Once again, he was cut off. “We believe she was likely taken.” The other fae moved into view as she spoke to my sisters. Her hair was as white as her skin, and she had pale blue eyes lined in black with equally black lips, but it was her translucent wings that caught my eye. They stretched out gracefully from her back and shimmered different colors in the sunlight, waving gently, as if there were a breeze inside. “We will tell you everything we know if you’ll write your signature here besides your father’s.”
Olive grabbed the pen, eager to sign. “Ah, it cut me!” It barely slowed her down. She signed the page, then handed the pen to Rissa to excitedly text someone.
I huffed silently. She hadn’t even bothered to read what she was signing.
“Ugh, why’d you give me the pen that cut you?” Rissa grumbled, pulling her finger away to reveal a small spot of blood. She, at least, tried to read the contract first as she sucked on her sore finger. But the fae cleared her throat, rushing her, and my middle sister caved to the pressure. Putting her hand on the table, she carefully signed on the same line as Dad and Olive.
“Well,” Dad said with a heavy sigh. “That just leaves Bry—”
He stopped abruptly, eyes widening.
I couldn’t tell what had stopped him, but Olive glanced up from her phone at that same moment and dropped it with a scream. Rissa joined her. Dad stepped protectively in front of them. “What’s going on? How did you do that? You’re not the police!”
Ah, they’d dropped their illusion.
“You are correct, Mister...” The pale one paused to pick up the paper and read the signature. “Donovan.”
I frowned. They didn’t even know Dad’s name? The ones that’d taken Mom had seemed to know her. Were they not working together?
Dad paled. “I knew she didn’t leave us,” he whispered to himself. He raised his voice. “You took her!”
Fiiiiiiinally.I didn’t know how he’d pieced that together, but at least he was figuring it out. The mixture of relief and stress made my chest hurt.
“Oh, no, not us personally,” the female replied calmly, waving toward the blue one. “But Toothaker here heard a rumor that you were searching for our kind.”
Wait, what?Dad had been looking for answers too—did that mean he’d suspected Mom’s note wasn’t real all this time? Did he actually know about the fae? Why hadn’t he said anything?
“It’s my personal policy to take the entire family when possible,” the fae was saying. “No loose ends that way. But it seems someone was lazy and missed the three of you.”
Four of us, I thought. But she obviously didn’t know she’d missed one.
“Now, please,” she said cheerfully, as if inviting them to a tea party. “Come with us.”
“Absolutely not.” Dad crossed his arms, shifting on his feet. “I think you should leave.”
I’d never heard him fight with anyone in his life, not even Mom, but there was iron in his voice.
The female pointed to the contract. “That’s binding. You don’t really have a choice.”
“First of all,” Dad snapped, “that’s not going to hold up in court. And second, you promised to bring my wife back if I signed.”
The fae cackled. “I made no such promise. I only agreed to tell you everything I know, which, as it turns out, is nothing at all besides a suspicion that one of the fair folk may have led her away. There, I’ve fulfilled my end of the bargain.”
Dad pushed Rissa and Olive behind him, subtly moving them toward the archway that led from the kitchen to the living room.
Without missing a beat, the female followed them step for step as she continued, “As for your human courts, they mean nothing to me. You will fulfill your side of the agreement, or the magic will bend you to its will and enforce the contract that way. And I guarantee it will be more painful.”
A flash of emotion that looked like genuine fear flew across Dad’s face. His voice trembled slightly as he asked, “What is ‘our side’ of the agreement?”
That’s why you should havereadthe contract!I wanted to yell at him.
“You’re coming with us.”
A metallic taste filled my mouth, and my whole body went cold. I felt lightheaded.
This cannotbe happening.
“Girls.” Dad’s voice lowered to a dangerous level I’d never heard from him before. “Run!” he yelled, pushing them toward the front door, grabbing one of our pans off the counter where it’d been drying. He swung it wildly at the creatures.
