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hearing my best friend defend him . I knew I was overreacting, but I
couldn’t stop the angry hurt that came every time I thought about
Nikolas leaving the same day we got here. After everything we went
through, he couldn’t even be bothered to say good-bye.
    A soft hissing pulled me from my silent rant. I
looked at the Coke bottle a few inches from my hand, and gasped at
the brown soda bubbling up as if it had been shaken. My hand
closest to the bottle was crawling with blue static, and sparks
leapt from my fingers to the bottle that looked ready to
explode.
    I jerked my hand back and tucked it under my
other arm, and almost immediately, the soda began to settle down.
What was happening to me? Whatever it was, it was getting
worse.
    “Hello? You still there?”
    “Yeah, sorry.” I tried to keep the tremble
from my voice. “I got distracted for a minute. I need to tell you
something.”
    “Okaaay,” he said warily. “You haven’t been
selling troll parts on the black market have you?”
    “Roland!”
    “Sorry.”
    I sucked in a long, slow breath. “You know
how my friend Aine said my Fae powers might start to grow? I think
it’s happening – or something is going on anyway.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “I don’t know. It’s like my power is on the
fritz or something.” I described the little flare-ups I’d been
having, including the strange cold spot in my chest. “I almost made
a bottle of Coke explode a few minutes ago, just by touching
it.”
    “Hmm.” He was quiet for a minute. “Maybe it’s
tied to your emotions.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “You haven’t been very happy since you went
there, and you got mad when I mentioned Nikolas. Faeries are
supposed to be, like, happy all the time, right? Maybe being
negative screws with your Faerie magic.”
    I snorted. “Great explanation.”
    “No seriously. Or it could be hormones. It’s
not that time – ?”
    “Stop! Do not go there if you know what’s
good for you!” My face really was flaming now.
    Smothered laughter reached my ears, and I
called him a few not-so-nice things, which only made him laugh
openly. The thing about Roland is that it’s really hard to resist
his laughter.
    “Feel better?” he asked when we’d both
finally stopped cracking up.
    “Yes.” I wiped my eyes. “You’re an ass.”
    “But you love me anyway.” His voice grew more
serious. “I’m sure this thing with your power is nothing. You’ve
been through a lot lately, and it’s probably messing with you.”
    “Maybe you’re right.” What he said made
sense. This had only started up since I came here. I wasn’t
miserable, but I wasn’t happy either.
    “Of course I’m right. I’m not just a pretty
face, you know.”
    “No, you have that huge ego, too.” I felt
lighter than I had in days.
    “Well, my job here is done.” He heaved a
weighty sigh. “Now I have to study. We have a chem test tomorrow,
and I still
have to graduate from high school.”
    Chemistry was Roland’s worst subject. It used
to be mine, too, and we used to help each other cram for tests.
Chemistry was one thing I did not miss. “Good luck on the test, and
thanks again for going to the cave for me.”
    “Anytime. No, scratch that. Please don’t ask
me to do that again,” he pleaded. “Talk to you tomorrow.”
    I hung up and rubbed my damp hands against my
thighs. The static was gone and the Coke was back to normal, but
that didn’t lessen my anxiety. My power was acting weird, and I had
no idea what to do about it. I wished Aine was here, or Remy. He
was so knowledgeable and would have helped me figure this out. I
let out a ragged breath. I missed him so much.
    “Enough of that.” I pushed away from the desk
and glanced at the clock. It was a little early for dinner, but I
had to get out of this room and stop wallowing in self-pity. I
grabbed my laptop, tucked it under my arm, and headed down to one
of the common rooms. There were three such rooms where people