Read Faerie Path #6: The Charmed Return for Free Online

tissues and some fresh, iced drinks. She had also covered up with a bright yellow top.
    Anita swallowed, the ice tinkling against her teeth. “Like it?” Jade asked, nodding toward the glass.
    “No. Not much.”
    “Me neither. Some beverage-based experiments are just doomed to failure.” She grinned and lifted a lock of Anita’s hair off her face, tucking it behind her ear.
    Jade looked thoughtfully at her. “So. Do you know why you lost your memory? Did you get a whack on the head or something?”
    “You know about the accident—on the river?”
    “Sure—everyone does. But you were fine after that.” Jade’s eyes widened. “At least, you were walking and talking. But is that what did it? Was it some kind of delayed reaction to the accident? Oh, wow! That would make so much sense. Now I think about it, that’s when you started acting crazy. Jeez, Anita—you’ve got to get to a hospital. You have to be checked out. You probably need a CAT scan or something.”
    Anita looked at her friend. Tell her? Don’t tell her? “Maybe so—but Mum has told me the weirdest stuff,” she said in a rush.
    “You’ve spoken to your mum since you woke up?”
    “Yes. She was there.”
    “And she let you out without getting you examined?” Jade sounded incredulous. “What’s that all about?”
    “According to Mum, there’s nothing wrong with my head.”
    “Ooh-kay. And she knows this how?”
    “Because she says she knows what I’ve been doing for the past two months.”
    “Go on. . . .”
    Anita took a long, slow breath. “Okay, you need to let me tell you the whole thing, right? And you need to not interrupt.”
    Jade made the padlocked-lips-and-thrown-away-key gesture.
    Another breath before the plunge.
    “Well, according to my mum . . .”
    Jade stood up, turning in a slow circle, smiling and waving and calling. “Hello, guys! Nice try!”
    Anita stared at her. “What are you doing?”
    “Waving at the cameras,” said Jade. “I figure they’re out there somewhere, because that story has to be part of one of those reality TV shows where they check out a person’s gullibility factor.”
    Anita stood up, wanting to rush at her friend and shake her. “You think I’m making all this up?”
    Jade rested her hands on her hips. “Do I think that was all crazy talk, or do I think you’re a fairy princess? Well, let me see. . . . Hmmm, which is more likely? Crazy or a princess? Fairy princess or crazy? It’s so hard to choose!”
    “Stop it!” Anita shouted, stumbling forward. “Just stop!”
    Jade backed off a couple of paces. “Oh. My. God. You’re serious, aren’t you? Your mum really told you all that stuff? And she expected you to believe it?”
    “Yes.”
    “And you’re sure she wasn’t teasing you? Come on, Anita—she had to be kidding with you.”
    “She wasn’t. I swear she wasn’t.”
    “Jeez louise!”
    “Exactly! Now you know how I’ve been feeling all day!” She looked hard into Jade’s face. “And there’s something else. Something that’s only just clicked. Mum told me that when we were hiding from the Gray Knights, we were in someone else’s house. A friend’s house. She didn’t say which house—which friend. But I’ve just figured it out.”
    Understanding crept over Jade’s face. “No . . . way . . .”
    “I think so,” Anita said. “I think I was here. I think all that mess you found when you got back here from your holiday—I think that was me.”
    Jade lifted her hands, palms out, fingers spread. “No! This is insane. You’re insane.” She ran for the lounger. “I’ve had enough of this. I’m calling your mum right now.” She picked up her mobile and pressed buttons.
    “I can’t let you do that!” Anita said, moving toward her.
    Jade stepped backward over the lounger, the mobile held to her ear, her other hand stretched out, fingers pointing. “Keep back, Anita. I’m going to make this call, whether you like it or not.”
    Anita