“But I thought you said the skink would go back and get into Morganna’s ear?” I said to Bran. “Won’t that take care of her—at least for a while?”
He looked doubtful.
“That might work on a less devious female but something tells me that even a skink won’t slow Morganna down for long.” He looked at Lachlan. “I’m glad you’ll be with us. And glad that we can be friends out in the open for once.”
Lachlan nodded grudgingly.
“I’m glad as well.”
I was happy to see they were mending what was apparently a long friendship, but I still had questions.
“Hey—you know, you guys never told me about the life debt—why did you have to come when he called for you?” I asked Lachlan. I looked at Bran. “Did you save his life or something?”
Both of them looked extremely uncomfortable.
“Well…” Bran began.
But just then the buzzing sound of my cell phone distracted me. I picked it up from the floor, where it had fallen, and bit my lip when I saw the screen.
My mom had called me twelve times and left fifteen texts, all of them progressively more worried and alarmed. And no wonder—it was around three in the morning at that point and I had been due home from the diner by eleven.
She was probably worried sick.
“Oh no—look at the time!” I gasped. “Guys, I’ve got to get home! My mom is going to kill me—she might already have the whole Frostproof police force out looking for me.”
Which was only one rusty patrol car driven by Chief Carl but still…
“Call her back and let her know you’re well and with friends,” Bran told me. “Lachlan and I will walk you home.”
“Thanks.” I called my mom and reassured her, telling her I was with friends and apologizing for not seeing my phone earlier. She’s usually pretty laidback about curfew and things like that—mainly because I’ve never been the type of kid to stay out late without permission before. But this time she was really upset. She kept saying that she’d been having “a bad feeling” about me and she was worried.
After promising to be home within the hour, I hung up and looked down at myself. I was still wearing Lachlan’s black cloak—only that and nothing else.
“Oh no—I can’t go home like this! My mom is going to think…well, who knows what she’s going to think but I know it isn’t going to be good,” I exclaimed.
Of course none of Bran’s clothes were going to fit me. As for Lachlan, he said he would have been happy to conjure me something but unfortunately the spell he’d worked to remove the geas I’d been under had wiped him out, magically speaking.
“I probably won’t be good for much of anything for a day or two,” he admitted. “That geas was the most powerful magic I’ve ever encountered.”
Finally, Bran had the idea to look and see if his little sister had left any clothes. I agreed because it was either that or go home naked, except for the cape.
I was sure my mom wouldn’t like that and would probably get the wrong idea if I did that.
Although the right idea was probably stranger than anything she could ever imagine.
36
We left Bran’s room and I was amazed to see how quickly his family had cleared out. They must have used some kind of packing magic—it was the only explanation I could think of for the bare rooms that looked like no one had lived there in months.
“They’re really gone.” Bran’s deep voice was slightly choked and I felt a stab of sorrow and another of guilt—they had left because of me. This was all my fault.
“If you’re thinking Bran’s family left because of you, think again,” Lachlan said, coming up beside me.
I looked at him, startled.
“Can you read my mind? Is that part of your magic?”
“No and no. It’s written all over your face.” He gave me that one-sided smile of his. “But you shouldn’t blame yourself, little one—I’m the reason Bran’s father decided to pack up the clan and leave.”
“But Bran wouldn’t have called for you if it wasn’t for me!” I exclaimed. “I can’t help feeling—”
“Neither one of you are at fault,” Bran said, cutting me off. He gave Lachlan and me both a stern frown. “I stayed for myself—for my own honor. And I do not regret it, so please stop blaming yourselves.”
“I think it’s just that we see you feeling bad about the loss of your family and we want to help you—to be there for you, Bran,” I said gently. “At least I know I do.”
“I do as well.” Lachlan nodded gravely. “Bran is my oldest friend—my only friend,” he added dryly. “Since not many in the Realm are eager to claim a former denizen of the Dark Lands as an acquaintance—let alone a friend.”
“We can fix that,” I said, smiling at him. “If you’re really going to come to Nocturne Academy with us, I can introduce you to my coven.”
Lachlan frowned.
“Coven? But you’re a Fae, not one of the Sisters.” He shrugged. “But who knows—maybe you do have some witch powers too. Seeing that you’re not affected by iron and you tamed a brook horse to your hand.”
“I’m not one of the Sisters,” I said firmly. And to be honest, I really didn’t feel Fae either—but I was willing to let it go for now. “We call ourselves a coven because we’re very close—more of a family than just a group of friends,” I explained.
“They stick together, no matter what,” Bran offered when Lachlan raised his eyebrows.
“Not they—we.” I looked Bran in the eyes. “You’re part of my coven too, now. You might have lost your family but that doesn’t mean you’re alone.”
“You’re very kind, Emma,” he said gravely. “But what will the other members of your coven say to you adding a member without asking?”
“They won’t mind.” I shrugged. “We’ve very one-minded. Right from the beginning, when I said I noticed something different about you, they asked me to have you sit at our table.”
He raised his eyebrows.
“You noticed something different about me? From the very first?”
“Well, sure.” I shrugged. “I mean, your voice didn’t match your outer appearance—that was number one. And then I kept getting these glimpses—flashes—of your real appearance.”
“Wait—you saw through the Suva’s glamour?” Bran looked startled.
“Only once or twice,” I admitted. “I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me at the time.”
Lachlan shook his head.
“And you wonder why we think you’re special, little one. The Suva is an extremely strong glamour. Not as strong as the geas you were under, but it’s meant to hide even a glimmer of the user’s true form, from even the most discerning of eyes.”
“Oh, uh…” I shrugged again uncomfortably, not knowing what to say. I was so used to being plain-Jane Emma, Miss Nobody USA. The fact that I looked different now was hard enough to get used to. The idea that I might have some kind of wild magical powers was so weird I wasn’t even ready to consider it.