Allegiance (7 page)

‘Simple mathematics, Granddaughter—energy stored, versus energy required,’ Asher said. He was lying back on the grass with one arm behind his head and the other curled around Faun. ‘But what say you all? Was the cost much greater than you expected?’

Everyone except Jack—who seemed completely unaffected by our sun travel—agreed that a night’s rest in California was in order.

After a short rest in Constantine we took the sunpath to Nalen, and on to Mount Whitney. From there we flew to the first decent hotel we could find, my grandfathers sharing Jack between them. We arrived utterly exhausted, falling against each other as we rode the lift. After Asher unlocked the door to our room and led us inside, I flopped onto the bed, cocooning myself in the pillows.

When I woke up, Jack and all four of my grandparents were huddled around the computer, studying a map of Washington state and making notes. I went to them and Asher looked up, smiling.

‘What are you doing?’ I asked him.

‘We’ve been making arrangements to meet Mona tomorrow.’

Excitement surged inside. ‘Is she bringing the guy with her? Did she tell you his name? What did she say?’

Asher lay a hand on my arm. ‘She said little, Granddaughter—only gave me the address of the meeting place.’

I looked at Jack, a grin wide across my face. ‘I’m meeting my brother tomorrow.’ My grandparents smiled at my happiness, but Jack didn’t—he looked worried.

‘Don’t get your hopes up,’ he warned.

‘Why shouldn’t I?’ There was no way I could stop smiling.

He looked to the ceiling and sighed. ‘At least admit the possibility it might not be him.’

‘Fine.’

‘Say it,’ he insisted, frowning.

‘I admit the possibility he might not be my brother.’

‘Good.’ The worry slid from his face.

‘But he is,’ I grinned.

We flew to Seattle soon after sunrise the next morning. All six of us stood outside the café, unable to see inside because of the reflective windows. We’d decided that Jack and I should be the ones to make initial contact. If my brother was in there, a whole bunch of excited faeries might be too overwhelming for him. But now that I was this close I couldn’t seem to take another step. Except for my heart making tiny drums of every one of my pulse-points, I was frozen still. My twin might be in there. I stared at my image in the glass. I should know him better than my own reflection. We should have grown up together, played together—shared life. We’d spent the earliest months of our existence entwined in our mother’s womb and now we didn’t know a single thing about each other.
He
didn’t even know I existed. Outside I was a statue. Inside I was crumbling.

‘Go on now,’ Faun said, giving my arm a nudge.

I jumped, then took a deep breath to snap myself back to the task ahead. If Lysander was inside, he was about to get the shock of his life. I didn’t have time to wallow. ‘How will I know her again?’

‘Shoulder-length blond hair, fair skin, red jacket,’ Asher said without skipping a beat.

‘And she didn’t describe him?’

‘No.’

‘Go on, Granddaughter,’ Leander encouraged when I still hadn’t moved. Melody nodded in agreement.

‘What if he doesn’t like me?’

Jack squeezed my hand and tugged me towards the door. ‘Impossible,’ he said.

Once inside, I noticed a girl sitting in a booth at the far end of the café. She had a bob the colour of dark sand, parted on the side and falling to just below the collar of her red puffer jacket. My shoulders slumped when I noticed she was alone. I gazed around the room, hoping to find another girl matching Asher’s description—this one with a boy. There was a bunch of guys cheering a basketball game, a couple holding hands at the counter and an old lady tucked into one of the booths eating pie. I glanced at Jack and he nodded in the girl’s direction.

‘Mona?’ I asked, as we arrived at her booth. She looked up and I watched her suck in a breath. She stared at me for a few moments, her pale eyes wide. Then she seemed to gather herself together, wrapping a hand around her coffee cup.

‘Uh-huh,’ she said before turning her attention to Jack and looking him up and down as I introduced us.

We slid into the bench across from her and catching her eyes, I said, ‘You didn’t bring your friend?’

She shrugged. ‘Why would I? I don’t know who you are to him.’

I had to admit she had a point. After telling her fair enough, I said, ‘I think he might be my twin brother actually.’

Her eyebrows flicked up. ‘Really!’ she said, and a moment later added, ‘You’re not from round here.’

‘I grew up in Australia.’

The waitress came over, pad in hand, and while Jack ordered coffee, Mona watched me, head tipped slightly to the right—Dad would say she was taking my measure—then she picked up her teaspoon and stirred her coffee. It had to be some kind of stalling tactic because there was barely anything left in the cup. I found myself wishing I could read her mind. Eventually she said, ‘So, what makes you think my friend’s your brother?’

Knowing she wouldn’t give me a thing until I’d satisfied whatever was bugging her, I took a deep calming breath and said, ‘The fact you responded to the Facebook page for a start… Is he your boyfriend?’

She shook her head and waved her teaspoon about as she assured me he was only a friend. ‘I’m just looking out for him,’ she continued. ‘
So
many creeps out there.’ She shuddered dramatically.

‘I hope you don’t think
I’m
one of them?’ I felt Jack squeeze my knee under the table.

‘Can’t be too sure,’ Mona said with a chuckle.

‘So, will you tell me his name at least?’ I asked.

She rolled the teaspoon in front of her. ‘More information first.’

I smoothed my eyebrows with a finger and thumb to stop my impatience from showing. ‘Okay, if he
is
my brother, he has serious health issues—skin problems, chest infections–’ I stopped. Mona was turning an even paler shade of fair. ‘Are you all right?’ I asked.

‘I just have this breathing thing,’ she said, fanning her face with a hand. ‘Go on, I’m good now.’

I swallowed. ‘So the thing is, if this guy is my twin, not only is he adopted but he’s also from another… place.’

She frowned. ‘Another
place
?’

Wondering how much to tell I glanced at Jack. He gave me the slightest of nods. I turned back to Mona and said, ‘Look, this is going to be hard to get your head around but the truth is my brother and I were separated at birth and left to be raised… here.’

She put her teaspoon down and held a hand up. ‘Hold up, you just said you were from Australia.’

‘I am,’ I said quickly. ‘I just meant we were left…
here
to be raised by… humans.’ A rush of heat filled my face.

A short chuckle escaped Mona’s throat. She quickly gathered herself together. ‘As opposed to what—
aliens
?’

Not sure what to say next, I turned to Jack again. He was sitting back in the seat, watching her. Without even looking my way, he leaned forward and dropped a hand on the table as he said, ‘There’s no easy way to tell you this, Mona, but your friend’s a faery, you know—a midnight tooth collector, pointy ears, sparkly wings—’

‘Jack,’ I cried as Mona began to snigger.

Jack turned to me. ‘No use beating around the bush, Marla. Show her your wings, or you’ll never even get the guy’s name.’

‘What? No!’ I said as Mona burst out laughing. She sounded like she was choking on a bone.

‘Oh Lord, am I on one of those hidden camera shows? Is this a set up?’ she said when she had her laughter under control. ‘I can’t even figure out why I responded to that dumb Facebook page. I’ve been regretting it ever since.’

Stony faced, Jack said, ‘Show her, Marla. No one will believe her anyway.’

I glanced around the café—everyone had left except for us and the guys watching the game—all of whom were oblivious to anything else. Just in case, when I stood up, I hunched further into the booth to hide myself.

‘Watch,’ I told Mona. Holding the straps of my Fae dress, I turned my back to her and when the next cheer erupted, I released my wings, allowing them to flicker and sparkle for a couple of seconds before tucking them away.

Mona’s eyes were full moons.

When she’d recovered, she said, ‘You did
not
just blast wings from your back!’

‘You know she did,’ Jack said as I sat back down.

‘How did you do that?’

‘I’m a faery, like Jack said,’ I told her.

She turned to Jack and stared at him with saucer eyes. ‘Are you…’

She didn’t seem able to finish the sentence so Jack did it for her. ‘A faery? Sadly no, I’m as human as you.’

The waitress arrived with our drinks and after she’d left us we spent the next several minutes calming Mona down and explaining where my twin and I had come from. Eventually, in a voice much quieter than before, she said, ‘So if my friend did turn out to be your brother, what would that mean?’

‘I’d like to get to know him… But the girl he’s betrothed to might want more.’ The second the words were out of my mouth, I wondered at the wisdom of having said them. But she gave me no chance to backtrack because immediately she was demanding to know what I’d meant.

‘If he is my brother,’ I explained. ‘When he turns eighteen he will know the name of the girl he’s meant to spend his life with.’

After a pause, she said, ‘What happens if they don’t meet?’

‘Then the connection between them won’t be realised.’ I showed her the rashes on my hands and up my arms, thick between my fingers and the creases of my wrists and elbows. ‘My brother will have rashes similar to these.’

‘They look painful,’ she said quietly.

‘I’ve accepted them as my lot. They’ll probably always be my brother’s too. But it would be nice for him to at least have the chance to fight for his right to live in Faera before he turns eighteen and loses the opportunity. I can’t fight anymore, I’ve given up.’

‘Fight what?’

‘The man who keeps us here,’ I said, then quickly changed the subject when I realised the meaning of the look on Jack’s face as he watched me. ‘Does your friend have similar rashes?’

‘Occasionally… not often.’

My hopes plummeted. If he was my brother, he’d have them all the time. ‘What does he look like?’ I asked.

‘He has dark brown hair and fair skin, a little bit freckly.’

‘Your email said he had clear pale skin.’

‘He only has a few freckles.’

‘Go on,’ I said, feeling sick.

‘I don’t know what else to tell you. I guess he’s not bad looking.’

‘And does he have unusual ears?’ I pushed my hair back. ‘Like this?’

Mona cringed a little as she said, ‘A bit.’

Embarrassed, I let my hair fall back into place as I said, ‘When does he turn eighteen?’

‘Like I said in my email, his birthday’s in February.’ She paused a moment before adding, ‘I don’t even know if I should be telling you any of this.’

‘Let
him
tell me then,’ I said. ‘Have you got his number?’

‘How about I bring him back here tomorrow?’

We arranged to meet at eleven o’clock the next day, but my heart was no longer in it. Her friend could not be my brother. The freckled skin alone was proof enough. But for some reason, I felt compelled to meet him anyway. She
had
been the only one to respond to Leif’s Facebook page after all.

‘Is there any point in this, Marla?’ Jack asked as we left the café.

‘I have to see him for myself.’ I could hear the hopelessness in my own voice.

He caught my hand in his and squeezed. ‘You’re torturing yourself, sweetheart. He’s not your brother.’

‘I have to meet him, Jack.’

My grandparents decided to go out for dinner and a movie that night, leaving me and Jack alone. As soon as they were out the door I was climbing into bed and pulling Jack with me. I needed a serious cuddle. He was quiet for a moment as we lay wrapped around each other—way too quiet for Jack. In fact he’d been quiet all afternoon and I knew why. After a little while he came out with it. ‘Did you mean what you said today?’

‘Which bit?’ I asked.