Dark Promise by Talia Jager (free novel 24 txt) 📖

Chapter Ten

A loud knock woke me up the next day. I groaned and pulled the blankets over my head. The door creaked open, and my mother said softly, “Rylie?”

“What?” I peeked my head out from under the covers.

“It’s almost lunch time. Why don’t you get ready, and we can go out for lunch and do some shopping?”

My first thought was NO WAY! I didn’t want to be out in public knowing what I really looked like. But then I thought how nice a normal day with my mom would be. I threw the blanket to the side. “Okay,” I told her with a timid smile. “That sounds great.”

“Come on down when you’re ready,” she told me with a smile, and then quietly slipped back out the door.

I took a few minutes more to lie in bed before I stood up and let my wings out. They fluttered a couple times, enjoying the space. I grinned as I remembered the lovely feeling of the shower beating down on them. I was looking forward to it again.

After my shower, I stood in front of the mirror. Without having to put on makeup, it took far less time for me to get ready. My hair seemed to fall into place on its own after I brushed it.

The first shirt I tried on made my wings ache, so I had to rummage through my closet to find a shirt with a low enough back for my wings to be free. It was a good thing we were going shopping, because those kinds of shirts in my wardrobe were few and far between.

I descended the stairs and found Mom in the kitchen, sitting at the table. Her face was partially covered by a vase filled with wild flowers. She looked up from the book she was reading.

“I’m ready,” I announced.

“Well, that was quick.” She placed a page holder in her book and put it on the counter. “Let’s go.”

“Where’s Dad?” I looked into the den.

“He went into work for a couple of hours.” My mother grabbed her sweater from the coat rack.

“It’s Sunday.”

She shrugged. “He said it was important. You know how he is.”

We walked out to the car, a red sports coupe that my mom loved, and climbed in. Mom drove downtown to a café we visited often. It had the appearance of a cute French bistro—the walls were dark yellow, hung with classic French artwork, and the booths and tables were mahogany. The hostess seated us at a small table near the windows, where I ordered a house salad and club sandwich. It was odd—I could see my reflection in the glass beside me. I had to keep reminding myself that nobody else could see the real me.

“How are you holding up?” Mom asked, pushing her lettuce around her plate. She seemed subdued.

I blew out a long breath. “Still in shock, I think. Better than yesterday, though. I keep hoping I’m going to wake up and find that it was all just a bad dream.”

“What do you think should happen now? Do you want to get to know Azura better?” My mother didn’t look at me as she took a bite of her salad.

I glanced out the window; there was what was really bothering her. “I suppose I should talk to her at some point. Maybe tonight. I don’t know what else there is that I need to know. But…” I paused. “I don’t really want to talk to her either. I won’t have to go live with her? Right?”

Mom’s eyes widened. “No. You’ll never have to do anything you don’t want to. We’re not letting you go that easy. We still have you for two more years before you’re off on your own. If she thinks she can just waltz in and take you from us, she has another think coming.”

“What if she calls the cops or something?” I suddenly lost my appetite. Just talking about it made me nauseated.

“And says what? That she’s a faery? That we stole you? We have proof we had a baby. We would counter with that and say she switched babies. It would be a nasty battle. I don’t think she’d want that. But I do think she should be part of your life. Maybe if you were…human, it would be different. You’re not, though. And we need her to help you deal with this.” Mom was always the voice of reason.

“I guess.” I picked at my lunch silently, unsure of what else to say.

“What do you want to shop for?” Mom asked as we walked through the large glass doors into the mall. It was the weekend, so the mall was annoyingly crowded.

“Shirts,” I said quickly, “and maybe a couple of spring dresses.”

We headed towards my favorite clothing store. I loved our mall, even if it was pretty small compared to the malls in big cities, like DC. It had been renovated a few years ago, so the old, dim building had changed into an airy place with skylights and fresh paint.

We stopped at a café so Mom could grab a coffee, and then made our way to the end of the mall, to a trendy clothing store that was a favorite amongst teens. I found a few low-back shirts, but no luck with the dresses, so we walked down the hall to a large department store.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed something odd coming the other way. A fuzzy light of sorts. A person—no, a faery. I blinked a few times as she got closer. Pointy ears and wings, definitely a faery. Her long blonde hair was almost white in color. Our eyes met as we passed each other, and she gave a small, almost imperceptible nod.

I gasped and grabbed my mother’s arm. “Mom? Did you see her?”

“See who?” She turned to look.

I had forgotten that she couldn’t see faeries. I couldn’t believe there was another faery at the mall. I guess faeries really were everywhere. I had just never known because I didn’t have my faery sight then, nor did I look like a faery. Now…I did.

“There was another faery,” I told Mom.

“Oh?” She seemed a bit surprised. “Well, isn’t that interesting. You’ll have to keep your eyes out for more. I guess I thought Azura was exaggerating about faeries being everywhere.”

“Me too,” I muttered under my breath and glanced back, but the woman was out of sight.

I couldn’t stop thinking about the other faery, even after we reached the department store and went inside.

“Dresses are in the back,” Mom told me, and led the way.

I wasn’t really into it as we browsed. Seeing that other faery had really kind of shaken me. Azura had said that other faeries would recognize me for what I was—and they would know what my birthmark meant. I touched the mark, wondering how such a small thing could bring so much danger.

“What about this one?” My mom’s voice pulled me from my reverie, and she held out a floral-patterned maxi dress with spaghetti straps.

“That’s pretty. Let me see the back,” I responded, aware once more of my wings.

My mom raised an eyebrow and flipped it around. It looked like it might be just low enough.

“That will work—I think.”

“Work for what? Are you going somewhere special?”

I lowered my voice. “It’s uncomfortable if my wings don’t have room.”

“Oh, goodness. I never would have