Page 35 of Welcome to Fae Cafe

Kate broke into a jog, pushing between couples and apologizing when she nearly shoved a girl off her feet. She swerved around moving cars to cross the road. The knitting club had abandoned her, including her supposed fairy godmother, so the only other person she could think to get to was Professor Palmer. But her feet skidded to a halt when a guy in a black coat and a high collared sweater walked down the stairs of the courthouse like he’d been waiting there. Slightly pointed ears peeked from his auburn hair.

He looked at her, too.

Kate turned and raced for the university. When she reached the block, she trampled the bed of leaves on the walkway toward the teachers’ offices, trotted up the stairs, and slipped into the crowded halls. She bounded into Professor Palmer’s office and moaned.

The light was off, and his desk was empty.

“Seriously?!”

She hid there for several seconds to catch her breath.

The hall was crowded when she went back out. Students moved between classes, carrying conversations at full volume. Someone with curly hair, a jean jacket, and pointed ears emerged from the stairwell, and Kate nearly fell backward as she tried to scramble in the other direction.

She took turns she didn’t mean to take and ducked into a narrow hall she knew. She raced to her literature class, sneaking in with only seconds to spare before the bell went off and Professor Stanner launched into a lecture. Kate tried to quiet her panting. Her heart thudded in her ears as she travelled down the aisle and took a seat at the end of a row. It took several seconds of heavy breathing and her hands clasped tightly together before she could think straight. Her orange rested before her, filling the tense air with the smell of citrus.

The fae wouldn’t try anything in front of a whole class of students, would they? Kate swallowed.

“What is with everyone coming in late these days? Hurry and find your seats!” Professor Stanner said.

Kate’s gaze slid to the back of the class, and her face blanched.

Four broad-shouldered fae strolled into the classroom. They split up—one heading to a desk in each corner of the room, except for the fourth.

The fourth came down the aisle and took the seat beside Kate. His lips curled into a smile as the weight of his turquoise eyes settled on her—right on her neck, as though he was pressing down upon her mountain tattoo with gentle fingers. His deep voice filled her head:

“Yes, run from me little human.”

“You must have known I’d come for you.”

“No one kills a fairy and lives.”

A lump formed in her throat. She should have never left the café. She thought about punching a hole into the orange with her finger and squeezing acidic juice into the fae Prince’s eyes so she could run. Her hands slowly drifted over the desk toward the fruit, and she wrapped them tightly around it.

All the sounds in the room turned to mud in Kate’s ears. She was aimed toward the front, but she couldn’t hear a word Professor Stanner said.

“You’ve been black marked, Kate Kole. The fae Prince has come to kill you. And he’ll succeed.”

The fae Prince’s turquoise eyes didn’t leave her once during the lecture. He seemed relaxed, patiently waiting for class to end. As though he knew she was trapped. As though he couldn’t wait to end her life.

Kate abandoned the shooting orange juice idea and sat on her shaking hands. She didn’t even have her phone to call Lily. But she wasn’t entirely out of options. She could beat the snot out of the fae with the orange until it was mush, at least.

When Professor Stanner paused his lecture, the quiet that came over the room was painful. Kate stole glances at the guys blocking every corner of the classroom. They were fast; the turquoise-eyed guy had beaten her to the bottom of the stairwell last week. She yanked her hands out from beneath her legs and put her palms flat on the desk’s surface.

Kate looked to the faculty door at the front of the room. It was the only other exit apart from the wide double doors at the back where she came in. The fae might expect her to try and run for the back doors. The large glass window in the faculty-only door didn’t reveal what lay beyond. The hall was dim, likely empty.

The fae Prince whispered, “Did you know,” he stole her orange and set it aside. Kate stifled a gasp as his hand slid over hers on the desk. He laced their fingers and flipped her hand over, exposing her wrist to the ceiling, “that a fae’s touch can be lethal?” His gaze felt like an anvil when he met her eyes.

Her pulse beat inside her wrist. She tried to tug her hand away, but his fingers morphed solid gray and heavy like rock, trapping her fingers beneath his. Kate’s mouth parted in horror.

At the front, Professor Stanner turned to his whiteboard, uncapping a marker lid with apop.

Kate considered raising her hand and asking to go to the bathroom. Having the attention of the class might shake the Prince—he’d removed his hold on her in the stairwell when the other students had shown up.

She glanced at the faculty door again, and her eyes snagged on a pink string dangling from the doorknob. She went perfectly still, eyes widening as she realized what it was.

Yarn. Tied in a delicate pink bow.

“Fairies can rarely give straight answers… you’ll have to follow the signs.”

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