomorrow night. The social committee was already decorating the gymnasium to look like

a winter wonderland. I took a quick peek as I passed by on my way out of the school at four o'clock, and I saw large white paper snowflakes, a ton of tinsel, and what might have been a ten-foot-tal cutout of a snowman.

There had been no sign of Michael since that morning. I figured Chris had managed to get the guy to leave me alone once and for al .

So why was that thought oddly disappointing?