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Chapter Thirty-One

I looked at h, realizing that I’d beencookies for quite a while-but not consciously aware of it It was as if I’d been sleepwalking Maybe I still was A pleasant sense of lassitude lay heavily on me, and I used a pancake turner to carefully set the cut cookie, s trees, but it didn’t feel like the solstice It was too war the cutter down, I shifted a second cookie to the tray, then hesitated The one I’d just put there was gone My head caht beyond the as too bright to see anything The ceiling, too, was a hazy white, as well as the floor I didn’t see my feet down there, but it didn’t botherto look out the , but it was as if the sun had washed out the world I turned, unafraid as I realized that the wall against which Ivy had her big farone, too The table was there, but the as a hazy white mist

That didn’t bothertiht of the unh and the e cookies forever Unconcerned, I went to the center counter and cut out another It didn’t matter

I hu around and around in my head Ta na shay, cooreen na da It spun over and over, and I ood with it in my head I didn’t knohat it ood

It fully quiet for h, so often full of pixy chatter, and after setting another cookie on the empty tray, I looked back at the hazy wall There was a dark spot on it, about eight inches tall, a few inches wide, at chest height I squinted, trying to decide if it was getting closer

Kisten? I thought, and it took on a e, but the shoulders weren’t broad enough for him

Maybe it was Jenks? But there was no sparkle of pixy dust And besides, Jenks wasn’t that tall The figure’s ar on a sudden flash of color, it stepped into my kitchen

"Trent?" I said in surprise as he shook off therefreshed and collected in a pair of black slacks and a lightweight short-sleeved shirt, clean and bright and well pressed

"Not really," he said, and I wiped the flour fro "Well, sort of?" he aed "You tell me I’ain at the floor that wasn’t there and the ceiling that wasn’t there, either "You put my soul in a bottle," I said, surprised I wasn’t scared

Trent sat on Ivy’s table and leaned forward to snatch a bit of cookie dough fro to be cut "I didn’t I’ination Yourall of this to cushion itself"

Frowning, I focused on hi there instead?" I said, thinking of her, and Trent chuckled, licking the last of the sweetness fro to reach you That’s why I’h"

But I already knew that, seeing as he was si out the instant I was realizing it It was a weird way to have a conversation

Trent slid from the table and came around to ot too close "What the hell are you doing?" I said, giving hi to kiss you," he said

"Why?" I said, peeved God, dreaet your soul back in your body," Trent said, looking ree"

Oh yeah Elven ht "And a kiss is the only way to show agree the center counter between us The floor had shown up, looking faded and scratched My soul was starting to put things together "Hey, how long have I been in here?" I asked, and Trent shrugged Apparentlyunconcerned, Trent picked up the cookie cutter "You want to leave, right?"

I eyed hi in ood or ifto his sex appeal "Yes," I said, coether"

I figured hecookies, but I slid the spatula under the cut dough and h?"

A second cookie joined the first, and my eyebrows rose The first one hadn’t vanished this ti it," Trent said, then seemed to shudder "You’ve been in here three days," he said, his visage losing its clean, pressed look and beco the cookie cutter ollen, and he was e hiding the da like that It was so up in alarm, and his posture slumped His eyes were red rily He was still wearing his black slacks and black shirt, but they rinkled, as if he’d been wearing the "It’sto my subconscious anymore, and I set the spatula down, ?"

His eyes landed onto get you out, but I’ve run into an unexpected snag"

"You said you could do this!" I exclaimed, and he took a breath, his expression a mix of irritation and embarrassment "Oh my God, isa hand in protest

"Your body is fine," he said, looking at his hand and the its "It’s in a private rooht next to it It’s just"

My foreboding grew deeper "What?" I said flatly

He looked up, gri as if in distaste "It’s a very old char All I had with oyle and the ancient texts I’d been playing with I’ve been studying the to find the truth in the, uh, fairy tale"

"What is the problem, Trent?" I said I could sar scent

"Ah, I think it would help if you kissed me," he said, not embarrassed, but irritated

I dropped back a step "Excuse me?"

He turned away and cut out another cookie "You knowthe kiss that breaks the spell and wakes the, uh, girl? It’s elven s out"

"Whoa! Hold up!" I exclaimed as it suddenly made sense "Youto happen! I don’t love you!"

He frowned, seeing that the cookie he had moved onto the tray had vanished The two I’d placed were still there, though "It doesn’t have to be love’s first kiss," he said "That was soood story But it does have to be an honest one" Alry, he spun back to rip "My God, Rachel Am I so distasteful to you that you can’t tolerate one kiss to save your life?"

"No," I said, taken aback "But I don’t love you, and I couldn’t fake that" Did I? No, I didn’t I was really sure about that

He took a breath and held it as he thought about that for all of three seconds "Good," he said, handing et you out of here"

I took the spatula as he held it out, edging closer to move a third cookie to the tray "Kiss you, huh?" I said, and he sighed

"Here in your subconscious," he said "No one will ever know Except us" His eyesit in your drea a fourth cookie on the tray "Have not Grow up"

He set the cookie cutter down, facing h ht had occurred tothat I’d ever do apart froood, maybe more so with the stubble and the heavy weariness on him There was no wayI mean, he was Trent, and I hated him Okay, not hated anyto him

He was too close, and I shivered when his hands slid around my waist "I suppose a peck on the cheek won’t do?" I said as he started to lean in He was just a shade taller than me, and I was suddenly a hundred ti his eneerous now, tantalizingly dangerous, whereas before he’d been si, and my pulse increased

I stiffened, and his motion toward me hesitated "Sorry," he said, and he pulled me close I was as nervous as all hell, and I didn’t knohat to do with my hands They felt funny at his hips, but I left theot too close, and the smell of cinnamon and wine hit me

It pulled my head up, and with a startled brush, our lips ht on mine, as if afraid or, more likely, reluctant A bare hint of pressure, and then he leaned in, his hands on ainstas I tasted hiic raced overme even as I felt it pull a response fronatural

Okay, this wasn’t so bad

Encouraged, e of lovers that deh ainst hi, he responded, his good hand lifted to touchfor ht rose like a bubble

Oha s as I looked at hi," I said,everywhere, and wild er

"Because I’ forward

"Hey!" I yelped, but he’d grabbed my arm and pulled me back to hied hand encircledback to show your agreement"

"What the hell do I have to do? Rip your clothes off?" I snapped, then gasped as he yanked ht into him "Trent!" I protested, but the as hnot with fire but war and tingling to ertips

"Oh my God," I mumbled, and my hands, once splayed behind me for balance, reached to find his hair I wanted to touch its silky s to do so for years His body was againsthis back into the fridge

Our lips parted upon ime He’d pulled passion from me, and now I’d have to own up to it

"No one will know?" I said, and blood pounded through me when he nodded

"I won’t tell anyone," he said, a sht, and then I tiltedin, I pressed into hiainstMeh me, of him in that silly hat as he held me while I died His white face when he realized he’d summoned Ku’Sox to kill the pixies and I’d already taken care of the problem His fear in Career’s elevator when it opened and he sawthere with Al His terror at caed me to breathe after I’d knocked the air out of ue touchedhiits silky softness, enjoying the feel of his hands on o of the last of y spill into htness He started to pull away, but I wouldn’t let hi hiive mea little more

"Tink’s pink dildo, all that h-pitched, sarcastic voice and the clatter of pixy wings