“So he got away?” There was no judgment in his voice.
Laurel nodded.
“It’s not your fault, you know. Tamani is a trained sentry and he takes his work very seriously. But you, you were made to heal, not kill. I think I’d have been disappointed if you were able to kill someone, even a troll.”
“But he knows now. He knows who I am.”
Jamison nodded. “And he knows where you live. You must be on your guard. For your parents’ sake as well as your own. I am appointing you as their protector. Only you know the secrets that can keep them alive.”
Laurel thought of her father lying in his hospital bed, perhaps even now taking his last breaths. “My father is dying, and in a few days there will be no one left but my mother and me. I can’t be what you want me to be,” she admitted in a shaky voice. Her face dropped into her hands and desperation washed over her.
The old faerie’s arms were around her instantly, pressing her against his robes that cushioned her face as softly as down feathers. “You must remember that you are one of us,” he whispered in her ear. “We are here to assist you in any way we can. Our aid is your right—your heritage.” Jamison reached into his voluminous robes and pulled out a small, sparkling bottle filled with a dark blue liquid. “For times of trouble,” he said. “This is a rare elixir one of our Fall faeries made many years ago. We create very few potions that can help humans these days, but you need it now, and you may need it again in the future. Two drops in the mouth should be sufficient.”
Laurel’s hands shook as she reached for the tiny bottle. Jamison placed it in her hand and closed his palm over hers. “Guard it carefully,” he warned. “I don’t know for certain that we have another Fall faerie strong enough to make an elixir like this. Not yet.”
Laurel nodded.
“We would also like to assist you in one more way. But,” he said, one long finger in the air, “it is a conditional offer.”
“Whatever you need,” Laurel said earnestly. “I’ll make it happen.”
“It’s not a condition for you. Here,” he said, opening his palm to reveal what looked like an almost golf ball–sized piece of rough crystal. “I would like you to offer this to your mother.” He placed the rock in Laurel’s hand, and she gaped at the gem.
“Is this a diamond?”
“Yes, child. One that size should be sufficient for any need you may have. Here is our offer. You know you were placed with your human parents for the sole reason of obtaining the land upon their eventual death.” When Laurel nodded, he continued. “Recent events have made your purpose so much more important, and we must see this property transfer ownership sooner. This gem is for your parents if they will put the land into a trust in your name as soon as your father’s health allows. How and what you tell them is a decision only you can make.” His voice became very firm. “But you must own this land, Laurel. And we are certainly willing to pay a fair price for that to happen.”
Laurel nodded and tucked the gem into her pocket. “I’m sure they’ll agree.”
“I believe you are right,” Jamison said. “You need to hurry, Laurel. Your father’s time is measured in hours now, not days.”
“Thank you,” Laurel whispered, and turned to leave.
“Oh, Laurel?”
“Yes?”
“I hope to see you again soon. Very soon,” he added. His eyes sparkled as he lifted his old lips into a gentle, knowing smile.
TWENTY-FOUR
IT SEEMED IMPOSSIBLE THAT THE DRIVE BETWEEN Brookings and Orick could feel longer than when she held Tamani fading in her arms. But alone with David—her pockets filled with two of the greatest treasures she could imagine—the miles crept by slower than ever. The old faerie’s words pounded through her head. Your father’s time is measured in hours now, not days. He had said hours, plural, but what did that mean? And how close to the end was too late? Laurel kept taking the bottle out and cupping it in her hands, then tucking it back into her pocket, not sure which was her safest choice. In the end she left it in her pocket—if for no other reason than to keep David from asking questions she couldn’t answer.
Which he hadn’t so far. After hugging her when she stumbled out of the woods, he had silently opened her door and said, “The hospital?” He hadn’t said a word since. She was grateful for his silence. She hadn’t decided yet what she could and could not tell him. Weeks earlier she’d promised to tell him everything Tamani said unless it was a faerie secret. But she hadn’t actually expected to be made privy to such details.
Now she had. She knew the location of a gateway that any troll would kill her or her loved ones to gain access to. Perhaps telling David would only put him in more danger.
So nothing was the best thing to say right now.
He finally pulled into the hospital parking lot and looked up at the tall, gray building. “Do you want me to go in with you?”
Laurel shook her head. “We’re both a mess. At least if there’s only me, maybe I won’t draw quite so much attention.” Not likely, she added in her mind.
“I’ll stay out here and call my mom, then.” He hesitated, then laid his hand over hers. “I need to head back to Crescent City in a few hours—my mom’s going to have kittens when I call her as it is. She’s left me about twenty messages. But if you need anything…” His voice trailed off and he shrugged. “You know where to find me.”
“I’ll come down soon to say good-bye. But I have to go see my dad right now.”
“They gave you something to save him, didn’t they?”
Tears filled Laurel’s eyes. “As long as it’s not too late.”
“Go, then…I’ll wait for you.”
Laurel leaned in to hug him before pushing the car door open and hurrying to the hospital entrance.
She tried to stay out of sight as much as possible. Her tank top was stained with mud from the bank of the Chetco River, and she’d forgotten to get her jacket back from David to cover it. On top of that, her hair was a mess, her jeans were torn over the right knee, and she was still wearing the oddly fashioned moccasins.
At least the river had washed David’s blood out of her shirt. And she didn’t have a face full of bruises like he did. Not visible ones, anyway, she thought, touching a particularly sensitive spot on her cheek.
She managed to reach her father’s room without actually being approached by anyone—though she did receive several probing looks—and took a deep breath before knocking on the door and pushing it open. She peeked around the curtain and saw her mother asleep with her head on her father’s thigh. The room was full of familiar sounds; the beeping of her father’s heartbeat, the soft whoosh of oxygen puffing through his nose tube, the buzz of the pressure cuff inflating on his arm. But instead of being daunting the way they had for the last three weeks, the sounds brought instant relief. Her father was alive, even if just barely.
Her mom’s eyes fluttered open. “Laurel? Laurel!” She staggered to her feet and ran to her daughter, flinging her arms around her. “Where have you been? I was terrified when you didn’t come back last night. I thought…I don’t even know what I thought. A million horrible thoughts all at once.” She shook Laurel’s shoulders a little. “If I weren’t so happy to see you, I’d ground you for a month.” Her mom stepped back and looked at Laurel. “What happened to you? You look awful.”
Laurel rushed back into her mother’s embrace—the embrace she’d been sure she would never feel again when she was trapped under the murky waters of the Chetco. “It’s been a long night,” she said with a shaky voice as tears threatened.
Her mother clung to her as Laurel looked over her shoulder and studied her father. He’d been lying in that hospital bed for so long, it was almost too bizarre to imagine him waking up and rising from it. Laurel stepped away from her mother. “I have something for Dad.” She laughed. “I have something for you too. Never go on a trip without bringing back presents, right?” Her mother looked at her strangely as Laurel continued chuck
ling to herself.
She walked around to the other side of her father’s bed and pulled a rolling stool up near his head. “Don’t let anyone in,” she told her mother as she removed the small bottle from her pocket.
“Laurel, what is—?”
“It’s okay, Mom. It’ll make him better.” She unscrewed the top and sucked some of the precious liquid into the dropper. Very carefully, she bent over her father and squeezed two sparkling blue drops of elixir into his mouth. Then, looking at his pale face, she let one more drop fall. Just in case. She looked up at her mom. “He’ll be fine now.”
Laurel’s mom stared openmouthed at her. “Where did you get that?”
Laurel looked at her mother with a weary smile. “You didn’t ask about your present,” she said, avoiding the question.
Her mom sank into the armchair beside the bed as Laurel pushed her stool around to sit next to her. She paused for a few seconds, not sure where to begin. Where do you start a story this big? She glanced at the clock and cleared her throat. “Mr. Barnes isn’t coming this morning.” Her mom leaned forward to say something, but Laurel continued, speaking over her. “He’s never coming, Mom. I hope you never see him again. He’s not what you think he is.”
Her face had turned white. “But…but the land, the money, I don’t know how…” Her voice faded and tears started to slide down her cheeks.
Laurel reached out to place a hand on her arm. “It’ll be fine, Mom. Everything will be fine.”
“But Laurel, we’ve talked about this. There’s no other way.”
Laurel pulled the diamond out of her other pocket and held it in the palm of her hand. “There is another way.”
Her mom’s eyes bounced warily from the diamond up to Laurel’s face and back down. “Where did you get this, Laurel?” she asked sternly, her eyes on the rough, glittering gem.
“I’ve been asked to deliver a proposition.”
“Laurel, you’re scaring me,” her mom said, her voice a little shaky.
“No, no. Don’t be scared. Everything’s fine. There is”—she hesitated—“someone…who wants the land to stay in our family. Specifically, for me to own it. They are willing to let you have this diamond in exchange for you signing the land into a trust in my name.”
Her mother stared at her silently for a long time. “Your name?”
Laurel nodded.
“In exchange for this?” she said, gesturing at the gem.
“Exactly.”
“And saving your dad?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t understand.”
Laurel stared down at the diamond. During the whole drive to Brookings from Orick, she hadn’t been able to decide just what to tell her mom. Now that the moment was here, she still wasn’t sure. “Mom? I…I’m not like you.”
“What do you mean, not like me?”
Laurel stood and crossed to the door. She closed it, wishing it had a lock. She walked slowly back to her mother. “Haven’t you ever wondered why I’m so different?”
“You’re not different. You’re wonderful—you’re beautiful. I don’t know why you’re suddenly doubting that.”
“I eat funny.”
“But you’ve always been healthy. And—”
“I don’t have a pulse.”
“Excuse me?”
“I don’t bleed.”
“Laurel, this is ri—”
“No, it’s not. When was the last time I cut myself? When was the last time you saw me bleed?” Her voice was louder now.
“I…I…” Her mom looked around, suddenly confused. “I don’t remember,” she said weakly.
And then everything, everything in her life suddenly made sense. “You don’t remember,” Laurel said softly. “Of course you don’t remember.” They wouldn’t have let her mom remember the dozens of times she must have suspected something was wrong. The hundreds of times something was just a little too weird. Laurel felt suddenly weak. “Oh, Mom, I’m so sorry.”
“Laurel, I haven’t understood a word you’ve said since you walked in this room.”
“Sarah?” A scratchy, weak voice made both of them turn.
“Mark! Mark, you’re awake!” her mom cried, forgetting her confusion. They stood on each side of her dad’s bed, clasping his hands as he blinked hesitantly.
His eyes slowly came into focus and traveled around the room, taking in the myriad of medical equipment beeping and whirring all around him. “Where the hell am I?” he asked in a gravelly voice.
When Laurel walked back out to the parking lot in one of her mother’s clean shirts, David was sitting on the trunk of his car waiting. “Is everything okay?” he asked quietly.
Laurel smiled. “Yeah. Or it will be.”
“Did your dad wake up?”
Laurel smiled softly and nodded. “He’s still kind of out of it because of all the morphine and tranquilizers they’ve had him on, but as soon as they wear off, he’ll be good to go.” She climbed up onto the trunk beside him and he wrapped his arm around her. She let her head rest on his shoulder. “How’d your mom take it?” she asked.
David laughed. “Pretty well, considering I lied through my teeth. I told her I left my phone in the car all night and we slept in your dad’s room.” He looked down at the small phone in his hands. “Well, half of that is true.”
Laurel rolled her eyes.
“She lectured me for a while and told me I was irresponsible, but she didn’t ground me from the car or anything. That’s thanks to you, I imagine. She knows I’m helping you.”
“Yeah,” Laurel said with a sigh. David’s mom would never know the half of it.
“I don’t know what she’s going to do when she sees this though,” David continued, pointing to the large bruise on his face. “And this,” he added, looking at the gash on his arm. “In fact, considering I have no idea what was in that river, I should probably go in and get a tetanus shot or something. Stitches, maybe.” He laughed morosely. “I guess I’ll have to come up with something to explain that too.”
Laurel stared at the wide, red gash for several seconds before she made her decision. If David didn’t deserve it, who did? She removed the bottle of elixir from her pocket and carefully unscrewed it.
“What are you doing?” David asked.
“Shh,” Laurel whispered, turning his head so she could reach his cheek. She dabbed one drop of liquid onto her finger and rubbed it across the purpling bruise. “This might sting,” she warned as she let another drop fall into his gash.
By the time she finished stowing the bottle back in her pocket, the bruise had almost disappeared and David was staring openmouthed as the cut faded from an angry red to a soft pink in front of his eyes. In another few minutes, there wouldn’t even be a scar.
“Is that what you gave your dad?” he asked, still staring at his disappearing gash.
Laurel nodded.
David grinned. “He’ll be on his feet in no time. Which is a good thing,” he said with feigned offense. “I’m getting pretty tired of the way you drive me like a slave in that bookstore. I have rights, you know,” he added with a laugh as Laurel slapped his shoulder. He held her wrists till she gave up and they both fell into a subdued silence. “When will you come back?” David asked.
Laurel shrugged. “I can’t imagine Dad will be here for too long. Maybe they’ll release him this weekend.”
“You’re sure that stuff will fix everything?”
“I’m sure.”
David grinned, looking down at his smooth arm. “I’m pretty sure myself.” He paused for a few seconds. “What did you tell your mom?”
Laurel sighed. “I started to tell her the truth, but then my dad woke up. I have to tell her something. I’m not sure what though.”
“I think the truth is your best bet. Well, not about everything. You may want to skim over the trolls and how your parents had a murderous monster in their house.”
Laurel nodded.
“But they should know
the truth about you. You shouldn’t have to hide in your own home.”
Their fingers twined and David squeezed her hand. “Faeries, trolls, what else is out there that I’d never have believed? Magic medicine, apparently. Thanks, by the way.”
“It’s only fair,” Laurel replied. “I’ve put you through a lot. And I don’t just mean the troll fiasco.”
“I knew what I was getting into when I signed up.” He shrugged. “Well, I guess I didn’t know everything, but I knew you were different. From the first time I saw you, I knew there was something…something special about you.” He grinned. “And I was right.”
“Special?” Laurel scoffed. “Is that what you call it?”
“Yes,” David insisted. “That’s what I call it.” He paused and reached for her hand, turning it over and covering it with both of his. He watched her in silence for a while, then lifted a hand to her cheek and drew her a little closer. She didn’t resist as his lips brushed hers, soft as the kiss of a light wind. He pulled back and looked at her.
She didn’t speak; she didn’t lean in. If he was going to get involved in everything her life had turned into, it had to be his choice. She knew what she wanted, but it wasn’t just about her anymore.
After a slight hesitation, David held her closer against his chest and kissed her again, longer this time. Laurel almost sighed in relief as her arms twined around his waist. His lips were soft, warm, and gentle—just like David.
When their kiss ended, he stood in front of her with her hands in his. Neither spoke. Nothing needed to be said. Laurel smiled and let her finger trail down the side of his face, then slipped off the trunk of the car.
David eased into the driver’s seat, his eyes still on Laurel. She waved as she watched his car back out of the parking spot and roll quietly down the street, back onto the 101, headed to normal life again.
TWENTY-FIVE
“ARE YOU SURE YOU DON’T WANT ME TO COME WITH you?” Laurel’s mom asked as she pulled onto the long, bumpy driveway.