I dropped my elbows onto the desk and put my head in my hands.
Did it really matter what they were called?
Whatever they were, they’d taken Mom. And no one else knew what had really happened.
All that mattered now was finding a way to get her back.
The rest of the article was barely longer than a page. None of it seemed remotely true, and it was one of those sites where anyone could rewrite the info, so not exactly trustworthy either.
Clicking out of it, I returned to the library home page and scoured the database for books on fae.
I found only a handful.
All but one were in the fiction section.
That wasn’t promising.
Still, I tracked down and checked out every single available book, shoving all four into my bag as the library closed.
Dragging my feet on the way home, I slipped inside to find Dad at the dining table with Rissa and Olive.
The crumpled note from “Mom” had been spread flat on the kitchen table between them.
From the shock on their faces and the way Olive’s fingers didn’t even touch her phone, it was clear they’d just read it.
They barely registered me shutting the door.
I took off my boots and shucked my coat as Rissa whispered, “But, Dad, she wouldn’t really leave forever... Would she?”
The urge to tell them the truth sat in the back of my throat, stuck, refusing to come up.
“I don’t know.” Dad’s voice cracked.
Rissa looked at me then, like she was hoping I might do something, say something.
My chest ached from the pressure of holding in what had actually happened against my will.
I had to saysomething!
“Where would Mom have met a pilot?” I snapped, trying to wake them up from this strange trance they were in. “We live in Selmo!”
Olive stared at nothing, shaking her head.
Rissa, blinking, picked up the note, and I thought,Finally, someone will challenge this!But as she touched the paper, she slumped back in her chair, and a look of despair settled on her face.
“And what about this weird paper?” I pointed to the thick parchment. “Mom doesn’t even own this kind of paper. Plus she wouldn’t sign her full name. Don’t you see anything about this that isn’t—” My throat tightened, cutting me off as I drew too close to saying what had really happened.
“Yeah, it’s weird,” Olive said with a frown.
But then Rissa wordlessly passed the note over to Olive, who took it without looking. A few seconds later, Olive slowly stopped shaking her head and didn’t say anything else.
“It’s more than weird.” I turned to Dad, who’d taken the note from Olive next and now held it in trembling fingers. It drained the fight out of him, just like it had with my sisters.
When he held it out to me, I backed away.
I couldn’t be sure of anything right now, but if that paper was contributing to their blind faith, I wanted nothing to do with it.
“I wish I knew more,” Dad finally said on a sigh, putting a heavy hand on my shoulder as he stood. “It’s been a long day. We can talk about it more tomorrow,” he promised, before unceremoniously going to bed.
