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Except, in the few lines Carolina gave me, it never once mentioned a halfling.
…a child with powers,
part human, part fae…
This one does.
I mean, part human, part fae? Can’t get any clearer than that.
And he added it to Lina’s note.
The question echoes in my brain.
Why?
Only one way to find out.
Clenching the paper tightly, I spin on my heel and dash for the busted door. I quickly duck under the yellow caution tape, heading back toward where I left him before stopping short when I realize that the space is empty again.
He’s gone.
I clench my fist.
Why am I not surprised?
5
My parents are up in the apartment, waiting for me. As much as I wanted to spread out, go looking for the stranger and demand he explain this to me, I don’t. I’ve already been gone for a bit and I don’t want Callie and Ash to worry about me.
Not any more than they already have, I’m sure.
I swear, it’s so weird, having people who are looking out for me. I haven’t had that in a long, long time. Not since the Everetts, and considering I was a bratty and troublesome teen, I didn’t really care about their feelings or their rules.
Back then, I kept expecting them to ship me off to the group home again anyway. Six years later, I know that my last set of foster parents were just trying their best and, while I might not be able to make it up to them, I’m trying my best not to disappoint my bio parents too much.
They don’t know what to do with me just like I have no clue what to do with them. After our breakthrough the other day, I’m trying my best to keep our newfound relationship from getting too awkward. It’s easy for me to treat them as long lost friends or something, but mom and dad? How? Especially when they’re basically the same age as me.
Well, Callie is. Ash is… hey, he looks like he’s my age and that’s weird enough. Not to mention, he’s got the same coloring as Rys; even more now that he’s recovering. While their features are different—no way would I mistake one for the other—my dad is a reminder of the other Light Fae and I can’t stop wondering about him.
It’s been a couple of days since we escaped the Fae Queen’s throne room and I haven’t seen him at all. Not during the daylight or even in my dreams. It’s like he’s missing.
Missing or something even worse.
I hope he’s okay. Despite all the crap he put me through, I almost wish he’d pop into the apartment, just so I could be sure that I didn’t leave him to pay the price for helping me, my parents, and Nine get away.
I know it’s unlikely. Even if he managed to escape Melisandre’s soldiers, Rys wouldn’t find it easy to track me down—and not just because I’m wearing Nine’s brand instead of his.
The apartment I shade-walked to is on the second to last floor of a fifteen-story building. Apart from us, the whole place is eerily empty. It made me curious and leery at first, but now I’m just grateful for the privacy. It might be condemned, too dangerous for even the homeless to squat inside. Whatever. For now, it’s the perfect hide-out for us fugitives.
Especially since it’s warded up the wazoo. Between the iron frame and the magic protecting this place, Ash chose the building purposely to hide his family back when I was a baby. I’m still not so sure I understand how we got here, but until I can figure out how to break the spell on Nine, it works.
At least, it did. I think of the stranger with the green eyes as I press the elevator button with my thumb. As the doors ding open and I step inside, I decide to keep him and his paper to myself until I can figure out what to do about him.
Between getting to know my parents, saving Nine, and getting the Fae Queen off my back, worrying about a weirdo in the human world who knows all about the Shadow Prophecy is the last thing on my mind.
I press number fourteen and, as the elevator rises, I leave any thoughts of that guy and his “corrections” back on the ground floor. He’ll be back. I’m sure of it. And when I see him again, I’ll offer him the rest of Carolina’s cash if he’ll explain just how he’s involved in all of this.
It didn’t occur to me not to take the elevator until the doors closed behind me the first time I used it. I hadn’t known the building was empty then and I was so frazzled, I wouldn’t have cared if anyone saw me and wondered what was up with the chick in the gloves. As soon as I stepped outside and learned the truth about this place, I was shocked that the elevator worked. Since I’m way too out of shape to take fourteen flights every time I want some fresh air, I continue to chance the elevator.
