"Why?"
"It's destiny. You're the one. Zara. Princess. Didn't you ever wonder about what your name means?"
I don't get it. "My mother named me."
"Exactly."
"What do you mean, exactly?"
"You're the continuation of the blood line. Whoever claims you claims the kingdom."
"That's ridiculous."
"No it's not."
He grabs my face with his cold hands. "Do you know what it is to be pixie kissed, Zara?"
I know.
"It turns you," he continues. "It's painful, but if done correctly, the human doesn't die, but she grows. She becomes like us. Some humans, humans like you, already have pixie in your blood. I did."
"Right." It's hard not to be sarcastic. Sarcastic is so much better than scared, anyway. And the thought of having pixie genes terrifies me, God. Is my mom a pixie?
"It makes you more powerful when you turn, and more desirable throughout." lan's fingers tighten on my chin.
"And you're the one who is supposed to turn me?" I ask, trying not to shudder.
"I had to fight Megan for it." He shrugs. "I didn't think she'd let you survive."
I freeze.
"That's right, Megan's a pixie too, and she has her eyes set on the kingdom. You're the only thing in her way, at least, that's what she thinks."
"And the man in the forest…," I whisper.
"He wants to turn you, of course. He must. He's the one who found you, but it's not all finders keepers all the time, is it?"
I swallow hard. "Is he my father?" He can't be my father. My father is some random guy my mom hooked up with in a "foolish moment." My father is not a pixie because that would mean…
Ian laughs. "No one's told you anything, have they? Wolves' cognitive processing is a bit slow. Eagles and tigers aren't that much better."
"But you guys go to school. You… how can you be a pixie? Is everyone in this town inhuman?"
"No. There are plenty of humans here. And there are the weres of course, unfortunately. But we hide our pixieness with a glamour. That's just how it is."
"Are there more of you? In other places?"
"Of course. Shhh…" His other hand cups the back of my head. I can't move. It's like my body just gave up. I try to lift my hands to push Ian away, but they won't go.
"You are such a jerk."
He leans in closer. His mouth is just an inch, the tiniest inch, away from my mouth.
"I love the way you smell." His sentence touches my skin with his breath, and the wound on my hand tingles and I snap out of it somehow. Somehow I can move again. My hands shove him away hard. His face registers his shock. I bash past him and run for the door, throwing myself against it and yanking at it.
"Megan! Let me out! Megan!"
The door won't budge and Ian is next to me in an instant. He throws me across the room and I smash against the wall. A sickening sound echoes throughout the space as something in my arm breaks.
The lower part of my arm dangles at a funky angle. It doesn't hurt. Shock does that for a second so the body can try to save itself, try to run and fight. I power myself back up and dive for the opening door. I yank off my bracelet and throw it at him. It hits his chest and burns through his shirt.
Megan opens the door, smiling. "You having a hard time, Ian?"
He ignores her.
I plead with my eyes.
She ignores me.
"Zara," he says, his voice higher. "Don't make this hard. Now you're hurt. That lowers your chances of surviving. You need to survive."
I race by him, but he's fast. Ian is always so fast. I should have known he isn't human. He grabs me around the waist. Another bone in my arm cracks and my knees buckle. The shock is wearing off and pain slashes through my arm and into my shoulder. I try to grab my arm with my good hand, but he holds on so tightly that I can't move.
"Just let me kiss you, Zara," he says in a lovely convincing voice, like he's asking for an order of french fries at a diner.
"Just do it, Ian," Megan orders.
He hugs me tighter. A scream breaks through the room. It's my scream. The bone sticking out of my arm sends warm, wet blood down my arm. lan's eyes turn wild. He licks my blood. It covers his lips.
"You don't have to say yes," he hisses. "It's just easier that way. It's like when you're at the dentist. The more you fuss, the harder things are, the longer it takes, the more likely you are to get hurt."
"I hate dentists," I say, trying to twist away. My hand, the one that's scraped like a rune, glows. I press it against his face. He screams but doesn't let go.
A growling noise seems to come from somewhere. Maybe me? Ian moves closer. I stare at his blood-covered lips. They are full and cold. I know they're cold.
"No," I say, sobbing from the pain but still trying to wiggle free somehow.
We both fall. The floor smacks against us. Ian's eyes fill with need.
"I need this, Zara," he says. "I need… Please, help me, Zara. I need you to… I can't stand it, just being regular, just being a minion."
Megan yells, "Ian!"
His lips come closer to mine. I push at him, woozy, dizzy. I've lost too much blood. I can barely keep my eyes open.
"No," I whisper. "Please… no."
But his arms are tight and his lips are close and he has this need. And me? I can't do it anymore.
Ducking my head down against his chest to avoid his lips, I fall toward darkness.
The growls aren't human.
I know that.
Even though I can't open my eyes, can't make my mouth form one dumb word, I know that the growls aren't human or pixie.
"She'll be okay, she'll be okay," a voice says. A girl's voice.
The world makes no sense. Snow covers it. I am beneath the snow. That's it. Right? The snow covers me, heavy, blank, white.
A man's voice: "I'll kill him."
The girl again: "She already did."
Something wet touches my cheeks. A washcloth? A tear?
The man again: "This is my fault, all my fault. I didn't protect her."
Nick?
Betty's voice: "Yes, you did. I have to splint her arm. She's lost so much blood."
Betty! Gram!
Someone touches my arm and the pressure startles me back, out of the snow, back into the concrete room. I scream.
"Zara!"
The girclass="underline" "She has a massive lump on her head. And her arm's so broken."
The world fades away again. I hear another voice, my dad's voice.
"Zara, hold on," he urges me. "Hold on."
"Daddy?" someone says. I reach out, looking for something to grab on to, but someone holds my arm down.
"She's hallucinating."
The snow comes down inside me, above me, all around me.
"It's cold," a voice says. "I'm so cold."
The snow falls and falls and falls and I let it bury me. There is nothing else to do. It is so cold.
They won't let me go.
"Zara," one of the voices insists. "Zara, we need to get you out of here. Can you sit up?"
I try to swim through the snow, back up to someplace warm. And I do, but pain hits me, shoots through my arm, pounds in my head. I flutter my eyes and open them, but I can't focus.
"Nick?"
"I'm right here, sweetie."
"My mother calls me sweetie," I croak out. Why is my voice so faint and funny, hoarse yet whisper thin?
Where's my mother?
I gasp as someone puts something on my arm. I try to open my eyes again. "I can't see."
"Did he kiss her?" a girl asks.
It's Issie. lssie? Why is Issie here?
"I don't think so, not for long anyway. I came right in," Betty answers. "Nick, did you see him kiss her?"