I closed the notebook and leaned back in my chair, letting the feeling settle.
My phone buzzed.
A text from Laina.My mother just confirmed her arrival time. 2pm Friday.
I stared at the message, then added one more line to my notebook entry.
Friday will determine if what I’m building with her can survive someone trying to tear it down.
I had two days to prepare, and I’d already started.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
LAINA
Iwaited at the gate in Bertha, watching my mother’s silver rental sedan creep down the road like it was afraid of getting dirty.
Even from a distance I could see her white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel.
She pulled through the gate and followed me down the tree-lined road.
A puddlewump darted across ahead of my truck, its semi-liquid body wobbling like a sentient water balloon.
I slowed. In the mirror, my mother’s brake lights flared red.
Everything about this world would feel wrong to her. She’d say it was too wild and uncontrolled. Too much like the life I’d chosen that looked nothing like her own.
We reached the clearing and the facility came into view. She stopped her car beside mine in the lot. I slid from Bertha’s driver’s seat to the ground as she got out and smoothed her cream-colored slacks.
Carol Mercer looked like she’d dressed for a country club lunch, not a creature rescue facility in rural Maine. Her hair was the same honey-brown I remembered, though now professionally colored to hide the gray. She wore a silk blouse under a tailored jacket, pearl earrings that caught theafternoon light, and shoes with a modest heel that were already collecting mud. She looked tired under the makeup. The pearl earrings were the same ones Dad had given her for their tenth anniversary, the ones she’d worn every day until she left. I’d forgotten she still had them.
She’d maintained herself the way she did everything, with careful attention and visible effort.
“Laina.” She smiled, the expression not quite reaching her eyes. “You look well.”
“So do you.”
We stood in the parking lot, two women who shared genetics and history and almost nothing else, performing the ritual of reunion.
“It’s very…” She gestured at the area in general. “Wild out here. Untamed. That huge fence and…things in the woods. Is this place even safe?”
“It is.” My voice came out flat. “The creatures won’t hurt anyone.”
“You’re not worried being so isolated? Is there cell service beyond the gate?”
“There is.” Enough. “I like the quiet.”
Her smile thinned. “You always did. And now you’re going to be talking to animals. Just like your father.”
Five orcs stood waiting outside the main entrance, arranged in what I assumed was Krem’s idea of a formal greeting line. Brovish stood in the center, his shoulders back, his expression earnest. Beside him, Krem held a clipboard like a shield. Drogar grinned, showing his impressive tusks. Traig’s face remained neutral. Greth stood silent at the left end.
Sofia rode on Brovish’s shoulder, her round body tucked against his neck.
My mother’s steps slowed as we approached them. She kept glancing from them to me.
Brovish stepped forward first, pulling himself up to his full height, which made him look even more imposing than usual.
“My lady,” he said, his voice formal and careful. “We’re pleased to have you in our humble throwing.”
