I touched my hand against the choker Kady had placed around my neck. The green jewels on it were cold to the touch, but they seemed to buzz, to hum as if from inside. Then it came to me, the visions, the memories, whatever they were. As if touching the pendant had lifted the veil that kept my human mind from being able to reach what had been stored away in my subconscious.

  I saw myself sitting on the ceiling.

  I watched the world tip over, and I spilled into the room above.

  The fat man made a deal with someone.

  He wanted a pendant, and he didn’t care who had to die for him to get it.

  This pendant.

  Kady’s pendant.

  In a series of bright flashes, I saw myself, snarling, fangs bared, with things growing out of my face. The memories started to hurt, as if each was armed with a small needle, and those needles were being rapidly pushed into my skull. I shut my eyes and backed up, wincing, grimacing.

  “Shit,” I blurted. “It’s all come back.”

  “Great timing, huh?” Rell asked.

  “Give me the pendant!” the dark figure yelled.

  I turned my eyes up at man standing in my way. “What do you want with it?”

  The figure had one hand behind his back. He pulled it away from his body now to reveal a small blade that gleamed as the moonlight touched it. “I will not ask again,” came what felt like a final warning.

  “You can’t let him take it,” Rell said.

  “Duh, I know that,” I said.

  “Oh, good, because what with you being human and all, I wasn’t sure if you underst—”

  “—shut up!”

  The figure pulled his blade out to his side, whipped it around so the tip of the knife was pointing behind him, and struck a combat pose like something out of a Kung Fu movie—my favorite kind of movies. There was a moment when our eyes locked, and I knew, this man was about to kill me to get the pendant I had hanging around my neck. A pendant that had a moment ago belonged to Kady.

  “Rell…” I said.

  “What?” he asked.

  “Now would be a good time to strike up some magic, my man.”

  “Don’t you dare break my other wing!”

  “I’m not seeing a lot of options here.”

  Like a gunshot, the dark figure started racing toward me, his knife arm poised and ready to strike out like a coiled snake. Instinct took over, and I set Rell down on the ground and kicked off my—Kady’s—heels just as the man with the knife reached me. He stopped a few paces from me, dug his foot into the ground, and swiped at me with his knife. I was just about able to arch away from the edge of the blade, and when he came at me on the swing around, I managed to stick my forearm in the path of his own, stopping the knife from ever getting close to my face.

  “What the hell?!” I heard Rell ask.

  “What the hell is right,” I said, surprised at my speed and reflexes. I’d watched Kung Fu movies growing up, but that didn’t mean I knew how to fight. I would’ve never had the discipline to learn, and I wasn’t too full of myself to admit that.

  The man’s deep, brown eyes narrowed, and he angled his head to the side. “Who are you?” he asked.

  I wanted to tell him I was me, Avery, but my throat refused… and then worked on its own. “My name is Kadeera Nightbloom,” I said. “And you can’t have this pendant.”

  The deep, brown eyes staring at me narrowed further, almost becoming slits. I heard a snarl, and the dark figure pulled away, his knife in his hand. He came in for another round of attacks, a flurry of knife, and fist, and feet. It wasn’t that I could see his attacks coming before they happened; he was just slow. Slow enough that I could think about how I was going to react to him, and then move myself into position at the right moment.

  I could see the glint of the moonlight on his knife, the hard intent in his eyes, and I could hear the growing frustration in the way he’d grunt before throwing the next punch, or swipe. From the outside, we probably looked like a bunch of stunt actors, slowly working through a perfectly choreographed fight; ducking, and weaving, and punching, and kicking.

  Rell watched, his little dragon face filled with confusion and wonderment.

  The dark figure fired his knife at me like a piston, aimed directly at my head. It was almost too fast for me to catch, but by the skein of my teeth I was able to duck to the side, grab his arm, and swing him into the brambles.

  He looked up at me, his arms splayed, the thorns grabbing at his outfit, tugging at it from all sides. Just as he was about to free himself and come at me again, I took a careful step toward him, dug one foot into the gravel, twirled on the spot, and with the momentum of my spin I kicked the knife out of his hand and sent it clattering to the ground.

  The breeze pushed through my now golden locks, causing them to flutter around in front of my eyes. Panting hard, I stared at the man who had come to take my necklace or kill me. He was disarmed, I had him on the ropes, and now he was the one with nowhere to go.

  “Now what?” I asked. “Your move, guy.”

  He jabbed a finger at me. “One way or another, you’re going to give me that necklace.”

  Rell moved up beside me and arched his back. Looking down at him, I watched his mouth glow orange, the light from within his throat radiating between the gaps in his sharp teeth. I’d seen him fail to produce any kind of fire before, but the asshole in the bushes didn’t know that.

  The man in the hedge looked down at Rell, and I saw the warm glow of the fire in the little dragon’s throat reflected in the man’s brown eyes. He shot me a harsh look, frowned, and then pushed himself into the hedges. I took a step toward him, but he was gone in an instant, swallowed whole by the thick brambles and thorns.

  “Dammit!” I cursed, “Where’d he go?”

  “Through,” Rell said.

  I moved toward the brambles and stuck my hand through it, but it was too thick. Cursing again, I turned to look at Rell. “Now what?”

  “I don’t know, but that was incredible. I didn’t know you can fight!”

  “I can’t.”

  “Are you insane? You just kicked that guy’s ass.”

  “Yeah, but he was slow. If he was an assassin, he wasn’t a very good one.”

  “I don’t know what fight you were in, but I saw you both move like lightning.”

  “Impossible. That’s not what it felt like.”

  “Who cares what it felt like? I don’t think he expected to come across someone who could fight like you can.”

  Not wanting to question what had just happened, or to stay here a second longer than I needed to, I picked Rell up and started moving away from the area, taking what felt like random, desperate turns. I didn’t know where I was going. I was hopelessly lost, and neither I nor Rell could figure a way out of this place.

  Picking up the pace, I started running now, taking turns quickly, following the path as it unfolded ahead of me and trying to use my instincts to guide me out. That was when I ran into him. The Viscount. The Haircut.

  Blindly turning a corner, I ran straight into his chest, and he instantly grabbed hold of me, squashing Rell between us. I stared at him, and he stared back, his eyes wide with… surprise? Confusion? His gaze deepened, and I found myself wholly under the weight of it, and totally unable to speak.

  “I…” he paused. “Kadeera?”

  I wanted to shake my head, to say no, but again, I couldn’t. “Yes,” I said, though inside, I was screaming.

  “But you…” he trailed off, his eyes narrowed. “Where is the human?”

  “Gone,” I said, then paused. “She… left. To the… human world.” It was as if someone else was talking through me, using me as a puppet.

  “How?”

  I could see it in his eyes. Something wasn’t clicking into place. The picture wasn’t completely correct in his mind, but he couldn’t quite figure out exactly what was wrong, either. I wanted him to so badly; I needed him to know that Kady had escaped, and that I wasn’t her, but I couldn’t. The words wouldn’t come.

  Rell was my only chance, but he had more pressing concerns.

  “Could you both please speak faster?” Rell asked, “This is really awkward, and I can’t breathe.”

  Chapter 21

  The Viscount hadn’t come alone. Together with an armed guard of Fae soldiers, he escorted me through the maze and back to Emerald Hall. I had told him about the man who had tried to kill me, and he’d ordered a search of the maze and the surrounding grounds, but so far it had produced nothing. Whoever it was that had attacked me had vanished into the darkness, not to be seen again.

  Rell and I were split up once more as soon as we reached the mansion. I had needed him to try to explain to the Viscount that I wasn’t Kady—Kadeera—that I was in fact Avery, the human, but Rell hadn’t said a word since the guards picked us up, much to my surprise. Typical. He never shut up, except for when I needed him to talk.

  Instead of being marched into the cellar under the kitchen, I was brought through the main house, up the grand staircase, and into a luxuriant room all decorated in gold and green. Silk sheets hung from the corners of a four-poster bed, there was a vanity the size of my old bedroom, and a closet that was bigger than my apartment.

  The air smelled like Kady, the scent of betrayal. Instantly, I hated it, but I still hated it a little less than the dank, dark hole I had been brought to upon arriving at this twisted wonderland of beauty and horror. This felt like an upgrade, even if it was meant for someone else.

  One of the soldiers who had accompanied the Viscount stuck his hand out to stop the bedroom door from shutting. “My Lord, orders are for her to be taken to the Duchess at once…”

  The Viscount glared at the soldier. “Then go and tell her she will be late,” he said, his voice low and threatening. “I have questions for Lady Kadeera first.”

  “I… yes, sir,” came the reply, meek and unsure.

  The Viscount grabbed the door and pushed it shut, forcing it into place with a thud. He then turned to look at me, putting me under the full weight of his eyes once more. I wanted him to see through the disguise, to see past whatever magic Kady had used to make me look like her, but I didn’t think he would.

  She wouldn’t have done to me what she did if she thought it wouldn’t stick.

  “I want you to tell me where she went,” the Viscount said after a moment, his words short and curt.

  “She… fled,” I said, despite my best efforts to say otherwise.

  “To the human world…”

  “Yes. Through a portal.” I paused, trying to figure out just what I could and couldn’t say, fighting with my own vocal cords.

  “This portal was hidden in the maze?”

  “Yes.”

  “And how did a human find it?”

  “Because… I told her where it was. I didn’t think it was fair that she be kept here against her will.”

  “So, you helped the human escape?”

  “I did.”

  The Viscount stared at me, his eyes narrow. “What about the sprite? Why was it there?”

  “She insisted on bringing it, but it destabilized the portal. I don’t think it wanted her to leave without it, but she couldn’t take it with her.”

  Damn. Some of what I was saying was true, but the rest was a total crock. I was not in control of my own words, and it was the most frustrating thing I had ever experienced. Looking up at the Viscount, trying to hold his eyes, wanting him to see me for who I was. I never thought I would find myself in this position, and yet...

  “You aren’t known for being honest, Kadeera,” the Viscount said. “Why should I believe that the human was able to escape, and yet you chose to stay behind?”

  “I would’ve escaped with her,” I said, “I just wasn’t quick enough to make it through before it closed. She betrayed my trust.”

  “You sound utterly heartbroken.”

  “No, trust me, I’m furious. I really am. I guess I can’t seem to show it as much as I’d like.”

  The Viscount’s eyebrows pinched at the center of his face. “What does that mean?”

  I shook my head. “Forget it. I wouldn’t be able to tell you even if I wanted to.”

  He cocked his head to the side. “Are you trying to arouse my suspicion?”

  Arouse. Heh. Jesus. That’s the kind of thing Kady would’ve giggled at. Am I seriously becoming her?

  “You’re the last person I’d want to arouse,” I said. Instantly, I shut my eyes, regretting my choice of words. “Your suspicion. I don’t want to arouse your suspicion.”

  “I see. I find all of this… troubling. And we have barely touched on the claim that you were attacked in the maze by an unknown third party.”

  “I was.”

  “And yet, there’s no evidence of an attack. Only your word.”

  “Someone came after me; someone who wanted this.” I pointed at the choker around my neck. “I don’t know who they were, but I know who sent them.”

  A curious eyebrow went up. “Oh?”

  “It was Vito.”

  “Vito? What proof do you have of this?”

  “I… I don’t have any proof.”

  “You don’t?”

  Fuck.

  “I mean, I do, I just can’t… seem to tell you about it.”

  “And why is that?”

  I scanned the room quickly, looking for something to write with and something write on. Kady didn’t have much in the way of a desk, but sitting on her end table was an ornate fountain pen. I rushed over to it, picked it up, and went searching the room for a piece of paper, but I couldn’t find any.

  My eyes finally settled on the wallpaper coating every last inch of the walls in the room. I dashed over to the nearest wall, pen in hand, and started putting it to use. The Viscount wasn’t happy that I was about to deface the bedroom’s gold and green decorations, but I stuck one of my hands out to keep him at bay. Frantically, I started writing.

  I’m Avery, not Kady. She used some kind of spell to swap our appearances, and another to keep me from talking about it.

  The pen barely worked the way it was supposed to. I had to dig at the walls with the tip just to get the words scribbled out in front of me, and that only made an even nastier mess than if I had been able to simply write with it.

  Stepping back to admire my work, and my ingenuity, my face dropped. I hadn’t written what I had wanted to write. Though in my head I had visualized exactly what I needed to express, and I had thought I’d been writing just that, my hand had worked completely separate from my mind. Instead of what I’d meant to write, I had written:

  I am Kadeera Nightbloom. I am Kadeera Nightbloom. I am Kadeera Nightbloom. I am Kadeera Nightbloom. Bitch.

  “What the fuck?” I asked.

  “That’s your proof…” said the Viscount, with a flat tone.

  “I can’t even write. Great.”

  “Kadeera, now isn’t the time for your games and tricks. I do not have the time, nor the patience for any of this. Do you understand?”

  I turned my eyes up at him. “I know what it looks like,” I said, “But I’m telling you the truth. Someone tried to kill me tonight, and I know who sent him. You need to find Vito and put him behind bars.”

  “On your word alone? You have many privileges, but that is not one of them.”

  “Then, I’ll tell Invidia.”

  “Invidia?”

  “My mother?”

  “I know who she is. I have never heard you use her name like that.”

  That’s because I’m not Kady. Why can’t you see that?

  I took a step toward him, eyes pleading. “I know there’s probably a lot here you don’t understand, but I’m trying to tell you the truth. I just can’t tell you all of it.”

  “And I don’t understand why. If you have an accusation to make, and you have the evidence to back it up, why would you not make it known?”

  “Because it isn’t as easy as that. I can’t. I physically can’t.”

  The Viscount frowned, his eyes deepening, his jaw tightening. I watched him, studied his eyes, his cheeks, his lips. He was a great deal taller than me, and leagues more attractive than any other man I’d ever laid eyes on, but I could sense a kind of darkness within him. Something dangerous. Maybe even lethal.

  I’ve thought these words before.

  Still, I couldn’t help but want to know what it was. What was there, lurking inside of his chest, past the beautiful façade. I had seen him flex his magical power only a few times, and he was clearly a man who demanded respect from the people around him, but this feeling I got from him went deeper than that.

  It was something old.

  Something hidden.

  “I don’t know what is going on here,” the Viscount said, “A lot of what has happened tonight does not make any sense, but I am going to unravel the puzzle. I must.”

  “Yes, good. Unravel it. I’m telling you, there’s something going on here that you need to know about.”

  “So, tell me.”

  “I can’t,” I said again, desperation spilling out of me. Then it hit me. “Wait…”

  “Wait?”

  It was a flash of inspiration, electric and quick, like lightning. Without another word, I rushed up to him, placed a hand on his chest, and pushed him against the wall. The Viscount’s eyes widened, and I thought he was about to push me away, but I was too quick. My lips met his before he could react, catching him almost unguarded.

  I kissed him fast and deep, searching for his tongue with my own, wanting to drink in the taste of spring hiding behind his lips. The Viscount responded, wrapping one hand around my waist and plunging another into my hair. For a moment I was lost, undone, unwound, a slave to the heat of the here and the now.

  I was so wrapped up in him, I’d almost forgotten why I had kissed him in the first place.

  “You’re late,” I said against his mouth, and it was as if I could feel that same bolt of inspiration strike him, too.

  Electric.

  Like a current passing between us.

  Like sparks flying.