After the first few seconds of running, I closed my eyes. I couldn't tell where I was going anyway, and hanging upside down made me motion sick. Doors slammed behind us, and he stopped.

Ash flipped me off his shoulder to my feet and leaned me against a wall. That was good because my legs felt like I'd just stepped off a boat, and my head hadn't quite caught up yet. I looked around and saw we were in a basement.

I weakly pushed Ash away; my arms didn't feel right yet either. "What the hell? How did you do that?"

Tate was staring at me like I was simultaneously making him want to laugh and making him angry. I cocked an eyebrow at him, but before I could say anything, Ash said, "We're telling him."

Tate looked at Ash like he was crazy, "Are you serious? What good could that possibly do?"

"He's been my friend here, and he's like a brother to her. He deserves to know the truth."

Tate waved his hand toward me, "Have at it. Good luck."

Stepping in front of me, Ash said, "I can feel that you're angry and confused. I understand, but I need you to calm down and listen." At my nod, he went on, "I love Jolie, I haven't told her yet, but I do. Someone here must've found out and told our Queen, whom I'm expected to serve."

I couldn't help it, I laughed, "What are you talking about? Queen of what? You're messing with me, right? Is Jolie here?" I looked around the room while the two of them watched me. I yelled, "Very funny, manita! You can come out now!"

I waited, but she didn't pop out of hiding like I was hoping. I was starting to freak out a little. How were they so fast? What did they do with Jo? Why did they bring me here?   

Ash took a deep breath, "He's getting frantic."

"Do you want me to slap him?" At Ash's annoyed look, Tate said, "What? Isn't that what you're supposed to do?"

Shaking his head Ash said, "No, I don't want you to slap him. I'm going to tell him, we're going to show him; and then we're getting out of here, we can't waste any more time. Give him a chance. He'll be OK."

Giving me all of his attention again, Ash said, "This isn't a joke, I need you to listen. We're not from here, we're from the other side of the mist, in the land of the fae. We're faeries."

I started laughing and couldn't stop. This was either ridiculous, or I was losing my mind. This couldn't really be happening. "So you're Tinker Bell, huh? Weird, I thought you'd be way smaller."

Tate nudged Ash out of the way, "Enough of this. If we're showing him, let's get it over with," he grabbed the bottom of his shirt and pulled it off, throwing it to the side.

Oh, man. He was beautiful with his shirt on, without it, I didn't know what to call him. His strong chest was held up by amazing washboard abs that ended in a perfect V making a deep set of indentions above his hips. Clara loves those indentions and always points them out.

I guess I like them too. They were peeking over the edge of his low slung jeans, and I couldn't seem to stop looking. I dragged my eyes away and back up over the perfect rows of muscle. 

My heart was beating faster, and I really hoped I wasn't drooling. Tate tilted his head down to catch my eye and winked at me. Holy shit, who is this guy?

Smirking, he said, "Pay attention, this is the important part," like I was planning to look away.

Closing his eyes, he raised his arms and as he slowly lowered them, the air around him seemed to shimmer. His face was changing, and there was something black growing behind him. He tilted his head back and took a deep breath. When he looked back at me, the shimmering stopped.

His eyes were an even brighter blue and they were a little bigger. The shape was different too, they were angled up at the outside corners.

He had two long, thin scars on his face. One on his forehead above his eye, that went back into his hairline; and one that started next to his nose and went down and back, to the corner of his jaw. Somehow they made him even better looking; it was like he needed the imperfection.

He tilted his head, waiting for me to say something, but my brain had stopped working again; he seemed to have that effect on me.

Leaning forward he looked me in the eye, making sure I was watching. He leaned his head to the side, as he put his hair behind his ear. His pointy ear. What the hell?

I couldn't stop staring at his strangely attractive face. At some point, I must have stepped closer to him. I didn't realize I'd moved until something shot out from behind both sides of him, making me pull back in surprise and hit the wall.

Now that I wasn't staring at his face, I realized the black that I saw growing behind him before was still there; he had wings. Big black wings, trimmed in a deep blue. The top of them was higher than his head, and the tips of the bottom feathers were behind his knees.

He was the most amazing thing I'd ever seen, and I was obviously dreaming. Everything made sense; I hadn't woke up yet. Jolie was here at the house, and my alarm hadn't gone off. Taking a deep breath, I relaxed.

Tate turned to Ash, "What's going on here, is he freaking out? Should I slap him now?"

I glanced over at Ash and realized that while I was staring at Tate, he'd taken his shirt off too, weird. He'd also grown giant wings, but his were a dark brown trimmed in a deep green. His eyes were bigger and brighter like Tates, only green. Both of their eyes matched their wings, pretty.

Ash studied me for a minute. "I'm not sure what's going on. He's not freaking out. Actually, he's calm all of a sudden. You're never going to need to slap him, so you can stop asking."

"I'm just trying to help. I'm sure I saw that in a movie once."

With my attention drawn back to Tate, I leaned against the wall and gazed at him. I wondered if the real Tate looked anything like this dream version. The girls said he was hot, but this was too hot to be real.

Running my eyes down him, I realized he had more scars. A thin line that went across his neck, from one side to the other, and a scar on his chest. That one was really long but it was faint. It started above his right pec and went down diagonally to the left side of his stomach. He looked like a fighter, not the outdoorsy, granola guy the girls described.

Tate stepped closer and leaned down, so we were eye to eye. With our faces only inches apart, he spoke quietly, "You like what you see?"

Without giving it a thought, I nodded, "You're stunning."

His eyebrows shot up like he was startled by my answer, "I thought you were expecting Tinker Bell?"

I gave him a little smile, and shook my head, "I'm not really into Tinker Bell. This badass-god-of-war thing you have going on is pretty freaking hot though."

He chuckled, "Glad you like it." Leaning even closer, he whispered in my ear, "But I'm not a god, I'm a faerie." Standing back, he gave me a smirk before turning to Ash, "You were right, he's handling this really well."

Ash shook his head, "I don't think he's handling it at all. This isn't him. His emotions are way off. I think he's convinced himself he's asleep. Mark," he shook my shoulder to get my attention. "Aren't you worried about Jolie?"

"No, I'm sure she's fine. I'll wake up and she'll be getting ready for school, like every day. This weekend, we'll go on one of Tate's hikes, but he won't be nearly as hot as this guy," I jerked my chin toward a grinning Tate. "This is definitely the weirdest, but the best dream I've had in a long time."

Tate cracked up, "This is my favorite human."

"It's not funny, Tate. We need to get Jolie back, now." Ash pushed me back against the wall, and spoke while staring into my eyes, "You're not dreaming, we are faeries, and I love Jolie. Somehow our bitch of a Queen found out and took her to try to force me to do her bidding. I will be getting her back now, and the Queen will pay. Do you believe me?"

"Holy shit," I could feel he was telling the truth. I pinched my arm hard, "Ouch, shit," I was awake. They're faeries, and Jolie was taken. I just said some stuff I wouldn't usually say out loud to the guy who apparently really is Tate. Shit. Shit. Shit. "I'm going with you."

Tate wasn't smiling anymore, "You can't go with us. You'd be someone else to protect, and humans aren't even supposed to go through the mist anymore."

"Yeah? Well apparently, the most important human in the world to me has gone through, and I'm going to get her. I don't need your help."

Scoffing, he said, "You don't? So you do have magic, and you can fly? You've just chosen not to show those things, until now."

I really don't like this guy. "Fine, I'm not magic. That doesn't mean I'll need protection. I'm going with you, and I'm going to help get my friend back."

"Let him come."

Tate looked surprised by Ash's words.

"Would you stay behind if it was me? I told you they have a strong bond, like us. He can come."

Tate shook his head, "Alright, but he's your responsibility."

Ash nodded, and we were ready to go. He turned and opened a door behind him. It was shorter than a normal door, narrow too; it looked like some kind of storage. I thought they were going to get something we needed to take with us, but then they both stepped inside.

"Are you coming?" Tate sounded annoyed.

"We're going through a closet?" I chuckled. Nothing about this felt real. "Seriously, are you guys faeries in Narnia or something?"

Stepping back out Ash sighed, "I don't know where Narnia is, but it's not in the land of the fae. This house was built over a passage through the mist to protect it from someone wandering in where they don't belong."

"I thought you said humans couldn't go through the mist anyway?" I felt stupid, just saying, the mist. It was like admitting I believed what was happening was real. I knew I was awake, but it still seemed like someone was pranking me.

"I didn't say you couldn't go; I said you're not supposed to. As in the Queen has made it illegal." Tate tilted his head with a sneer on his face, "Not that I care about following her laws, but other fae will; that means no one can see you. Which I guess is fine because we don't need anyone to see us either."

Ash nodded, "We need to be quiet in the passage. We don't know who's waiting on the other side, but I'm sure it's being guarded."

"Great," Tate stepped in front of Ash, "That means me first, human last."