“What do you mean, sweet?”

He licked his bottom lip one more time. “You taste like honey.”

“Honey?”

“Yeah. I thought I was going nuts the day…well, you know, that one day. But it was the same today. Your mouth is really sweet.” He paused for a second, then grinned. “Not like honey—like nectar. That makes more sense.”

“Great. Now I’m going to have to explain that to everyone I kiss for the rest of my life unless it’s you or…or another faerie.” She’d almost said Tamani’s name.

Her fingers flew to the ring around her neck.

David shrugged. “Then don’t kiss anyone except me.”

“David…”

“I’m just offering up the obvious solution,” he said, hands up in protest.

She laughed and rolled her eyes. “I guess that’ll keep me from being one of those girls who kisses everyone.”

David shook his head. “You could never be like that. Your feelings are too soft.

You’d worry that you were breaking the heart of every guy you kissed.”

She wasn’t sure if he meant that as a compliment or not, but it felt that way.

“Um, thanks. I think.”

“So what is that?” he asked, pointing to her necklace. “You keep playing with it.”

Laurel dropped the ring down the front of her shirt. It was like a talisman that sent her thoughts straight to Tamani. She wondered if Tamani had known before he gave it to her that it would do that. She was a little surprised when the thought didn’t irritate her. “It’s a ring,” she finally confessed. “Tamani gave it to me.”

David looked at her strangely. “Tamani gave you a ring?”

“It’s not like that.” Guys. “It’s a baby ring. I guess all faeries get them when they’re little.” Against her impulse to keep the ring her own special secret, she pulled the chain out from under her shirt and showed David the tiny circlet.

“That’s really pretty,” he said grudgingly. “Why’d he give it to you?”

Laurel tried to shrug his question away. “I don’t know. He just wanted me to have it.”

David looked at it for a long time before dropping it back onto her chest.

Chapter 16

“JUST IN TIME,” MOM SAID AS LAUREL WALKED IN THE door from school the next day. “The phone’s for you.”

Laurel took the phone. She’d just left David at the corner. Why would he call her already? “Hello?” she asked questioningly.

“Hey, Laurel. It’s Chelsea.”

“Hi,” Laurel said.

“Are you busy? It’s a sunny day, so I thought you might like to go see the Battery Point Lighthouse.”

Laurel had heard of the historic landmark but hadn’t yet seen it. “Yeah,” she said. “I’d love to.”

“Pick you up in five?”

“Great.”

“Going somewhere with David?” Laurel’s mom asked after she hung up.

“Chelsea, actually. She wants to go to the lighthouse. Is that okay?”

“Sure, that’s wonderful. I’m glad to see you branching out. You know I like David a lot, but you should have more friends. It’s healthier.”

Laurel went to the fridge and opened up a soda while she was waiting.

“I got your midterm grades in the mail today,” her mom said.

The soda seemed to stick in Laurel’s throat. Up until she blossomed, she’d been doing quite well in school, but she wasn’t sure how much of that she’d been able to keep up when her life went crazy.

“Three As, two Bs. I’m pretty happy with that,” her mom said with a smile. Then she laughed and added, “Honestly, part of me is proud of myself. I must have done an okay job for you to be doing this well.”

Laurel rolled her eyes as her mom handed her the grades. The B in bio wasn’t surprising, but then neither was the A in English. All she had to do was make it until the end of the semester now. Shouldn’t be too hard. The worst was definitely behind her.

“Why’s Dad’s car here?” Laurel asked.

Her mom sighed. “Dad’s sick. He’s been sick all day. Missed work, even.”

“Wow,” Laurel said. “He hasn’t missed a day of work in forever.”

“Yeah. I made him stay in bed all day. He should be better tomorrow.”

She heard a horn honk in the driveway.

“There’s Chelsea,” Laurel said, grabbing her jacket.

“Have fun,” her mom said with a smile.

Laurel slid into the backseat of Chelsea’s mom’s car and Chelsea turned and beamed at her. “Hey! The lighthouse is awesome; it’s totally classic. You’ll love it.”

Chelsea’s mom dropped them off in the parking lot. “I’ll be back in about two hours,” she said.

“Bye,” Chelsea called, waving.

“Where now?” Laurel said, looking out at the ocean.

“We walk,” Chelsea said, pointing to an island about five hundred feet out from the shore.

“We’re walking to an island?”

“Technically it’s an isthmus when the tide is low.”

Shading her eyes from the sun, Laurel squinted out at the island. “I don’t see a lighthouse.”

“It’s not like the lighthouses you see in paintings. It’s just a house with a light on the roof.”