Page 91 of By the Orchid and the Owl
Faerie. I was part-faerie. That single thought consumed everything.
All I could do was crouch down next to her and whisper, “Can you send one of your friends to go wake Coen for me? There’s something I need him to do.”
Ten minutes later, Coen’s figure hurried toward me, where I leaned against one of those lampposts behind the Testing Center. Its flickering flame sent dancing shadows over the taut lines of his face as he drew near.
As soon as Willa’s friends had nudged him awake, telling him to meet me here, his voice had instantly filled my head and fished out my most recent memory. And when his shock never echoed in the chasm of my own, I knew he’d known all along. That the pirates were faeries. Thatwewere that, too.
“I’m mad at you,” I started before he could get a word in.
He stopped right before me, his breath puffing out into the air.
“Oh?”
“You knew.”
He dipped his head.
“Yes, I knew.”
“Then why did you keep it from me?” I shook my head and said, “You know what, don’t answer that.”Because I’m about to be a giant hypocrite. “I need you to do something for me.” When he lifted an eyebrow, I said, “I need you to erase Emelle’s memory.”
The fog of my breath billowed outward, floating into his open mouth.
Coen pursed his forehead.
“What?”
“The memory of Lord Arad, I mean. And everything he said.”
Melle was in too much danger, knowing that my mother had come from beyond the dome. It had already been gnawing on me, the precarious situation I’d put my best friend in, but the tome and what lay inside had made me realize how big the stakes really were for her. If a bored Mind Manipulator decided to poke around in her brain just for the hell of it, they would know she was affiliated with pirates—with faeries—and report her involvement to the Good Council.
And unlike me, Emelle didn’thaveto be involved. She was fully human. If it weren’t for my friendship with her, she’d be as safe and innocent as the rest of them.
Coen didn’t ask any more questions. He passed a thumb along my temple and said gently, “Done.”
My head jerked up at him. “Really? Already?”
He tried to smile, but it came out more like a grimace.
“It’s like wading through a thick, cold mist from this distance, but I already know her mind. And she’s sleeping. Makes it easier.”
She’ll wake up with no idea thatyour mom was a… a pirate,he said into my mind, avoiding that other word, or that a white tiger ate a bunch of half-formed bats like it was nothing.Again, he avoided that other word. Vampire.
“Right. Perfect. Thank you.” I sucked in a lungful of that thick, soupy air. Then, before I could second-guess myself and the absolutely insane thing I was about to ask, I blurted out, “I also need you to erase my memory of what I learned, too. Just until tomorrow night.”
Now Coen’s grimace turned into thin, hard suspicion.
“Why?”
“Because I’m scared, Coen,” I said, grabbing onto his arms. “Scared I’m going to explode again tomorrow if I have… if I havethisweighing me down.”
Thisas in the tome and the map and the faerie continent of Sorronia and the fact that Coen had kept his secret from me and the questions that were tearing me apart. I could already feel my power pushing against its constraint in response, swelling up against my ribcage.
“Just until tomorrow night,” I repeated. “After I’ve passed all my tests.”
Coen bit his lip and flicked his gaze toward the sea.
“What if you don’t pass?”
