Entice by Carrie Jones Page B

sugar, but Devyn is on this “my body is a temple” kick all of a sudden and eats only whole foods and no refined sugars.
    “Cassidy’s in the bathroom itching,” Issie says as I adjust myself on the couch. “Her sweater is driving her crazy. People were staring ’cause she couldn’t stop scratching. It was sort of sad. I always thought being fae was cool, but if all synthetic clothing makes you itch, it sort of negates the whole awesome factor. Oh my gosh, I’m babbling. I’m so glad you’re back.”
    “It’s too bad she couldn’t just run around naked,” Devyn says. He takes a swig of water.
    Issie elbows him hard in the stomach and he makes an
oomph
noise. A little bit of water spurts out of his mouth.
    “I meant too bad for her, since clothes drive her crazy.” He rubs at his side and grabs a napkin to wipe at his jeans where the water fell.
    “You meant too bad for the male populace’s viewing pleasure,” Issie insists. Her voice gets half huffy and half teasing, and it’s hard to tell if she’s being funny or serious. She crosses her legs. She’s wearing bright yellow tights under a jean miniskirt and hot pink boots to match. Only Issie could get away with that. She regains her composure and puts up her hands in surrender. “Sorry! Sorry. Total insecure moment. I am unworthy.”
    Devyn just smiles and pulls his laptop out of its bag. “So, Iceland. Is there anything you’d like to go over? Any subtle clues? Any idea why the pixie set you up?”
    “And are you emotionally okay? About the king sacrificing himself like that? It was so unexpected,” Issie says, reaching out to pat my arm.
    “Did you guys know Betty doesn’t want us to look for Nick?” I blurt, not answering any of their questions.
    They exchange a look and Devyn nods. “We knew. She’s pretty adamant that none of us try again. She believes Nick is gone for good, Zara.”
    “He’s not.”
    Issie grabs my hand in hers and squeezes. “We know. Don’t worry. We haven’t given up on him either.”
    For a second tears collect at the edges of my eyes. It takes all my will not to cry, but I don’t. I won’t.
    “He’s not gone,” I whisper.
    “Don’t worry. We aren’t giving up,” Devyn says, booting up his laptop and looking embarrassed about all the emotion.
    Issie admires her boots, stretching one leg out in front of her. “How many times do you think we’ll have to tell Zara we won’t give up?” she teases.
    “According to my calculations, five hundred and thirty-eight,” Devyn answers. He eyes me. “And how are you feeling, Zara? Has the morphing into a new species bothered you, emotionally or physically? Do you have any side effects?”
    I swear he actually opens up a document that has “Pixie Change Side Effects” as the subject line.
    “No,” I sputter.
    “Any self-loathing? My parents said that would be normal, and you could go see them for a counseling session, if you’d like,” he says, taps a line into his document, then adds, “For free, obviously.”
    “No, I’m good,” I lie. “Same old Zara.”
    They both look at each other like they know I’m lying. Dev closes the document and opens another. “So, I’ve been researching Valhalla, obviously.”
    He then proceeds to give us the lowdown:
    1. Valhalla is from the Old Norse
Valhöll
, for “hall of the slain.”
    2. Valhalla is in Asgard, which is where the gods like Odin and Thor lived in ancient myth.
    3. Nobody seems to agree about where Asgard is. Some scholars say near Troy, others in Asia, others in Iceland.
    “So what we have basically is a fat lot of nothing,” Issie announces, then cringes. “Sorry, Zara. I know you want this to be easy. We all want it to be easy.”
    I swallow some chai and put the yellow mug back on the coffee table, next to a copy of
Utne Reader
. Issie starts pulling on her tights, which have started to resemble elephant skin around her ankle.
    “It’s okay,” I say, despite the growing feeling of