I stumbled when Vivian gave me a shove. “Stop talking,” she muttered. “Tom, you first through the door. Then her.” But true to his nature, Pierce held the door for me when we reached it, glaring stiffly at Vivian from under the brim of his hat, daring her to protest.

“Bug! In my coffee!” exploded a high-pitched, disgusted voice.

I smiled, stopping in the threshold and turning in time to see Nick trip on nothing in his rush to show the clerk his coffee. The cup went flying, hitting Vivian’s face in a black wash.

“Out,” Pierce hissed, pushing me, but I half-turned, wanting to stay and see the show.

People had looked up, and everyone watched in noisy, shocked concern as Vivian pawed at her face. Nick was there, patting it as he apologized, but things got worse when a shimmer of pixy dust sifted down and Vivian suddenly couldn’t open her eyes.

“Ooooh, that’s going to hurt,” I said, stumbling as Pierce snatched my bag from where Vivian had dropped it and pushed me out the door.

I jerked to a halt at the harsh-winged clatter of an excited pixy. “There’s a bus leaving,” Jax said breathlessly, inches from my nose. “Don’t get on it.”

“Get off me!” Vivian shouted, shoving Nick. Nick flew backward into the cold shelves with their cakes and imported waters, but his foot hooked Vivian’s, and they both went down.

Pierce pulled me the rest of the way out the door. The cold sunshine hit me. There was the bus, and Pierce ran for it. “Stop the carriage!” he shouted as he waved my bag and ran. “Stop the bus!” he amended, and the bus’s brakes hissed as the sliding door opened. They never stopped for me. How come they stopped for him?

I looked behind me at the uproar, then to my mom’s car. There was a white van across the lot, and a beat-up Impala that I’d be willing to bet was Nick’s. God, my knees hurt.

“Rachel!” Pierce demanded, one foot on the bus’s stairs. “On the bus!”

His eyes were wild and beautiful, and though he looked like Tom, he was Pierce. “No,” I said as I stumbled to him. “We’re going with Nick.”

In a flash, Pierce’s brow furrowed, and his eyes narrowed. “I say we’re getting on the bus. Don’t be difficult. Get on the bus.”

I jerked out of his grip, pissed. “Don’t tell me what to do!” I shouted, pulling a strand of hair out of my mouth. “I’m going with Nick!”

The driver sighed heavily. “On or off, lady.”

I gave him a nasty look. “Off,” I said. “Get the hell out of here.”