Reach for You by Pat Esden (6)

CHAPTER 6

—Epitaph: Henry Freemont’s gravestone

 

 

 

The fear I felt for Chase consumed me all the way back to the ATV, and on the dark and rain-driven ride home. But once I’d parked in the garage and put the keys away, my exhaustion took over and my doubts surfaced.

The truth was, the blood I thought I’d seen on my fingertips could have been red sand or dirt from the rocks, or simply part of the dream that my overtired brain had made seem real. It was easy to understand how I might dream about Chase, see his glittering aura. I’d had dreams like that before. In reality, I wasn’t just exhausted. I was woozy with the need for sleep, my poor body begging for me to lay still.

I slogged up to my room, stripped off my rain-soaked clothes, and slumped into a warm bath.

* * *

I woke up the next morning to a sun-brightened room. It had to be after eight o’clock and I’d intended to get up early, since there was the remote possibility that Dad, Grandfather, and Uncle David had gotten home at some point in the night.

My leg muscles resisted as I climbed out of bed. The bruises on my arms from being thrown out of the realm had turned a darker shade of purple. I had an awful crick in my neck. As much as I wanted to check my phone, I needed to get rid of my aches and pains first.

I staggered to the bathroom, took out my stash of extra-potent willow bark from the medicine cabinet, and popped a strip into my mouth. It was bitter, slippery, and anesthetized my tongue. But I wasn’t worried about it causing side effects, like I had been when I first tried it. That time, Selena had dragged me into the solarium and randomly peeled a sliver of bark off one of Kate’s experimental willows. She’d all but begged for me to try, swearing it would cure my headache in no time flat. I’d been hesitant, to say the least. Later, I even convinced myself that chewing it had caused me to hallucinate a shadow-genie in the gallery. But in the end, the shadow-genie turned out to be real and the willow proved to be a wonder drug—if taken in moderation.

As the willow worked its magic on my aches, I settled down in a chair beside the window with my phone. My heart sank when I didn’t see a text from Dad. There was, however, an e-mail and information packet from Sotheby’s about the course in London I’d signed up to take this fall. Damn it. I had enough to think about right now without worrying about that. Sure, I should have been thrilled. I’d dreamed about taking one of their courses for years. It was an important step toward me becoming a certified fine arts appraiser. London. By myself. Why wouldn’t I be excited?

Maybe because I’d rather spend that time with Chase—if we could get him back.

And my mother. I’d been five years old when Malphic kidnapped her. I wanted time to be with her. And Selena. And Kate, her respect didn’t come easy, but it felt good.

Tension pinched behind my eyes. And I moved on to the next e-mail—

“What the hell?” I doubled-checked the sender. I couldn’t believe it. It was from Taj.

Since our falling out, I’d only been in touch with him once, last month—and that had been an even worse disaster. It was when Dad and I had first returned to Moonhill and Dad was possessed by the genie Culus. I’d put my pride aside and asked Taj to translate a mysterious inscription on a ring that was involved. Taj pretty much accused Dad and me of stealing the ring from the Metropolitan. I had never expected to hear from him again.

I opened the e-mail.

I slapped my hand over my mouth, smothering a laugh. Oh my God. How stupid did he think I was? Get together? Get in my pants was more like it. And that was never happening again.

With a dramatic jab of my finger, I deleted his e-mail. Thanks, but no thanks. Asshole.

My phone buzzed.

A text. From Dad! He was home. In his bedroom! He wanted to know where I was.

Heck with that.

It only took me a second to fling on clothes and sprint to the other side of the house where his room was. Maybe it was more like five minutes. His room was about as far from mine as it could be.

Dad must have heard me coming because he met me in the doorway to his room, pulling me into a bear hug.

“Missed you times a million, Dad,” I said, burying my face in his shoulder.

He kissed my forehead and hugged me harder. “Missed you more.”

He released me and we went into his room.

I tilted my head, studying him for a moment. I’d expected him to return with bags under his eyes and a few pounds lighter. But—if I didn’t count his wrinkled shirt and chinos, and the gray stubble on his neck and chin—he looked surprisingly well for a guy who’d spent a week trapped in the Slovenian mountains. In fact, he looked rested and happy—strange, considering he’d been stuck in a tiny cabin with his father and brother, who he hadn’t wanted anything to do with for the last fifteen years.

“You look—good?” I said.

He gave me a questioning glance. “Sometimes, Annie, we get what we need even if it’s something we’ve avoided like the plague.” He gave me another hug. “I wish I could have been here for you. I feel horrible about everything that happened. But we’ve been given a second chance, and that’s something most people never get.”

I nodded, feeling lighter than I had in ages. I knew instinctively that he wasn’t only talking about Chase and Mother, but something more. The time in the mountains had changed him. Dad had never been one to forgive—that was, anyone other than me. But the sincerity in his eyes, his relaxed smile and movements, everything about him told me that he’d let go of the anger he’d held toward his family and moved into a future that included them.

He gently clasped one of my arms and looked down at the bruises. “I’m worried about you, though.”

I pulled free and waved him off. “A few scrapes and jellyfish stings. Not bad for being thrown through the sky from another realm.”

Without a word, he strode across the room to the desk. Crap. The letter. That’s what he was talking about. I’d left it there for him before Chase, Lotli, and I snuck off to the djinn realm. I should have ripped it up the moment I got back, but I’d forgotten all about it.

“Don’t worry about that,” I said. “I should have gotten rid of it.”

Dad’s voice was firm. “I’m glad you didn’t.”

“It was in case I didn’t come back. I just wanted to explain why I had to go. It doesn’t matter now.”

A voice began chanting inside me, low and insistent: Liar, liar, liar. And what I’d written to him, the truth put down in black and white, flashed through my head:

I pressed my fingertips against my eyes, holding back the sting of tears. If only I hadn’t lied to Grandmother, then none of this would have happened. To Mother. To Grandmother. To Chase.

“Annie,” Dad said sharply. He yanked my hands from my face and waved the note in front of me. “This is bullshit. You’re not responsible for what happened.”

My voice hitched. “Yes, I am. I know you don’t like it, but it’s true.”

He ripped the note in half, hands fisting as he crumpled the pieces. “It’s garbage. Christ, Annie. You were five years old. A child.”

“But I knew it was wrong. I lied to Grandmother.”

“You were protecting your mother. Your grandmother was an adult. She could have spoken up at any time. Your mother could have reached out for help. I could have—”

I glared. “You lost the woman you loved. It ruined your relationship with your family. I’ll agree that I’m not the only one who is guilty, but you had nothing to do with it.”

His jaw tightened. “Why do you think your mother got involved with Malphic? His trickery, most likely. But I was at fault, too. We were married only a few weeks after we met. I brought her to Maine, where she didn’t know anyone, to live with people she’d never met, and with all this—” He gestured with both hands, indicating not just his bedroom, but all that living at Moonhill entailed: the witchcraft, the lineage, the mysterious objects, the family business, hidden tunnels and treasuries, so many strange things, so much past. “She got pregnant not long after that. Your mother is beautiful, brilliant, and amazing. She’s also creative and high-spirited. I knew that, but I forced her into a strange cage and asked her to be what I wanted.”

I lowered my eyes, watching silently as he tore the crumpled note into smaller pieces, watching them drift to the floor.

“If I’d been smart,” he said, “I would have moved the three of us into the stone cottage, given her a modicum of privacy at least. I would have insisted on not going away on family business as much—or I could have taken her with me sometimes. I knew this place stifled her. I knew she was lonely. I all but opened the veil and welcomed Malphic in.”

In my heart I had guessed all these things. But it was different hearing it from his mouth. It made the truth more potent, impossible to bury beneath my own claim to guilt. Liar. The voice whispered inside me. Liar. I’d never be able to go back and change what was done, unsay the one word that led to my mother’s kidnapping and my grandmother’s death. But now something new was building inside me, a battle cry overshadowing a voice that had done more harm than good.

“Dad, it’s not your fault either.” I raised an eyebrow and slanted a look at the remains of the letter, haphazard white scraps staining the red carpet. “What do you say we forget about that, start over—and blame everything on Malphic?”

He laughed and pulled me into a hug. “Now that’s an idea I can get behind.”

I wriggled free. “There is just one more thing.” I took a deep breath, building up my bravery before I went on. “Why us? I can see how Malphic managed to get involved with Mom. But why her—why our family?”

“That, my dear, is a good question. There have been genies tangled up in our family’s history every now and again, ad infinitum. But I have no idea why Malphic targeted your mother. Once she and Chase return, that’s something we’ll definitely need to look into.”

I stepped back and raised my chin. “Dad?”

His eyes narrowed. “I don’t trust that look. What’s on your mind now?”

“You do realize I intend to go on the rescue mission to the realm, right?”

He grimaced. “I don’t like the idea. But, yes, I understand. However”—he raised a finger—“I’m going to insist that you back off and let me plan things out with your grandfather and Kate.” His finger lowered and he smiled. “As a matter of fact, your grandfather insisted that you go. He thinks you and I are the strongest team.”

I couldn’t believe my ears. “He does?”

Dad slung his arm over my shoulders, snugging me tight. “I always thought he was a crazy old man.”

I rested my head on his shoulder. “Thank you, Dad.” Then I whispered, “I do have an idea about how to rescue Lotli, if she’s at this boathouse, like we think.”