She nodded, pushing up off the couch to untangle herself from the rest of the blanket.
“Elijah, what on earth …” A petite woman with short auburn hair rushed into the living room in a bright blue dressing gown embroidered with peacocks. At her back was a man as tall as Elijah with gray hair and striking jade-green eyes. They halted at the sight of Echo.
“Not that we’re not happy to see you, son, but this is a bit untoward,” Bill Webb said.
“Come here, come here first.” Nancy, Elijah’s mother, rushed her son, and Echo watched with more than a twinge of envy as they hugged. Elijah closed his eyes, distress straining his features as he tightened his hold on the human.
Echo sensed his love and fear flowing out of him in waves.
Irritated with her envy, she waited impatiently as father and son shared a quick hug that came with a hard patting of hands on each other’s backs.
“Why is it so gloomy in here?” Nancy said, striding toward the curtains. “Let me?—”
“No!” Elijah and Echo yelled in unison.
His mother startled to a stop, her dark eyes huge.
“Sorry, Mum.” Elijah raised his palms toward his parents. “You can’t open the curtains.”
“Are you in trouble?” Bill asked, frowning.
“In a sense, yes … There’s something I need to tell you, and I think you better sit down for it.”
6
The last thingElijah had expected after he’d told his parents everything about being fae and the prophecy was for his mum to turn to his dad and say, “I told you so.”
His dad nodded grimly. “You did. I didn’t listen.”
What the hell did that mean?
“You told him what?” Echo asked before Elijah could.
“I told Elijah’s father”—his mum looked at him now—“I told your father I thought you were fae.”
Shocked, he slumped on the sofa next to Echo. “How did you know about the fae?”
“Well, it was a few years ago. You came back from your first tour, and you were agitated because you’d discovered that other supernaturals were real.” She gestured to Echo. “Vampires and such. You told us about them because you wanted us to be aware of the danger.”
“You did? You didn’t tell me they already knew about supes,” Echo said, tone almost accusing.
He nodded, barely paying attention. He wanted to know the fae stuff. “But how did you come to the conclusion I was fae, and why didn’t you tell me?”
“Your mum and I had been looking for answers for years, but the resources we had couldn’t provide much evidence or answers that the supernatural world was real,” Elijah’s dad continued. “But when you told us there were vampires and such, I called up an old school friend who is now a professor at Oxford. He got me into the Bodleian Library and gave me access to some very old books on the supernatural world.”
“Why didn’t you do that before?” Elijah asked, stunned his father had a connection like that.
“Because we were so unsure of tipping anyone off, and I think we genuinely believed you might be one of a kind. But then you found out for certain there were others like you. Witches, warlocks. Except what you described of their powers seemed different from yours … So I went to Oxford. I took extensive notes and brought them back. The more your mum and I pored over them, the more we questioned whether you were a warlock like you thought.”
“The research said witches and warlocks had to pull their energy from other things, things that were sacrificed. You don’t have to do that.” Elijah’s mum leaned forward. “Then I came across a section in your father’s notes that spoke about the fae. Their abilities seemed to match up to yours.”
“But there was nothing concrete, and what was said was that if the fae did exist, they were no longer in this dimension and hadn’t been for millennia,” his dad said. “Your mum wanted to look deeper into it, but I was afraid to stir up trouble. I just didn’t believe it could be true. I’m sorry, love.” He pressed a kiss to her temple, and she patted his hand in reassurance.
“Why didn’t you tell me any of this?” Elijah scowled.
His parents blanched, so in sync with each other after all these years. His dad replied, “We didn’t see the point. Or I didn’t see the point. I’m sorry, son.”
Echo stood from the couch. “Let’s look on the bright side … it means we won’t have to spend days convincing your parents of the truth.” She looked at them with her cool jade eyes. “You’re very adaptable for humans.”
