Free Dolmarehn - Book Two of the Otherworld Trilogy by Jenna Elizabeth Johnson Page A

Cade.
    Apparently my brain was on standby mode because it sure wasn’t working very well today.  If I wanted to ‘recharge’ enough to display any power, I would have to stay in Eilé for more than twenty four hours.  Which meant I would be alone with Cade for over twenty four hours.  Alone with Cade, overnight .  Now I realized the problem.  Funny thing was, the longer I thought about it, the more appealing it seemed.  Unfortunately, my parents wouldn’t think so.  And this explained Cade’s aloofness.  Made perfect sense now.
    “Meghan, I would never take advantage of you, or such a situation-”
    “No, I know,” I said, cutting him off.  Though sometimes I wish you would . . .
    I glanced up and smiled, despite the flush creeping along my skin.  He still seemed a little guarded, but he relaxed when he realized he hadn’t offended me.
    “Your parents will agree to this?” he asked softly, lacing his fingers together and leaning back over his knees.
    No.  They wouldn’t.  Not even if I introduced them to Cade and we both signed a document in our own blood swearing we would keep our hands off of each other.  I couldn’t tell them the truth, not yet.  One day, far away from now, I would confess everything.  But I was still not a hundred percent sure as to what exactly I was.  And I really had no idea how to tell them either.  I needed to go to Eilé, like Cade suggested, to figure everything out.
    “They won’t agree Cade, no matter what we tell them.  I’ll have to come up with another way.”
    He nodded somberly.  I expected him to argue; to insist my parents be informed of our plans, but I think some part of him knew the same thing I did: they would assume I was suffering from another psychotic episode and that would get us nowhere.
    “I’ll ask one of my friends to cover for me,” I said.
    He nodded again.  “It will only be overnight and a few hours into the morning, this time.”
    I swallowed.  This time?
    Putting on a grin that showed more backbone than I had at the moment, I said, “Don’t worry.  I’ll figure something out.”
    Maybe.
    * * *
    The entire next week I fretted about asking one of my friends to lie for me.  Perhaps I could talk Tully into having a sleepover.  Her parents usually went out late on Saturday and came home to sleep half of Sunday away.  She could just tell them I planned to come over later and stay the night.  They would never know the truth.  But I dismissed those thoughts almost as soon as they came to me.  I wouldn’t ask Tully this favor.  If I did she would insist on learning every detail before forbidding it outright.  She would tell me that if I had to sneak off with a boy my parents didn’t know about, then he meant to cause trouble and I should cut him loose.  Oh, if only I could tell her the truth.  Yes, Cade was trouble, but not in the sense she would think.
    No, she would refuse to help me and when I wouldn’t see things her way, she’d threaten to bring it up with my parents and that was too much of a risk.
    Robyn on the other hand . . .
    At the end of the day on Thursday I managed to pull Robyn aside after school.
    She gave me one of her questioning looks and I told her what I had to say was top secret.  Her dark eyebrows lifted with interest.  She pulled a soda can out of her backpack and popped it open, taking a sip as she eyed me expectantly.
    Taking a deep breath, I delved into the story I had invented.  I needed her to cover for me at some future date; to say I planned to spend the night on the weekend.
    “Not that I’m agreeing,” she said in a casual tone as she examined a dark red fingernail, “but my parents are going to a church convention this weekend.  They’re leaving Friday and coming back Sunday.”
    My heart skipped a beat.
    “Oh Robyn, could you please pretend I’m staying the night Saturday?  There is something I have to do and I can’t tell my parents, and it will take longer than a day.”
    I