Page 11 of Tragic Ink
Aelwyn’sfinal words rang in my ears. She’d told me not to come back to the house, but here I was anyway, completely disregarding her warning. I didn’t like going against her, but I was desperate for answers, and if there were any to be found here, I was going to find them. The house was dark, just like I’d left it two nights ago. Even from where I sat in my truck with the cheerful sunshine filtering through the bare branches overhead, it felt lonely. I told myself that was only because I knew she was gone, and then I climbed out of thetruck.
The front door had been locked back up since the other night. Rhys, I assumed. I checked the planter by the porch and found the spare key still underneath it. Tucking it into my pocket, I let myself in with my own set. The hinges creaked, but it was a comfort, the familiarity ofit.
My phone rang. I glanced down. It was Rhys. No way was I answering him now. If I somehow gave away my location, he’d probably just show up. Instead, I silenced it and ignored the text thatfollowed.
Standing inside the foyer, I inhaled deeply, letting the familiar scent of the house wash over me. There was a bleach smell mixing with it, but I ignored that and concentrated on the scents from my childhood. Grapefruit, for cleaning, my mother would say. Mistletoe for health. And cedar wood. For home. It had always struck me as superstitious and strange—just like her rule about no fae on her property. She’d walk around on weekends sprinkling dried herbs in the corners and onto windowsills, muttering words like she was a witch. I’d rolled my eyes everytime.
Now, the memory of it made my chestache.
My eyes pricked with tears, but I blinked them back and strode through the house and up the stairs to the office. Very deliberately, I ignored the closed bedroom doors—hers and mine—and focused on what I’d come to do. If there was evidence of who could have done this, I would find it. I couldn’t afford to give in to grief. Notyet.
For the next two hours, I lost myself in the work of going through all the papers and files Aelwyn had stuffed away up here. Baby pictures, old report cards, and recipes made up most of the desk drawers. Rhys had his own album, and I shoved that aside, determined not to distract myself by reminiscing about happier days. The photos weren’t the real story. They didn’t tell how he’d broken my heart and my spirit when he’d rejected me. It had never been the same between us after that, and it made me wonder if any of his caring had been real. Maybe I’d just imagined it. Maybe the pictures would prove that if I looked tooclosely.
I shoved the pictures away, absolutely sure I didn’t want to know. Nottoday.
I poked through the rest of her desk quickly after that. The shelves behind the desk were another matter. Packed full of books, some of them with notes and photos stuffed between pages, the shelves boasted a thin layer of dust and took a lot longer to searchthrough.
When the light coming in the window shifted as the sun climbed toward its high point, I considered breaking for lunch. But no part of me wanted to step foot in that kitchen yet. I went back to work, my stomachgrumbling.
I’d nearly given in and decided to come back another day when a book caught my eye. Worn at the edges of the hardcover and blank on the spine, it wasn’t familiar to me. I pulled at it gingerly until it slipped from the shelf and fell into my hands. But when I turned the cover, I blinked in surprise. The inside was hollow. It wasn’t a book atall.
A hiding place, Irealized.
Folded and ancient-looking, a small slip of paper layinside.
I took it out and unfolded it, leaning on the book case as I opened it and read the scrawled words. The further I read, the colder I became. It was from a woman named Moonlaith. The language she used was formal, but the tone was so personal and emotional, I knew they must have beenclose.
Makesure she eats the mistletoe at least once a week. And the cedar wood. To protect the magic that lives inside her skin. I know you will protect our daughter with your life, Ael. We are eternally grateful for your sacrifice, dear friend. Should you need us, the Protector can send word. And if we do not meet again in this life, we will reunite in the next. She is special, Ael. Too gentle for them and too strong for the life we would give her here. When the time comes, she will not have to hide. They will hide from her. When the time is right, tell her what she is so she will understand all we havedone.
Withlove,
Moonlaith
Ireadit over and over again, stunned. My entire life, I’d believed my parents had given me up, left me on Aelwyn’s doorstep as an infant and never looked back. They were unknowns. Even when I’d grown old enough to try to dig up any information on my own, the town records left no trace of them. But this woman spoke as if she knew Aelwyn well. As if Aelwyn knewher.
And who was I supposed to be hiding from? Aelwyn had said they’d never stopped hunting me. My stomach tightened at the idea that someone might have killed Aelwyn to get tome.
The letter shook in myhands.
It took a long moment before I realized it wasn’t the letter shaking. It wasme.
I looked up, staring out the window, unseeing as the questions threatened to drown me. The woman had mentioned a protector. Whoever it was, they had access to my mother. I needed to find that person. To find thetruth.
My arm itched as Ethan stirred, his claws scratching at my skin until I turned irritably toward him. “What?” Ihissed.
There was no answer, but movement outside the window caught my eye, and I jerked my head to the glass just as a figure turned away. A blur of red cloth flashed boldly through the bare branches below. With a sharp breath, I shoved the letter into my cargo pocket and bolted down the stairs and out thedoor.
The moment we hit the open air, Ethan peeled away from my arm and swooped up and overhead. His sharp cry pierced the air, and I shushed him with my mind, listening for anything else that moved or spoke. Just like two nights ago, the house disappeared behind me and the woods closed in. This time, I had daylight to guideme.
I slowed and took better care to move quietly. Fae were good at stealth, but I’d been too panicked and too intent on catching up to whoever it was to take care. Now, I could only hope it hadn’t been a trap, because I’d played right into it, announcing my presence like a steamroller. Or ahuman.
But that face... For a split second, it had almost lookedlike—
But it couldn’t be. Aelwyn wasgone.
A few minutes later, the woods were silent around me, and the only scent I caught came from the neighbor to the west. A human couple. Elderly. No children or pets. Even Ethan had come up empty. Whatever had been here earlier, it was gone now. And now I had to admit I’d lost the lead for a second time. I doubled back to the house, swearing to myself and to Aelwyn there wouldn’t be athird.
