“Leave it to me to land on a plane with an active volcano,” I muttered to myself.
“Yes, leave it to you,” a soft voice said.
I jerked in its direction, prepared to fight to the death, and almost fell over when I saw the woman standing only ten feet away. I knew her. Well, I didn’t know her, but I knew who she was.
“Mom,” I squeaked, dumbfounded.
Inherently I knew she couldn’t be Emma Hunter. My mother had given birth to me and her body was in the Moonstone Bay Cemetery. Sure, she got up every night and shambled around with unseeing eyes and an unquenchable desire for human flesh, but I’d seen her grave.
“Hadley.” The woman wore a dark shapeless dress. She had my black hair and inquisitive eyes. Her smile was exactly like mine.
It physically hurt to see her. I’d never laid eyes on her in life. “What are you?”
The woman cocked her head. “What do you think I am?”
“If I knew I wouldn’t be asking.”
The woman held out her hand toward me. I stared at it. There was no way I was holding hands with whatever this was.
“I don’t think I’m going to touch you,” I offered. “No offense or anything, but with my luck I’ll develop a case of scales or lizard tongue.”
Mom — I couldn’t think of her as anything else despite my best efforts — threw back her head and laughed. “You have your grandmother’s sense of humor,” she said when she’d recovered.
There was that pang again. I was legitimately worried I was about to have a heart attack I was so worked up. “How … .” I couldn’t finish.
“How do I know that?” she asked in a soft voice. “Because despite what feels like endless time here, I haven’t forgotten the other side. It’s impossible for me to forget because it’s all I hold on to.”
It felt like a trap. My mind was everywhere and nowhere all at once. “You … are you … I … .”
She sent me a sympathetic look. “You want to know if I’m your mother.”
She looked pensive. “I am many things,” she said finally. “I am your mother, but I’m also not the woman who gave birth to you. Does that make sense?”
“Not even a little,” I replied.
She laughed again. “Yes, you definitely have your grandmother’s sense of humor. I’m glad.” She beamed at me. “Tell me about your life.”
“Don’t you know? I mean, you recognized me. Shouldn’t that mean you already know?”
“I only recognize you because I was told you were coming.” Her smile disappeared. “We will talk about that in a bit. Let’s talk about other things, better things, first.” Her bright smile was back.
“Um … no offense, but shouldn’t I be trying to get out of here?” I looked around at the bleak landscape again. “As happy as I am to see you, I don’t want to stay here.”
Mom’s expression turned fierce. “You’re not staying. I promise you that. There’s no way for me to get you back home just yet. These doors … they don’t stay open. You understand?” She looked hopeful.
I did understand. “You’re saying the plane door only opens at certain times. Does that mean it was just bad luck that I entered when I did?”
She was solemn as she shook her head. “That door was created specifically for you. It’s a one-way door.”
My stomach hollowed out. Did that mean I couldn’t go back?
“You can’t go throughthisdoor again,” Mom replied sympathetically, “but there is another door. We will go there in a few minutes. We’ll have to move fast when it’s time.”
I wanted to question her further but for some reason I trusted her. Sure, it was entirely possible she was an evil witch who had adopted my mother’s face to lure me, placate me, and kill me. Heck, that was probably exactly what I was dealing with.
Part of me still trusted her, and as long as she wasn’t lurching at me in an attempt to eat my face, I was willing to play this out. Besides, she knew the way to the plane door.
“What do you want to know?” I asked, resigned.
