Chapter 8

Chapter

Eight

Devine Country Estate, Twenty-Two Years Ago…

I rush through the halls of the country house, eager to see what birthday surprises await me. The puffy princess dress my mother is making me wear is stupid and sparkly, but I don't care.

My father promised me a cake as tall as I am, with fairies skating in the icing. And, since I behaved all year and did everything I was supposed to, he promised I could get a puppy for my sixth birthday—one I could keep. I've thought of many potential names but will not decide until I know my new best friend's personality.

This is going to be the best day ever.

I'm going to take such good care of my puppy. And he'll love me as much as I love him. And we'll be best friends forever. We'll do everything together. Everything!

My entire body shakes with excitement, and I can't sit still. Grandfather would say I have unicorn ants in my pants. The thought of tiny unicorns makes me giggle. He's the funniest person in the world.

People have been coming all day to prepare for the festivities. I've watched from the top of the staircase and have seen the crates and flowers entering the house. I've never had a party this fancy before, at least not that I can remember from looking at my baby pictures.

My feet start running. I can't stop them. I have to see.

I hop down the stairs and burst through the large wooden doors carved with supernatural creatures. Sparkly lights hang from the ballroom's ceiling, and vases filled with flowers are on top of tablecloths. Usually, I don't like cut flowers because they wilt so fast, but today, they're perfect. Workers arrange the place settings according to how my mother likes them. I run through the maze of round tables toward my father.

"Where is he? Where is he?" The words just burst out.

"Stop." Lady Astrid appears before me. The chill in my mother's voice instantly causes me to freeze. She's always irritated with me, so I try to stay out of her way. She snaps her fingers. "Davis. Give her the thing. We need to get dressed. Our guests will be arriving in a couple of hours."

My father has his hand on a skinny boy's shoulder and steers him toward us. I look around the floor, hoping to see my puppy.

"Tamara, stand up straight," my mother orders.

I obey, pretending a steel rod is attached to my back so she doesn't magically put the brace back on me to straighten my posture.

My mother smells heavily of flower perfume, and the scent will linger in a room long after she's gone. She also looks like a movie star. My father isn't as glamorous, but he's fun when he's around. He wears well-pressed suits and smells like the special drink he keeps in the fancy crystal in his office.

"Tamara, this is Conrad," my father says. "He's your brother."

I look at the boy and can't help but roll my eyes as I giggle. "No, he's not. Anthony is my brother."

"Conrad is your new brother." My mother studies the boy. "This is Tamara. As we discussed, it is a big brother's job to look after his little sister."

"Yes, Astrid," the boy says.

My mother arches a brow.

"Yes, Lady Astrid," the boy corrects.

"Are you at least a werewolf?" I scrunch up my face as I look Conrad over. That would kind of be like having a puppy.

Conrad frowns at me.

"Where's my puppy?" I can't stand waiting a moment longer.

My mother waves her hand. "You're not getting a dog. I will not have it pissing all over the carpet."

"A brother will live longer," my father says. "And he's mortal, like you. You'll have someone to play with while Anthony is away at his special school. Won't it be fun to have a brother to attend human school with you?"

I want to go to school with other kids, not have someone go to the tutor with me.

"But you promised," I remind my father. I already have a brother. I don't want another. "You said if I behaved, I could have a puppy and a cake with fairies."

"Ew!" Anthony appears behind me, bumping his shoulder into my back as he walks past to join us. "You want to eat fairies?"

"No," I protest. "They'll skate in the frosting and make the cake float."

"Anthony!" our mother scolds, her words coming over mine. "I told you to get dressed for your party. Tonight is very important."

"I came down to tell Tamara happy birthday." Anthony is brave. At seven, he's a year older than me and is never scared of our mother. It's probably because he has magic and can throw fireballs.

I wish I could throw fireballs. Anthony tried to give me one once, but it burned my hand. We got in trouble.

Anthony leans over and whispers in my ear, "Fairy eater!"

I scrunch my face up at him in defiance.

"Conrad." Anthony reaches out his hand. "I'm Anthony."

"Hey." Conrad tilts his head back and juts out his jaw. He doesn't shake hands.

Anthony takes the rejection in stride.

"Anthony, get dressed in your robes before the wizards get here," our mother says. "Tamara, show Conrad the house and tell him the rules. Then take him to the yellow guest suite in the protected wing. That will be his bedroom. I expect you both to be out of sight when our guests arrive, or there will be consequences."

"But…" I look around, confused. I try not to cry. "Where is my puppy? Where is the cake?"

This is supposed to be my party. Not Anthony's.

"It will not be safe for humans to wander around tonight," my mother says before prompting in her firm voice, "And why is that?"

I sigh. I hate lessons. "Because someone might eat us."

"Or?" she insists.

"Maim us," I mumble. "And magic won't be able to put us back together because humans are fragile."

"Tam-tam," my father says. "Tonight is very important for your brother. The wizard council is coming to coronate him into his first magical order. We'll have cake tomorrow."

"She doesn't need more sweets," my mother tells him.

"Leave her be, Astrid," my father scolds.

I feel like they're about to start bickering, so I grab Conrad's arm. "Come on. I'll show you the house. Don't touch anything. It might kill you."

"Astrid's mean," he says when we're out of the ballroom. I take him across the foyer to the library. "She doesn't want me here."

"Sh." I press my fingers to my lips to tell him to be quiet before pointing toward a maid. I lead him into the library and shut the door so it's safe to talk. "They are all tattletales."

Conrad has a sad face. I feel bad for him.

"She is the most beautiful lady in the world. Everyone thinks so." I point at my parents' portraits on the library wall. "Anthony says she has to be like that. It's not easy running an empire."

"What does that mean?"

I shrug. I have no clue.

"Do I get to name you?" I try not to be sad, but I really wanted that puppy.

"No. I have a name," Conrad answers. "It's Conrad Muller."

"I hate my birthday," I say, sniffing back tears. "And I hate their stupid Anthony party. They promised me a puppy, not a brother."

"I've never had a birthday party," Conrad says.

"Never?" I try to see if he's joking.

He shakes his head. "Never."

"Not even a cake?" I insist.

"Nope."

I can't decide if he's telling the truth. "Do you have a birthday?"

"Of course, I have a birthday. Everyone has a birthday." He stares at me, looking me up and down. "How old are you?"

"Six."

"I'm eight," he says. "That means I'm older and in charge."

"No." I purse my lips in defiance.

"You heard them. It's my job to be the boss of you."

I don't want another boss of me.

"Did they adopt you too?" he asks.

I shake my head. "No."

"Then how come you're human?"

I shrug again. "I don't know. How come you're human?"

"My parents are human." He finds an old fireball stain on the wall and stares at it.

"A wizard drunk too much adult punch," I explain. "That's why the paint won't cover it."

"Can you do magic?"

"Anthony said he'd teach me spells and potions when I'm older. He has to learn them first." I stop under Anthony's portrait. It hangs close to my parents' and shows him standing in a fancy suit. "He bought me fireworks. Those are kind of like magic."

"Where's your picture?" Conrad asks.

"I don't have one yet," I answer. "Lady Astrid says I have to grow into myself first."

"Why do you call your mom Lady Astrid?"

I laugh at the silly question. "That's her name."

"It's weird." Conrad starts to reach toward my mother's picture frame.

"Don't!" I grab his hand. "It's poison."

He frowns. "That doesn't make sense."

"It'll make you sick. It'll make your insides explode," I say. "Lady Astrid says it's to keep from printing fingers on it."

"Fingerprints?"

"Yeah, those." I nod.

"That's stupid." Conrad doesn't try to touch the picture again.

"We can sit in these chairs when we're reading." I point at the reading nook before showing him which shelf has books safe for humans to read. "You can look at the books on this shelf."

"Why not all of them?" He starts to reach for a book on a higher shelf. The magical shield zaps his fingers, and he jumps back, shaking his hand and saying bad words.

"Cause it's illegal for humans." I find it weird that he doesn't know these things. If he's living in this house, he should know. "They're written funny anyway. Anthony showed them to me. The words are jumbled. You need magic eyes to see them."

His stomach growls.

"Are you hungry?" I ask.

He nods. "They didn't feed me before my flight."

"You fly?" I look at him in excitement. "Like a fairy? On a dragon? Oh, did you use wings?"

He furrows his brow. "On an airplane."

"Oh." That's much less interesting. "Where did you fly from?"

"Missouri," he says. "That's where your parents found me."

"What's a Missouri?" The library is boring, so I decide to take him to the kitchen.

Conrad doesn't smile. His face looks like he's about to yell, but his voice remains calm. "A state."

I pause at the door and plug my nose. My voice sounds funny as I say, "This next room smells. It's called the smoking room. A guy died in there a really, really long time ago, like forty years ago. Anthony said his ghost is in there farting. If he touches you, you'll smell like that forever."

I run through the stinky room.

Conrad doesn't hurry, and he bravely looks around. "I don't believe in ghosts."

"How do you not know about ghosts?" I pull his arm to get him out of the room faster and slam the door shut behind us. I walk him through the maze of hallways toward the kitchen. "Didn't your father tell you about them?"

He shakes his head. "My dad is dead."

I'm confused. "Is it because he told you the supernatural are real, and they had to kill him? Humans aren't supposed to know. It's illegal."

"You know."

"I'm special. I'm not allowed to talk about it unless my parents say it's all right."

He puts his arms over his chest. "Maybe I'm special too. I've seen goblins before."

I stop walking and pet his arm. "I think you are, even if you're not a puppy."

He lifts his shoulder and steps back, so I stop petting him.

"I'm sorry your dad is dead."

He shrugs. "Doesn't matter. I never met him."

"Why didn't your mother keep you in the Missouri?"

"My mom didn't want me." He starts walking again but misses our turn.

"This way," I say. "Did she give you to me for my birthday?"

"She left me at a gas station when I was a baby."

"Lady Astrid locked me in a closet once when her magic friends came to visit," I say. "To keep me safe."

"But she came back to get you," he counters. "Mine didn't."

"She got busy. A maid let me out," I explain. "Maybe your mother got busy and forgot to come back."

"Your parents bought me from foster care. My mother isn't coming back."

I don't know what to say because I don't understand. Instead, I start running. "Race you!"

"Hey!" Conrad chases after me. "No fair, you cheated!"

I almost topple a maid.

She doesn't fall over, but she screams nonsense after me. "…running around…halls…like a little street urchin…"

I don't care.

I glance back to see Conrad passing the angry woman. He hits the bottom of her tray, sending her drinks flying. "Don't yell at her."

The woman's screams become funny gibberish.

I stop running. Conrad smiles for the first time as he catches up to me. He turns to jog backward a few steps to watch the maid picking up the mess.

"She's going to tell on you," I warn. "You'll be in trouble."

"So what? She shouldn't have yelled at you." Conrad might be the bravest kid I've ever met—not counting Anthony.

He's no puppy, but this new brother might be all right. At least I won't be alone on my birthday.

"I'll show you the food we can eat." I lead him into the kitchen. "And then I'll show you where we can hide on the protected balcony to watch the supernaturals arrive. Trust me, you don't want to miss it."

"Why?"

I giggle in anticipation. "They wear the funniest outfits."