“I can’t believe this is our gym,” Shelly said as she turned in a circle, her eyes bouncing from one corner to the next, taking in all of the decorations. “It’s remarkable.”

  Tara had to agree. Huge backdrops bearing pictures of various cities’ skylines covered the gym’s concrete walls, and hundreds of gold, glittering balloons floated against the ceiling.

  “Wow! You look incredible.” Tucker said as his hands landed on her shoulders and turned her toward him.

  “Thank you,” Tara said as she looked him up and down. A black tux hugged his muscular body. His hair was combed and gelled to perfection, and his eyes glowed with excitement. He looked good.

  “You look handsome yourself,” she replied.

  Tucker’s lips turned up in a smile, taking his boyish good looks to roguishly handsome. “Thank you.” He turned to Shelly, took her hand, and pressed a quick kiss to the top. “You look beautiful, as well, Ms. Smith.”

  Shelly expertly batted her eyelashes at him. “Flattery will get you a dance, and I love to dance, so, do please keep going.”

  Tucker threw back his head and laughed. Had he always looked this handsome when he laughed? He motioned to someone, and Tara turned to see two guys she didn’t recognize walking toward them.

  “Who are they?” Shelly asked. At the same time, Tara said, “Do they go to our school?”

  “No,” Tucker answered and then added, “This is Seth and Hayden. They’re two family friends who live a couple towns over.”

  “Welcome to Buffalo,” Shelly said, shaking their hands. “Nice to meet you.”

  Both guys watched Tara with a little more intensity than was comfortable so she turned away from their stares and motioned to the table with punch and snacks. “Want to grab a drink?” she asked Shelly.

  Shelly must have noticed the weird stares because she nodded and grabbed Tara’s hand. “We’ll be right back, Tuck. Hold our spot on the floor for us.”

  Tara let Shelly pull her along beside her and didn’t speak until they were across the room from the three guys.

  “Was there something off about those two?” Tara asked.

  “If by off you mean, want them a piece of Tara pie, then yes. There was something off.”

  “Eww,” Tara’s face scrunched up and she shook her head. “Don’t ever refer to me as a piece of Tara pie again.”

  “You know,” Shelly said around a bite of brownie, “there’s getting to be a whole lot of don’t-ever rules in this relationship. I’m beginning to feel my creative put-downs being stifled.”

  “God forbid your insult creativity be stifled,” she said dryly.

  “It’s a rull threaft,” Shelly said, her mouth now full of brownie. She swallowed. “Take away a girl’s ability to get creative when she insults her BFFF and what does she have left?” Another bite of brownie.

  “The potential for a healthy relationship?” Tara shrugged.

  Shelly’s mouth fell open in shock, and a piece of brownie fell out.

  “How dare you try and shove healthy relationship changes down my throat when I’m trying to make sure that the weird one stays true.” The outrage was fake, and the stifled laughter at the brownie particles flying out of her mouth didn’t help things. Before long, Shelly was laughing as Tara shoved napkins at her and apologized to those standing too close who were splattered with brownie debris.

  “Wow, that was a delicious brownie,” Shelly said with a sigh once she’d finally controlled herself.

  “Are you sure you could tell? You spit most of it all over the floor and your fellow students.”

  “Meh, they probably deserved it.”

  “A couple of them definitely did,” Tara agreed.

  “I don’t think we can stall any longer. Tucker and his cronies are headed this way,” Shelly said.

  Just then, a popular pop song came out of the D.J.’s speakers, and the people in the gym went crazy.

  “Perfect,” Shelly said as she smiled and looked over at Tucker and his friends. “This is an awesome song! Let’s dance.”

  Tucker grabbed Tara’s hand before Shelly could and pulled her to the dance floor. Tara looked over her shoulder and saw that Seth had offered Shelly his arm and was leading her to the dance floor as well. Hayden had turned to a girl who was walking by and asked her a question as he motioned to the dance floor. She smiled and nodded and then they, too, were headed to dance.

  Thankfully, the song was much too fast to attempt any sort of slow dancing. Not even the awkward kind people who were desperate to touch tried. Once Shelly had caught up to them with her dance partner, she forced them into a group-dancing situation that worked quite well at keeping Tucker and Tara from getting too close. Tara found herself laughing at Shelly’s self-proclaimed Tucker deterrent and wondered why her BFFF was taking the job so seriously.

  They danced that way for three songs. But the next song was considerably slower. Of course, Tucker wanted to keep going, but Tara was out of breath and thirsty. So, she didn’t feel rude declining his offer to stay on the dance floor. They all walked over to the snack table and each got a glass of punch.

  “Why don’t we go take a seat over there?” Tucker pointed to an empty table farthest from the D.J. booth.

  Tara nodded, and Shelly bebopped along beside her talking to Seth.

  “You’re a fantastic dancer,” Tucker told Tara as he pulled out a seat for her.

  “Thanks.” She sat and took a drink of the punch. “You’re not too bad yourself.” Tara turned when she felt a nudge on her right shoulder and saw that Shelly was holding Tara’s phone. She had given it to Shelly to put in her purse when they’d been walking inside. Tara took the phone and looked at the screen. She’d received a text from her curious ass cat.

  * * *

  You look stunning. I have decided there should be no dancing of any kind, anywhere, especially in a dark building set up to be romantic.

  * * *

  Tara smiled. But then frowned. How in the world did he know what she looked like? She tried to surreptitiously glance around the dark room but must have looked ridiculous because Shelly leaned over and bumped her shoulder with her own. “He’s not here, you dork,” she whispered. “I sent him your picture.”

  Tara’s mouth dropped open, but she quickly snapped it shut. “You did what?” Tara asked her friend as she narrowed her eyes on Shelly. Tara could feel Tucker’s attention, but she didn’t turn to look at him. “How did you get his number?” She was trying to keep her words low but didn’t know if she was being successful.

  “He texted me.”

  This time when Tara’s mouth dropped open, it did not shut back on its own. Mostly because she couldn’t believe what she was feeling. She was jealous. She was jealous because Elias texted Shelly. That was just wrong. Of all the people in the world who might betray her, Shelly was not on that list. Letting that realization set in, Tara finally closed her mouth.

  “He said he got my number from the personality test,” Shelly explained.

  “What did he say when he texted you?” Tara asked, though it was out of curiosity this time and not jealousy.

  “It was really sweet, T,” she said, her eyes softening. “He said he realized it was crazy but that he had very deep feelings for you and he was worried about losing you to Tucker. He asked me to make sure he had a fighting chance to win your heart.” Shelly fanned herself as she continued. “Not going to lie, Tara-bear, I was swooning, and he wasn’t even talking about me. Then he asked if I would please send him a picture of you so he could see how lovely he knew you must look. I’m totally rethinking the ass-cat title.”

  Tara’s heart pounded in her chest as she stared at her best friend, though Shelly wasn’t who she was seeing. Tara saw Elias’s face and desperately wished he were the one with her. She wanted to feel her hand in his, his lips on hers, and his arms around her.

  “Everything okay?” Tucker asked as he put his arm on the back of her chair.

  For those few minutes while Shelly was telling her what Elias had texted her, Tucker had ceased to exist.

  “Oh, um, yeah,” Tara stuttered as she looked over at him. Her phone chimed again. She’d set it down on the table after reading Elias’s text. She picked it up and swiped it open, so focused on hoping it was Elias that she didn’t bother to try and keep her screen private. She saw a wall of text.

  * * *

  This is Liam, one of Elias’s brothers. Yes, I snagged his phone. No, the wanker doesn’t know. I’m texting you because I care about him, no matter that he can be a complete ass. I need to make sure you’re not going to break his heart by hooking up with this Tucker guy he keeps going on about. I don’t know you, Tara, but my bro is crazy about you. Remember that while you’re on this date that is supposedly not a date.

  * * *

  Tara read the text several times, her mind struggling to process the words. Elias had lied to her. He’d said that he was an only child. And she couldn’t believe his brother would send her something so blunt when he didn’t even know her.

  “Tara,” Shelly said, interrupting her thoughts. “I’m going to the ladies’ room. Do you want to come with?”

  Tara’s mind was racing. She slowly shook her head. Shelly frowned but then shrugged and got up.

  “I’ll be right back.”

  Tara didn’t see her friend leave. She was still staring at the phone.

  “Tara,” Tucker said, “Can I talk to you? In private?”

  Tara turned to look at him, and her brow drew down at the serious look on his face. Tucker rarely looked serious.

  “Is everything okay?” she asked.

  “Honestly, I don’t know. But it’s really important.”

  “Okay.” She stood up when he did and offered her his hand. Tara took it and let him lead her out of the gym and into the hall of the school.

  Tucker continued to lead her toward the rear of the school and pushed open one of the emergency exits. She sucked in a breath, expecting a blaring alarm to sound. She frowned when nothing happened. Tucker didn’t hesitate. He just marched through the door and out into the night. She followed him to a bench and sat down next to him.

  He turned his body toward her, took a breath, and let it out slowly. “What I’m about to tell you is going to seem crazy, but I’m asking you to have an open mind and hear me out. Can you do that for me?”

  Tara’s heart felt like it was trying to climb out of her throat. Tucker seemed so sincere and earnest that she found herself nodding.

  “Thank you,” he said, sounding relieved. “I’ve decided to tell you this because of that text you just received. I’m sorry I read it, but I saw Elias’s name, and I knew you needed to know how dangerous he is. He isn’t who he says he is. Neither is the man who was with him at the job fair.”

  Tara’s stomach dropped. How would Tucker know anything about Elias and Jax? She already knew she did not want to hear what Tucker was about to say, but she knew she had to force herself to listen. She didn’t want anything to sully how she saw Elias, but burying her head in the sand was not going to change the truth.

  “The world that you know isn’t the only one that exists around us.”

  Tara tilted her head. “Okay, totally not what I thought you were going to say. What the heck are you talking about?”

  “I mean that humans aren’t the only ones inhabiting the earth. In fact, we aren’t even the first beings to inhabit it. There is an entire invisible, supernatural world living in secrecy all around us.”

  “Supernatural,” she said slowly. “Like vampires?” Tara asked, wondering who the bigger idiot was, Tucker or herself.

  Tucker shook his head. “No. Not vampires or werewolves or anything like that. I’m talking about elementals. Invisible beings that are the living manifestation of earth, fire, water and air—the four core elements that make up the earth. They can take various forms like sirens, golems, wood nymphs, and other beings that are a part of the natural world they inhabit.”

  Her eyes widened. “Wood nymphs?” Holy hell fire. Elias hadn’t been kidding. Or maybe he and Tucker were both crazy. Perhaps they were both in on this elaborate scheme together.

  “There are more but that’s not what’s important right now. What is important is that you are in danger. Elias and the elementals he associates with aren’t good. They want you. They plan to kidnap you.”

  “No,” she said automatically as she shook her head. “No, he wouldn’t hurt me.” He couldn’t because if he was capable of that it would destroy her, of that she was certain.

  “I’m sorry, Tara. I didn’t know that you had continued to have contact with him after the job fair. I would have told you sooner to keep you safe.”

  “How do you know all this?” she asked, her eyes narrowing on him.

  “Because I’m a part of that world, too. I can wield water magic.” He pulled a flask from inside his tux and unscrewed the lid. He held his hand over the top and then looked at her. “Don’t freak out, okay?”

  “I make no promises,” she said honestly. She was already freaking out. She just had a lot of experience keeping it contained.

  Tucker began moving his hand in a circle over the top of the flask, and a second later, water began to rise out of it in a steady stream. It continued to rise as he lifted his hand higher. Once all of the water was floating in the air, he set the flask on the table and began moving both his hands in various directions. The water began to weave and bob. It flowed in a circle, and when Tucker threw his hands outward, the water appeared to shatter like glass and spread into tiny droplets suspended in the air. Tara found herself reaching out her hand and poking one of the droplets. It moved slowly as if it were in a thick, viscous liquid.

  “I’m not going to freak out. I’m not going to freak out. I’m not going to freak out,” Tara repeated over and over under her breath as she continued to watch Tucker make the water move. It was fascinating and terrifying at the same time. To know he was capable of something so incredible and that there were more like him out there in the world.

  “Can Elias do this, too?” she asked. She watched as Tucker made a quick motion with his hand. The water sucked quickly back into the flask with a quiet sloshing sound.

  Tucker shook his head. “Not exactly. I have the ability to wield water. Elias uses earth magic.”

  “What does that mean? Uses earth magic? And how do you have these powers, and what in the hell does it have to do with me?” Tara realized that the freak-out she had been so carefully containing was slipping through her grasp. She was headed for a full-on break if she wasn’t careful.

  “Calm down,” said Tucker. His voice was soothing, and she found her breathing slowing in spite of herself. “You’re like us,” he said.

  “No, I’m not.” Tara shook her head as if that would somehow make it true.

  “Yes, you are.”

  “I think I would know if I was capable of making water dance in the air. And I would definitely remember seeing wood nymphs dancing outside my window, or anything else weird like that.” She tried not to think about the fact that her body was impervious to injury or pain. Was that magic? It didn’t seem like something that would qualify as magic. It seemed like biology. Like she had some mutated genetics or something.

  “Five years ago, you were made a Mark by Jax. He is also capable of wielding earth magic. Marking someone is like staking a claim. It means they plan to come get you when you come of age.”

  “Like kidnap me?” Tara’s eyes widened.

  Tucker nodded. “They want to take you and train you to use your magic to harm people.”

  Tara didn’t know how many times she was going to have to say it to get Tucker to believe her. “I DON’T HAVE MAGIC.”

  “That’s not what’s important right now. What’s important is you know the truth. When Jax Marked you, he put a protection spell on you. It was a way to guarantee that nothing will happen to you. It’s how they ensure they can continue to make their…” Tucker hesitated. Tara couldn’t help but lean forward, breathlessly waiting on his next word. “…killers. The people who will serve them and do their dirty work. The spell prevents you from being injured in any way.”

  Tara’s heart pounded painfully in her chest, and she could feel a bead of sweat running down the middle of her back. How could he know about her ability if he wasn’t telling the truth? She knew that Shelly wouldn’t have told him or anyone else.

  “You knew that part, didn’t you? That you couldn’t be hurt?” Tucker asked.

  “Of course I knew. How could I notice that I never got so much as a papercut? But why five years ago? What was significant then that Jax would Mark me or whatever?” She wanted to add “if you’re telling the truth and not just a nut job, but there was no point because there was no reason to lie about any of what he’d told her. Not unless he really was crazy and didn’t know that what he was saying couldn’t possibly be real. As logical as that sounded, it wouldn’t explain how he knew about her ability.

  “Your parents were killed.”

  “No. They died in a car accident.”

  Tucker shook his head slowly. “I’m sorry, Tara, but that’s not really what happened. I mean, yes, they were killed in a car accident, but someone caused it. They were killed by earth elementals, like Jax and Elias.”

  Tara stood suddenly and began to pace. The events of that night came flooding back, memories she usually kept tightly locked away because they were just too painful. “Did Jax kill my parents?”

  “I honestly don’t know if it was him specifically. I just know it was his kind,” Tucker said.

  “Why did they kill them?”

  “Because they wanted you. You caught the attention of an elemental. They are able to tell when a person has the capacity to wield magic. Not all humans can.”

  “So, they killed my parents to make me an orphan so they could take me when I turn eighteen?” Tara asked as she tried to understand everything he was telling her. “And they want me because I will be able to wield magic, somehow, to make me a killer to kill what or whom?”