by LJ Andrews
“Can I ask you something?”
Jade pulled her head back into the car, brushing her hair out of her face. “Of course. Anything.”
Clearing my throat, I kept my focus on the dark road, wondering if I wanted to know the answer. “You mentioned before someone tried to hurt you, and then some people at school brought up a problem with a guy.”
“By people at school, you mean Jenna.”
My face heated. She’d seen me with Jenna, but we’d never spoken of it before. “I . . . she might have said something, but I wasn’t really listening.”
“It’s fine, Teagan.” She snickered. “I mean, you don’t have Jenna’s seal on your back.”
I pressed a kiss to her fingertips. “I don’t.”
Jade leaned back in her seat, eyes ahead. “I’m hesitant to tell you.”
“Jade, you can tell me things.”
She numbly traced my knuckles. “All right, but I’m rather embarrassed about it. There was a boy three years ago. It isn’t surprising Jenna and her posse said something, I’m pretty sure they wanted to get to know him, if you catch my meaning. I wanted to feel normal. I couldn’t shift, I felt as though I was useless and a burden to everyone else. So, if I couldn’t be magis, I’d be human.”
I didn’t like the way her shoulders curled forward and she looked away.
“He was interested in me. I tried so hard to be like other girls at school. Raffi and Dash, they warned me. They said he wasn’t kind, that his heart wasn’t true. I should have heeded my own warnings,” she whispered. “Anyway, he convinced me to meet him at the edge of town.”
Jade paused, and my jaw clenched so tight I feared my teeth might crack. I didn’t want to hear, then again, I couldn’t stop her from speaking. “We weren’t alone in the end. He’d called six friends from another town.” She dragged in a shuddering breath. “He tried to do things, they all did, but I fought back.”
“Jade . . .” I said my stomach rolling in sick waves.
“It’s all right,” she said a sad smile on her face. “Nothing happened. I am stronger than I look and held my own for a while, but Dash had followed me. He fought them in his human form at first. They harmed him, so he shifted.
“It took some doing to make sure they wouldn’t remember what happened. Dash killed one of the guys, so that only added to the trouble. I blamed myself. I was so ridiculously stupid. That’s why when you came Raffi and Dash kept you away. They thought you were . . . like him. So did Eisha.”
I didn’t know what to say as I eased the car into town and turned down my old street. Bringing her hand to my lips, I pressed a kiss to her palm and met her eye when we stopped in front of the small, wood-siding house. “What happened to him?”
Jade rested her head back on the seat, eyes on the roof of the car. “He left. Eisha settled him in another school for the gifted. It was the easiest way to convince the human school boards to get him away from Wyvern Willows. You know, convince them he didn’t belong in ordinary high school. As much as possible, Eisha tries to stay by the book so as not to draw attention to our people. I made sure he didn’t remember anything, and so far, it seems to have worked.”
“So, he’s in a top-notch school after what he did?” A rush of anger boiled in my brain.
She smiled, thumb brushing over my cheek. “It’s over. This is why I didn’t want to say anything. You feel more protective than Raffi and Dash, and they wanted to eat him. I’m fine.”
I shook my head, the burn of sick bubbling in the back of my throat. Never had I thought of murder, but in that moment those thoughts were the only things rumbling through my mind.
“Teagan, you must let it go. There is nothing more we can do.”
I turned off the car. “I can think of a few things.” Jade only sighed and rested her head on my shoulder. I took her chin between my fingers. “Jade, I won’t ever hurt you. You know that, right?”
“I know.”
“And I’m not going to let anyone else hurt you. I would die before I let that happen, and it isn’t because I have these,” I said, holding up my arms. “You’ve become the most important thing in my life.”
Jade’s chin quivered slightly before her lips found mine, and her arms wrapped around my neck. She spoke against my mouth when she stopped after a perfect moment. “So, should we stay here, or are you ready to go inside?”
I smiled, brushing her hair from her face, but enjoyed the way she clung to me. “We came all this way, I guess we should ask some questions.”
Jade stood strong at my side when we walked toward the house. A small pain ached in my head the closer we came.
Aunt Liz had to know something. She had to. If she didn’t, I carried the fear I might never learn the truth. And it was suffocating.
Chapter 24
A single knock, that was all it took for Aunt Liz to answer the door. Her pale eyes went wide once she realized it was me on her porch. Then, within seconds, she looked angry.
“Teagan, what in heaven’s name are you doing here? Have you been removed? I swear it, Teagan, if you’ve been kicked out, I will personally toss you in the rune cells—”
“Aunt Liz,” I interrupted. “I haven’t been kicked out. I was given a visit . . . for good behavior.”
“Oh,” she said through a breath. Her shoulders relaxed, and she quickly straightened her T-shirt that had oatmeal stains on the hem. “Well then, this is an awesome surprise. Who is this lovely lady?”
I gripped Jade’s hand tight and ushered her into the house in front of me. She smiled pleasantly and took Aunt Liz’s hand.
“I’m Jade,” she said. “I go to school with Teagan.”
“Oh, and how do you like . . . Wyvern Reform,” Aunt Liz asked with caution.
Jade laughed lightly. “No, I’m not at Wyvern Reform. We take summer classes together.”
“Oh, forgive me, I misunderstood.” Aunt Liz seemed relieved, until her eyes scanned my arms. “So, those are what nearly gave me a stroke? Probably the most idiotic thing you’ve done, Teagan. Forgive me for reprimanding him in front of you, Jade, but sometimes even grown, stupid men need to hear from the women who raised them.”
I shook my head, suddenly self-conscious of the jade armor. Aunt Liz would pass out if she saw the enormous seal on my back. “They aren’t a big deal anymore, even Mr. Sapphire likes them.”
“Oh, I don’t believe that.” Aunt Liz shook her head. “Well, come on in. I just made cookies. Mark’s birthday is tomorrow, and he’s bringing a treat for his class. I have loads extra. Have a seat, I’ll get a plate.”
Jade didn’t sit. Instead, she walked toward the small mantle over a soot-filled, wood-burning fireplace. The house was small but comfortable. Wood panels on the walls matched the wood slats on the outside. Aunt Liz finally updated the green shag carpet to a darker, more modern flooring. I liked the way Jade looked in the living room. She dragged her fingers across numerous pictures on the mantle. Some were of Aunt Liz and her two best friends who lived upstate. Most were of me. Learning to ride a bike, digging in the sand, when I’d gone to high school—I had braces and found it embarrassing the way Jade stopped and ogled for a moment.
She stopped at the last frame and grinned, taking one of the pictures off the mantle.
“How old were you?” she asked, holding up the frame.
Stepping by her side, I stared at my own face grinning back at me. A front tooth was halfway in, and my face was scrunched enough my eyes were little slits. One of my eyes was bruised and swollen. Aunt Liz had her arms wrapped around me, helping me hold up a tiny silver fish on a hook. The memory of the day brought a smile.
“Eight, I think. It was one of the few days I just got to be with Aunt Liz, no other kids,” I said, taking the picture. “She took me to the lake to fish and hike, just me.”
“It was after your first fist-fight and one of the sirens in the lake offered to help patch him up,” Aunt Liz said, holding a plate of cookies.
“Yeah, after
she drowned me, no doubt,” I said.
“I wish I could say it was the first and last fight, but we both know that isn’t the truth.”
I chuckled and nodded. “Well, Tyson deserved it. He tried to tear a pixie girl’s wings off.”
“That’s why I took you. I wanted you to know there were other ways to stand up for good. Well, I tried, anyway.” She glanced at the pictures. “You were such a rambunctious boy, but so happy.”
My grin faded. I knew Aunt Liz was disappointed in my choices. Being in a reform house, being defective, probably hadn’t earned her any bragging rights with the neighbors.
“Teagan is very kind,” Jade said, taking me off guard. “Did he tell you he helped me at school once? He did, without a second thought. There was a young man who, well, let’s say he didn’t know how to treat a girl like Teagan, and your nephew stepped in and helped me. You raised him well.”
“What a lovely thing to say,” Liz said, offering me a sweet smile. “So, Jade, tell me about yourself. Have you always lived in Wyvern Willows?”
Jade nodded, taking a cookie, though she never ate it. Sweet wasn’t a favorite of dragons. Savory was more their taste. “Yes, all my life. It’s a nice place to grow up.”
“I went there once before when I was still teaching in the magis schools. There was a conference up there, but I never found my way back.”
“You’ve been to Wyvern Willows?” I asked. The entire drive to the house, Liz never mentioned anything.
“Oh, a long time ago,” she muttered, clutching a pillow over her lap. “When you were just a baby.”
“Oh, I bet baby Teagan was adorable,” Jade said, but I sensed she was after something by the way she eyed the walls of pictures and the mantle. “Do you have any pictures?”
Aunt Liz bit into a cookie. “Stored in an endless slew of photo boxes. You’d run away screaming if you saw the mountains in the attic.”
Jade nodded pleasantly, but her hand found mine again and squeezed tightly.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a picture of me as a baby,” I said.
“Oh, of course you have.” Aunt Liz waved the notion away. “You just don’t remember.”
Jade gripped my forearm tightly and a wash of her calming power filled my veins. I leaned forward, brow furrowed. “No, I haven’t. Aunt Liz, I came home to ask you something. I want—I need—you to be honest with me.”
“Anything, Tee. What do you want to ask?”
I released Jade’s hand and grabbed a small frame hanging on the wall. The couple inside smiled, seemed ridiculously happy. I’d spent some of my loneliest hours in front of the frame; it had always offered some level of peace. Now, it left an emptiness in my soul.
“Are these my parents?”
“Teagan, what a funny thing to ask. Those are your parents,” Liz insisted.
Whether it was the new ability in me, or if I already knew inside, I heard the catch in her voice. Shaking my head, I crossed the room and kneeled in front of her. “Aunt Liz, I love you, but you’re lying to me.”
Her eyes glistened with tears and Jade came to her opposite side, her hand taking my aunt’s. Did her calming energy pass to anyone?
“You have a true heart,” Jade whispered. My own emotion catch in my throat. Jade faced me with a smile. “Teagan just wants to know. It won’t change how he feels about you.”
Aunt Liz looked at Jade, but she didn’t resist any longer. Her chin hit her chest and she sobbed. My arms practically buried her when I clutched her against my chest.
“You don’t understand, Tee,” she hiccupped against my shirt. “I just wanted you to know . . . to know you were loved. Not tossed out like the trash. I didn’t care if you didn’t have magic, and those people . . . shouldn’t have cared either.”
I pulled back, heart racing. “You knew them?”
She sighed, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. “I feared this would happen if you went back to that place. I knew it. I fought the judge so hard for any other school. I couldn’t keep you from it. Somehow I knew it would come back to haunt us.”
“Aunt Liz, what are you saying? Wyvern Willows?”
She nodded. “I need to show you something.”
Liz released Jade’s hand and left the room. I slumped back, my hand dragging through my hair. Jade kneeled next to me and cupped my chin, so I would look at her. “Are you all right? You don’t have to do this alone.”
“I knew . . . I expected something was off, but—” I glanced back at the picture of the couple, “who am I?”
“We’re going to find out,” Jade said, brushing her hand along my face until Liz came back into the room, holding a shoebox in her hands. Jade stood and walked toward the mantle, leaving Liz and I to speak on the couch.
“Before I show you this, Tee, I must ask what happened to cause you to question?”
I glanced at my arms—how would I ever explain? Liz was a half-witch, not powerful, but she knew magic existed. Still, it didn’t seem right to blurt out the truth. Not yet. “I met people who knew some Wards. They didn’t know my parents as bankers and they didn’t believe they’d been in an accident.”
Liz sniffled and nodded, slowly lifting the lid to the box. “There are no infant pictures of you because I don’t have any. Eighteen years ago, as I said, I went to a teaching conference. We stopped in Wyvern Willows overnight.” She sucked in a breath and gently lifted a green and gold blanket I didn’t recognize and an envelope embossed in gilded seams. “The next morning, you were outside my door. A little boy, with a smile for days—your sharp eyes were filled with wonder and magic. You had a hold on me instantly. Without a word, you gave me this.” Jade had her hands over her mouth when Liz handed me the envelope. My stomach backflipped. “Read it, Tee. Then I’ll explain.”
With slow movements, I lifted the flap. The paper was beautiful with bits of bark and petals inside. Gently, slanted writing covered the page.
I cleared my throat and read out loud.
“I know you are good. You have no children. I offer my son for your care and guidance for the next ten years. At the end of such time, he will be returned to this spot and I will take him into the protection of his family.
“He is unique, and there is no other like him. I ask that you allow him to grow and learn, do not stifle his curiosity. Encourage and direct with firmness and understanding, though you may not understand him, that is expected. It is only because he is exceptional. I am leaving him in your care, and that comes with a great deal of trust.
“His name will be known as Teagan Ward. It is crucial for his safety you address him with this name. He will grow slowly, do not be alarmed. Until we meet again.”
Aunt Liz dabbed her eyes when I finished, and she averted her gaze to the fireplace. A knot blocked my voice. Jade hugged her middle.
Finally, I dropped the letter back into the box and paced in front of the sofa. “So, I’m not your nephew.”
Aunt Liz released a pent sob and held the pillow against her chest as though it would ease the pain. “I couldn’t tell you,” she croaked. “How could I tell you someone dumped you in such a heartless way? My friends thought I was insane for taking you, but I loved you instantly. I thought . . . I thought it would be better for you if you believed your parents died, leaving you with a family that loved you.”
“You never took me back.” My voice darkened. “You were supposed to take me back.”
“No,” Aunt Liz said with as much intensity. “No, they didn’t deserve to have you. Leaving you alone, practically demanding how you were to be raised. I wasn’t going to listen to their demands. Why would they leave their son? Then ask for you back when you were grown into a young man, and what, no longer a child that needed nurturing? Ridiculous. I loved you, I raised you, and they couldn’t have you.”
Aunt Liz gasped in quick puffs as she shot to her feet. I wanted to tell her it was fine, but it wasn’t fine. I was angry. Angry at Liz, angry at my mystery parents who callously left
me. They didn’t even instruct her to tell me I was loved, no, it was only important I wasn’t stifled in my differences.
“What does it mean, I will grow slowly?”
Aunt Liz sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Don’t be angry, but . . . I don’t think you’re defective. I’ve read and read on different powers and there are some that present slowly. I think you’re one of those magis folk. Maybe a fae of some kind that only acquires magic in adulthood. I mean, you looked like a five-year-old child for years. I kept you back in school because you were so small. Over time, you grew faster, but you weren’t an infant when I took you, Teagan. You were a boy.”
“I don’t remember being small. I don’t remember any of this.”
Aunt Liz dared take a step closer toward me. “I can’t explain much of what has happened since bringing you into my life. You are special, you are exceptional, just as those people said. You’ve always had a special soul, but I couldn’t help you channel your frustrations. Your anger. All I could do was hope you’d find your way.”
Linking my fingers behind my head, I glanced out the window. I shouldn’t be angry. I’d come here expecting a different story of my past, but now that I knew it was true, it wrenched my heart.
“You kept me from knowing my family,” I muttered darkly. Jade met my eye and slowly moved to my side. I wasn’t so sure I wanted to feel calmer if she touched me. “I’ve always been different. You don’t understand how important it is to know who I am right now.”
“I knew something would happen if you went back to that place,” Liz said. “I’ve waited every day for a call, or message that you were gone. That they’d taken you.”
I shook my head and leaned against the wall, my fist pounding the wooden boards. Jade drifted over to my aunt and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Was there anything else left with him?”
Liz pulled out the blanket. “Only this.”
On the front a symbol was embroidered in gold and green silken thread. I didn’t want to look, but when Jade let out a small gasp, I looked over my shoulder.