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vampire or werewolf snack.
    In chapter two, for no apparent reason, they would fall madly in love, get all kissy and decide that they’d just have to get married exactly right that instant. I’d always wondered why the authors left out the main part of the story—how they’d gotten to know each other.
    After watching my mother in real life, I knew real relationships took time, time to build up trust.
    It was time that I didn’t want to bother with. I knew I’d never live long enough in one place anyway.
    I sighed again.
    I'd never had to worry about it anyhow. Boys had never exactly beaten my door down. They'd never really noticed me. And I’d never really given them a second glance, either. My time was consumed with watching out for my mother, Maya, and helping her pick up the pieces after her latest deadbeat boyfriend would ride off into the sunset without her.
    It was then that I recalled what Rafael and Jareth had talked about in the mirror.
    What were they afraid would happen?
    Were they afraid Rafael would fall in love with me?
    I laughed aloud at the thought.
    No one like Rafael would be interested in me .
    He was intriguing, sophisticated, and strikingly handsome. I’d never thought that a guy could pull off wearing glitter and black eyeliner before, but incredibly, he did, and did it very well. And it didn’t hurt that his entire physique looked like it was sculpted out of marble.
    No, a guy like that had his pick of girls, and I wouldn't even make the lineup.
    He was just a distraction. He wasn’t even human. And he was a prince. A prince of fairies, but still a prince.
    I laughed at my reflection in the mirror. “You’re turning into a snarky, sarcastic heroine yourself, Sydney,” I said aloud. “Standing here and drooling over a boy.”
    The squeak of Jerry’s hamster wheel brought me back to reality. The little gray mouse was sitting on his haunches, his tiny black eyes riveted on mine.
    “I missed you, Jerry,” I said, reaching into the cage to tickle his tummy.
    He flipped on his back, closing his eyes with a blissful expression, and I picked him up, kissing his little pink, twitching nose before setting him gently back on his wheel.
    Rising up on his haunches again, he sniffed at me, but something about him struck me as odd. I couldn’t put my finger on it. I bent closer and just stared into his black eyes.
    Those eyes seemed ageless, wise, and far beyond the intelligence of a mouse.
    A shiver ran down my spine.
    Catching my thoughts, I rolled my eyes.
    I was clearly exhausted. And it didn’t help that everything of the past few days was bordering on the absurd. It was no small wonder I was starting to look at even Jerry differently.
    “Jerry, I’m silly,” I confessed, shrugging out of my bizarre Fae outfit and into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Wiping the makeup off my face, I shoved my feet into my shoes, threw an oversized sweatshirt on and then remembered Ajax.
    A little embarrassed that I’d just changed in front of him, I glanced sideways and was relieved to discover he’d stretched out on my bed and had fallen asleep, all four paws in the air.
    Annoyance quickly supplanted the relief. Some guard dog he was. He was hardly better than Tigger!
    “Time to go, Ajax!” I snapped.
    I had to repeat his name three times before he begrudgingly lifted one eyelid, acting like it was the hardest thing he’d ever done. After four more times, he gave me a dirty look, heaved a loud sigh, and finally slid off the bed.
    He reluctantly padded after me as I returned to the kitchen where Al stood next to Betty, patiently watching her write a list on one of the old receipts she saved for scratch paper.
    They smiled as I helped myself to a spoonful of peanut butter and leaned against the counter. Reading her scribbles, I wondered why we needed three rolls of duct tape, goggles, and several rolls of plastic sheeting, but I didn’t ask.
    “And don’t forget the Lysol, Betty. Three cans should do