Mom. Cowering. Her mouth open in a silent scream.
I shove the memory aside yet again and turn over—and find Bandit snuggled beside me in kitten form. I’m about to push him away from me, but he looks so darn cute curled up with his nose tucked beneath one paw. And it’s oddly comforting to realize I haven’t been alone all night. I reach out and stroke two fingers from his head down his back, hoping he doesn’t turn out to be just like the puppy that ran away.
My stomach grumbles. I wonder if Violet’s breakfast invitation was only for yesterday morning, or if it extends for as many mornings as I’m here. Hopefully the latter, since I have no food in this room. I get dressed and check the enchanted numbers on my wall—I’m later than yesterday morning—before hurrying down the stairs, one hand trailing against the tree trunk to steady me if I trip over an uneven step. I slow down before reaching Ryn and Violet’s door. It’s open, which is a good sign, and the heavenly aromas wafting through the door start my stomach grumbling again, but I’m still not sure if I’m welcome here a second time. Especially after freaking out at the hospital yesterday and putting Calla and Dash at risk.
I move a little closer and see Violet, Jack and Calla at the table. Jack straightens, jumps off his chair, and runs toward me. “I’m sorry, Emerson!” He wraps his arms around my middle and squeezes tight.
“Oh, um, okay.” I pat his back awkwardly. “What are you sorry for?”
“I don’t know. Mom and Dad were talking about you this morning and they sounded worried, and when I asked Mom what was wrong, she said you probably just need a big hug.”
“Jack,” Violet scolds, rising from her chair and then standing there hesitantly. Color appears in her cheeks. “You should ask before you do things like that. Some people don’t like to be hugged by people they don’t know well.”
Confusion crosses Jack’s face as he pulls back. “But Em knows me. We walked around the whole oasis together.”
“It’s fine,” I say hurriedly, leaning down and hugging him quickly, despite the growing awkwardness. I’d prefer to keep my personal space to myself, but I don’t want to hurt Jack’s feelings.
“Would you like to join us?” Violet asks, gesturing to the table and still looking somewhat embarrassed.
“Yes, thank you. I wasn’t sure if, um …” I shove my hands awkwardly into my back pockets as I hover near the table. “Well, I know you invited me yesterday, but I wasn’t sure if that was just a first-day thing, like for everyone who’s new, or—”
“Oh, that was for every morning while you’re here,” she says with a smile, sitting again.
“Yeah, we don’t want you to starve all the way up there in the top of the tree,” Calla adds.
I pull a chair out and take a seat. “Do you cook amazing breakfasts every morning?”
“Dad actually made the pancakes,” Jack tells me before helping himself to another one.
“And no, we don’t do breakfasts like this every morning,” Violet says. “But when things are less busy and we have time, then we do.”
I help myself to two pancakes and reach for a small jug of what looks like syrup, but could very possibly be an exotic magical alternative. I prepare myself for the possibility of it tasting very different. Ryn walks into the house as I finish drizzling it over my pancakes.
“Okay, everything’s sorted,” he says as he joins us at the table. “Em, we’re going to get your mom out of hospital today, if it’s all right with you.”
“I—yes. Of course that’s all right with me.” I pause with a fork and a piece of pancake in the air in front of me and shake my head, giving myself a moment to take in the news. “Today? Already? That’s amazing.”
Ryn laughs. “Yes, today.”
“I mean, I know Calla said we’d go back for her, but … I just figured that would take a while. I’m sure you have plenty of other priorities, and my mom’s just … a human stuck in a hospital.”
Ryn lowers the mug he just picked up and looks directly at me. “She’s your mother. That makes her a priority. And if she’s been stuck in that hospital for years, then it clearly isn’t doing anything to help her. We were talking about getting her out as soon as possible, and then Dash called last night to tell me it had to be today and that he plans to help. So today it is. Everything’s been planned.”
“You know, I’m seriously starting to wonder if the Guild is going to fire Dash soon. He’s spending more time on cases for us these days than the job he’s paid to do.”
“Don’t worry about him,” Violet says, reaching for a glass of something green. “He works a lot harder than you think.”
“Works hard?” Calla snorts. “You think so? That boy is far too chilled. He’s probably sitting back and letting his team do all the work.”
“Just like he does with the ladies,” Jack says.
Violet chokes on her drink. “Excuse me?” She sets her glass down. “What exactly are you talking about, young man?”
“That’s what he said to me,” Jack tells her, his tone defensive. Then he deepens his voice, probably in an attempt to impersonate Dash. “I just sit back, and the ladies come flocking.”
Violet blinks at Jack while Calla bursts out laughing. Ryn tries to keep the smile off his face as he clears his throat and says, “I hope you realize, Jack, that that’s not the way to find the right girl.”
Jack screws up his face and reaches for another pancake. “I’m not looking for any girl.”
“Good,” Violet says as I chew and wait patiently for a moment to ask for more details about Mom’s rescue plan. “And when you do, you’ll find out it takes a lot more effort than just sitting back and waiting.” She looks across the table at Ryn, her frown replaced by a small smile.
Ryn winks at her. “Like glow-bug asses in the sky.”
Violet flicks her fingers, and a spark bounces off Ryn’s shoulder. “Don’t say ass,” she whispers.
“Mom and Dad said ass!” Jack shouts gleefully.
Violet rolls her eyes and Calla starts laughing again. I smile and wait for the laughter to die down before saying, “So, uh, what’s the plan for getting my mom out of Tranquil Hills?”
“Right, sorry,” Ryn says. He takes a sip from his mug, then continues. “Calla and Dash will go into the hospital and retrieve her. Dash doesn’t have a Griffin Ability, so he won’t set off the alarm the Guild put on her room. He’ll need to sedate her so she doesn’t put up a fight. Obviously not with magic, so he’ll use something herbal that doesn’t contain any magical elements. Then they’ll use an illusion of invisibility and carry her through the building and out the main door.”
“And the door that requires an ID tag?” I ask.
“They’ll wait for someone to go through and then follow them before the door closes. Same with the main gate. Vi and I will be waiting for them outside, mainly as backup in case anything goes wrong. Then, since we can’t get your mom through the paths, we’ll need to drive to one of the natural openings between this world and that one.”
“You can drive?” I ask, doubt very much evident in my voice.
“No, but one of our Guild contacts has a sister—a halfling with no magic—who’s always lived in that world. She’s agreed to drive us. So we’ll meet her down the road from the hospital, and we’ve calculated it’ll take about five days to get to the nearest opening.”
“Five days? Surely you can’t keep her sedated the entire time?”
“No. I assumed you’d want to travel in the car with her. When she wakes up, you can explain everything to her so she doesn’t panic.”
I hesitate, not wanting to have to explain what happened last night. The fact that my own mother didn’t recognize me.
“I know,” he says gently. “Calla told me what happened. You’re worried she still won’t recognize you. But we were hoping it might have been the stress of the alarm going off, and two other unfamiliar people in her room. It will hopefully be easier once she’s away from the hospital.”
&nb
sp; “She …” I swallow and push my hand through my hair. “She didn’t recognize me last time either. When I went almost a year ago. I hoped last night would be different, but it was just as bad.”
“Perhaps something in her medication confuses her,” Calla says. “You said yourself that the medication makes her worse.”
“It’s just that after she moved there, she always seemed a bit … spaced out. We played a card game the first time I visited, and her responses were so slow.”
“Well, we’ll take it as it comes,” Ryn says. “Two of us will always be with you in the car. Not necessarily Vi or Calla or I, but two people from the team. Possibly people you haven’t met yet, but they’re all a hundred percent trustworthy. We’ll swap out every few hours over the five days. If your mom panics, someone will be there to help you calm her down.”
“And when we get to this world? Then what?”
“There’s a healing institute we plan to take her to. White Cedars. It’s private, has nothing to do with the Guild. We’ve sent people there before, and the Guild’s never known anything about it. Hopefully someone there can figure out if it’s possible to help your mom.”
I lean forward. “Do you think there’s a chance? Dash said we can’t use magic on her because she’s human. Was he wrong?”
“He wasn’t, but our healers don’t always work with magic. I don’t know their methods in detail, but we may as well ask them to try. Nothing in your world has worked so far.”
I nod vigorously. “Yes. I agree. Thank you.”
“Sure. Shall we enjoy the pancakes now before they get too cold?”
“I’ve had three,” Jack announces.
“Little piggy,” Calla tells him.
I cut into my second pancake—and out of the blue, that tingle I’m becoming familiar with rushes up my spine, into my hair and down to my fingertips. I grasp for something harmless to say, to test this thing, and blurt out, “Pass the syrup.”
There’s a beat of silence, and then four hands reach out simultaneously, knocking into each other and toppling the syrup jug onto its side. Together, in a fumbling, sticky mess, the four of them slide the fallen jug across the table to rest in front of my plate.
Calla is the first to snatch her hand away. “What was that? Was that your Griffin Ability?”
“Wow, that was weird,” Violet says, pulling her hand back.
“Mom, what’s going on? What just happened?” Jack holds his sticky hand up in front of his face. Violet reaches for a cloth and passes it to him.
“I’m sorry,” I say in a small voice. “I suddenly felt it coming on, and I wanted to test it, and I tried to think of something silly and safe. I didn’t think it would make a mess.”
“It’s fine,” Violet says. “Not a big deal.”
I look at Ryn, because he’s the only one who hasn’t said anything yet. “You think it’s a big deal, don’t you.”
“Not the mess,” he says. “The Griffin Ability. The power to make other people do things with just a simple command. That’s a big deal.”
“Yeah. I know.” Using my fork, I push a piece of pancake around my plate, no longer interested in eating it. I half expect Ryn to give me that clichéd line about great power and great responsibility, but he doesn’t, which makes me like him a little more. “So, I should probably go to that laboratory you mentioned and hand over a sample of my magic.”
“I’ll take you after breakfast,” Violet says. Then she briefly explains my Griffin Ability to Jack—“That’s so cool!” is his response—and the atmosphere around the table slowly returns to normal after that.
“I need to finish a few things before we get going,” Ryn says, standing. He clears a few items from the table and gets a cleaning spell going in the sink. “I’ll be in the mountain if you need me. Otherwise, we’ll meet at the base of the tree at eleven?” He glances at Violet and Calla, then at me.
“Sure,” I say. It’s not like my schedule is full.
“Oh, hey.” Ryn stops to greet someone in the doorway. “I didn’t know you were back. How’d it go?”
“Uncle Chase!” Jack shouts.
Calla pushes her chair back immediately and runs to the door. The man standing there pulls her into a hug. “Oh, you know how it is,” he says to Ryn over her shoulder. “Things got a little complicated, but it all worked out in the end.”
“Great. Looking forward to hearing more about it. I need to get to the mountain now, but Calla can fill you in on what’s happening today.” As he leaves, the man in the doorway gives Calla a quick kiss and says something in a voice too low for the rest of us to hear.
She nods, then turns around and gestures to me. “This is Emerson. Em, this is Chase.” I walk a little closer as she introduces me. “Remember the girl Dash was keeping an eye on for the Guild? Her magic finally kicked in properly and it turns out she’s Griffin Gifted.”
“Welcome to the club,” Chase says, reaching forward with a tattooed arm to shake my hand. He pauses, gripping my hand for a moment too long as his eyes dart quickly across the room before returning to me.
“What?” I pull my hand back quickly. “Please don’t tell me you can read minds or something, because I’m not sure I can handle that. Having someone feel all my emotions is weird enough.”
His expression relaxes into a smile. “No. Nothing to do with minds. I have a knack for controlling the weather.”
“Really? That’s weird.”
“It’s come in useful at times. What’s yours?”
“I say things and then they happen.”
“She told the earth to split open and it did,” Calla adds.
Chase’s brow rises. “Impressive. You must be at the top of the Guild’s most-wanted list right now.”
I nod. “Pretty much.”
“Okay, we need to get to the lab,” Violet says. She sweeps her hand through the air past the table, then ducks as the remaining dishes fly into the sink. “Jack, please dry the dishes when the spell’s finished washing them, and make sure you’re ready for school by the time I get back.”
“Aah, Mom, but I wanted to introduce Em to Filigree. She hasn’t met him yet.”
“Em needs to come with me, and Filigree’s being a grumpy old sloth right now. It isn’t the best time.”
With a downcast expression, Jack walks to the sink and reaches for a dish cloth. “Here, I’ll help you,” Calla says. “Don’t be grumpy like Filigree.”
As Violet and I walk out and head down the stairs, I ask, “Is there a mountain somewhere inside this dome that I’ve missed?”
“A mountain? No. Why would—Oh.” She chuckles. “Because of what Ryn said on his way out. No, that’s just what we call the building that has the rooms we meet in to plan and discuss missions and Seer visions and everything else. The lab’s there too. Chase used to run things from a mountain, back when Ryn and I were still at the Guild. Then we all ended up here, and some of the people he worked with previously started calling that building the mountain. It’s silly, I know, but the name stuck.”
I put my hand out and run it along the tree as we descend. “Silly, but it makes an interesting story, at least.” We pass a person with greenish scaled skin walking up the stairs, and Violet introduces me quickly before we continue. At the bottom of the tree, I push my hands into my back pockets. “Can I ask you something more serious?”
“Yes, of course.”
It’s an awkward subject, but less awkward—hopefully—than if I’d asked at the breakfast table. “Um, how do I earn my keep here?”
Her smile turns bemused. “Earn your keep? You don’t have to earn your keep, Em.”
“But, I mean, nothing in life is free, right? Everything costs something. So if I’m not contributing, then how does that work?”
She shakes her head. “Don’t you worry about that. We have paying clients. They help us keep things running.”
“Really? That’s it? I don’t have to pay anything?”
“Nope, not a thing
,” she says with a laugh. “If you decide to stay here, then we can find a way for you to contribute. If you end up leaving, then just consider this all a gift. Either way, you don’t need to worry about it now.”
Stay here … with Mom. Didn’t I wish for that the moment I first walked into the oasis? I shove the thought aside quickly, not wanting to somehow jinx the possibility.
“Can I ask you something now?” she says.
“Yeah, okay.”
“What’s up with you and Dash?”
My internal defenses go up immediately. “What do you mean?”
“Well, he’s been talking about you for years—this not-so-human girl he’s been keeping tabs on for the Guild—but he failed to mention that you … dislike him? Hate him? Hold a grudge against him?”
“Can I tick all of the above?”
She laughs. “How interesting. Most girls seem to fall all over him trying to get his attention.”
“I’ve noticed. And I’ve never understood why.”
“So what unforgivable thing did he do to you?”
I look at her. “You said he’s spoken about me. Didn’t he tell you what happened with my mom?”
She nods. “He saved her life, didn’t he?”
“Saved? More like ruined.”
Surprise colors her expression. “Oh. What happened?”
“Well, it’s because of him that my mother was taken away to a psychiatric hospital.”
Still looking completely lost, she says, “Um … how?”
I raise my eyes to the treetops and let out a frustrated sound. “Okay. Dash obviously never gave you the whole story, so here it is.”
Twenty
“I was twelve, almost thirteen,” I tell her. “One of my friends had a birthday party at the park. Mom had been okay for a little while. She had episodes sometimes, but at least they all happened when she was at home. No one knew about them. Anyway, the party was going well. I was happy, Mom was interacting with people.
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