“What’s wrong? You look like your brain is going to explode.” Mom pulls a finished batch of cookies from the oven and slides in another sheet.
“It might. FIRE knows about Arden. Donovan linked me back to the cell phone account under my previous alias.”
Mom raises a hand to her mouth. “What?”
I hold up the phone. “Seven gave me this phone and put it in my real name. Donovan called me on it not thirty minutes after. Arden’s phone was on that same account under an alias. I have to assume he knows about her, maybe not her real name, but he knows she exists. And if he knows she exists, he’s likely already suspended her passport.”
“Oh dear.”
“If Arden leaves Dragonfly, and Donovan has suspended or flagged her papers, he’ll find her. He’ll try to use her to get to me. I’m not sure it’s even going to be safe for her to go to college unless I can get Godmother to pull some political strings.”
Mom wipes her hands aggressively on a kitchen towel. “Let’s think about this. Arden is human passing, and she was born there. She’s a citizen. They can’t do anything to her.”
I shake my head. “They can do a lot. She aided and abetted me. They know now that she’s part fae.”
Mom frowns in my direction. Her gaze darts toward the stairs before she says in a low voice. “Devashire has a highly rated medical school. Maybe she could stay here.”
I sigh. “It would break her heart. Honestly, I’m not sure how I’m going to pay for it no matter where she goes. I need to go to the bank. I had a half dozen accounts under aliases in the human world. Maybe there’s one Donovan hasn’t found yet.”
“You know you’re welcome to what we have, but I’m afraid it’s not much,” she offers. “The store is as successful as ever, but Mr. Jinx has raised our rent.”
My parents run a gift shop in Dragonfly. Because they live here and are characters, their residence is inexpensive, but they have to rent the space to run their shop from a greedy leprechaun. The margins are thin.
“I couldn’t take your money.”
She holds her head. “Sophia, I’m so sorry. What a mess. I shouldn’t have raised Arden’s hopes by talking to her about college without checking with you first. I just assumed she belonged in school.”
“It’s okay, Mom. You didn’t know, and it has to be addressed.”
She presses her lips together and plants her hands on her hips. “You know, Bailiwick’s Academy might be the answer regardless. The fae curriculum is different, but she’s certainly capable of catching up.”
“Without luck? She’ll be at a disadvantage.”
She scoffs. “You know half those kids aren’t as smart as her using all the luck in their bodies.”
“True.”
Mom pulls me into a tight hug. “It’s going to be all right. You’ve survived much worse than this. Kids are resilient. Arden will adapt no matter what happens. Plus, you don’t knowfor surethat Donovan knows about her.”
I melt into her embrace,hoping with everything in me that she’s right. We’re interrupted when Arden calls down the stairs. “Mom, my phone isn’t working!”
Pulling back, I meet my mother’s empathetic gaze. “He knows.”
* * *
“It’s empty too.”Penelope Hawthorne gives me a sympathetic look. I’m at Wingtrust Bank of Dragonfly, and she’s painstakingly helped me verify that each and every one of the accounts I’d had in the human world has been seized by FIRE.
“Even the one in the Caymans?”
She nods. “Emptied and closed. There’s a note on the account that it was confiscated by the US government.”
I shake my head. “Looks like Donovan has left no stone unturned.”
“I’m sorry, Sophia. Is there anything else you’d like me to try?” She looks at me hopefully.
The list in my hand grows blurry. “Nope. That was the last one.”
“Fuck.”
