“You heard me.” Kenzie regarded me intently, watching my reaction. “Faeries. What do you know about them? What’s your interest in the fey?”

My mind spun. Faeries. Fey. She knew. How she knew, I had no idea. But she couldn’t continue this line of questioning. This had to end, now. Todd was already in trouble, because of Them. He might really be gone. The last thing I wanted was for Mackenzie St. James to vanish off the face of the earth because of me. And if I had to be nasty and cruel, so be it. It was better than the alternative.

Drawing myself up, I sneered at her, my voice suddenly ugly, hateful. “Wow, whatever you smoked last night, it must’ve been good.” I curled my lip in a smirk. “Are you even listening to yourself? What kind of screwed-up question is that?”

Kenzie’s eyes hardened. Flipping several pages, she held the notebook out to me, where the words glamour, Unseelie and Seelie Courts were underlined in red. I remembered her standing behind the bleachers when I faced that creepy transparent faery. My stomach went cold.

“I’m a reporter,” Kenzie said, as I tried wrapping my brain around this. “I heard you talking to someone the day Todd disappeared. It wasn’t hard to find the information.” She flipped the notebook shut and stared me down, defiant. “Changelings, Fair Folk, All-Hallow’s Eve, Summer and Winter Courts, the Good Neighbors. I learned a lot. And when I called Todd’s house this afternoon, he still wasn’t there.” She pushed her hair back and gave me a worried look. “What’s going on, Ethan? Are you and Todd in some sort of pagan cult? You don’t actually believe in faeries, do you?”

I forced myself to stay calm. At least Kenzie was reacting like a normal person should, with disbelief and concern. Of course she didn’t believe in faeries. Maybe I could scare her away from me for good. “Yes,” I smirked, crossing my arms. “That’s exactly right. I’m in a cult, and we sacrifice goats under the full moon and drink the blood of virgins and babies every month.” She wrinkled her nose, and I took a threatening step forward. “It’s a lot of fun, especially when we bring out the crack and Ouija boards. Wanna join?”

“Very funny, tough guy.” I’d forgotten Kenzie didn’t scare easily. She glared back, stubborn and unmovable as a wall. “What’s really going on? Are you in some kind of trouble?”

“What if I am?” I challenged. “What are you going to do about it? You think you can save me? You think you can publish one of your little stories and everything will be fine? Wake up, Miss Nosey Reporter. The world’s not like that.”