“The agent never said how he caught me,” I mumble with a shrug. Why am I even explaining myself to him? “I still don’t know.”
The shallow smile he offers says it all. He suspects I made a stupid mistake. He’s probably surprised a mere pixie survived outside the wards.
“I didn’t think you’deverget caught,” he says, and the admission surprises me enough I have to shuffle to keep from tripping over my own feet. “The FIRE agents have enough fairy prisoners working for them now that he was probably able to use their luck. I doubt he’d have been successful without help from one of us.”
The connotation is that it wasn’t my fault, a kind thing to say. I’m baffled by it. Why is Seven being kind to me now?
Arden chimes in from ahead of us. “She was trying to win my university tuition. My deposit is due for the fall.”
“Arden, shhh.”
“Aren’t you a little young for college?” Seven asks.
Arden preens. “I’m a year ahead. I was admitted to an accelerated premed program at Chapel Hill.”
He slants a look of admiration in her direction. “I could tell you were smart the moment I met you.”
“Okay!” I say, intentionally interrupting and wedging myself between them again. We’ve reached my parents’ place. “This is it.” I usher Arden away from Seven toward the stone path that leads to the front door, rolling my eyes when he lingers in the street. Why won’t he justleave?
As I knock on the round wooden door, I flash back to a time when I could walk in without knocking. The door was painted red then. Now it’s purple. Minutes pass and no one comes. I knock again. They must know we’re here. My parents had to have arranged all this.
When the door finally opens, it takes me a full minute to recognize my mother. She’s aged. Her once-brown hair is now peppered with silver. Fairies aren’t immortal, but their natural lives are long compared to humans, three hundred years on average. My mother isn’t a day over seventy, which means her silver hair is caused by negative emotions, not trips around the sun. A pit forms in my stomach as I wonder if any of that gray hair had to do with me.
“I suppose you expect to stay here,” she says by way of greeting.
“Where else would I stay?” When she says nothing, I add, “I wasn’t hoping for a warm greeting, but a hello might be nice.”
“Hello.” She folds her arms over her white nightgown.
“Hello,” I echo. A moment yawns between us. “Mom, this is your granddaughter, Arden.” I move aside so she can get a better look. As soon as she sees Arden’s genuine smile, my mother melts and pulls her into an embrace.
“Welcome, Arden. It’s so nice to finally meet you.” She oozes warmth toward her granddaughter. I thank the gods for small mercies. “You did the right thing calling us. Go ahead inside. There’s a snack for you on the counter.”
Arden slips past her into the warm light of the interior, and my mother turns hard gray eyes on me. She doesn’t say a word but looks past me toward Seven.
“Eight o’clock sharp,” he says in answer to a question that was never asked.
She nods. “She’ll be there.”
Seven gives me one last lingering look, then utters a hasty good night and, to my relief, finally leaves.
“What happens at eight o’clock tomorrow?” I ask.
She lifts an eyebrow. “You go to see Godmother.”
ChapterSix
Depend on the rabbit’s foot if you will but remember it didn’t work for the rabbit.— R.E. Shay
On some level, I expected this. Arden and I can’t stay in Devashire permanently without Godmother’s permission. She controls everything here. Her word is law. Only I thought we’d have a few days to settle in before she summoned me. I assumed there’d be a honeymoon period. Guess I was wrong.
“What do you think I’ll owe her?” I ask my mother, chewing my lip. I follow her into my childhood home. It hasn’t changed much since I left, and memories swarm me like angry bees.
She clucks her tongue. “It’s not the cost, Sophia. Rescuing youwasexpensive, but thankfully that part has been taken care of.”
“What do you mean taken care of?”
She chuckles and shakes her head. “Obviously we didn’t have the resources to rescue you. The money is one thing, but the luck was well beyond our means. You got yourself into quite a pickle. We thought we’d have to try to borrow it, perhaps take out a lien on the store, but honestly we don’t have that kind of credit.”
