FABLE

Chapter Twenty Nine

Thump. Thump. Thump.

My heart is beating so hard against my ribs I feel like it's about to jump out of my chest on to the kitchen counter.

I've managed to keep fairly calm up to this point, but the thought of Lyall making pancakes for me... I want to do a crazy fangirl dance.

Lyall hums quietly to himself while he stirs the batter, and Felix is sitting next to me with his head down on the counter. He hasn't even touched his tea yet.

Alastaire flicks through something on his phone.

There's no reception out here, so I'm tempted to ask what he's doing, but I don't want him to think I'm being nosy.

The guys don't seem to notice how nervous I am, and realising this helps me to calm down. I clutch my mug a little less tightly.

Everyone's lost in their own thoughts.

Apart from Lyall's softly murmured tune and the clinking of the spoon against the mixing bowl as he stirs, we're in silence.

The sort of easy, comfortable silence you only have with people you've known for ages. The kind you don't feel like you need to fill. That fact that they barely know me doesn't seem to bother them at all. It's almost like we've know each other forever.

I'd never in a hundred years have imagined that hanging out with them like this could feel so... normal.

It's not at all like the frantic, over-the-top videos the boys post to their official YouTube Fable channel. Watching those, you'd think every moment of their lives is one wild roller coaster ride, an endless stream of private jets, trashed hotel rooms and parties.

Right now they could be any three normal teenaged boys, making breakfast on a Saturday morning.

Felix lifts his head off the counter and props himself up on his elbows, facing away from me. Lyall is right - he really isn't a morning person. Even though I can't see his face, I can feel the dark mood seeping out of him.

Scary.

He runs his fingers through his dark damp hair and I catch something faintly woodsy, maybe his cologne or shampoo. A sharp, delicate scent.

Hazelnut. Pine bark. Acorns. It's hard to identify, but it's delicious and earthy. He smells like he spent the whole night under a tree in the forest or something.

That's ridiculous. Totally ridiculous. Why does he have to be so goddam perfect? Why can't he just smell like soap or sweat or Doritos like a normal boy?

There's no way I'm going to be able to relax today with Felix around.

As if aware of my thoughts, Felix snaps his head around to face me. As he turns I notice a little streak of green threaded through the dark tendrils of his hair, just above his left ear.

Before I even realise what I'm doing, I'm pulling it out and holding it up to the light.

It's a pine needle.

Felix's hand swoops over mine, and the pine needle is gone. He's off his barstool and out the door in seconds. I hear the front door slam closed.

"Don't yer worry," Lyall says. "'He'll be back."

Why on earth did Felix have a pine needle in his hair? Maybe he actually did sleep outside last night...

No way. That's crazy.

Before I can ponder further, I'm startled out of my thoughts by Alastaire waving his phone in front of my face.

"Earth to Cupcake," he says. "I've got something you should see."