Page 357 of The Spider Queen
My mother was pregnant.
“I’m gonna have a sibling?” I asked, my voice quivering.
“Yes,” Mom said quickly. “Stella, listen, we didn’t mean for this to happen this way. We don’t want you to think we were trying to replace you—”
Before she could say anything more, I was out of the chair and hugging her. A laugh bubbled out of me. “I’m going to have a brother or sister. I’m going to have a family again.”
My parents looked at one another and smiled tenderly at one another.
“Stella? Will you come home?” Dad asked. “We’ve missed so much time and now with the new baby coming… We want you with us. We want you to come home.”
Chapter 36
I inhaled the smell of Manhattan. Grease, oil, Chinese food. It smelled like home. The weather was cooler and the leaves on the trees had turned. It was late fall. ANew York Postin a city garbage can told me the date.
I’d been gone three mortal months.
I was still dressed in my trousers, boots, and white shirt, yet no one paid me any attention as I walked down Canal Street. This was Manhattan. Fashion choices were carefully chosen expressions. Even if it looked like I’d just stepped off a theater set ofPirates of Penzance, it didn’t matter.
One hipster even called out, “Love your boots!”
Guess I was doing one thing right.
When I arrived at the door to my snow globe shop, I stood in front of it for a moment. The gate was down and it was locked up. I had rent on auto-pay for the apartment and the shop. Same with utilities. It was nice not to have to worry about stuff like that.
I now just had to figure out how I was going to get into the building. My keys were gone. There was a spare set to the actual shop in my nightstand drawer, but that didn’t eliminate the problem of getting into the actual apartment. There was a fire escape in the alley I could climb up. Break a window. Get in that way.
“You look lost,” someone said.
I breathed a sigh of relief and turned. Herron stood next to me, dressed smartly in skinny jeans, boots, and a slouchy sweater.
“I feel lost,” I admitted. Though time with my parents catching up had been wonderful, I’d quickly realized that it was impossible to figure out my life while I lived in their home. In their home, I was their daughter. But here, in New York, I had the space to figure out who I wanted to be. Lucifer’s consort? Herron’s best friend? I needed to know.
My parents, amazing people that they were, completely supported my decision—as long as I came back for a visit now and again. As if I was going to miss the birth of my sibling.
“Nice outfit,” she said with a smirk.
I shrugged.
“Why are you standing out here like you don’t know how you got here?”
“I don’t know what happened to my keys,” I admitted.
“Good thing I have mine.” She held up her key ring. In the other hand was a vanilla latte.
“Can I have that?” I pointed to her to-go coffee cup.
“You disappear for three months, and the first thing you demand is my latte?”
I nodded.
Without hesitating, she handed it over. I took a sip of the perfect blend of milk, foam, and espresso as Herron unlocked the front door. I followed her up the stairs to my apartment, which she also unlocked.
Everything looked the same. Small one bedroom with enough light not to make it super depressing, but I saw it with fresh eyes. It had been a place to sleep. Nothing more. It wasn’t a home. There weren’t even any plants to liven it up. I closed the front door and locked it.
“So,” she began, “you want to tell me what the fuck happened to you?”
“What do you think happened to me?” I hedged.
