Tam stumbled out of the sim chair. At least he could bear weight on his leg - the injury wasn’t that severe, though pain jabbed through him. He took a second to power down the Full-D and turn off the jamming switch. No point in advertising he’d been there.

He thumbed his flashlight on and went to the wall. There was a cupboard with med supplies somewhere near the corner - he needed to at least slap a bandage on before he left. Blank wall met his questing fingertips. Maybe the cupboard was a little more to the right.

The corner of the end-table emerged from the dark, banging him right below the knee. Pain zinged through him. He swallowed back a yell and tried to catch himself, but it was too late. With a sick sense of inevitability, he crashed forward, knocking over the lamp and piles of books on the table.

It wasn’t a loud collision - but the lights suddenly flared to full brightness. A second later, a screeching alarm split the air. He jumped, his heartbeat spiking hard.

“WARNING!” the house network called. He heard the sound echoing down the hall, projected from every speaker in the place. “Intruder detected in the gaming room. The authorities have been notified, and the subject contained.”

Crap. He felt like the alarm was shrieking inside him, just under his skin. He levered himself up, scrambled to the doors, and wrenched at the knobs. They were locked. Of course.

He glanced wildly around. Could he hide behind the couch?

The doors flew open, and he jumped sideways, trying to get to cover.

“Tam!” It was Jennet. She hurried to his side. “Why didn’t you tell me you were hurt?”

“Later,” he rasped, trying to make himself heard over the shrilling alarm. “I need to get out of here. Now.”

Before they got to the door, Jennet’s dad rushed into the room, belting on a thick plaid bathrobe.

“What the hell is going on here? HANA!” he yelled, “turn off that alarm.”

Silence fell. Tam took a deep breath, trying to mute the fear drumming through him.

“Jennet.” Her dad turned to her, his expression grim. “What’s Tam doing here?”

“Freeze!” a voice shouted from the hall. “Keep your hands where I can see them.”

Oh no. The View’s security had arrived. Two men in combat gear appeared at the door, guns out and pointed at Tam. Scenarios flashed through his mind, all of them ending with him in jail. The only thing keeping the panic at bay was Jennet’s presence beside him, warm and solid.

“Wait, wait, wait,” an accented voice said. It was Marie, the house manager, no doubt elated to find that Tam had tripped the alarms. “The Carters are in there! We must not have a hostage situation. This boy from the Exe is very dangerous. Shoot him, if you must.”

“No!” Jennet moved in front of Tam. “This is my boyfriend - he was just, um…”

One of the security guards gestured with his weapon, and Tam flinched.

“Move away from the suspect, miss,” the man said. “We don’t want anyone injured.”

“Stop it,” Jennet’s dad said. “Everyone calm down. This is all a misunderstanding.”

“Hey,” Tam said. “I’m unarmed. Just - quit waving your guns around, and I’ll come quietly.” He hoped they’d at least bandage his leg before they threw him in a cell.

“Arrest the boy, now,” Marie hissed at the nearest security guard.

“Marie - you are not needed here.” Mr. Carter sent the house manager a stern look. “Go reassure the rest of the staff that nothing untoward has happened.”

She screwed up her face, as though she’d like to say a lot more.

“Marie.”

She blew a huff of air out her nose, then gave a single, short nod. “If you insist, Mr. Carter.”

As she turned to leave, she pinned Tam with a narrow-eyed gaze, as intense and burning as a laser. He had no doubt she would have loved for things to get ugly for him.

Though there was no guarantee they still wouldn’t. The guards were jumpy as hell.

“Dad - ” Jennet began.

He waved her to silence, then addressed the uniformed men. “Thank you for your prompt response. I’m sorry my daughter’s boyfriend made the poor choice to try and sneak in to visit her - but it’s not a criminal act, as you can see.”

The guards glanced at each other. The one on the left lowered his weapon.

“Are you sure, sir?” The second man gave Tam a wary look. “I mean, if he’s from the Exe, we should take him in for questioning.”

“Just because he’s from there doesn’t make his every breath illegal,” Jennet said. “I cannot believe you people! In fact - ”

“Jen.” Her dad raised his brows in warning, and she subsided. He nodded to the guards. “We can handle everything from here, gentlemen.”

“Okay,” the wary guard said. “But we still need to fill out a report and take your statement.”

He stared at Tam for a second more, then holstered his gun. Tam felt the constriction around his lungs ease. Relief chased through him, and surprise that Jennet’s dad had even marginally taken his side. It would have been so easy to get rid of his daughter’s sketchy boyfriend.

Mr. Carter went to the door. “I’ll accompany you gentlemen downstairs, and we can take care of the paperwork. As for you, young lady,” he turned and fixed Jennet with a serious look, “We have a number of things to discuss. Both of you, wait here for me.”

“Yes, Dad,” she said. Tam just nodded.

She stayed in front of Tam until the men had gone, then whirled. “You sit down right now, Tam Linn. Because if you fall over, I’m not dragging you to the couch.”

Except she probably would. Tam gave her a weak smile.

“My leg’s not too bad,” he said, sitting. Though he had to admit, it felt better not to be standing on it.

Jennet went to the cupboard he’d been searching for - a little lower down than he’d thought - and came back with antibi spray and plas-skin.

“What is it with you always hurting your leg?” she said. “Ok, get out of your jeans and we’ll fix you up.”

“Uh…” No way did he want Jennet’s dad coming back in the room to find him with his pants off. “Can’t you just cut them? My jeans are already ruined.”

She dropped her gaze to the slice in the fabric. “Yeah, ok. Let me grab the scissors.”

He rested his head on the back of the couch, so tired his eyelids felt like lead. What was it, four in the morning? At least he wasn’t in jail. Maybe he could still get home before Mom woke up.

He felt Jennet tugging at his pants leg, heard the snip of scissors, but he was too spent to lift his head.

“Your leg looks okay,” Jennet said. “We’ve brought worse out of game, for sure.”

He made himself sit up. It wasn’t fair to make her deal with his injury, no matter how exhausted he felt. He glanced down at the gash in his thigh. It started throbbing again, as if by looking, it suddenly became real. He probed at the edges.

“Don’t touch it until you wash your hands,” Jennet said, pushing his hands away. “Sheesh, Tam, basic hygiene. Here - I’ll do it.”

She grabbed the can of antibi spray, and he couldn’t help flinching as the cold spray stung his wound. Jennet bent and liberally applied the plas-skin, then taped a big gauze pad over his thigh.

“There,” she said. “You’ll be good as new in a couple days.”

“Thanks. Got any painkillers in that kit?”

She dug around, then handed him two white pills. They were bitter on his tongue, but he swallowed them dry. She set the med kit down and settled next to him on the couch. The warmth of her against his side felt better than any meds, and he slipped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer.

“Aren’t you going to ask how I got here,” he said, “and onto your Full-D system?”

“I don’t need to. You always find a way.” The smile she gave him was like the sun coming out from behind a cloud. “Thanks for rescuing me - but how did you know?

“Puck woke me. It was a surprise to see Lassiter in there, though.”

“Yeah, for me, too.”

He frowned. “Do you really think the Bright King is finished with him - that their bargain is over?”

“The faeries don’t joke around with that kind of stuff.” She pushed the short strand of hair out of her face. “And it solves one of our problems, anyway. The king won’t be pulling any more power from the mortal world.”

A chill scraped the back of his neck. “At least, not until the game is released. Then nobody will be safe.”

What were they going to do? They’d managed to defeat the rulers of both the Bright and Dark Courts - but the mortal world was still in danger.

Jennet’s dad walked back into the room. He halted in front of them and folded his arms.

“I’d like an explanation, Mr. Linn,” he said. “Obviously, you weren’t just here to see Jennet. You were gaming on the Full-D system, weren’t you?”

Tam shot a guilty look at the equipment in the middle of the room. “Yeah, I was. But Jennet didn’t know about it - or even know I was here, until the end.”

“The end of what?” Her dad nodded to Tam’s leg. “And how did you hurt yourself?”

“Tam had to come in-game,” Jennet said. “I was trapped in Feyland - kind of like what happened to him, before. He was wounded there, fighting to free me.”

Mr. Carter’s eyebrows climbed. “Do you need medical attention?”

“I’m ok,” Tam said. “Jennet fixed me up - it wasn’t that serious.”

“I’ll tell you both what is serious. Jennet, did you neglect to tell Tam he wasn’t allowed to visit any more?”

“What?” Tam turned to her. “Since when?”

“It was just this evening,” she said. “I didn’t get a chance to tell him, Dad.”

Her dad’s expression hardened. “So he was breaking and entering all on his own? I don’t think that was a very wise choice. Neither does Crestview Security. They’d still like to bring Tam in for questioning.”

“But, Dad - ”

“However, in return for his promise that he stay away from you, I’m willing to hold off the security boys.”

Tam leaned back into the cushions, trying to look harmless. “Mr. Carter, you don’t really think I came here to steal stuff, do you?”

“I don’t know what to think.” Jennet’s dad pinched the bridge of his nose, looking suddenly tired. “I do know that whatever you were up to, it wasn’t within the bounds of what we’d call appropriate behavior.”

While Tam wanted to argue that rescuing Jennet was incredibly appropriate, he knew when he’d lost. Back-talking now would only make things worse.

“It isn’t Tam’s fault!” Jennet’s voice was rough with emotion. “Without him, I wouldn’t even be here.”

“I’m sorry, but there have to be consequences. Now, please, get off the couch.” He glanced at her, no sympathy on his face.

Jennet leaned into Tam a moment more. He squeezed her close, then made himself let go. Slowly, she stood, leaving a cold, empty place beside him.

“Tam isn’t welcome in your life,” her dad said. “You can agree to abide by that - or I can take the security guards up on their offer to haul him in and press charges.”

Jennet swallowed, the sparkle of tears in her eyes. The look she gave Tam was full of strangled emotion.

Mr. Carter fixed his gaze on Tam. “Tam Linn - I expect you to respect this decision. My daughter is off-limits.”

It was ironic. Jennet’s dad thought he might be a criminal, but still trusted him to be bound by his word. Of course, there was also the threat of being turned over to the authorities. Tam swallowed.

“Alright,” he said.

He gripped the arm of the couch and stood, only wincing a little. At least the pain meds were taking effect. It was going to be a long walk back to the Exe.

Mr. Carter gave him a long, level look. Then, with a slight shake of his head, he addressed the house.

“HANA, tell George I’m sorry to wake him, but his services are needed.”

“Right away, sir.” After a few seconds, the house continued, “He will be waiting with the car in five minutes.”

“Back to bed, Jennet,” her dad said. “We’ll talk more about this in the morning.”

She turned and flung her arms around Tam, holding tight. He gathered her close and tried to memorize everything - the smell of her hair, the warmth of her body where it pressed against him, how she fit right next to his heart.

“Now.” Her dad’s voice was hard.

Jennet clung to Tam a moment more, then slowly let go. He made his arms open, though yearning was ripping right through him. This had happened because he’d saved her - and there was nothing they could do.

 Nothing.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

This book will be completely uploaded by the end of August of 2014, at the rate of a chapter every 2 weeks. Can't wait? Feyland: The Bright Court is published and for sale in both print and digital formats (only $4.99 for the e-book version) from all online retailers. Did you miss the first story? Feyland: The Dark Realm is here on Wattpad, and also available from all online retailers.

NOW AVAILABLE: Feyland: The Complete Trilogy in one epic digital bundle for only $8.99. Three full books - The Dark Realm, The Bright Court, and The Twilight Kingdom - in one awesome adventure~     http://www.amazon.com/Feyland-The-Complete-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B00B73TD9I/

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