Chapter Thirty-Four

Chapter Thirty-Four

Josie

I shut the door behind me and locked it. Fern stood awkwardly in the middle of my room as I paced back and forth.

None of this was right. I'd spent the entire night with my family. A family I'd known my entire life, and yet I felt like a stranger. Maybe it was the amount of crap I'd gone through since this happened. Or maybe I was realizing how selfish my parents were.

They didn't care about Kellan. The man they hired to save my life. I guess his life didn't matter in the meantime. I'd reluctantly eaten. Even though my stomach was empty, it felt like there was acid in my throat. I walked over to my window and pushed the glass doors open. The breeze hit my skin, and I took a deep breath.

"Josie," Fern whispered behind me.

I looked over at her worried face.

"Are you okay? You look ill."

I swiped my palm across my sweaty forehead and chuckled humorlessly. "I am worried that my parents aren't going to let me go back, Fern. I have to go back. I have to save Kellan."

She smiled sweetly and pulled me in for a hug. "Let's get a plan together."

The floorboard creaked from outside my door. I tiptoed over, pressed my ear against the wood and listened.

After several minutes, it creaked again. I gestured toward the bathroom and met her inside.

Fern watched as I turned on the shower and sink. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"Someone in this house stole Deidamia's spindle. Someone in this house doesn't want me to give it back. We have to be careful who we trust."

Fern wrapped her arms around her ratty clothes. "You don't trust your parents?"

A pang of guilt slammed into my chest. I wanted to trust the people that raised me. How could I? Both of them were acting clueless to why Deidamia would take me.

"No," I answered honestly. "I don't know who to trust. The only other people that are here regularly are Melissa and Luther since they let Jenny go."

Fern cleared her throat. "It could be them."

"It could," I said, biting my nail. "I think we need to search the house tonight. We'll wait until everyone is asleep, and we'll go from there."

Fern looked nervous. "What if they catch us? Will they throw us out?"

"No. If they do, we can find somewhere to go." Sighing, I pushed my hair from my face. "Would you like a shower?" Fern looked excited when I gestured toward the shower. "I'll get you some clothes to change into. The towels and washcloths are there. Use anything you need."

She seemed giddy looking at the shower and accepting the clothes I gave her. I shut the door and felt an uneasy feeling settle over me.

My gaze shifted toward the door. Carefully, I lowered myself down to look underneath the door. There was nothing there. Whoever had been listening had left.

I rolled over to my back and stared at the vaulted ceiling. There were only a few places inside the house that could hide a magical spindle. The attic and the basement.

Both of them gave me the creeps.

I laid there on the hardwood floor until Fern came out thirty minutes later. She smelled like my bath wash and looked relaxed. "That's an amazing invention. I want one for back home."

I pushed myself onto my elbows. "My parents are in the bed by 10 PM. I've snuck out plenty of times to know they're out by then. That"s when we"ll start searching."

Fern nodded hurriedly. "Are you afraid of what we'll find?" she asked.

I stood to my feet, realizing I was afraid that it was one of my parents. "I'm more afraid I won't make it back to Kellan. People are disappointing," I said. "But I don't want to be one of those people."

***

When my digital clock on my nightstand turned 10:30 PM, I opened my door. The silence that greeted me felt like sandpaper against my skin.

Fern was light on her feet behind me.

"We'll stay together," I whispered. "I don't think splitting up when you don't know the house is a good idea."

Fern nodded. We started down the hallway, walking into each guest room and looking under beds and in closets.

When I pushed open Jenny's door, my heart slammed into my chest. I'd loved Jenny growing up. She'd worked for us for so long. Seeing her bed and room empty of all of her belongings made me sad.

The only thing left in the room was a book perched on the side of her nightstand. It was some sort of herbal book about protection spells. I skimmed through it and put it in my back pocket.

Jenny had never been into those types of things, but after the last time we spoke, I wasn't sure I knew her as much as I thought.

When we finished the second floor we tiptoed to the first one. There were only a couple of rooms there other than my parents'.

Fern placed her palm on my forearm. "What if it's in your mother's room?"

I glanced at their shut door. "We'll search it when they go to their weekly lunch at Renaldo's tomorrow," I whispered.

Both of the guest rooms were empty. Not even a golden thread.

Sliding my tongue over my teeth, I took my cell phone from my back pocket and turned on the flashlight. "We need to check the basement."

Fern looked confused.

"A room down there," I said, pointing toward the kitchen broom closet.

Fern frowned. "What's down there?"

"Storage," I whispered. Tiptoeing over, I opened the door inside the closet.

The staircase was pitch dark. A string for the light switch swung at the end. It was a scary movie coming to life.

Fern grabbed my upper arm, keeping close as we crept down the stairs and toward the string.

With shaky hands, I pulled the string, and a dim light brightened the room. It was full of my parents" old washer and dryer, storage for holiday decorations, and boxes of my mother's crafts.

Fern looked at the concrete floor and ceiling high windows.

"This is spooky," she whispered.

I nodded. "I've been down here twice because of my mother. Once, she found me curled into a corner, crying because there was a spider between me and the stairs, and the other time I tripped over an extension cord. She stopped asking me to come down years ago."

Fern looked around. "I don't see anything."

I walked underneath the stairs and found nothing but an ancient mousetrap and spider webs. Scratching my head, I looked around the room. I wasn't an expert, but I didn't think that a spindle could fit into any of my mother's storage containers.

"There"s only one more place in the house that we can look."

She pointed upward.

I nodded. "The attic. I can't imagine anyone going up and down it freely. Someone would know they were doing it."

"Could two people know about it?"

"Yes," I whispered. "I would hope not, but yes, they could. If it's two, I suspect my parents. But why would they need a spindle? How would they know to steal it?"

Fern nodded. "You don't have fairy tales here on Earth?"

I stalled. I'd remembered the fairy tale my mother read me when I was young. The one that had Kellan in it. But none of them had golden spindles in them that I could remember. "Yes, we do."

"Where could we find them?" she asked.

"The library," I said, gesturing toward the stairs. "Come on. Let's get out of here. We'll go check out the attic."

We both walked up the staircase, turned off the light and walked into the empty kitchen. I felt better being out of the cold, damp basement.

Fern pointed toward the fridge. "Could I have a glass of water?"

I handed her a bottled water, and she stared at it for a moment before downing it. My gaze moved toward my parents" shut door. I hated to look in the attic, but I would not stop until I found it.

Fern gasped and pointed toward the back door. I followed her pointed finger to see a shadow standing at the door. It wasn't Deidamia. It lacked the horns.

My mind wandered to on who was watching our house this late, and why. The fear in me subsided. I'd been through much worse than a peeping Tom. I raced toward the back door, swung it open, setting off the alarm.

The shadow ran toward the woods behind our home.

Fern yelled at me from the door as I chased this person down. I was tired of being in the dark. Once I was close enough, I leaped forward and tackled the person to the ground. We rolled around and grappled until I pulled off the hood.

Jenny's wide eyes stared up at me. "Jenny?" I asked softly.

She looked so sad and afraid. What was she afraid of? I sat on top of her, hearing my parents shouting in the distance. "What are you doing here?"

Jenny let out a shaky breath. "You have to get out of that house."

I searched her face for something that made sense. "Why? What's going on. Do you know about the spindle?"

Jenny began to thrash around beneath me. "Let me up. They're coming."

I glanced over my shoulder at my parents making their way across the field in their bathrobes. "Tell me who has the spindle. Do you know about the spindle?"

Her bottom lip trembled. "Your mother," she whispered. "She's not who you think she is, Josephine. Run."

My mother? My entire body stilled. My heart skipped several beats, and I watched Jenny's frightened face. My mother couldn't have stolen a golden spindle from another realm, could she? "Let me up," she whispered between us.

Standing up, I watched as she scurried upright. "Get out of that house," she whispered before running into the forest.

I watched until the trees hid her. My father stopped beside me and grabbed my upper arm. "Honey Dew, are you okay? What happened?"

I felt my mother's eyes on the side of my face. I did my best to hide the truth that I knew lingered there. "I don't know."

"Who was it?" my dad asked.

I met my mother's stare. She knew who it was. I could see it on her face. "Jenny," I answered.

Dad sighed heavily. "The girl has not been able to move on. Poor thing. We need to get her help."

"We should call the authorities," my mother said nonchalantly.

I kept my mouth closed and wrapped my arms around my stomach. A chill worked its way up my spine. Dad tugged me into the crook of his arm. "Why would you come running after an intruder, Josephine? Never do that again."

I was utterly happy that I had done that. Now I knew my mother was hiding something. Her gaze settled on mine for several seconds. I didn't dare look away. If she did know I knew her secret, she better know I wasn't afraid.

I'd do whatever it took to save Kellan.

He wasn't the only hero in this story.