Beyond Glamour

Chapter 3

            “Hello!”

            The voice coming suddenly from behind her had Whitney jerking around, one hand dropping to her purse and the pepper spray inside of it, her mouth dropping open as she inhaled deeply. She snapped it close a moment later when she recognized the figure. She frowned at him, stepping off the pavement path and onto the grass of the school’s courtyard to avoid blocking her fellow students. Not that there were many out with the sky a dark grey that threatened rain.

            Bract smiled at her, the corners of his gold eyes crinkling up, then glanced around quickly before joining her on the grass. “I’m glad to have caught you alone. I get the feeling your friend doesn’t care for me much.”

            She shrugged then glanced behind him to the dark grey stone of the nearest school building for a moment before looking back at him. She frowned, noticing the little bit of green plant poking out over one of his ears. It was easier to see in the horse version of him and she thought it looked like some kind of seaweed.

            “I wanted to talk to you again about joining us. We really need you if we’re going to win. If you want, you can even just come see what we’re about before making a decision. I think if you knew what we were going through you’d-”

            He stopped talking when a heavy hand grabbed his shoulder. “You’d better not be stalking Whitney,” Dylan growled, crushing the other man’s shoulder before releasing him so he could stand beside her.

            Whitney smiled up at him and he nodded to her before they both looked at Bract. “Are you always with her?” he asked, rubbing the spot Dylan had gripped.

            “As much as I can be,” he replied, sliding his arm around her shoulders.

            Bract sighed. “Fine, then I’ll include you in the discussion.”

            “There’s nothing to discuss. She’s already said she’s not helping you so you might as well drop it. I don’t care who you are or what you are, just stay away,” Dylan said, turning them both around and beginning to move off.

            “You don’t understand. She can see through glamour. Others will look to use or kill her. It’s not something that other Fae will just leave be and a lot of them are nasty when it comes to dealing with things they don’t like,” Bract said, taking a step closer to them, eyes darting between the two of them. “For example, if they notice you’re looking at the real them, they might ask you which eye you can see them out of. Whatever eye, or body part, you answer with, they’ll pluck out. And that’s just one way you can run afoul of the rest of my kind. You’re safer if you’re with our group. We’ll make sure no one bothers you and we can teach you how to navigate dealings with our kind.”

            Dylan stopped and turned slowly around to face Bract, his arm dropping away from Whitney. “What did you just say?”

            She took in his glare, his clenched fists and touched his forearm. He glanced at her and she shook her head before turning to look at the horse-man in front of her. “I don’t want to be involved in something that dangerous,” she said in the same high, slow voice of the day before.

            Bract rubbed his hair, the horse version flicking its ears back and forth, before replying “You’re already involved. You can see us now. Though…I can ask and there might be a way to get the truesight out of you. If we could extract it, we could use it on the proper candidate and you could forget all about us.”

            “You’re just saying that to get us to agree to help you,” Dylan replied, arms crossed over his chest before glancing at Whitney. “You know he’s lying.”

            Frowning slightly, she considered Bract for a few moments. “What are you?”

            He blinked for a moment then smiled. “Puca. I’m a Puca. We’re a kind of water-horse.”

            She nodded. “I had assumed so. You still have seaweed in your hair.”

            Bract stared then reached up to touch his hair, thin fingers finding the offending bit of weed. He grinned at her as he tossed it onto the grass. “I always forget to check for it when I take the mortal form.”

            “We’re going to leave now. Come back here at this same time tomorrow and we’ll talk further. But I’m not making any promises about us helping you or even listening to you long,” Whitney said, taking the half step back necessary to press her back against Dylan’s chest.

            He met her eyes for a long moment then smiled. “Certainly. I’ll see you tomorrow then,” he replied.

            Whitney nodded and turned, grabbing Dylan’s hand as she moved. He waited until they’d crossed the grass of the courtyard and were under the narrow line of trees in front of the library before saying, “I don’t think it’s a good idea to get involved with that guy.”

            She sighed then turned her head up so she could face him properly, dropping his wrist. “I’m still seeing them. Not often, but at least one or two a day. If he’s telling the truth then we’ll need his help.”

            “And if he’s lying? And how are we even going to know if he is or not? All we know for sure is true is that bit of what he told us yesterday.”

            Her smile was small and held just a hint of smugness. “That’s why I asked him what he is. If he lied about that, then we can’t trust him. If he told us the truth, then we can trust him enough to talk with him further.”

            “Which is why you brought us to the library,” he said, leaning forward and kissing the top of her head before smiling at her. “Remind me to come get ideas from you next time I have a paper due. You’re clearly smarter than I am.”

            The curve of her lips extended, her eyes lighting up. “We’re not in the same courses or even the same major. Will you help me research Puca?”

            He laughed and hugged her with one arm, steering her towards the black-railed ramp that led up the steps to the green door of the library. “Like you had to ask.”