FABLE

Chapter Forty One

I rush into the kitchen, and I'm met with the last thing I expect to find.

My mom and dad are sitting down at our kitchen table with Zee, Grace, and Grace's mom. A pink-haired girl is clutching onto Zee, her face twisted in shock, her mouth hanging open in mid-scream. It takes me a second to recognise Jamie.

That's right. She said she was dying her hair for the Nasty Gal blogger shoot. What's she doing here? What are any of them doing here?

All eyes are on Felix, as he stands glowering near the doorway.

Zee's expression is glazed over and I'm guessing she's in shock from seeing Felix again.

I can see the realisation dawning on her, and as if to follow Jamie's cue, she gasps and her eyes widen. I can see the scream before I hear it. I swoop forward and wrap my hand around her mouth just in time.

"Where the hell have you been?" My mom asks in a shaky voice.

Her eyes look red and puffy, like she's been crying.

All eyes leave Felix and are now fixed on me, and everyone speaks at once.

We tried to call you. We didn't know where you were. Your phone. The episodes. Selfish. We were worried. Missing a full day. Irresponsible. What were you thinking?

Ever since the accident, my parents have been way over the top about my safety. They didn't want to let me out of their sight for months after it happened. If I went out anywhere, I had to text them at least once every hour.

It was suffocating.

They've gotten a lot better since then, but they still insist on regular text message check-ins, and every now and again my mom has a freak out over something like this and it gets blown way out of proportion.

I mean, I was only gone for a few hours. Ok, a day. But this is overkill.

"Why on earth didn't you tell us where you were going today?" My dad asks. "Your mother and I were at our wit's end. We thought something might have happened to you. Especially when none of your friends knew where you were..."

So that's why they're all here. And Grace's mom must have invited herself over too. No surprise there I guess.

"I was planning on going to Zee's place this morning, but then I-" I start explaining, stopping myself a moment before revealing Fable's hide-out in the forest.

I turn to Felix to see if he noticed my near slip-up, and he shoots me a withering glance.

Stop talking, he seems to be saying.

"I must say Ashling, we are all very disappointed in you," Grace's mom says.

She's sitting bolt upright next to my mom, her dark grey hair scraped back in a harsh, matronly bun. "I really didn't take you for that sort of girl. And whom might the young man in question be?"

Her eyes are darting around Felix suspiciously, probably trying to figure out if he's a punk or an emo or a meth head or anything else scandalous she can relay to her church group later.

Before I can speak, Felix steps in front of me, and he does the strangest thing - he smiles at her.

It's a wide, charming smile that transforms his whole face from stoic thundercloud to enraptured angel.

It's beautiful.

Grace's mom's eyes widen at the sudden transformation.

"I should have introduced myself sooner," Felix says in a perfect American accent, all hints of his real British voice gone. "I'm Max. Ashling and I go to school together. I asked her over today to tutor me in math, seeing as how she's top of the class and all."