CHAPTER 50
Sonja walked from her gallery to Cat and Harper’s new apartment in the heart of the village, a small, secure complex that gave Sonja less to worry about.
They were wealthy young women now, and Sonja and their attorney had tried to keep their new status as quiet as possible.
Sonja still had concerns over their sister’s disappearance, but there was no evidence of foul play, and Bristol was a capable and clever adult.
More than capable, apparently. She looked at the letter in her hand.
It was addressed to the house on Oak Leaf Lane, which was why it had been forwarded to the gallery.
She had compared the handwriting on the front of the letter to the script on the consignment papers Bristol had filled out for her father’s painting.
The handwriting matched. She was alive, but Sonja still wondered about all the secrecy.
Faerie.
Sonja smiled and shook her head at the Sisters’ half-hearted answers about Bristol’s whereabouts.
Perhaps there were stranger explanations.
She remembered when Bristol came to her at the gallery, intent on getting the money she needed.
A sketch by Leonardo da Vinci. Someone wants to give it to me.
Sonja had laughed. A slightly nervous laugh.
But then on the heels of Bristol’s disappearance, the da Vinci sketch actually came, then the Escher sketch, finally followed by the offer for Mr. Keats’s painting.
Everything had checked out, and the commissions brought a windfall to the gallery, but Sonja still carried some unease about it.
She just wished she knew with certainty that Bristol was all right.
She walked up to the apartment complex gate and punched in the security number, and when the girls didn’t answer the door, she tucked the letter in their mailbox, hoping it contained good news from Bristol.
Hurry home. We got another letter, Harper texted.
Leaving. Be there in 30. Don’t open til i get there.
Harper didn’t have to say who the letter was from. There was a shorthand of knowing between them. Only one person was worthy of an urgent text to hurry home.
In twenty-eight minutes, Cat burst through the door.
Harper stood in the hallway waiting, the letter in her hands.
Cat dropped her purse and keys in the entry and took the letter from Harper, her finger grazing the handwriting. Bristol’s handwriting. Her eyes welled.
The sisters immediately settled onto the couch beside each other.
Dear Cat and Harper,
I’m sorry I closed the portal. I wish I hadn’t done that.
I miss you two terribly. Cat, I know I told you in my last letter that I was sorry for my harsh words to you.
I still wish I could take those words back.
If I had a magic spell to wash them away, I would.
I know now, it wouldn’t have mattered what you told me, I wouldn’t have believed you because this world didn’t yet exist for us—until now.
In the end, none of it really matters. I think I was meant to come here. I have a purpose.
It may not have been my first choice for a little getaway, but life deals us curves, right?
This was some curve, but us Keats girls have always been good at navigating those.
I’m embracing new challenges here daily, and those challenges include change.
There may be more changes in me by the time I see you—more than blue nails.
I hope not, but again, we can’t choose every road we’re destined to travel—and we’ve been down a lifetime of roads together.
I’ll deal with it, just like you always do. That’s something we learned together.
Now I have something else to tell you. Are you sitting down? (Don’t roll your eyes, Cat.) Because you really should be sitting down when you read these next words. I’ll give you a moment.
You too, Harper. I know we’ve kept so much from you in the past. (Pretty lame because you were all over it.).
But Cat and I were only trying to protect you, trying to give you a more normal childhood than what we had, but you’re old enough and smart enough—probably smarter than both of us—that you can handle this now.
I’m glad you’re both sitting now because what I’m about to say will be a lot for you to absorb.
Daddy is alive. I found him. He is as strong and healthy as ever. And still as stubborn as a brick wall. We had a long talk, but he refused to come home with me because he is still trying to find Mother.
That’s right. Mother. She is alive. He knew it all along. Mother is healthy and well too. I know this is especially shocking, but it’s true. I don’t know what’s in the urns out in the workshop, but it’s not their ashes.
Mother is different now—she is fully fae.
All of our lives she used glamour to hide who she was (Harper, explain to Cat what glamour is).
Mother is afraid to leave this world—she’s under a spell of sorts—but I’m confident that will change soon once we confront the man who brought her here.
Don’t worry, I won’t be confronting him alone—a lot of powerful fae will be with me, including the leader here that I mentioned to you earlier.
We have grown close (yes, read between the lines).
This will all happen in just a couple of weeks, and then I’m bringing them both home to you.
That’s why this has all taken so long. Just like our world, this world is complicated and has its problems too.
So I hope this good (but shocking) news makes the wait worth it and that you aren’t angry with me for being away for so long.
As you can see, I have a good reason. (Oh!
And besides Mother and Father, I have some cool fae gifts for you too.
I think you’ll love them. BTW, did you get decent phones?) I wish more than anything that I was there with you, but it won’t be much longer now.
While I’m gone I hope you’re putting down the deepest roots ever, because we are never going to have to run again.
Take care of each other until then, and please always know, I love you both more than anything.
Your adoring sister,
Bri
Cat’s chest shook. She kissed her index finger and pressed it to Bri’s name. “I love you too, sis.”
Harper put her arm around Cat, and they both stared at the letter, reading it again and again, reading between all the lines that Bristol hadn’t intended, noting every place where she inserted cheerful remarks or breezed past events to lessen the gravity of it all.
Curves. Challenges. Confront. Powerful. Afraid. Complicated. Problems. Deal with it. Those were the words that glared at them between the lines.
They discussed the improbability of it all, that the fae world really existed, that both of their parents were still alive. It seemed too much to hope for. But Bristol said it was all so, and they trusted her.
“What is glamour?” Cat finally asked.
“It’s faking appearances.”
Cat chewed on the corner of her lip, thinking.
“Then maybe we’re fae after all,” she said.
“That might be the truest part of our lives.” She stood and pulled Harper to her feet too.
“Our sister will be home soon, I do believe that much. Let’s get the old house cleaned up, so she’s not coming home to a dusty mess. ”