❝You and me, darlin', we're gonna have a whale of a time...❞
Shortly after her sixteenth birthday, Tamsyn James has her first encounter with the Fae - a deadly group of beings from a place called the Otherworld. Not long after finding out she's one...
I entered my next class feeling like a ghost - hollow and invisible. All morning everyone kept wishing me happy birthday, but not seriously enough to notice my birthday wasn't happy at all.
The center of the universe, of course Sienna had to sit in the middle of the room. My usual seat beside her was empty and waiting, but I glided right past, down the rows to a desk in the back. I sat down and removed my geometry book from my backpack, rolling my eyes when Sienna turned and glared.
Mr. Barnes began a droll combination of lecture and diagram. Dimming the lights, he proceeded to draw terribly misshapen triangles on the overhead projector, rehashing yesterday's mind-numbing discussion of the Pythagorean Theorem. I saw the images reflected on the long, white screen behind him, but none of it seemed to matter any more. Who could think about math when there were monsters in the dark and strangers who used magic against you?
"Hey, Tamsyn?" The whisper belonged to the adorable boy up front. Impossibly long lashes framed sparkling brown eyes you couldn't help but get lost in. His skin had a golden hue that reminded you of summer at the beach, and when he smiled, it was like the sun breaking through on a cloudy day. His short jet hair was hidden by the HVH beanie, but I could still picture running my fingers through it, tucking the curls behind his ear...
"Tamsyn?"
"Kiss? I mean--yes? " Face burning, I cleared my throat, knowing he had noticed the Freudian slip.
Kai chuckled. He had made a bold move turning around in his seat to talk to me. But Kai Matsuo had a way of skating under the teachers' radar. He was just that sweet and innocent.
A British-Japanese transfer student from London, Kai and his family had moved to the Village over the summer. I had only known him since the beginning of the school year - a whopping two months. But already Kai was considered a focal member of the in-crowd. Popular, with the right clothes, and an English accent to die for, Kai had options when it came to dating. I was never surprised when I bumped into him at the movies or outside the soda shop with another girl - but I did feel it when he smiled at me. Kai always looked at me like no one else was there.
"I'm pretending to ask you for a pencil I don't need."
"Really?" I smiled back, mystified. "Why?"
"I'd really like to get to know you." His smile fell. "I don't know why I told you that. Uh--happy birthday."
I stared at Kai.
Kai stared at me.
Red-faced, he turned silently around in his seat. That's when I knew it wasn't a bad joke. Kai had embarrassed himself, and it was all because of me.
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Like the jungle has a food chain, every high school clique has its own place in the cafeteria. Step outside the lines and you might just get eaten.
The first to arrive at our table, I set down my food tray and immediately abandoned it for my cell phone. I had broken the screen when I dropped it that morning (more proof that Blue Eyes was real and I wasn't just losing my mind), but I ignored the cracks, sliding my way through the pictures on Dean's timeline. The latest was a video from last night.
