It’s #bookqw and a ‘surprise’ brings my teen H&H closer.
More from Chapter 10:
Fern whirled—and found herself nose to nose with Beri. He gaped, his eyes darting wide and frantic around the moonlit bathroom. She tried to move away, but he clutched her shoulders. Tingling washed her arms.
“Where are we?” he whispered, his breath warm on her cheek.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded.
His hands tightened. “I saw you use magic—major magic.” He didn’t sound happy, and his grip—ouch.
She tensed to throw him down, but he released her at the same time, seeming surprised he’d been holding her. He’s frightened, worse than me. Fern backed to the sink. “How could you? You flew away—hey, were you spying on me?”
“I wasn’t,” he said hotly. “I came back to tell—never mind. You said you wouldn’t leave Lady Lark’s cottage.”
“I didn’t leave,” she hissed. “I walked into another room.” Okay, that sounded lame even to her, but she didn’t take it back.
He jerked his thumb toward the window. Shadowy spruce trees loomed all around, outlined against a starry sky. “It’s night. And that is not the Meadows. You canna deny we’re someplace else.”
“Yeah, I suppose. Colorado.” She pushed by him and flipped on the light—and saw herself in the mirror, hair and clothes messed up from her mishap and spending the night in them. Ohmigod, he’s seeing me like this.
“In the United States?” He clasped her upper arm again. “You canna leave before your inspection. Lady Lark asked me to keep an eye on you.”
Crossing her arms, even though he still held on to one of them, she fixed him with a look she hoped would gain her the upper hand. “By following me into the bathroom?”
He glared back. “The magic showed me that you weren’t using it.”
“I got news for you, buddy. In my world, boys get into trouble for stalking girls and peeping at them, or coming into bathrooms after them! It’s illegal. It violates privacy. It’s…” She searched for a way to put it in the terms they used on the island. “It’s breaking the rules.”
Beri pursed his lips. “You don’t have to tell me it was wrong. That, I ken. I didn’t mean to. I was only”—he clenched his jaw—“trying to stop you.”
The spot where his hand held her grew warm, then prickled. When Fern glanced down, he snatched it away, but not before she saw a flash of green.
What the heck?
~~~
Thanks for reading!
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