“Who gifted her?” Sam asked, looking skeptical.
Dain’s smile didn’t waiver. “Someone special.” In fae language, that meant, “None of your business. You’ll know when you need to know.”
Gabriel frowned. “I…can we have a few days to think about it?”
“Yeah,” Sam agreed after a moment. “It’s something we all need to discuss as a family. As much as I’d love Ama being around for longer than her usual life span, that’s…”
“Of course,” Dain replied.
The two ravens resumed petting and loving her, then Ama squirmed out of Gabriel’s arms and hopped onto Sam. He kissed her beak.
“I’ll leave you to your reunion. Should you decide you require my assistance, Sky knows how to contact me.”
They thanked him again, and Dain stepped backward into the Twilight, vanishing from the mortal realm and leaving us with a magical parrot.
18
Family is Everything
All our friends cheered Ama’s return. Gabriel posted a photograph to the university Facebook page, captioned “She’s home!” which earned over ten thousand likes and counting as people shared her picture and the news traveled beyond campus.
When I clicked the link indicating it had been shared many thousand times, I saw people with all kinds of foreign names from the Netherlands to China commenting on her cuteness.
She was really ridiculously cute, too. The little stinker.
I fed all three Fujimoto men Friday evening. Gabe’s father took us out for dinner Sunday night—Lia babysat Ama during our absence—before he caught a red-eye flight home to Texas Monday morning.
Since Sam had friends in the area, he made plans to hang around for another week.
Then Monday morning, I woke up to get ready for my early Philosophy class and overheard the two speaking in hushed voices out in the living room.
“She’s my bird, Sam.”
“No. She’s the family’s bird,” his older brother spat back. “We all love and care about Ama, but when she came up north to live with you on campus, it was because she chose to come along and didn’t want to be parted from you. Now she doesn’t want to be here.”
“We don’t know that.”
“I know she hasn’t wanted you to touch her since the fae lord brought her home. Look, man, it’s not your fault.”
“It’s not Sky’s fault either.”
“Never said it was.” Then Sam sighed. “Look. I don’t want to argue with you. The choice is yours, but I really think you need to consider what Ama needs. You have a new mate, Gabe. In a couple years, maybe, you and Sky are going to be talking about kids.”
Gabe said nothing.
“Just think, if Ama feels left out now, how will she feel once Sky’s pregnant? Once you have a couple babies and a career to balance?”
“Sam. We’ve barely been together a month.”
“Is it any less true?”
We still hadn’t discussed children, but Gabe probably wanted a clutch of them. The thought of having a child any time soon made me want to puke. Not because I hated babies—I loved the little stinkers—but because I couldn’t imagine myself being someone’s mother. I’d never even had a childhood pet, and my own little brother wouldn’t relax when I held him.
On top of wanting more time to enjoy my new mate, I wasn’t even licensed yet. I needed time to build my career and enjoy the fruits of my labors before enduring labor.
“Ama has always been with me at the university,” Gabe said in a softer voice, his tone heartbreakingly sad.
“I know, man, but things are changing. She’s changed. I got nothing against your mate. Sky’s wonderful, but getting involved with a fae affects more than just you. And maybe we should get the entire family together to discuss it.”
Guilt washed through me. I stepped back and faded away into the Twilight, leaving them to talk without my snooping. Even in the Twilight, Ama glowed. I hurried past her cage and made my way to class in my pajamas because this was college, and nobody cared if I sat in the back row in Tinker Bell sleep shorts.
By the time my lesson with Dain rolled around the next day, Sam and Gabriel weren’t even on speaking terms. The Fujimotos hadn’t made a decision yet concerning Ama’s future, but they’d scheduled a FaceTime video conference for that evening.
Dain waited in the field, Pilar already there and chatting with him. The moment she spotted me, she hopped back from his side and tucked her hair behind her ears, all smiles.
“Skylar! Dain was telling me about Ama’s adventures in Tir na Nog.”
“Yeah, well, her adventure nearly gave Gabe a stroke.”
“I trust all is well now that little Ama has returned home?”
I shook my head. “Better than things were before, but there’s been a bit of…well.” I sighed and dragged my fingers through my hair. “Gabriel and his brother argued yesterday over her. They’re not blaming me, but Sam had a good point. Ama doesn’t want to live with us anymore, so Sam thinks he should take her back to Texas to live with the rest of the family.”
Dain’s fair brows shifted upward. “Because of you?”
“Yeah. Nothing like this has ever happened before in, like, sixteen years. I’m the reason she escaped and wouldn’t come home. Plus, ya know, there’s the whole changing into a faerie bird bit.”
“Have you asked her?”
“She’s a bird, Dain.”
He pinned me under a serious look. “So?”
An understanding of my own stupidity crashed into me with the force of a freight train, long before Pilar chortled and said, “You cast the best Beast-to-Man glamours, Sky. Better than mine, even. Why not get the truth from her own lips?”
“You’re both brilliant, and I’m an idiot.”
“No, you’ve just been stressed and worried,” Pilar replied with a surprising lack of condescension. “Her behavior upsets you, therefore you weren’t able to think objectively about it.”
“True.”
“Honestly, one of us should have suggested this weeks ago, and I feel awful that I didn’t think of it either until now.”
Also true.
“Well then. I believe Lady Skylar has business to attend to before her young mate returns ho—”
“Oh no. Not now. I need time to work up the courage.” I’d keep the idea to myself for now and practice on a few common animals in Professor Tristal’s glamour lab.
Dain cocked a brow. “Would you like me to do it?”
“No, it really should be me. She and I need to figure things out ourselves.”
While Sam and Gabe set up for their family conference call, I busied myself in the kitchen. Not because they were hungry—they’d actually just eaten a huge lunch—but because I had no idea what to do with myself. Part of me wanted to leave, uncertain whether I was welcome for the meeting. Then again, this was my home now.
“Hey, Sky, come sit with me,” Gabe called. “I’ll help with the dishes after this.”
“I got it.”
“Please.”
He didn’t need to ask again. The moment I sat beside him, he curled his arm around my waist and drew me close. Sam managed a tight smile but didn’t say anything. He had his iPad in his lap, which made it almost funny that I also saw him on Gabe’s MacBook.
I’d never realized until now that they were an Apple family.
“Hey, Sky!” Teresa waved at me, her face filling one corner of the screen. A moment later, Alex pushed in beside her. Jiisan showed up in a third square, then Gabe’s parents took up a last part of the screen. Obaachan hovered behind them, her ghostly image transmitting flawlessly through the video with the occasional crackle or flash of shimmering color.
“I’m sorry it took such an extreme event to get us all together like this,” Gabriel began. “Thanks for staying up so late, Grandfather.”
“It is no trouble.”
“How is our Ama?” Gabriel’s mother asked.
Sam held her up for everyone to see.
Ama preened and posed, quite aware that she was the star of the show. Gabe held out his hand for her but she shuffled further up Sam’s wrist.
“I still can’t believe how pretty she is,” Teresa said. “But, Sky, will anything else have changed about her? Should we ask the faerie lord to take away her gift?”
Put on the spot, I resisted the urge to squirm. “Um, I don’t think it’s entirely necessary, but to be honest, I’m not sure yet. I do think she can cross the Twilight. That’s probably how she got out of her cage to begin with.”
“So, she could fly off again,” their mother said. “If she remains this way.”
“She could, yeah,” I admitted.
“Which is precisely the problem, especially now that things are so dangerous here,” Sam said.
“You mean all the zombies?” Alex asked. “Ama can fly right over them.”
Gabe frowned. “But anyone who has to go out looking for her again is at risk. Sky could have been killed in that ambush.”
“Ama should come back home with me,” Sam insisted. “She’s not happy here.”
So far, their grandfather had been quiet. Calm. He cleared his throat and steepled his hands together. “Would you suggest taking Ama away if she were a human or shifter child rejecting her new stepmother?”
“No,” Sam blurted out, flabbergasted. “I would nev—”
“Then we shouldn’t suggest the same now. Sky loves Ama as much as we do, but they need time to adjust to this change in their lives.”
“I would agree with you, Father, if there were not a chance that Ama could phase into the Twilight to escape. Sam is correct that it might be safer for Ama to come home where we can monitor her,” their father said, glancing at his wife.
Two against Gabe so far, and it was about to be three. No way his mom was going to take our side.
“She should stay,” Angela Fujimoto declared.
I swung my head back toward the screen so fast I should have gotten whiplash. Everyone else wore matching surprised expressions.
“Mom?” Sam said.
“I agree with your grandfather,” she said. “If Ama were a child, we would not shuffle her around. This situation is no different.”
“Thanks, Mom,” Gabe said quietly.
“Ama should stay,” Teresa and Alex said in unison.
“I believe Ama should remain with Gabriel. She’s always been closest to him. Even I could see that,” his grandmother said. “This is an adjustment for everyone, and they should have the time to adapt to their new familial circumstances together.”
“But what if she leaves again, Obaachan?” Sam asked, looking crestfallen. “Think about how long she was gone.”
Gabriel glanced at me, looking helpless.
“She won’t leave again,” I chimed in. “Dain spoke with her. I don’t know what he said, but he assured me she’d learned her lesson.”
“The word of a fae lord is indisputable,” Mr. Fujimoto said. “Knowing this, I believe Ama should remain with Gabriel. For a time. If things do not change, we can revisit the topic again and discuss alternatives.”
His mother nodded. “We all may have fallen in love with Ama, but she was always intended as Gabriel’s playmate.”
Obaachan’s ghost smiled. “They grew up together. They belong together, and one day she will come to love Skylar, too. As she has the mind of a child, give her the time to adjust to having a new mother.”
I did not pump my fist. But I did feel the knot of tension in Gabriel’s chest loosening, like a death grip around his heart finally easing.
“All right,” Sam relented. “Ama stays, then. I’m sorry for trying to force it.”
“It’s fine,” Gabe said, though he didn’t look sincere.
“I get it, Sam, and no hurt feelings from me,” I said. “And thank you, all of you, for giving us the chance to make things right again.”
“Yeah, thank you,” Gabe said hurriedly. “I promise if she’s truly unhappy, I’ll do what’s best for her.”
“What about her gift?” Angela asked. “Will she keep it?”
“I am inclined to say yes,” her husband replied.
“It has to stay,” Alex said.
“Please!” Teresa cried. “She’s so pretty, and look at how happy she is.”
“It would be dishonorable to reject such a gift,” Jiisan said.
“And it is not our decision to make,” his wife agreed.
The last of the tension left my shoulders. Everyone signed off not long after, starting with Jiisan. It was well past midnight in Japan.
“I’m gonna head out and get out of your way for a while,” Sam said, standing. “I’ll grab a room somewhere for the night.”
“You don’t have to do that,” I said.
Sam gave another forced smile. “No, I do. You three need time together without me bringing you down. Thanks for everything, Sky.”
He headed for the door, leaving me feeling helpless. We may have won the battle for Ama, but I hated seeing the two brothers at odds. One look at Gabe’s tight features made me genuinely worry for their relationship.
“Hey, Sam?”
“Yeah?”
Gabe stepped over and pulled his big brother into a hug, which I took as my cue to go. The sooner I left, the less reason Sam had to flee into the night. My worries seemed ridiculous now that I really thought about it, because when it came to the Fujimotos, family meant everything.
19
Doctor Plague
Life returned to normal. Sam remained in the extra bedroom, a welcome babysitter who kept an eye on Ama any time we were out of the apartment for longer than a few hours. Despite the promises from Dain, Gabe was terrified she’d phase through the Twilight again and out of the home the moment we left her unattended.
We were in no rush to shoo Sam away, and told him to stay as long as he wanted.
“Nah. I won’t do that to y’all. You’re newly mated and deserve your privacy. I feel like an asshole for hanging around as I have,” he’d said.
And though he wouldn’t say it, he felt like an asshole for threatening to take Ama away from Gabriel. Ever since that night, something about Jiisan and Mrs. Fujimoto’s words really bugged me, but I couldn’t place my finger on it.
Since Sam was out in the city at the World Music Festival with “just a friend”—despite his aura lighting up like the sky on the Fourth of July any time he mentioned going out with Ashley—we decided to stay in Saturday night with movies. We dragged Ama’s cage over, popped it open, and tried to lure her out with snacks. She turned her nose up at us until Gabe provided a few goldberries.
The little brat only emerged for those.
We were halfway through an Avengers marathon when Gabriel’s phone lit with an alert. He glanced at the screen then kissed my cheek. “Zombies again. Raincheck on date night?”
“Sure.”
Fuuuuck. Gabriel hadn’t gone off campus much recently, but every time he left, I clenched and feared the worst. Next time a fae asked me if I was sure of something, I’d take their advice under extreme consideration
Then my phone went off, and I whooped with joy. If I was with him, I could watch over him. Perfect. “Yaaaas!”
My man’s grim expression didn’t change. “Don’t celebrate too soon. It could be anything.”
I unlocked the device and read the message from Simon out loud to him, confirming we both had identical instructions guiding us to dress and arm ourselves in accordance with zombie protocol. My pulse slammed in my chest. It thrilled me as much as it terrified me that I’d been selected for a special operation. Most assignments were first come, first serve, but they had invited me along.
Nothing is going to happen to Gabriel. Fate isn’t that cruel.
“All right, fine. Fine. Let’s get ourselves together then. C’mon, Ama.” He refilled her food and water dishes, coaxed her into the cage, then placed it near a window for her to watch the courtyard while I ran around the apartment gathering my gear. I shi
mmied into leather leggings and pulled on a Kevlar shirt.
Across the room, Gabriel peered at the weapons rack. “You want a shotgun, or pistols?” he asked.
“Both?”
“Once again you prove yourself worthy of my love. C’mere.” He helped me strap on the holster and gave me his large-capacity riot shotgun. This beauty held ten shells. I held it in my arms and sighed happily, “Hail to the queen, baby.”
“Not the same without the kiss at the end.”
I snorted back a laugh and leaned up on tiptoe to kiss him. “Evil Dead marathon when we return?”
“Of course. Call Lia and ask if she can keep an eye on Ama.”
Ama eyed us from the cage. Something told me she wouldn’t leave, and that we’d have to trust her again.
“She’ll be fine, Gabe. Ama may be mad at us, but she won’t go anywhere this time. She knows she scared everyone. Right, Ama?”
She turned her back on me, but remorse and sadness and disappointment—that we were leaving, I think?—was all I felt shimmering in her tiny body.
We love you, Ama, I thought with all my soul, hoping the warmth of it reached her.
Trusting her, we left and hurried across campus to join our fellow sentinels.
Three more student sentinels arrived after us. Sebastian shut the doors behind them. The licensed officers had us students outnumbered three-to-one, and the many grim faces sent anxiety spiking through my blood. Gabriel squeezed my hand once then joined his colleagues. I blended into the group of juniors and seniors, standing beside Cole, Rachel, Holly, Alistair, and Holden.
“No Anji?”
“She’s at work. Couldn’t get away,” Cole whispered back.
“Damn.”
Holden grinned and nudged me with an elbow, almost knocking me off balance. “About time we saw some action together.”
I missed the chance to reply when Simon strode to the front of the room with a remote in his hand. A hush fell over the us as the large screen powered on. “In the interest of saving time, I’ll cut to the chase. We’ve received a video.”
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