Chapter 20 In Which a Family Re Occurs #2
“I am Sahir,” he said gallantly. “It is lovely to meet you, mother of Miriam’s mother.”
Had Sahir… learned manners?
“You’re very handsome,” Grandma said, rubbing his cheek with absolutely no shame. Apparently, in addition to faerie blood, tact in the face of attractive men had been passed down through my mother’s side of the family.
“I appreciate the compliment. You are beautiful as well, like your daughter and granddaughter.” I could hear my dad snort.
I tried once more to spontaneously combust but hadn’t developed the ability in the past ten minutes.
My mom cleared her throat. “This is a lovely surprise, but how are you here?”
I cleared my throat, too. “Well…” I reviewed the events of the last forty-eight hours and tried to construct a summary that downplayed how much danger I’d faced.
“She escaped,” my dad said, without clearing his throat first.
“That doesn’t explain how,” my mom said, and her jaw set. My dad and I looked at each other; she was gearing up for an interrogation.
He waylaid her with possibly the worst distraction he could’ve picked.
“Can you stay, Miri? Will the Princeling come after you?” my dad asked, his nostrils flaring. He glared at Sahir. Then his eyes flicked back to me. “Can you trust these people?”
Gaheris was sniffing his tea bag and Lene had curled up into a little ball on her armchair. I couldn’t imagine finding them alarming in any way, even with the furry face and the fire-hair.
“Yes, Dad, they’ve been helping me.” I put my hands out, placating. “These are my friends.”
“You never really explained how you got trapped in Faerie. Did he trap you?” my dad asked, pointing to Sahir.
I glared at my dad, who was supposed to be defusing the situation and had instead chosen violence.
“Um, Jeff and I went to a client dinner,” I started.
“Your boss Jeff?” my mom interrupted.
“Yes, my boss Jeff. We went to a client dinner—”
“Where was the client dinner?” she asked.
“In Faerie,” I said, trying not to clench my jaw. “We talked about it, remember? You told me to wear heels.” Her face remained blank. “At the client dinner, I ate some food that I thought was human food, but it wasn’t.”
“You ate food in Faerie?” my mom asked. “Haven’t you seen the Just Say No advertisement? Miri, really,” she scolded. “It’s everywhere.”
Next to her, my dad wore his Solemn Face. This meant that he was highly amused and unlikely to be much help.
I rubbed my eyes. “I’ve seen the ads, Mom. Jeff was pretty adamant that I eat the food so I didn’t embarrass him.”
“You ate faerie food, knowing it might alter your life forever, because your boss told you to?” my dad asked. The Solemn Face had disappeared; he looked like he was going to throttle me.
Sahir, unconcerned, leaned back and flung an arm around me. He’d flung his other arm around my grandma, who was still staring at his profile with open hunger. I couldn’t even be mad at her.
I glanced at Gaheris and Lene. Gaheris was listening to the exchange with a bemused sort of interest. Lene had fallen asleep.
“When you put it that way it feels dumb,” I said. “But it wasn’t dumb. I didn’t want to get fired.”
“You ate faerie food, knowing it might alter your life forever, because you didn’t want to get fired,” my dad repeated. It was a statement and not a question.
“I—” I shook my head. “We have to get back to Faerie soon. I just wanted to see you and let you know what was going on. I’ll be able to come home more now.”
“Or we could come visit,” my mom said. “Is there a beach?”
“What?” I tugged at my ear, like I’d misheard her.
“In Faerie, is there a beach?”
For a moment I felt frustrated. She wasn’t going to think critically about the ethical implications of my kidnapping?
We were going to play “all’s well that ends well” with the most miserable three months of my life?
She was going to pioneer Faerie’s tourism industry with nothing but sheer force of will and an unending dedication to her daughter?
“There are beautiful beaches,” Gaheris said. “The water is always calm, and the sand is soft beneath your toes.”
“And is there skiing?”
I put my elbows on my knees and my head in my hands, inadvertently knocking my knee against Sahir’s. He kicked my shin with his heel in retaliation. I debated murder.
“What is skiing?” Gaheris asked.
“You strap two pieces of wood to your feet and go down a snowy mountain face-first,” I said dismissively to the floor. “Mom, I don’t think faeries ski.”
“Two pieces of wood?” Gaheris repeated. “This is quite odd. We strap one piece of wood to our feet and go down sideways.”
I lifted my head to gape at him.
“Faeries snowboard?” my dad asked.
“Is this what you call it?” Gaheris shrugged. “We like to go fast.”
We all absorbed this information for a moment.
“Miri, why didn’t you tell us you were trying to escape?” my dad asked, shattering the silence.
“I didn’t want you to worry.” I stared down at my knees.
“We’re your parents, and that’s our job,” my dad said.
“I didn’t want you to try to storm Faerie and rescue me,” I tried again.
My dad looked at my mom.
“What?” she snapped, indignant. “You think I would try to storm Faerie and rescue her?”
My dad and I shared a look.
Sahir squeezed my thigh with his free hand, and I jumped. “We must continue on, Miriam. We need to update the Princeling, and I do not want to expose Gaheris and Lene to more of this world than is absolutely necessary.”
“Right.” I looked at my parents. “We’re going back to New York. Any chance you could drive us to the train?”
“I’ll take you into the city,” my dad said. He nudged my mom and nodded at my grandma, which meant Can you stay with your mother?
She nodded, unsubtly. Grandma had her hand in Sahir’s hair.
I stood and the faeries followed suit. I pressed my lips to the top of my grandma’s head. She looked a bit distraught that Sahir was leaving, until he knelt before her and kissed her hand, his hair falling in curtains around her knee.
My mom hugged me, then let me go.
We went as a group into the entryway.
My dad gestured to the front door, and I led the way outside toward the driveway. His car was parked in front of the garage.
“Lene, this is like the train, but smaller,” Sahir said.
My dad unlocked the car. I gestured for Gaheris to get in the front—he had height advantage—and slid into the back seat with Lene and Sahir.
I buckled her in between us. My dad reached around Gaheris, heedless of his fiery hair, and buckled him in, too.
Sahir buckled himself.
My dad backed out of the driveway, and Lene stuck her claws into my thigh, but when he put the car in drive, she relaxed slightly. “I can see forward,” she said, staring out the windshield. “It is like a horse without the wind.”
“Thank you for escorting us in your chariot,” Gaheris said to my dad, showing off his human class skills. “We are in your debt,” he added, like a faerie.
“It was selfish,” my dad said. “I wanted to spend more time with my daughter.” Our eyes met in the rearview mirror. “Are things okay otherwise, Miri? Is work getting any… easier?”
I looked away as we pulled onto the highway. “Jeff’s just a little grumpy,” I said, reluctant.
“The human man is insignificant and miserable,” Lene chimed in. “His requests are extraneous and unwarranted. His attitude is abysmal. He is rude without reason, and he is not even clever about it. Doctor Kitten and I sit through all of Miri’s meetings with her, and we find him unsatisfactory.”
The top of my dad’s cheek lifted as he smiled. “Do you and Doctor Kitten chat very often?” he asked.
“Oh, yes,” she said, growing animated. “We share many opinions. In fact, we are even contemplating starting our own business, a human invention called a cat café. He is the most sensible of all.”
She patted Sahir’s knee. “Please do not take offense, Sahir. I like you, though you lack sense.”
“Doctor Kitten is a very excellent cat,” Gaheris added, perhaps incorrectly interpreting my dad’s reaction to mean that everyone should heap praise on Doctor Kitten. I caught Sahir’s eye and shook my head so that he wouldn’t jump on the bandwagon, too.
“An excellent cat indeed,” my dad said, and drove us into the city.