Chapter Five

Nothing is Ever Normal

We spend about twenty minutes trying to communicate with Mom, but we don’t have any luck.

She’s in her own little world. Dusk tries to talk her into coming inside the house proper, but no dice. Eventually, we give up for now and retreat to the kitchen. The room is a complete mess, though there is an island of attempted cleaning that allows access to a mostly open sink and a little bit of countertop space. Seems that Dusk was in the process of cleaning up when we arrived.

“What did you mean when you said Mom did magic?” I ask.

He grabs a pretzel from a bowl in the middle of the table but doesn’t eat it yet. “I was maybe four or five… walked into the greenhouse and saw her doing something with her hands that made light where there shouldn’t have been any light. I remember seeing objects floating on their own, but can’t remember what they were. She tried to tell me I imagined it or had a daydream.”

“Huh. Interesting. ”

Was Mom always so vacant? I try to think back as far as I can. I do remember her being more active when I was really small. But… I barely remember anything that happened before I was around five. One or two brief glimpses of a favorite doll or something like that. I want to say Mom was more functional then, but it feels more like a logical assumption than a direct memory.

Dusk munches his pretzel. When he finishes chewing, he snaps his fingers like a memory just hit him. “I kinda remember something trying to grab Clay and run off with him into the woods when he was tiny. Mom did something to him so the ‘monster’ couldn’t see him.”

“Is that why he was allergic to clothes?” I chuckle.

Dusk laughs. “Who knows? I think he’s just a nature boy… or was. Hopefully, he’s grown out of that by now.”

“Yeah.” I nod. “He had clothes on when he came to visit recently.”

Dusk chuckles.

“Sounds like faerie magic,” adds Tammy.

My brother gives her side eye. “You’d know, wouldn’t you?”

Tammy blinks.

Dusk shifts his gaze to me. “Sam, did you get knocked up by a fey?”

Tammy and I burst out laughing.

“Hardly.” I tighten my jaw. Danny was (or at least ended up) about as opposite to fey as possible.

“If you didn’t have a kid with a fey, mind if I ask why her aura looks like a faerie’s?” Dusk eats another pretzel.

“It’s a long story.” Tammy swipes her hair off her face, doing the anime girl ‘hair over one eye’ thing without even trying. “But I’m not a half-fey… at least, if I am one now, I wasn’t born that way. ”

Dusk eats three more pretzels in a slow, deliberate manner, buying time to think. “I wasn’t sure who I could possibly talk to about this, but...” He shifts his gaze to me. “I’m guessing you might not think I’m crazy.”

“Nope, I wouldn’t think you’re crazy.”

Tammy makes a face as if to say ‘the stories we could tell.’

“I’m worried about Mom,” says Dusk. “She doesn’t have an aura, either.”

“Like, at all?” I blink.

“Nope.” He shakes his head.

“That’s not normal.” I bite my lip, knowing the nature of auras and what they mean. Truth was, I hadn’t looked for Mom’s aura... or, hadn’t noticed it was missing.

“Nope.” He gives me a pointed stare. “What does that mean?”

“Don’t you know what it means if someone doesn’t have one at all?”

“Not a clue. This is a first.” Dusk shoots Ant a look. “Lot of firsts going on. His is golden. Never saw that before, either.”

“Interesting.” Paxton squints at everyone, as if she’s trying to figure out how to see auras.

“So, it’s both you and Mom that don’t have them.” Dusk spins a pretzel fragment between his fingers. “Waiting for Mary Lou to get here. Maybe it’s something with the women in the family.”

“What am I, a toaster?” asks Tammy.

Dusk laughs. “Your mother had an aura when she was a kid, too.”

“I’m not a kid. I’m eighteen.” Tammy sighs.

“That’s a kid.” Dusk winks. “When you hit fifty, you’ll consider anyone younger than thirty to be ‘a kid.’”

Tammy’s about to say something wise, but gets a sudden ‘uh oh’ look. She nudges me and mouths, “Is grandma a vampire?”