Darkest Day (35 page)

Racing through the doors and into the sunshine, blinking to get my eyes to adjust, my heart pounded—on the verge of exploding. I needed to find her. Her. Mac. The one who’d told the truth despite all the flaws. The one who’d stood up to the Council. Who’d made her own choice.

I had to get home.

How can I even remember this?

Hands covering my still unfocused eyes against the California sun, I stopped.

I needed her. The girl who’d worn a sheer dress in a ritual on top of Turner Pointe only because her mom had—a mom she hadn’t even known at that time. The girl whose sister we shared.

Who loved me like no one else.

Mac.

“Mac,” I said on a hoarse whisper, my chest tight.

“What?”

My head popped up. More blinks brought a face into view.

Not just any face.

Mac’s.

I grabbed her by the waist, pulled her in to me and kissed her hard. When she kissed me back, I knew I hadn’t dreamt the last year of my life.

Mac.

Her lips merged with mine again, a feeling I couldn’t believe I’d actually forgotten, so soft and pliable, giving, and mine.

Mine.

“Mac,” I said against her. “Mac.” We stood, our arms still around each other. “You’re here.”

“You remember me?” She blinked, confusion running through her eyes.

I nodded. “The sketch you did of me last fall. I was staring at it and saw your name and everything came rushing back. All of it. It’s like I never forgot and now … you’re here.” My palms cupped her cheeks. “Oh, my god, you’re here? You’re going to Stanford? Why? For what? How? I—”

“Yo, Winford,” Mark said from behind me. “Dude, how did you meet such a hottie in the sixty seconds I’ve been staring at half-naked statues and pretty pictures?” He pushed around me and held out a hand. “I’m Mark. Winn’s roommate.”

“And I’m Jamie, Mark’s
girlfriend
,” Jamie said, extending a hand as well.

Mac took them both and shook before returning her hand to mine. “I’m Mac.”

I tugged her close and said, “My girlfriend. I didn’t talk about her because I didn’t realize she’d changed her mind about coming here.”
Or that she’d be coming here at all. Or that I’d remember her. How did this happen? Why?

“Ooh! Then you gotta see this picture by this dude. It looks like our Winford here.” Mark dropped a hand on my shoulder.

“I know it well,” Mac said. “And it’s not a dude. I drew that.”

Mark snickered as Jamie cooed. “Wow,” she said. “You let her draw you? You know how erotic that is?” She slid up Mark’s body as if they might need a private room within seconds.

“Yeah, and on that, we’re outta here. Gotta go check out my psych class. Think the building’s clear on the other side of the whole campus.” Mark whisked Jamie away.

“You probably won’t want to go back to your room for a while,” Mac said. “Assuming that ‘finding the other building’ is code word for ‘we’re going to go have sex’.”

I laughed as I kissed her again. With my face in front of hers and my palms to her cheeks, I said, “How is this possible?”

“I don’t know.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

She grinned up at me. “Because I didn’t know if I’d get all of what I wanted. I thought I might have to compromise, you know? And I didn’t want to get your hopes up. Or mine.”

I thought through what had happened, all the deals Mac made. “What if it hadn’t worked out?”

Mac smiled—an expression I missed so much. “Then, I’d have missed you for the rest of my life.”

I kissed her again and held her tight. “What if I didn’t remember? I mean, I’m not supposed to, right?”

She shrugged. “Rules are made to be broken, I guess, right?”

My laugh burst from me. That one line had been the bane of my existence for the last nine months. “Oh, my god.”

“What?” She stood against me, her hand running up my chest. “You look like you had one of those light bulb moments.”

I shook my finger and separated us, holding her hand as I stared into her eyes. “Alina.”

“What about her? She’s off doing something in fairy lala land now.” Mac closed the distance and ran her hand up my chest again.

“Remember after prom? When Maddie made me all—”

“Wonkified? Yeah. Of course.”

I kissed her before I said, “Alina said I had a strong mind. She said, ‘Sometimes, that’s all that’s needed.’ And I’d asked her if she meant memory loss and she said ‘yes!’.”

“You think your mind was strong enough to overcome Magwa’s entire chanty-thing?” Mac cocked her head to the side, but didn’t step away.

I laughed, unable to contain my excitement. “Yes! Remember how she said these ‘strong minds’ are ‘almost as uncommon as Changelings and very much desired’?”

“Yeah.”

“And how I’m the only known human ever to be asked to be a teacher, the only known human to be bound by the Council, and the only known human to be
given up
by a Changeling. I’m just as unique as you, but in a totally different way.”

“You got that right.” She kissed the edge of my mouth. “You … are
my
totally unique human.”

Our lips merged for a few moments. “Think that’s it?”

Her response came in an “Mmm,” followed by, “And if you didn’t remember me, by the way, my intention was to come here, meet you, and make you fall in love with me again.”

“God, I love you,” I said and kissed her again. “Where are you staying?”

“Same as you. I even have roommates.”

“
You?
Roommates?”

“I know!” With her eye roll, she ran a hand down my cheek. “I missed you so much, Winn.”

Crushing her to me, I filled myself with her scent, her touch, everything about her. “What about the Council?” Eventually, the topic would have come up. “Did you change your mind about them?”

Mac shook her head. “My deal was that I wouldn’t live in Rune. You remember that, right?”

“Now that you mention it. I guess I didn’t put two and two together.”

She smiled up at me. “Again, I didn’t want you to. I figured I’d come out here and see if I could start again with you. Anonymously. Or, apparently, as a dude.”

Laughter flowed free from me like it hadn’t in weeks—some unknown happiness quelled from being released. “So, you’re still a Council member? And a Changeling? And—”

She touched a fingertip to my lips. “Yes, all of the above. Just remember. You’re the only one out here that knows it. All of it. And if you so much as breathe a word of who I am, I will paint you nude and get a billboard made of it. Got that?”

I said, “I love you, Mac,” even as I laughed. She hadn’t changed one bit. “Wait … what about your mom and dad and Alina and … everyone back home? Do they know you’re here?”

“Alina does. I said goodbye to everyone else. Mom and Dad live together again, and I have her on speed-dial.”

“You like having him—them—in your life, don’t you?” I tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

Her head bobbed. “I do. Wish it could have been a long time ago, but I get why it all happened now. Every rule Mom ever fought for,
I
somehow managed to get changed. Little ole me.”

I placed a palm to her cheek. “Because you’re awesome.”

“Damn right, I am.”

“So Caroline didn’t cure you of the cursing bug, huh?”

“Ha. Nice try and no jars.” Mac adjusted against me, our arms encircling each other in the middle of the outdoor plaza. If anyone noticed, I didn’t care.

“Uh …” I held her at arm’s length, tracing her form with my eyes. “I just noticed, you’re not wearing black.” In fact, she wore a dark raspberry—almost a pink, if anyone else asked—with her normal jeans, but with a little rhinestone design on the thigh.

“Thought I’d channel Zoe a little.”

My heart did a flip-flop. I couldn’t have loved Mac more in that moment. “And … um … Zoe … have you …”

“Mom says she’s in a happy place and that’s what we should remember. Since she went in as one of us, she’ll move on when she’s ready. In the meantime, I don’t get to talk to her, but Mom does, and Dad lets her go whenever she wants.”

“Wow.” The smile I’d had on my face since my memories returned hadn’t gone away, and even strained my lips it grew so large. “Thank you for that.”

Mac shrugged. “I didn’t do anything. It’s all those sappy people.” The emotion in her voice came through clear. She coughed and said, “Suze says to tell you ‘hi’. So does Josie.” Mac scratched at her temple. “Didn’t think I’d actually get to tell you that since you weren’t supposed to know them. Then again, it makes me think they knew more than I did.”

“They always did,” I said.

“True, true.” Her expression changed to one of uncertainty.

“You have that ‘I need to tell you something’ look.”

“Well … Josie kinda moved in with your dad.”

For a moment, I stopped. Did I know that? She hadn’t been around that last week, and Dad hadn’t mentioned her, but given I remembered everything else, it fit. “Now that she can, that seems right. Is that why you picked Felix over her? You never did answer that question.”

Mac nodded. “Yeah. He wanted to leave because he wanted to leave. She wanted to leave because she wanted to be with your dad. Now, they both get what they wanted.”

“And everyone thought you were just one big smart aleck,” I said.

Mac whipped her face up to me, her smirk reflecting my own. “I’m way smarter than you.” She laid a kiss to the side of my mouth. “And way, way prettier.” Another kiss. “And way, way, way hotter.” A third touched my lips.

I tilted her chin up with a finger and gave her my best grin. “I just let you think you are.” With a kiss to her nose, I said, “So, now what?”

“Well …” She tugged herself in closer. “I have all day. And all night. What would
you
like to do?”

“Those are not words you want to ask me right here in the middle of the outdoors, or since my roommate is probably doing the same thing.”

Mac chuckled. “Okay … option number two. I heard there’s an awesome milkshake shop a few blocks away. They make their own—”

“Chocolate.” I trailed a finger down her neck and found the necklace I’d given her at Christmas—her chocolate diamond.

“You game?” she asked, adding another touch of her lips to mine.

“I am if you are.”

“You already know I am.”

Acknowledgements

There’s never enough space in which to thank all the people involved in the creation of a book. I could go on and on and on and never really say what I want to those who’ve been instrumental in any way.

My family is always first. My husband and kids deserve medals for their patience with me as I write or edit or market or whatever it is I need to do for my book.

Then, there’s my amazing friend across the pond who tototally gets me, knows when I need a push in one direction or another and when I can get away with ... well ... breaking the rules. That said, to J.A. Belfield ... my greatest thanks.

Not to be forgotten, I must also thank my beta readers, Terri Rochenski, Amaleen Ison, Julie Reece, L.S. Murphy and Wendy Seagondollar. And ... to a few key bloggers who managed to finagle a super-early copy and rave to me through email, my thanks to them too: Brooke Delvecchio and Danielle Smiley.

There’s another group I want to thank for their continued support. These are bloggers and readers out there who supported the release of Day After last May. To them, I want to say thank you, too because I could never get these books out without them. So my thanks go to: Have You Heard My Book Review, Parajunkee’s View, Cloud Nine Girl, Paranormal Book Fan, Danielle E. Shipley, Known to Read, Lili Lost in a Book, Accepted Wisdom, Jennifer M. Eaton, Katherine Skye, The Cover Contessa, I Am A Reader, Not A Writer, YA Book Addict, Scribbler’s Sojourn, Happy tails and tales, Mythical Books, My Book Boyfriend, Girls *Heart* Books, Laney McMann, A Dream Within A Dream, Bookworm Lisa, Caffeinated Book Reviewer, J. Keller Ford, Basia’s Bookshelf, Dark Obsession Chronicles, Brooke Blogs, J.C. Martin, Fighter Writer, Badass Book Reviews, Recent Reads, Reader Girls, and Lola’s reviews

EMI GAYLE

Emi Gayle just wants to be young again. She lives vicariously through her youthful characters, while simultaneously acting as chief-Mom to her teenaged son and searching for a way to keep her two daughters from ever reaching the dreaded teen years.

Ironically, those years were some of Emi’s favorite times. She met the man of her dreams at 14, was engaged to him at 19, married him at 20 and she’s still in love with him to this day. She’ll never forget what it was like to fall in love at such a young age—emotions she wants everyone to feel.