Free Hold Tight (The Embrace Series) by Cherie Colyer

cared about made it to their destinations safe and sound.

Chapter 8
    Visited by a Princess
    Dad and Chase were already in bed when I got home. I deposited my boots on the rug next to the front door and headed upstairs to take a shower.
    The hot water eased my tired muscles, but the longer I stood under the spray, the more my mind wandered. The pitter-patter of water hitting my skin woke my nagging inner voice that insisted I’d missed something. I retraced my steps from Lauren’s house to the gas station, trying to remember if anything had been out of place. I replayed my conversation with Caden and then what my coven had learned, or didn’t learn, by scrying. No matter how many times I went over the details, the outcome was the same: Natalie had disappeared with no trace of where or why.
    I chalked up the mental henpecking to being overtired, and I stayed under the spray until I heard the tone indicating I’d received a text. It was from Kaylee, letting me know she’d made it home safely.
    With a towel wrapped around my body and my hair dripping down my shoulders, I headed toward my bedroom. Halfway down the hall, a tantalizing fragrance greeted me. I was still trying to figure out what it was when I walked into my room. My eyes immediately landed on my dresser and Mom’s large crystal vase filled with lavender irises, soft yellow carnations, and deep red daisies. The bouquet brightened my room and gave it the feel of summer. It took a moment for me to notice Brea stretched out on my bed, reading my brother’s copy of Peter Pan .
    “This book always cracks me up,” she commented in a voice that sounded sweet like church bells. “Whoever heard of pixie dust making humans fly?”
    “That’s part of the story’s magic,” I said, shutting my door. “I thought you left.”
    She closed the book and sat up. “You said I may linger, so linger I am. I borrowed a pair of socks.” She held up a dainty foot to show me. She’d chosen a bright yellow pair with smiley faces on them. “And boots and a jacket when I went outside.” She pointed to the discarded outerwear lying in a heap next to the bed. “Did you know there’s a humongous evergreen decorated with a million lights near a sailor statue?”
    “It’s a fisherman,” I said, knowing which statue she was referring to. “The mayor thought it would be nice to have a Christmas tree there this year. They did a big lighting ceremony and everything.” I rifled through my dresser, looking for something to put on. “Hey, wouldn’t people see a coat and boots moving about on their own if you wore my stuff out in public?”
    She scooted to the end of the bed so that her feet dangled over the edge. “No more than you’d see my clothes if you didn’t have the Sight, but since I was covered from head to toe, I saw no need to hide.”
    “You mean you let others see you?” Even with her pointed ears tucked in a hat, she wouldn’t look human. Her features were too perfect, and her skin glistened like fresh snow.
    “Faeries have magic too, you know. I can blend into your world if I so choose.”
    “You disguised yourself using a glamour,” I said.
    Josh was good with glamours. I’d once seen him go from a happy, healthy guy to a worried boyfriend with dark circles under his eyes in the time it had taken him to walk up the stairs.
    I slipped on my baby-blue pajama bottoms and ducked into a white T-shirt before losing the towel. “Did you go see the tree by yourself?”
    “I had plenty of company.” Her nose squished and lips pursed in a way that gave the impression it had been crowded. “What did you do today?”
    “A girl from school’s missing. A group of us went out to look for her.” My throat closed over the last few words. It was hard to believe Natalie was gone.
    Brea’s mouth pulled down into a scowl as she shook her head and mumbled something in a language I didn’t understand.
    Not wanting to relive the last ten hours, I leaned closer to the