"Please tell me you're joking."

"Why would I be joking?"

I thought back to high school when Leah tormented me. I'd walk through the halls with a paperback novel in one hand on my way to the front gates after school. I'd be that person with her nose stuck in a book on my walk home from school.

Leah would be the one to knock the book out of my hands or toss it in the mud or to persuade the boys to do it for her. She was horrible. And now she's not human? She's a dark faerie?

"What do you mean she's a dark faerie?"

He looked behind us and spoke in hushed tones. "Well, the city is very close to my world, the veil is thin here. A lot of faeries come to the human world to live here. Maybe she is too. She's not of the human world, Em. She probably has dark power as well."

"That would explain a lot," I mused. Damien had said plenty of times of his nature, that he wasn't the exception at being kind to me, I was. He was dark as well, whatever that meant. Yet for everything he ever said about himself and his 'true nature', I'd only ever seen him treat others with respect. "Do you think she knows?"

He shrugged. "I don't know." He looked resolutely at the door of the classroom she was currently sitting in. "I must make myself known to her."

I put my face in the palm of my free hand. "Of course, you must."

Then he looked at me with a look I hadn't seen in months. He was amused. Actually amused.

My heart skipped a beat. I hadn't seen him this excited since ...

Since before his father died.

How long had it been? Six? Eight months?

He had disappeared for over two months–far longer than I'd ever gone without seeing him. He wouldn't answer his phone, never sent a text. I thought something terrible happened to him.

But as it turned out, it wasn't him, it was his father. A victim of a terrible accident while Damien was away.

Damien had no one else.

It didn't even occur to me that something could happen to his family and not him.

It was during winter break when I saw him again.

My parents went out for date night and I stayed home alone, watching TV with our dog curled up on the couch next to me. It'd been snowing heavily that night which prompted me to turn on the fireplace in the living room.

It was nice and cozy under the blanket when I heard our dog start barking at the slider door. I leapt in fear thinking it was an intruder, but it was Damien, standing outside at the slider like a shadow.

I ran to him, ready to unleash a tirade of comments at him for making me worry about him, but when I saw him up close, the words died in my throat.

He had no jacket, his hands were at his sides limp as he held a large hat, and when I looked into his eyes they seemed to be grey.

I quickly opened the slider as fast as my fingers would let me. "Damien."

He didn't move.

I grabbed his hand and almost recoiled. They felt like ice.

"How long have you been standing there? Come inside, hurry." He let me lead him inside and set him by the fire. After closing and locking the slider, I closed the curtains and ran to the couch grabbing the blanket.

I placed the heavy blanket over his shoulders and rubbed his shoulders to warm them. "What's wrong, Damien? Is everything all right?"

He ran a hand through his hair and gave a small, pained chuckle. "My father's dead."

I could feel my heart squeeze in my chest.

Exhausted, he fell to his knees in front of me and hugged my middle tightly. As he did, he dropped the hat he had in his hand making a loud metallic sound as it fell and rolled to the carpet. I'd never seen him so devastated.

I hugged him as best as I could. My father had a heart attack once and while he turned out to be fine, the hours between when it happened and when we found out he was all right were excruciating. I couldn't imagine how Damien must have felt like to lose the only parent he had left. "I am so sorry, Damien. I am so sorry."

I dropped to my knees too and hugged him as tightly I could, trying to will some of my strength to him.

He smothered his face in my neck and took a deep breath. "I've been trying to come back-"

I shushed him like a mother to a child. "It's alright, don't worry. I'm here."

At those words, he squeezed me tighter.

I looked down at what he dropped and stared. It was more jewelry than I had ever seen in my life. Dark red rubies glistened in the firelight etched in the heavy, antique gold.

A crown.

That was when I learned that Damien was now King.

He hadn't been the same since and now-

The light was back in his eyes.

And it was because of Leah Porter.

"You have to help me."

"What?" I screeched. "I will do no such thing!"

He grabbed my elbow and, before I knew it, we were in my bedroom. My feet swayed beneath me making me lose my balance and fall on my knees. My stomach was queasy and my head was spinning.

It was how the room transformed right when we 'transported' as I called it. It would turn fuzzy at the sides, then spin like I was watching the dryer run. It always made me feel sick. It was too disorienting.

I almost dry heaved. "Oh, my God. I'm going to puke."

He sighed loudly. "Don't be such a baby-"

"I hate you."

He plopped down on my bed and placed his elbows on his knees. "You gave me no choice. You were being too loud back there. It's not time to meet her yet."

The nausea slowly began to subside. "I'm still not used to that–you know you have to warn me."

"Now," he rubbed his hands together. "I need you to help me meet her."

I fell to the floor on my side, dropping my backpack on the other side. I groaned staring at the ceiling. "Why her? Anyone but her."

His face came into my peripheral. "Why not her? What's wrong with her?"

"She's a terrible person for one thing."

"Why?"

I sighed placing my hands on my face, hiding. How could I tell him? How could I tell him that she'd been my tormentor for years?

I hadn't cared when I was in high school. Sure, I was frustrated but nothing ever came of it. I was too focused on finishing my school to get to college.

A lot of good that did me. Somehow Leah was in some of my classes in college, and while it wasn't as bad as high school (she'd done some growing up, apparently) she could still be mean.

And even if I did tell Damien what happened, what would come of it?

Nothing.

This was the first time I saw him motivated towards something. Maybe setting them up wasn't a bad idea. She seemed like she'd done some growing up, at least.

I knew I was going to regret agreeing as soon as the words stumbled out of my mouth. "Fine, I'll help."