“It’s okay. I’ll fix it.”
I left and walked into the forest. With shaking hands, I pulled off my clothes and morphed into the Rubicon. It felt great when all my scales shifted into place and then I darted through the trees and got as high as I could, as fast as I could. She was going home, and we needed all the manpower to get her there.
17
ELENA
Iwoke up as the sun streamed into my room.
My nose was stuffy from all the crying. A blanket covered my body. I must have pulled it over me during the night, or maybe my father, he wasn’t my dad. Who were my parents?
I deleted all the pictures Blake and I took. None of it was real, none of it was special. It was just a mission to him.
The giddy feeling whenever I thought about him turned into a rotten, dead feeling now. He wasn’t even in love with me. When something sounded or looked too good to be true, it usually was, and that was too good to be true.
I got up. I needed a shower badly and grabbed clothes, heading for the bathroom. There was no way I was going to go to school today. I didn’t care what they said.
Dad was already up, and Robert’s voice came from downstairs. There was no sound of Blake’s voice.
Stop, he doesn’t want you. You were only a job.
I closed the bathroom door behind me, turned on the shower taps, and disrobed.
The steam came from the shower and I entered, pulling the frosted door closed behind me.
Tears pricked as the ache in my heart became heavier. My shoulders shook as I tried to keep my cry silent. Everything inside me felt wrong. The man I called dad for fifteen years wasn’t my father. The boy that I was crazy about only did that to get me back home where magic was real, with who knew what else. A frustrated groan left my lips as I couldn’t remember the rest. It was an empty void. I knew it used to be there, but it wasn’t anymore. They took it from me. I remembered Dad telling me the stories every night. I just couldn’t remember what the stories were about, except that it was a world hidden by a magical wall called Paegeia. It really existed.
When I couldn’t cry anymore, I closed the tabs and climbed out of the shower.
The warmth of the Terry towel comforted me as I dried my body and last twisted the towel around my hair and got dressed.
I brushed my teeth and went downstairs.
Blake’s father and mine sat around the dining room table.
“Elena?” Dad spoke.
I looked at him.
“I’m sorry, Bear.”
He was right about not dating. I wanted to know why. “I need to know everything.”
Dad nodded, or imposter Dad nodded.
A strong smell of a nutty coffee roast hung around the kitchen as I unhooked a cup from the cup holder. I poured in the coffee from the coffee pot. Steam emanated, and I put the pot back in its place, grabbed the milk and watched the color turn from roasted black to a light caramel color.
I stirred in the sugar and went back to the table. The chair at the end of the table screeched against the floor as I pulled it out and plopped into it.
Imposter Dad and Robert got up and moved a few chairs closer.
I caressed the warmth of the cup as I felt so cold since they told me the truth. “What do I call you now?” I asked the imposter as tears pooled in my eyes. His eyes glistened, too.
“You might not have come from my loins, but I love you with all of my heart, and your life was more important than my own.
“It wasn’t fake, Bear. I hope that one day you can forgive me. I tried, and you scared me to death the way you looked at me afterward.
“You were so afraid, I didn’t want that between us so I got Tanya, who loved you just as much, more than you’ll ever know, to take it away.”
