Beatrice shook her head.“I suppose it’s not up to me to question you,” she said aloud.“But Nasha is coming herself.Sit tight and wait for your mother.I can handle the humans.”
I froze.“Ma is coming?”
“Yes, I told her you were here yesterday,” Beatrice said, busying herself at one of the shelves.“I know you wanted to surprise her, but with the weather malfunction I thought it best to relay the information myself.And she wanted to come see my shack anyway.”
My blood ran cold.Ma was coming.She knew I was here.There was no running—not when Edmund was sick.There was no hiding.She’d hunt me down even if it meant marching all the way to the edge of the village.
Maddox reached over and touched my shoulder.“Giselle?Are you alright?”
Of course, it was at that moment the door to the shack flew open.
“Giselle Nuri Phula,” came a reedy voice that made my spine stiffen.“Just what do you think you’re doing?”
18
When I was twelve,I took a tumble on a gravel path while racing Christabella to the fields.I ended up with bruised, broken skin on my hands and knees, my stinging flesh speckled with debris.It was single handedly the most painful thing I had ever experienced.
Walking home with Ma was even worse.
“So, you’re back,” Ma said.Her voice was terrifyingly calm as she led the way, her footsteps brisk on the cobblestone path.
“For a short while,” I said.
Ma was never calm.This was unsettling.
“How short?”
“Twelve days.”Assuming Edmund would stay for his allotted two weeks, which was looking less and less likely.
Maddox trailed a few feet behind us, his blond head lowered.He hadn’t spoken since Ma demanded his name a few minutes ago.
Ma rearranged the knitted scarf on her head.It was goldenrod yellow, her favorite color, wrapped around the brown skin of her face.She looked like a sunflower, if sunflowers had fierce aquiline noses and sharp eyes that missed nothing.They darted to me.“Why is that boy following you?Is he in love with you?”
“Stop it, Ma,” I whispered harshly.I hoped Maddox wasn’t listening too closely.
“A human boy would not be my first choice for you, but I suppose it is to be expected,” she said, as if she didn’t hear a word I said.“Who is he?”
