Free Not Your Average Happy Ending by Chantele Sedgwick Page B

obviously, but not before running into Linkin and Shenelle.”
    She set her glass back on the table. “You saw your dad? And Shenelle?”
    “Yes.” I wanted to correct her about the whole “dad” thing, but seeing the terrified look on her face, I decided against it.
    “How did you get away from them?”
    “I’m not sure. It was too easy, actually.” I thought about teleporting away with Sam. If they wanted to stop me, they would have.
    “I’m so glad you’re okay. What happened to your shoulder?”
    “Sam pulled it out of socket. And snapped some muscles and stuff. Leif didn’t really tell me all the details. When the banshee got a hold of Sam, she flew up past the trees and dropped him. He was falling and I flew up and caught him. It hurt like crap.”
    “Wait. You flew up and caught him?” She looked like she was going to laugh.
    “Yes. I used my girly fairy wings to fly for once.” I wasn’t going to admit it was kind of cool. I was supposed to hate my silvery wings, not like them. Still…it was kind of an adrenaline rush. Not that I was planning on doing it again anytime soon.
    “So, you saved Sam’s life.” She smiled. “You’ve saved mine. You save people a lot.”
    “It’s not like I look for people who are in trouble. Trouble always seems to find me.”
    She reached across the table and placed her hand on mine. “I was worried about you.”
    I brought her hand to my lips and gave it a small kiss. “I’m fine. I promise.”
    She blushed, but didn’t pull away. “Will you take me flying sometime?”
    “Never.”
    She laughed. “I’ve always wanted to fly.”
    “I haven’t.” I grumbled.
    She pulled her hand away. “You never told me what Linkin wanted with you.”
    I hesitated. “Um…nothing. He just wanted to chat.”
    Her eyes narrowed and she put her hands on her hips. She always knew when I was lying. “To chat? He could have called you on the phone to ‘chat’.”
    I shrugged and looked away. “Djinn’s don’t really use phones.” I made myself busy, counting out the Oreo’s in front of me. I didn’t want to tell her why he wanted me. Why he actually wanted her .
    “Don’t do that. Don’t keep things from me because you don’t want to scare me. I’m a big girl, Ash. Out with it. I know you know.”
    “Kendall—”
    “Just tell me already!” Her eyes were wide as she stared me down and I knew she wouldn’t let it go.
    I pointed to her neck. “He wants the necklace.”
    She dropped the cookie she was holding. “What?”
    “That’s what he said. He wants your necklace. He didn’t say why, but for some reason it’s important.”
    She touched the necklace and frowned. “If I give it to him will he leave us alone?”
    “You’re not giving it to him. You can’t even take it off. There’s a reason he wants it so bad, and I’m thinking that’s a bad thing. If he gets it, I have a feeling things will go from bad to worse.”
    “All this for a necklace? I don’t get it.”
    “Neither do I.” I reached across the table and touched the blue stone on the end of it. It was warm. Like always. “We’ll figure it out. My mother left it with me for a reason. There’s something she wants me to protect. And in the meantime, I’ll protect you.”
    She gave me a shaky smile. “How will you protect me if you leave again?”
    I opened my mouth to answer and Sam and Misty appeared next to Kendall in the kitchen.
    “Let’s get this party started,” Sam said. “You have Oreo’s? Awesome!” He reached for the bag and popped two of them in his mouth.
    Kendall laughed, but it sounded forced. I knew she was worried about me leaving again. I didn’t know what else to do though. Dax was still out there. He could hurt her again. And who knew what Linkin would do. The thought of him being anywhere near Kendall scared me more than I wanted to admit.
    “So, what’s the plan?” Sam asked as Kendall set a glass of milk in front of him.
    I glanced at Kendall, but