on that just as soon as I finished with the bookstore.
Chapter Nine
We spent a couple of hours in the bookstore, followed by another hour window shopping as I made mental notes of which stores I wanted to visit again when I wasn’t so tired. The high I felt in the bookstore was fading fast until we passed by the fountain.
“Any history to this?” I asked Jordan when I stopped to sit on the edge of the stone before dipping my fingers into the water. Once again, the tingles ran through me, and I shuddered at the overwhelming feeling of emotion.
“It’s said to have been a gift to the guardians from Queen Taliah, your grandmother. How come?”
Hmm, I wondered if the stronger feelings were because of who had given the fountain to the people or simply another effect of being connected to the water as Jordan had thought earlier.
“It’s stunning is all.”
She raised a brow. “Then why is most of your arm submerged in the water like you need it more than your next breath?”
Oops. Standing back up, I shook my hand out. “Just a warm day. No reason to overthink anything,”
She mumbled something as she tugged me along, but I missed it, too busy smiling at the people instead of shying away from them to ask what she’d said. Not being so worried about what others thought of me was a whole lot easier than stressing about it.
When we got to the edge of town, Jordan turned to me with a challenging smirk on her face. “Want to port?”
“Uh, walking hasn’t killed me yet.” Then I realized I didn’t need to be afraid of anything. I’d seen plenty of people disappearing and reappearing while we’d been out. “Actually, why not? Let’s do it.”
“Really?” Jordan was beaming with excitement. “For the first time, I won’t even make you do any of the work. All you have to do is close your eyes and not throw up on me.”
If queasiness was part of the process, maybe I needed to rethink saying yes so soon. I was pretty sure my body wasn’t yet adjusted to the new world, and I didn’t want to embarrass myself by getting sick with something that seemed so easy for everyone else.
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I exhaled and closed my eyes as I considered telling her never mind. Though, before I could voice my thoughts, Jordan latched on to my arm and my subsequent shout was cut off right before I stumbled onto my parent’s front yard.
“Are you freaking kidding me? You truly are Satan,” I grumbled as I rolled over, taking my time to stand back up since my equilibrium was seriously thrown off balance. On the plus side, I was only dizzy and had no desire to throw up.
“You know it was fun, and I didn’t have time for you to overanalyze it. Some things we’re just going to have to rip the band-aid off with.” She shrugged, then left me on the ground and headed into the main house.
I went to the guest house since I still had bags in my hand from the books I’d purchased, or borrowed. I had no idea, really. The whole idea of a barter system was a lot harder to wrap my head around than Jordan made it seem.
Dropping them off quickly, I double-checked my hair wasn’t a wreck from the porting that still had me feeling queasy, then headed to my parents’. When I walked in through the back door, my insides warred with each other at the sight of Ryland sitting at the dinner table with my parents and Jordan. I was equal parts eager and nervous, because our interactions had been so off-kilter so far.
“There she is.” Mom gleamed, but she seemed to be the only one smiling.
“What’s going on?” I asked as I took a seat next to Dad, furthest from Ryland.
Nobody answered me at first, and the tension in the room was palpable when Dad finally spoke. “Ryland brings news from the Otherworld. He was there for an errand this afternoon and met with some of our liaisons.”
“So, what did they say?” I asked, because he wasn’t getting to the point on his own fast enough for my liking.
Ryland cleared his throat but wouldn’t meet my eyes. Instead, he focused on Jordan as he explained. “Alaryk, the dark fae with the vendetta against you has made a public appearance and his first threat. He said if the Atwater heir isn’t either dead