It was useless.
I was the last person to believe in magic. In fact, I still didn’t want to.But I had to admit those strange creatures who’d taken Mom had donesomething.
What I needed to figure out, besides why they’d said no one could know, washowthey enforced it. Because there had to be a way around this.
They couldn’t just take Mom and get away with it.
I shoved on my winter boots and puffy red coat, slamming the back door on the way out.
If I couldn’t send someone after Mom, I’d find her myself.
Thankfully, no one else had gone into the backyard since the last snowfall, which left fresh tracks leading into the woods. They’d walked in single file, probably to hide their trail, since the packed-down snow made it impossible to know if the tracks were human or animal unless someone had seen them being made.
Picking up my pace, I got excited that the kidnappers might’ve been stupid enough to lead me straight to them, only to slow a minute later as the tracks faded away. Deeper in the woods, the foliage grew too dense for much snow to reach the ground. What might’ve made it through had already melted. There were only pine trees in all directions. I bent down, trying to find a clue. Even a broken twig or something to signal which way they’d gone would help.
Nothing.
Despite knowing she was long gone, I yelled, “Mom! Mom, can you hear me?”
Silence.
With no one around to hear my frustration, I let out a scream.
I stood there, breathing hard, not knowing what to do, and slowly sank down onto the ground.
Eventually, birdsong resumed.
After sitting in pine needles and defeat for a while, I took out my disfigured phone and pulled up a search website. It took ages to painstakingly type a description of the creatures who’d taken Mom into the search bar.
When I finally pressed enter, I couldn’t even read half of the text on the screen through the web of cracks.
I closed my eyes and let my head fall back against a tree.
This day could not get any worse.
I couldn’t give up yet though. Shivering, I stood and headed for the library. If Pearl hadn’t closed early, I could use one of the two working computers. The third hadn’t turned on in years. Kids usually used it to prop up their phones and books.
Fortunately, one was free when I arrived.
I signed up for my turn on the schedule and dropped into the squeaky rolling chair, typing lightning fast. First, I googled “funny-looking creatures,” then added “moss hats” and “black eyes” and “blue skin” and so on. It wasn’t until I put in “pointed ears” that I finally got a hit.
The fair folk.
Also known as fae, faeries, fey, and similar terms, depending on where they are in the world.
Found it.My shoulders tensed. If I looked away, would it disappear or turn into a web page about cooking or a school project?
I risked glancing away and back. The page didn’t change. Maybe because no one here cared, much less would know how to connect my weird searches to Mom.
Blowing out a breath, I leaned in to read more.
The fae come in many shapes and forms,the article read.But no matter their species, they’re all known by their penchant for making deals, their inability to lie, and their pointed ears.
The “pointed ears” part was highlighted as the reason Google had sent me here. But the part about deals caught my eye.
What had the short one said?The mortals aren’t allowed to know...Part of the deal.And later, he’d said something about... I squeezed my eyes shut and forced myself to wade through the murky memories until the word finally came back to me:contract.
“No,” I whispered.
