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“No, I… I really think I’m okay,” I told her, trying to work my way back through the jumbled memories of the previous night. “But what about you? Are you—”
“Perfectly fine,” she said firmly. “The effects of Bernadette’s concoction were already wearing off by the time we got out of the lighthouse. And these were just from the struggle to get out.” She gestured impatiently at the bruise and cut on her face.
There was a soft knock on the partly-open door, and Rhi’s face appeared around it. “How’s the patient?” she asked tremulously.
I summoned a smile, though it felt strange on my face. “I’m okay, thanks.”
“Hungry?”
I wasn’t sure if I was hungry or not, but I nodded anyway, and she entered the room with a tray heaped with food and a steaming cup of tea. She set it down on my lap. I picked up the cup of tea, more out of politeness than anything else, but the first sip felt like heaven, warming me through and clearing a little more of the fog from my head.
It was only then I noticed Persi was there, too, hovering in the doorway like she was afraid to come in. Her usually flawless makeup was smudged in shadows under her eyes, and her hair was piled in a messy bun on her head.
“So. You’re alive then,” she said stiffly.
“Looks like it,” I said. “Sorry, it looks like you’ve still got an underage landlord.”
She smirked. “I prefer it to the alternative.”
I swallowed another mouthful of tea. “I suppose I should explain what—”
“Eva told us everything,” my mom said, stepping in swiftly. “Well, everything she could. There were parts of it she couldn’t explain… like what happened on the beach after you left the lighthouse. And of course, I already knew about Bernadette.”
Persi made a soft growling noise in the back of her throat. “Sorry,” she muttered when we all looked at her. “I just… I can’t believe she fooled me like that.”
“It sounds like she fooled a lot of people,” Rhi said gently.
“And was fooled by them,” Mom added. “Once Sarah had her in her grip, I’m not sure she had a choice anymore, but to do what she was told.”
“She had a choice,” I murmured. I felt three pairs of eyes on me. “She was manipulated, yeah, but she told us herself. At some point, she had to choose to serve the Darkness. And she did.”
No one spoke for a moment. And then…
“And on the beach? After the lighthouse?” my mom urged.
I shook my head. “I was trying to save you… to save everyone. He wanted me. Well, not me… my magic. And I was so sure I didn’t have any until…”
“Until you singlehandedly commanded the elements, and wielded them to defeat the Darkness?” Persi supplied dryly.
I managed a small smile. “Yeah. Something like that.”
“Defeat is a strong word, I fear,” Rhi said. I met her eye. Her face was pale and drawn. “The Darkness has been beaten back, certainly, but it is far from eradicated.”
“We can worry about that another day, though, can’t we?” my mom ground out between her teeth, giving Rhi a significant look.
Rhi’s eyes widened, and she stammered, cheeks blushing. “Oh, right. Yes, of course, I didn’t mean to… what you did was… was…”
“Remarkable,” Mom finished, and I was stunned to see unmistakable pride gleaming in her eyes.
“I… I thought you’d be mad at me,” I said.
“Mad at you? How could I ever be mad at you, my sweet, brave girl?” my mom asked, a glaze of tears clouding her eyes again. “If I’m mad at anyone, it’s myself. I thought I could run from who we are. I knew it would catch up with us one day, and I did nothing to prepare you for it. When I think of what you must have gone through, I…”
“It’s not your fault, Mom. You didn’t know. Well, okay, you knew about the whole witchcraft thing, obviously, and yes, that would have been helpful; but Asteria never told you exactly what happened that night when I was little. If she had—”
“I would only have run further,” Mom finished, looking sad. “I just… I couldn’t bear to put you in danger, Wren. But by running from it, that’s exactly what I did.”
“I didn’t help, though. I never told you about the Gray Man. I never told you about the dreams, or when I started seeing him again, here. So maybe, since we both screwed up, we can just forgive each other and let it go?” I suggested tentatively.
