I forced an unsteady smile to my face. "My knight in shining armor."
"I kind of like the sound of that." He leaned over and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. "You sure you're okay?"
"I'm fine."
When he took off for class, I pressed back against the locker door and slowly slid to the floor. I gathered my knees close to my chest and tried to breathe, before scrambling through my backpack for my bottle of water. I took two Tylenol to combat my headache.
There was only one thing on my mind then. Michael.
Before, when he'd followed me into the park, I'd been afraid of him. I was still afraid, but there was something else there now as well.
"I need to protect her," he'd said.
No. I didn't want to think about this. Any of it. I pushed all thoughts of Michael out of my mind and began thinking about Romeo and Juliet.
Romeo had been hot, dangerous, and mysterious, too. He was also totally obsessed with Juliet.
But that story hadn't ended so well.
I had everything I wanted, finally, after sixteen years of life. Other than the mountains of snow, life in Erin Heights could not be better. I was dating Chris now, who was great and brave and all defensive of me, which was nice-during his little confrontation with Michael he'd practically announced to the world we were officially seeing each other, hadn't he? I wasn't going to overthink things and chance screwing everything up.
My life was good. And I wouldn't let letter-writing absentee fathers or crazy, cute stalkers ruin it for me.
After the test, which wasn't half as bad as I'd expected- after all, I had seen the movie version with Leonardo DiCaprio at least three times-the rest of the day was a blur. The buzz in school mainly concerned the formal tomorrow night. The social committee was already decorating the gymnasium to look like a winter wonderland. I took a quick peek as I passed by on my way out of the school at four o'clock, and I saw large white paper snowflakes, a ton of tinsel, and what might have been a ten-foot-tall cutout of a snowman.
There had been no sign of Michael since that morning. I figured Chris had managed to get the guy to leave me alone once and for all.
So why was that thought oddly disappointing?
I took a moment to try to hear his voice in my head, like what had happened earlier, but there was nothing. I knew I hadn't gotten that much sleep last night.
It had to have been my imagination, not actual telepathy.
This was also oddly disappointing.
I touched my new bracelet. So many questions and not enough answers.
"Need a ride home?" Melinda pulled up alongside me in her red VW Beetle. Two of her other friends, Larissa and Brittany, were also in the car. "It's freezing out there."
She was still so sure that the whole thing with Michael had been a practical joke and I hadn't tried to convince her otherwise.
I smiled at her. "Thanks, but I need the exercise. I'll be home in ten minutes."
Ten minutes because I was planning on taking my shortcut. If Michael was still around, I figured I might find him there.
"Everything okay?" Melinda asked. "You look way distracted."
I almost laughed at her major understatement. "You could say that. But I'm fine."
She didn't look convinced. "Call me later, okay?"
I promised I would and she drove away.
Currently Melinda was obsessed with beating out another girl for Winter Queen and it was a huge deal for her. I was sure our phone convo later would revolve mostly around that subject.
Since my mom and I'd moved around so much in my life I'd always had acquaintances and sometimes friends, but I'd never had a real best friend I felt like I could confide all my secrets to. Even though I felt comfortable with Melinda, I wasn't ready to tell her about Michael. Frankly, I didn't even know what I'd tell her that didn't sound crazy and paranoid.
When I crossed the bridge over the river in Hungry Hollow I noticed that Michael definitely wasn't there.
But somebody else was.
There was a big guy standing in my path, feet spread, arms crossed over his chest.
Now, when I say big, I mean big. Like huge, massive, tanklike. His hair was cropped so short he looked practically bald. He wore black jeans, big army boots, and a black sleeveless shirt. Despite the fact that it was freezing-I'd worn my mittens, hat, and scarf today-he didn't look cold. He stood, blocking my path, with his hands on his hips.
I stopped walking when I saw him.
"I've been waiting for you," he said.
My eyes widened enough that I thought I might get frostbite on my eyeballs. "I think you have the wrong person."
"You're Nikki Donovan, aren't you?"
I shook my head slowly as my gut began to twist with dread. "Nope. Not me. I know her, though. She should be coming by any minute."
He didn't move. "No, you're her. You can't lie to me.".
I swallowed hard. "What do you want?"
"What do I want?" He tilted his head to the side. "I want to kill you, Princess."
A fist of panic clutched at my chest when the guy produced a knife with a big silver curved blade and moved closer to me.
I knew I had to run, but I couldn't move. I couldn't think. I couldn't even find the air to scream.
And then suddenly Michael appeared, walking down the path opposite to me as if he were simply out for a leisurely stroll, his hands in the pockets of his zipped-up sweatshirt. Just a regular guy minding his own business.
Except for his amulet. It was out and it glowed a vibrant green. He pushed the hair off his face and I realized that his eyes glowed with the same color.
His eyes were literally glowing.
When he was ten feet from the thug, Michael stopped walking. "Don't get any closer to the princess. Consider this your one and only warning."
The huge guy glanced over his shoulder. "Mind your own business, Shadow scum."
Shadow! What was that supposed to mean? Did they know each other?