Lullaby (The Fable Series, Book 2)

Chapter Thirty

And as usual, Felix is standing back, coolly observing the others from afar.

"Hey," I say, closing the front door behind me. "Should we lock it? We're not going far, right?"

"Naw, we're goin' pretty far," Lyall says. He stands up, and I try to figure out where we're going from his outfit, but it's not easy. He's dressed sort of strangely, which is actually normal for him I guess – yellow shorts, sandals and a nautical stripe sweater, with a grey wool beanie. Unintentional fisherman chic. Too cute.

"So we need to get moving now," Kitty says, charging past Alastaire down the steps.

"But where?" I say, looking around the group. "Why won't anyone tell me? Am I the only one who doesn't know where we're going?"

"Trust me Ash, you're gonna love it," Lyall says with a smile.

"You can't just give me a clue?" I ask, trying to do my best puppy dog eyes.

"Naw," Lyall says. "It's better as a surprise."

"Come on guys!" Kitty yells, already at the forest's edge. Her skin is glowing like alabaster in the fading starlight, and I watch as she disappears into the trees like a shaft of light cutting the gloom.

I look up at the sky, realizing it's no longer the same inky black it was when I woke up. Far, far away, the sun is rising, still minutes away, melting around the edges of the darkness like a candle flame licking at a sheet of paper.

It's just enough light to see with, even under the dark cover of the forest.

"Let's go!" Ben yells, jumping up and dashing down the steps, while Elliot follows with a backpack.

"Come along Cupcake," Alastaire says, grabbing my hand and pulling me down the steps with him.

No sooner have I reached the path than I feel myself whisked away from Alastaire, my hand torn out of his grasp in seconds. It takes me a moment to realize that I'm in Felix's arms, being carried bridal style across the clearing, just like he carried me the other night after rescuing me from Cameron.

"Excuse me?! What do you think you're doing?" Alastaire shouts, but Felix doesn't slow his stride – if anything, he seems to walk faster.

"She's still tired," Felix shouts back. "She only just woke up. And she hurt her foot in the forest the other day. I'm not letting that happen again."

Then, more quietly so that only I can hear, he says, "you shouldn't be putting too much pressure on it anyway."

I'm about to speak up and tell him that my foot's totally fine, but I think better of it and decide to keep quiet.

It wouldn't exactly be easy to explain how a deep wound like that mysteriously disappeared overnight.

So I close wrap my arms around Felix's neck and close my eyes, wishing I could be walking alongside Lyall instead. I wanted to wish him happy birthday. And out of all the boys, he's the one most likely to slip up and tell me where we're going.

Damn Felix and his intense, controlling stubbornness. Damn the stupid foot thing. Damn his warm chest and how comfortable this is and two hours of sleep and...and...

*****

"Time to wake up," a voice whispers in my ear.

I leap out of Felix's arms, onto the hard gravel of the Forest Park parking lot.

"Woah, look whose alive and kickin," Ben says, nudging me. "Who's Evan? You said his name a lot."