by Karen Lynch
“Thanks for letting me know,” I said as a cold knot formed in my gut. The truth was going to come out eventually, but I’d hoped I would have more time before the media got wind of it. It didn’t matter that it was only a rumor. That was enough for the paparazzi and the reporters to start digging until one of them found something.
“Why do you look like someone kicked your puppy?” Violet asked when I ended the call.
I picked up the remote and turned on the television. I flipped through the channels until I found a local news station with a picture of the hospital in one corner of the screen. The words DEVELOPING STORY were displayed across the bottom.
My fingers gripped the remote as I listened to the two anchors discussing the information provided by an unnamed hospital insider. The details were so vague that if it had been about anything other than a conversion, it wouldn’t have gotten air time. It had only been a few months since Jackson Chase’s death, and another conversion so soon would send the media into a feeding frenzy. Already they were speculating about the identity of the new faerie and why the conversion was being kept hush-hush.
“Jesse,” Violet said sharply.
I tore my eyes from the television. “What?”
She tugged at the remote in my hand. “Unless you want to buy your parents a new one of these, hand it over.”
I opened my hand to reveal two cracks in the remote’s plastic casing. “Crap.”
She took it from me and studied the damage before she turned off the television. “Remind me not to hold your hand the next time you’re upset or angry.”
“This new strength takes a while to get used to.” I flexed my fingers. “I accidentally crushed a carton of eggs the other day. What a mess.”
She snickered. “Bet it comes in handy when you’re hunting, though. Wait until you have Fae strength and magic.”
I made a face. “Faris said it’s different for every new faerie. Some wake up one day, and they have their magic. Others get it in spurts, and it can be unpredictable at first. I appear to be in the latter group.”
Violet’s laugh warmed me. She set the remote on the coffee table and faced me. “You’re good at everything you put your mind to. Before you know it, you’ll be throwing around glamours like a pro.”
“I would never glamour someone!”
“Wrong choice of words.” She smiled sheepishly. “But you know what I mean.”
I sighed heavily. “Sorry. I’m a little sensitive about it.”
She let out a mock gasp. “Really? I never would have guessed.” She fingered the ends of her hair, which was back to its natural shiny black. “You know, pretty much every actor and model in the world would love to have your problems if it meant never aging.”
I gave her a pointed look. “Every actor?”
“Well… except for Paul Rudd. The guy never ages.”
I tapped a finger against my chin. “True.”
“I think he is a faeman,” she said.
“A what?”
She grinned. “Part faerie and part human. I know they say it’s impossible for a faerie and a human to make a baby, but you have to wonder about him.”
I snorted, and a laugh slipped out. She joined in, and I suddenly felt lighter.
“Was that someone from the Agency on the phone?” she asked.
“Ben Stewart.” I filled her in on what he’d told me.
“All they have is a rumor. They don’t know it was you.”
“Not yet, but they will.” I slumped against the cushion. “I need a distraction. Tell me more about the hot actors you worked with.”
Violet rolled her eyes. “You hang out with the Unseelie prince and his royal guard, and you want to hear about a bunch of actors?”
“I don’t hang out with them,” I replied grumpily.
She opened her mouth to retort just as the doorbell rang. I hopped off the couch and went to answer it with her trailing behind me. Peering through the peephole, I wasn’t all that surprised to see Conlan and Faris. It had been a few days since any of them had dropped by to check on me.
I opened the door, and the two faeries greeted me with smiles and arms full of wrapped presents.
“Happy birthday,” they said together.
I frowned as I stepped back to let them in. “I thought faeries didn’t celebrate birthdays.”
“We don’t.” Faris set four presents on the table. “But we know it’s an important human tradition, and we wanted to help you celebrate yours.”
My heart constricted. “Thanks.”
Violet caught my eye and gave me a look that said, “You don’t hang out with them, huh?”
Faris pointed to two boxes wrapped in shiny blue paper. “Those are from Faolin and me. The other two are from Iian and Kerr.”
“And these are from Lukas and me,” Conlan said, drawing my attention to the large wrapped rectangular box he carried. He handed a smaller wrapped gift to me. “This one is from me.”
“Thank you,” I said thickly, deliberately not looking at the large box he propped against the table. “You guys didn’t have to get me anything.”
“We wanted to. Not every day our li’fachan has a birthday.” He wrapped an arm around my shoulders like he’d done the night we met. Unlike that time, I didn’t shrug him off.
“You’re not starting the party without us, are you?” Dad said from the doorway, startling me. “Sorry I’m late. It took longer than I thought to pick up your birthday gift.”
“Dad, you didn’t have to get me anything,” I protested.
He only smiled and moved to one side.
A red-haired woman stepped into view and smiled at me. “Happy birthday, Jesse.”
Chapter 4
“Mom!” I ran to her and wrapped her in a tight hug. “They let you out for the day?”
She patted my back. “Not exactly. It’s more of a permanent thing.”
I pulled away to look at her. “Are you serious? You’re home for good?”
A series of shrill whistles made my ears ache as a tiny blue figure sped toward us. Finch reached us and scampered up Mom’s body to cling to her neck. She placed a hand over his small back and smiled, looking the happiest I’d seen her since she woke up in the hospital.
“Welcome home, Mrs. J,” Violet called from behind me. “Looking good!”
Mom laughed softly. “It’s great to see you, Violet.” Her gaze shifted to Faris and Conlan. “I saw you at the hospital, but I’m sorry, I don’t remember your names.”
I made the introductions, and she clasped Faris’s hand and then Conlan’s. “I don’t know if I thanked you that night for saving Jesse’s life. We will be forever grateful for what you did.”
“We’re happy we could be there for her,” Faris said humbly.
Conlan ruffled my hair. “Life would be too boring without our Jesse.”
I stepped out of his reach and scowled at him, which only made him chuckle. Some things hadn’t changed.
Mom laughed as she unbuttoned her coat. Dad helped her remove it because Finch was still hugging her neck. Seeing the three of them together here for the first time in months made my heart swell until I thought it would burst from my chest. Our family had been through so much since that awful November night, and finally, we were all home. I couldn’t ask for a better birthday present.
Faris looked at me. “We’ll be going now and leave you to enjoy your celebration.”
“Please stay,” Mom said. “You can’t go until after we have cake.”
I looked between her and Dad. “There’s cake?”
“Of course.” Dad went across the hall and unlocked Maurice’s door. He disappeared inside and returned a minute later with a large, pink bakery box. Sneaky.
“Where’s Maurice?” I asked when he shut our apartment door.
Dad set the cake on the kitchen counter. “He’s on a job, and he’ll stop by later.”
While my parents went into the kitchen to get plates and forks, I hurriedly whispered
to Conlan and Faris about the call from Ben Stewart and what I’d seen on TV. Neither of them was surprised by the news.
“We’ve been monitoring the hospital and the media. You have nothing to worry about,” Conlan said in a low voice.
I looked at my parents. “I’m not worried about me.”
Mom turned toward us, and I noticed the changes in her face since the last time she had stood in our kitchen. She looked tired, and her complexion was pale from so much time indoors. The doctors had deemed her well enough to come home, but she still had months of recovery ahead of her.
After we’d all enjoyed the triple layer chocolate cake, Violet declared it was time for me to open my gifts. I started with hers, which contained a crimson Harvard hoodie.
I held it against me. “It’s perfect.”
“I know.” She lifted one shoulder. “It’s scary how well I know you.”
“Mine next,” Conlan said eagerly. “I’ve never given a birthday present, so I hope you like it.”
“I’m sure I will.” I opened the small gift he handed me, and Violet gasped at the leaf-shaped pendant on a delicate chain. The pendant and chain were made of eyranth, a Fae metal that resembled platinum but with a faint bluish glow. Eyranth was rare and valuable in our realm because faeries didn’t part with it often.
“This is too much, Conlan,” I protested weakly.
“No, it’s not.” Violet reached out and wriggled her fingers at the pendant. “Can I touch it?”
I handed her the box and gave Conlan a quick hug. “Thank you.”
“If you’re going to reward me with hugs, I’ll be giving you more gifts,” he teased.
I opened Faris’s gift next and sucked in a breath when I saw the red and gold drakkan figurine. The detail in the tiny piece was so good I wouldn’t have been surprised if it had opened its snout and sent out a puff of smoke and sparks.
“It looks exactly like him,” I said quietly. “Thank you.”
Finch whistled, and I looked at him standing on the table with his eyes wide in recognition. He stretched out his arms, and I placed the figurine in them. Cradling it reverently, he jumped off the table and ran to the treehouse where Aisla was hiding from our visitors.
“He and Aisla miss Gus a lot,” I said to Faris, who was watching Finch scamper up the ladder to the treehouse.
Faris gave me a knowing smile. “I can tell he is missed.”
“Open the rest!” Violet picked up one of the other gifts and shoved it into my hands.
Grinning, I tore off the wrapping paper to reveal a rolled-up pouch of soft leather. I opened it to find six sharp double-ended spikes made from a charcoal gray metal.
“Ummm. Thanks?”
Conlan laughed. “These are from Iian. They’re throwing spikes for when you progress to weapons training.”
“Oh.” I looked at them with new interest. “I figured you’d start me with something less…pointy.”
“Open Kerr’s gift,” Faris said.
I did and found a cylinder sheath about a foot long. Uncapping the sheath, I tipped it, and a polished wooden object slid out. It had metal tips and looked like a piece of a staff I’d seen in their training room.
Faris took it and pressed one of the metal parts, and the piece extended until it was a full-length staff. He handed it back, and I marveled over how light it was.
“This is a combat staff,” he said when I balanced the staff on one finger. “The wood is very strong, and it is a lethal weapon in the hands of a trained fighter.”
Dad came to stand beside me, and I passed the staff to him. He gripped it in both hands and stared at it appreciatively. “I always wanted to learn to fight with a staff.”
“Why didn’t you?” I asked.
“Never got around to it. I focused on other training that was more practical for the job.”
Leaving him to admire the weapon, I turned back to the table where a flat box lay. One of the last people I would expect to receive a birthday gift from was Faolin, and I was intensely curious about what was inside.
I removed the plain blue paper to see a dark wooden box with a hinged cover. Lifting the lid, I gasped at the pair of knives nestled on a bed of silky material. They were about ten inches long with wooden handles and wickedly sharp blades made of the same dark metal as Iian’s throwing spikes.
“Wow,” I breathed. I looked up at Faris and Conlan, who appeared as surprised as I was.
“Those are glaefere blades,” Faris said after a moment of silence.
“The finest weapons a warrior owns after their sword,” Conlan explained. “It is said that the first glaefere blades were crafted by the Asrai.”
I stared at him. “Are you sure Faolin meant to give these to me?”
Conlan’s eyes sparkled with laughter. “Anyone who can land a strike against the Unseelie prince and his head of security is deserving of such a gift.”
“You hit the Unseelie prince?” Mom asked sharply. “And one of the royal guards?”
I winced because it sounded bad when she said it. “It’s kind of a long story. I’ll explain it all later.”
She fixed me with her no-nonsense look. “I see we have a lot of catching up to do.”
“You still have to open the big gift from Lukas,” Violet blurted.
I eyed the box with a mix of curiosity and resentment. For weeks, Lukas had acted like I didn’t exist, yet he’d taken the time to get me a birthday gift. I wasn’t sure how to feel about that.
I snagged the wrapping paper on the top end and tore it down the length of the gift that was over three feet long. Underneath was a plain cardboard box, and I lifted a flap to see the outline of a black guitar case inside.
Violet peered over my shoulder. “He got you a new guitar. I bet it’s a nice one.”
“Are you going to open it?” Dad asked, and I realized I’d been staring at the case a little too long.
I took the guitar case from the box and set it down on the table. Unhooking the latches, I lifted the cover and stared at the instrument inside. It took me a long moment to realize what I was looking at.
Tears blurred my vision as I reached out to touch the guitar my grandfather had taught me to play on, the guitar that had been one of my prized possessions until two men had broken in here and destroyed it. I hadn’t been able to bring myself to throw it out, so I’d shoved it under my bed where I didn’t have to see it.
“How?” I whispered.
“Lukas asked me for it, and I gave it to him,” Dad said. “I wasn’t sure it could be repaired, but he said he could do it.”
“Try it out,” Violet said, and Finch whistled in agreement.
I took the guitar from the case and sat. After a minute of tuning the strings, I played a few lines of Finch’s favorite song. It played and sounded exactly like it had before it was broken.
I pretended to adjust the strings some more so I didn’t have to look up at everyone watching me. I didn’t understand how Lukas cared enough to give me something that meant so much to me, when at the same time he didn’t want to see me or even pick up a phone to call me. It made no sense, and I was more confused than ever.
“Do you like it?” Conlan asked.
“It’s perfect,” I said honestly, and I played until the ache in my chest went away.
* * *
I shivered and pulled my cap down to shield my ears from the icy wind that sliced through the cemetery. This winter felt like it had been going on forever, and it wasn’t ready to release its grip on us yet.
Beside me, Mom seemed impervious to the cold as she crouched to replace the old flowers at the base of the white marble headstone with fresh ones. She arranged the flowers as she spoke softly to the son she still believed was buried here.
I met Dad’s eyes over her head and saw how hard this was for him. He and Mom had spent the last twenty years grieving for their lost son, and now he had to watch her continued suffering. He had asked their doctors how much to reveal to her about the things
she didn’t remember, and the doctors said small things were okay. To avoid a relapse, we needed to let her regain her memories at her own pace.
Dad and I had decided that one of us would be with Mom at all times because we couldn’t risk her remembering something traumatic when she was alone. So far, it had been relatively easy to do because this was the first time she’d left the apartment since coming home three days ago.
My mother was not stupid. She knew we were keeping something from her, but Dad had asked her to trust him, and she did so without question. I think, for her, having us all together was enough for now.
I dropped my gaze to the name engraved into the small headstone. My whole life, this had been the only place I’d felt somewhat connected to my brother. Being here now, knowing it wasn’t Caleb’s body in the grave, I didn’t know what to feel other than a simmering anger at the person who had torn my family apart.
Mom stood and ran a gloved hand lovingly over the little angel atop the headstone. She straightened her shoulders and smiled at me, but I caught the sadness in her eyes before she could hide it like she always did.
“Your nose is so red it’s almost glowing,” she teased.
“Just the look I was going for.”
Laughing, she looped an arm through mine. “Let’s stop for Thai on the way home. I’ve been dying for something spicy, and that will heat us up.”
I forgot all about the cold. She had been eating like a bird since she’d come home, and this was the first time she’d shown interest in food. Thai was her favorite, not mine, but I’d have it seven days a week if that was what it took to get her to eat.
“I could go for some Pad Thai.” I looked over at Dad. “You can have that mango rice you love.”
He smiled at us. “What’s a meal without dessert?”
I started to ask what our trainer, Maren, would think of his love of desserts when an unpleasant tingle spread across my skin. My whole body tensed because I knew this sensation. My first instinct was to make sure I was wearing my dampening amulet. Then I lifted my head to look at the colored lights in the sky a few miles away.