“The spell didn’t take away your free will, Dana,” he said to the flashlight. “If it had, then you wouldn’t have been able to snap out of it. It was just a simple calming spell. It’s not like it made you do something you hadn’t already agreed to.”
“Okay,” I said, forgetting my plan not to speak to him, “so instead of it being like a roofie, it’s kind of like getting your date drunk in hopes that you’ll get lucky.”
His head snapped up, and he looked at me for the first time. “It’s not that either!” he said, and there was some heat in his words. That seemed to embarrass him, and he looked away again. His voice softened. “I just thought you’d enjoy it more if you weren’t so nervous. I get that it was a stupid thing to do. But there wasn’t any malice in it, and I had no intention of taking advantage of you. I’m sorry I was an idiot.”
My breath whooshed out on a sigh. He looked so dejected it was hard to doubt that he meant what he said. But I wasn’t even close to ready to forgive him yet. “You remember how you said if you tried anything, I’d never trust you again? Well, as far as I’m concerned, you tried something. And I don’t trust you.”
He actually flinched, and I almost felt bad about it. Almost.
“Understood,” he said. “But I presume you’ll accept my help getting out of here even so.”
“And go where?”
“Wherever you want.”
I chewed that one over for a bit. I sure as hell didn’t want to go back to that nasty little room in the tunnels, but I didn’t want to find myself stuck with Aunt Grace, either. Not until I’d had time to consider my options, at least. I had no money or ID, so I still needed help, even though at this point I’d have preferred not to have to depend on anyone. Ethan had just forcibly reminded me that the only person I could ever truly depend on was myself.
“Could you put me up at a hotel incognito?” I asked. It wasn’t what you’d call a long-term solution—I really hoped I’d finally be able to get to my dad tomorrow—but it was better than hiding underground or sleeping on Kimber’s sofa while wondering when Aunt Grace would pop in for a surprise inspection.
I could tell Ethan didn’t like the suggestion one bit, but he answered me mildly enough. “You’d be a lot safer in a less public place.”
“If you think I’m staying in that little rat hole of a room, you’re nuts. So unless you’re going to keep me there against my will, it’s a hotel or nothing.”
He heaved a dramatic sigh. “All right, then. I know a place that’s a bit out of the way. It’s less secure than I’d like, but…” He shrugged.
With a groan of pain, I forced myself to my feet. “Lead the way.”
The inn Ethan took me to was tiny, a bed and breakfast rather than an actual hotel. It was built straight into the side of the mountain, and made rather a pretty picture with ivy clinging to its walls and window boxes bursting with flowers—but no roses of any color, which told me the inn was probably human-run. I was sick of the Fae in general, so I was glad.
Ethan made me wait outside while he got a room. He didn’t think it would be a good idea to have me come face-to-face with the innkeeper, and I supposed he had a point. I was a little young to be renting a room in a BB, and I was American to boot. That would make me just a bit conspicuous.
It was getting close to midnight, and the streets of Avalon were quiet. There were no pedestrians, and only occasionally did a car pass by. Obviously, the nightlife in Avalon was uninspiring.
While I waited for Ethan to tell me it was okay to come in, I crossed the street and once more stood at the guardrail, looking out into the distance past Avalon. It was much harder to see the shifts in the dark, but the way the lights in the distance winked on and off depending on where I focused my gaze, proved they hadn’t miraculously gone away—or been an illusion cast by Ethan.
I turned away when the view started to make me dizzy again. Ethan was just coming out the front door of the inn, and I