Page 36 of Welcome to Fae Cafe

Kate slammed her eyelids shut. She kept herself still for the rest of the lecture. She felt the fae Prince’s gaze drifting over her. She felt his hand turn back into warm flesh like he was getting ready now that class was ending.

Her blood cooled as she inhaled, exhaled.

Professor Stanner stopped talking.

The bell rang.

Kate’s eyes flew open.

She tore her hand away and jumped onto the desk, grabbing her orange and drawing a startled cry from the girl in the next row as she hopped from desk to desk until she reached the front. Kate grabbed the handle of the door and flung it open, pulling it closed with her on the other side. She twisted the lock just as a hand slapped against the glass.

A set of piercing turquoise eyes absorbed Kate through the window as she took a step back. The handle shook, but the lock held. The Prince’s lips thinned, all his smiles were gone.

They stared at each other for a moment. His blue eyes were like a magnet forcing her to look back at him. She couldn’t blink. She could hardly breathe. Time seemed to stand still until she became aware of a ticking clock somewhere down the hall.

She turned and ran.

Kate’s shoes echoed over the tiles of the empty hall. She came into another dark walkway with construction tape sectioning it off. The glass doors were sealed at both ends, and students passed by them on the other side.

A bang sounded down the hall, and she shrieked.

Three doors down, a pink bow of yarn wrapped a set of door handles. As soon as Kate saw it, she moved for it. She came face-to-face with a paper sign on the glass window that read: LIBRARY IS CLOSED FOR CONSTRUCTION. NO TRESSPASSING. Kate yanked the library doors open and darted inside, wincing at the loud latch clicking shut at her back.

The library was a quiet medley of dust, shredded paper, and splayed books covering the floor. Kate inhaled damp air sweeping in from an open window. Her shoes left footprints in the dust as she ventured into the bookshelf-filled space, peering into the dark corners.

Low voices emerged from the hall. Kate ducked around a shelf and peeked through a gap between books.

The fae with white hair stood outside the library doors. He looked both ways.

Kate nearly tripped as she stepped back. She grabbed the shelf forbalance, but the noise echoed through the vast space, and her eyes widened.

The white-haired fae turned his head toward the library.

Kate ditched her orange on a shelf and scrambled deeper into the books, lifting her feet to step over a strand of yarn stretched between the shelves. She paused when she realized.

The tight pink yarn wove around the corner. Kate hurried to follow it as the library entrance doors squeaked open. The yarn twisted around a post and led to a secluded shelf at the back. Kate ducked around it as the quiet sounds of footsteps drifted into the library.

They didn’t speak.

The fae were a cold presence like a nightmare Kate couldn’t wake from.

Kate’s vision went in and out of focus as she followed the yarn up the shelf to where it wrapped around a thick book at the top.

“The fairy-kind cannot speak the name of the place they are from, nor can they speak to direct any human on how to find it. It’s the same for the ancient Book of Rules and Masteries. It’s just not possible—our mouths won’t move to do it.”

“Rules and Masteries…” Kate whispered. How could abookbe the help Freida was talking about?

She jumped for it, yanking the heavy tome from the shelf. Its thick cover read: THE FAIRY BOOK OF RULES AND MASTERIES.

Kate’s heart pounded as the footsteps grew nearer. She flipped the book open and slapped a finger to the page to read. The first few lines made her blink—she was sure she was seeing incorrectly. The stress was blurring her eyesight.

She took in all the eloquent text, then she flipped to the next page that said:

…But beware: This act is entirely forbidden.

Enslaving a fairy comes with consequences.

Fairies are cunning, and they almost always find a way out of it. And when they come to seek revenge, it is better to already be dead.

---