no use denying that I was dreaming about Reed. Not with Caden’s ability to see inside my head. “They did. But sometimes he sneaks into my dreams.” I groaned. “That sounds so much worse when I say it out loud.”
“You haven’t told your friends?”
I shook my head. “I’m fine. I just need a drink.”
I tossed the sheet—my makeshift dress, I realized—on the bed.
Caden smiled. “Cute pajamas.”
I was wearing lavender cotton shorts with a matching top. Nothing sexy. My bare feet padded over the carpet. “I’m good now, thanks. You can go.”
He didn’t. “I can take away the effects of the faerie food you consumed last December, if you ask.”
For a price. “I can handle a dream or two, so the next time our connection goes supersonic in the middle of the night, feel free to ignore it.”
I left him in my room and headed to the kitchen to get a glass of pineapple-orange juice. It was the closest thing in our house to Reed’s faerie wine. I’d just poured myself a glass when I heard Caden behind me.
“I’ll do it at a discount. Ten years.”
“No.”
“You’re being stubborn.”
“I’m being smart. I don’t need to owe you more time than I already do. Now get out of here before my dad sees you.” I put the juice back in the fridge and realized this was my chance to question him. “Before you go—”
But when I looked back up, Caden was gone.
Saturday morning, Dad had to replace the water heater at a house on the other side of town. That left me to watch Chase. I tried calling Caden, but he didn’t answer his phone.
“It’s Madison. For the third time.” As if he didn’t know that from my other messages. “Call me when you get this.”
I decided to use the time I was trapped at home to do laundry. I’d folded the whites and was waiting for the jeans to finish drying but still no call from Caden. Isaac called, though.
“What time will your dad be back?”
“By noon, but I need to stop by Kaylee’s. You know, I sort of ditched her yesterday.” And I wanted to make sure Shane hadn’t done anything new to have her wanting to set him on fire again. There seemed to be a lot of that going on—people I knew wanting to set someone on fire.
“How about I pick you up at four?” Isaac asked.
“Perfect!”
We hung up. I walked in the family room to check on Chase and found him bouncing on the couch.
“You’re supposed to be putting away your Matchbox cars while you watch cartoons.” I picked up the remote control and turned the TV off.
“That was the best part.”
The television clicked back on. It had to be Chase’s doing, but he must have thought I’d only changed my mind, because he went back to staring at his show as if nothing unusual had happened. I hit the off button again.
“Hey!” he exclaimed.
When I heard the faint sound of the TV powering back up, I quickly canceled Chase’s unintentional spell and acted as naturally as I could. “Hey, nothing. Promise me you’ll clean up your mess before you turn the TV back on.”
“I promise.” His words were loaded with sarcasm, but when he went to move closer to the TV as if to turn it on himself, he stumbled over his own feet. “Fine.”
He might not have known what stopped him from disobeying my wish, but I did.
I smiled, wishing all my problems were so easily solved.
Kaylee was way too happy to pick me up and bring me to her house. Her parents were out for the afternoon. Shane sat on the edge of the coffee table in the family room playing Xbox. We hadn’t even been there two minutes when Kaylee grabbed her keys.
“Your turn to zombie-sit,” she announced.
“Whoa!” I popped up from my seat on the couch. “Where are you going?”
“To spend some quality time with Josh before he dumps me.” She grabbed her coat and made a beeline for the foyer.
I got there just as she opened the front door. “He’s not going to dump you.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve been cooped up keeping an eye on Shane while you’ve been having fun. It’s my turn to get out.” She raced to her car.
“You’re the one who brought him back to life!”
She didn’t hear me, though.
I blew out a breath, sending my bangs flying. “Great, I go from brother-sitting to zombie-sitting.” I looked at the back of Shane’s head. “Or whatever you are.”
I took a