“The kids at my last school thought it was pretty shocking,” I protested. “They made my life a living hell when they found out.”

She waved that off. “Yeah, but they were kids.”

“Uh, newsflash: we’re kids.”

“But we’re not normal kids,” she said, and the words hit me like a kick in the gut. “I’m a sixteen-year-old college sophomore who lives on her own, and you’re a Faeriewalker. Normal doesn’t apply to us.”

The truth of her words was hard to deny, although I’d been denying it for a very long time. I’d always tried to be as normal as possible under the circumstances, and I’d always known I’dfallen short. I just hadn’t wanted to admit it.

“Hey, at least we can be not normal together now,” Kimber said, and I couldn’t help smiling.

“Who needs normal?” I responded. “Normal’s boring.”

And, at least for that moment, I actually meant it.

Kimber and I both leapt to our feet when we heard the distinctive sound of the front door opening and closing, then of footsteps coming from the direction of the kitchen.

“It’s just me,” Ethan called before we had a chance to get too worried.

He appeared in the bedroom doorway a moment later, a cocky grin on his face. My heart did a little ka-thump at the sight of him.

“You look terribly proud of yourself,” Kimber said, using the sour tone I’d once thought was the only one she had.

His grin broadened. “I am rather brilliant, if I do say so myself.”

“Which you do on a regular basis.”

He was undaunted by the ribbing. “After I saw Grace this afternoon, I knew someone would be keeping a close eye on the two of us,” he said.

“Wow, brilliant deduction.”

Ethan made a mock pouty-face. “You’re ruining the story.” I could tell by the look on her face how heartbroken Kimber was about that, but she resisted the urge to come out with another quip.

“I figured being constantly watched would rather cramp our style. So I managed to ditch my tail, and then came straight here.” He looked at Kimber expectantly, but she shook her head.

“I’m not in the mood to play your straight man.”

He turned the same expectant look on me, and my heart did another one of those ka-thumps. I couldn’t not give him what he wanted, not when he was looking at me like that.

“How did you ditch your tail?” I asked, and hoped I didn’t sound breathless.

His chest swelled with obvious pride. “I’ve finally got my invisibility spell working.”

“This would be the spell you’ve used to make yourself invisible but that doesn’t work on your clothes?” Kimber asked with a raise of her brows. She grinned at me. “He thought he was so clever, trying to sneak up on me, but the moving shirt, pants, and shoes kind of gave him away.”

Ethan wasn’t daunted. “The same! Only I’ve gotten it to work for the clothes now, too.”

“How would you know? You can see yourself even when you’re invisible.” She glanced at me once more. “That’s why he thought he could sneak up on me even though his clothes weren’t invisible.”

Ethan gave her a haughty look. “The fact that I doubled back and walked right past the bloke who was following me without him even looking up was kind of a dead giveaway.”

“Okay. You managed to ditch the bloke, and the first thing you do is show up here, where you know someone is watching me. How is that helping?”

He gave her an exasperated look. “No one knows I’m here. If you leave the flat, our friends will follow you. Once you’re out of sight, Dana and I will make a run for it.” There was a twinkle in his eye that said this was all great fun to him. I wondered if he was forgetting all about that inconvenient little Spriggan attack last night.

Kimber didn’t like the plan. I don’t think she liked acting as a decoy, and I’m sure she didn’t like leaving me alone with Ethan. But it seemed unlikely we’d find a better way to sneak me out without being seen, so she reluctantly agreed.

She gave me a significant look before she left, and I nodded to let her know I got the message not to let Ethan take advantage of our situation. I figured we’d be too busy running for our lives for him to make a move anyway.

What I hadn’t taken into account was that once we made our great escape and the pressure was off, I would still be alone with him.

Ethan and I waited in Kimber’s apartment until she’d been gone about five minutes. My every nerve was aware of him, but he paid almost no attention to me, his eyes fixed on the slight gap between the drapes that covered Kimber’s window. I sat on the edge of Kimber’s bed, my hands clasped in my lap, my heart beating just a bit too fast. I wasn’t even sure if my nerves were because of Ethan, or because of our escape attempt.

“Let’s go,” Ethan said briskly when he felt sure Kimber had successfully lured her watcher away.

I followed him through the apartment toward the front door, having to almost run to keep up. “Where are we going?” I finally found the guts to ask.

He held the door for me so I could step out first, then closed it and made a subtle hand motion. I heard the lock click shut.

“You’ll have to trust me on this,” Ethan said, taking my hand and leading me down the stairs to the courtyard.

The feel of his hand on mine was enough to strike me speechless, and I barely heard what he said. Of course, he was just holding my hand because he was leading me. It wasn’t an intimate gesture, and it was wishful thinking for me to read anything into it. At least, that’s what I told myself.

His words didn’t register until we stopped right by the section of flagstones that covered the opening into the tunnels.

“Oh, hell no!” I said, and tried to yank my hand out of his.

Of course, he didn’t let go. “We’re not going back to the cave,” he assured me. He mumbled something under his breath, and the flagstones moved aside.

I glanced up at the windows all around us. There were lights on in many of them, since it wasn’t the dead of night like it was the last time we’d gone into the tunnels. “How many people do you suppose are watching us right now?” I asked, giving my hand another experimental tug, but he held on.

“It doesn’t matter. The tunnels are something of an open secret. They’re also vast, so if someone tells Grace we’ve gone into the tunnels, it won’t be enough to go on.”

“What about the Spriggans?” I asked.

“We took care of the problem last night,” he assured me. “They may not have as much trouble sneaking into Avalon as humans do, but I seriously doubt someone would send them in two nights in a row. Now come on! Unless you want us still to be standing here arguing when Kimber and her tail come back.”

To say I didn’t like it was an understatement, but I had to admit I was feeling awfully vulnerable standing out here in the open. Gritting my teeth, I nodded, and Ethan finally let go of my hand so I could climb down the ladder.

The flagstones had sealed off the opening above us by the time my feet hit the floor of the tunnel. It was pitch dark, except for the thin beam coming from the flashlight Ethan held in one hand. I moved out of the way, and Ethan jumped from about halfway down the ladder, landing lightly. A human probably would have at least sprained an ankle trying a maneuver like that.

I had a sudden flash to today’s magic lesson with Kimber, and it didn’t add up with what I’d just seen.

“Last night, you didn’t say any kind of spell to open the hatch,” I said. “Why did you have to tonight?”

“I’m still working on doing nonverbal spells,” he said. “It’s a lot harder, and it takes a lot out of me.” He looked uncommonly serious. “That’s why I couldn’t do a better job of healing last night. If I’d just opened the hatch the easy way…” He shrugged, not finishing his sentence.