Free Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr Page A

and herbs that work as counter-charms: four-leafed clover, Saint John's-wort, red verbena—they all help you see through a glamour."
    He put that book aside and ate a cookie, staring past her, at nothing, waiting.
    Aislinn flopped back down on the sofa, farther away from him than she'd normally sit. "I don't know. I can't see walking around with my clothes inside out all the time, and I don't know about throwing bread at them. What am I supposed to do? Carry bagels and toast everywhere?"
    "Salt's easier." He laid the pages on one of the side tables and got up. He pulled open a drawer on the plastic cupboards stacked in the corner. After rummaging around for a minute, he held up a handful of packets of salt. "Here. Extras from all the takeout. Stuff these in your pockets." He tossed some to her and put a few in his pocket, too. "Just in case."
    "Does it say how much salt and what to do with it?"
    "Sprinkle it on them? Toss it at them? I don't know. I didn't see anything in this book, but I'll follow up on that one, too. I ordered some books from interlibrary loan." He came back to the table and scrawled a note on one of the pages. "Now what about the herbs? I can pick some up. Any ideas on which ones?"
    "I can already see them, Seth," she said impatiently. She caught herself—took a deep breath—and grabbed a cookie from the tin beside her. "Why would I need herbs?"
    "I might be more help if I can see them too…" He wrote another note: Look for more recipes. Paste? Tea? How use herbs for sight? Chamomile tea for Ash.
    "Chamomile?"
    "Helps you relax." He leaned over and stroked her hair soothingly, pausing to let his hand rest on the back of her neck. "You're snapping at me."
    "Sorry." She frowned. "I thought I was keeping it together, but today … If Donia hadn't been there…But that's the thing. She shouldn't have been there. I've seen them my whole life, but they never paid attention to me. Now it's like they've all stopped whatever they were doing before to watch me. It's never been like this."
    He stood there, twirling one of the studs in his ear, staring at her. Then he grabbed the book and sat down in the chair across from her. "Wearing daisies is supposed to keep kids safe from faery kidnapping. I don't know if the daisies work once you aren't a kid."
    He dropped that one and flipped open the last book. "Carry a staff of rowan wood. If they chase you, leap over running water, especially if it's flowing south."
    "There's one river here, and I don't see me jumping over it unless I sprout springs in my feet. None of this helps much." She hated how whiny she sounded. "What do I do with a staff? Hit them? And wouldn't they know I saw them if I did these things?"
    Seth took his glasses back off and sat them on top of a stack of books on the floor. He rubbed his eyes. "I'm trying, Ash. It's only the first day I looked. We'll find out more."
    "What if I don't have time? The rules are changing, and I don't know why. I need to do something now." She shivered, remembering the strange stillness of the faeries when she passed them. It was frightening.
    "Like what?" He still sounded calm. The more anxious she got, the calmer he sounded.
    "Find them. Talk to the two that started it—Keenan and Donia." She put her hand over her mouth and took several breaths.
    Calm down. It didn't help much.
    He leaned back in his chair, rocking it so it teetered on the back legs. "You sure that's a good idea? Especially after those guys—"
    She interrupted, "Faeries, court faeries, are following me. What they could do is a whole lot worse. They want something, and I don't like being the only one who doesn't know what it is." She stopped, thinking about what the faeries at the library had said. "The faeries—when they weren't lusting on you—called Keenan the 'Summer King."
    His chair thunked down, back on all four legs. "He's a king?"
    "Maybe."
    He looked worried then—a flash of something like panic crossed his face—but he nodded. "I'll