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“That might not have been the case.”
“What aren’t you telling me?”
His Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows. “My mom … Well, the elf they hired anyway … he found your parents. That’s the mission she’s been on for the last week.”
Fear crushes my chest. Oh god, something bad is about to happen. I can feel it—the dread—flowing off of him. “Are they …? Are they alive?”
He nods. “They’re living in a small town in Alaska.”
Hurt whisks through me, making it harder to breathe. So, darkness was showing me the truth that day. My parents did leave me.
I curl my fingers inward until my fingernails stab into my palms. “Why did they take off? Do you know? And, why didn’t they … take me with them?” I dig my nails harder into my skin until I feel warm blood trickle out.
Pity floods his eyes, along with something else. The lights around us pop against the energy rippling through me. But he doesn’t tear his gaze off me.
“I don’t want to lie to you, but the truth … it’s going to hurt.”
“Just tell me,” I choke out, piercing my fingernails deeper into my flesh, until all I can feel is physical pain. “I need to know what happened.”
He slips his fingers underneath the hem of my shirt, gently stroking my skin. “The people who raised you … who you thought were your parents—Scott and Marla—they aren’t your real parents.”
Tears burn my eyes, and my bottom lip trembles, but I bottle down those damn emotions and lock them up, my fists clenched so tightly my hands are trembling. “Did they adopt me?”
He reaches up and sweeps strands of hair out of my eyes. “They were taking care of you for your aunt, the one you said you never met … She’s your real mother.”
“So, my mom—Marla’s sister—is my real mom?” I shake my head, gritting my teeth. “Why didn’t they just tell me?”
His grip on my waist tightens. “Because… because she’s not really Marla’s sister.”
“Then, who the hell is she?” I bite out, blood trickling from the wounds on my palms and dripping onto my wrists. “And, why did she leave me with those random people?”
He winces at my sharp, clipped tone and the snap of thunder from outside. “It wasn’t random. You were sent to live with Scott and Marla because they’re humans who know of our world, so they could keep you hidden amongst the humans without getting freaked out when you showed signs of your powers. They were also sealed to secrecy by a blood oath made by your real mom so they couldn’t tell anyone what you are. They were also sealed to you and the wall around you, which means that, as long as they were near you, you were protected. Unfortunately, they …” He smashes his lips together, worry cramming his features and flickering down the link.
I brace myself for whatever he’s going to say, knowing with how worried he is that it’s going to be awful. “Just tell me, please. Like you said, I need to know.”
He frees a trapped breath then pulls me closer. No, not just closer, but to him until I’m straddling his lap.
“I just want to say first that you’re not alone in this. Me, East—my entire family—are going to protect and be there for you.” He places his palms on my cheeks again. “And we care about you. I care about you. Remember that, okay?”
I smash my lips together and nod. “I’ll try.”
He skims his finger along my side while holding my gaze. “Your parents were paid off by the hunters to leave you. We’re not positive since Marla was pretty vague with her answers. But from what she told my mom, they received a large sum of money to go to Alaska and never contact you again.”
Tears sting at the corners of my eyes, tears of hurt and anger. After all that time I spent looking for them, after insisting to everyone that they’d never leave me, that’s exactly what they did.
“Why?” I manage to get out.
“Marla didn’t flat out say it, but between the hunters contacting you after Marla and Scott took off, and then darkness showing up at the school, we think that the elemental god of darkness and the hunters bribed them to leave so they could weaken the protection spell to get to you, but it took some time for it to weaken. He probably showed up at the school to follow through with his plan to … to destroy you because he probably found out from that darkness that your wall was cracking. That’s what we think the darkness in the room meant when it talked about the condition you were in.
“Plus, my parents and the rest of my family were gone the day they put the school on lockdown so only me and East were near you. He could have done it at the house, but it’s much easier to break down the spells around the school than it is the ones put around our house. Plus, that stupid darkness room is in the school, and he can feed off the energy in it if he needs to.
“And … I’m really sorry about this part, but I think, when my brothers and I tried to take the wall down around you, we sort of sped up the process of him being able to get ahold of you.” Guilt reflects from his eyes. “I’m so sorry. I feel so awful—we all do. I’m just glad we were late to school that day and didn’t make the stupid mistake of driving around the line of cars and going right inside.”
“You don’t need to be sorry. None of this is any of you guys’ fault.” A few tears stream down my cheeks and I quickly swipe them away.
I can’t believe this. That the elemental god of darkness wants to kill me. That Marla and Scott abandoned me. That they’re not even my real parents.
“If anything, it’s Marla’s and Scott’s fault,” I mumble. “And my mom’s for abandoning me.”
