25. Maya

25

Maya

She couldn’t have heard that right.

Maya tore her gaze away from Corin, who had been looking the happiest she had seen him, ever , and frowned at Felicity. “What are you talking about?”

“Your mom. Is. Here.”

“ What?! ”

The ground dropped away beneath her feet.

Her mom couldn’t be here.

This couldn’t be happening.

She opened her mouth, but no words came out.

“Maya.” Corin’s voice anchored her, bringing her back to earth. “What do you need?”

I need my mom not to be here. Her stomach twisted. What sort of daughter was she, thinking something like that?

“I need your help,” she said, delaying until her mind gave her something better to say.

Corin’s fingertips brushed beneath her chin, tilting her head up to meet his eyes. “You have never asked for my help in all the time we’ve known each other,” he murmured. “Please let that change now. Tell me what you need and allow me to help you.”

She swallowed. “My mom doesn’t know about shifters.”

Corin’s eyes crinkled. “Now might be a good time to tell her?” he suggested. Her alarm must have shown on her face, because he immediately backtracked. “Or we can wait until you’re ready. Very well. Mrs. Flores must not discover the existence of shifters while she is here,” he announced, raising his voice. “Apollo, Felicity, you have a system for keeping Hideaway Cove’s secret, don’t you?”

“Yes. I’ll tell the others,” Apollo said, while Felicity took one look at the situation and pointed a finger at the Dans.

“You three listen to me,” she said. “Here’s what we’re going to do, and here’s what’s going to happen if you don’t do it…”

“It’s going to be fine,” Corin reassured her. She nodded absently.

“I just—” She bit her lip. “I just need time to make sure I do this right. Telling her everything.”

“And we will make sure you have as much time as you need.”

“It’s only until I can figure out how to tell her!” Oh god. She sounded panicked. She was panicking, sure, but sounding like it was even worse.

She took a deep breath, then another, and neither of them helped at all.

“I am going to tell her,” she said quickly. “I have to! Her grandson is a shifter! I just—how do you tell someone?”

“I am not the person to ask,” he reminded her with a wry grimace. “But we’ll handle this until you figure it out.”

Her stomach churned. She believed him. That wasn’t the problem.

She was the problem.

Magic and weird draconic traditions were one thing. She could handle those.

But telling her mom that she’d been hiding so much of her life from her, for so long, without hurting her?

It didn’t seem possible.

Felicity hurried the Dans away. Apollo reassured them that the call had gone out to everyone in town, warning them a human was incoming and to keep their magic on the down-low. And with every moment, Maya’s heart hurt more.

All her friends were coming together to support her.

To help her keep up her lie to her own mother.

“Only until you figure out how to tell her,” Corin reminded her. He was looking up the hill, to the long road that wound down into town. A single car was making its careful way down it, as slow as though it were stuck in traffic, not the only vehicle on a recently resurfaced road. “These past few days have been full of things outside your control. But you can take this on your own terms.”

Her own terms. Reliable, responsible, organized Maya Flores.

The lump in her throat got bigger.

The car stopped at the bottom of the hill, near the old Mackaby garage. The door opened, and a small, familiar figure got out. She looked along the street at the row of old-fashioned wooden buildings, then down at the paper in her hand, because of course she’d printed out the map instead of relying on her phone.

Her mom. In Hideaway Cove.

She took a deep breath.

“Mom!”

The little figure looked up. Could she really have heard her from this far away? Maya waved, and her mom waved back.

“Okay,” she said, half under her breath. “I can do this.”

Corin pressed a kiss to her head. “ We can do this.”

Her mom waited for them to walk along the waterfront. Was it Maya’s imagination, or did she brace herself just as they got within talking distance?

“Mom! What are you doing here?” Internally, she winced. Okay. Try that again, sounding less like you wish she WEREN’T here. “This is such an amazing surprise. I didn’t know you were planning to visit this soon!”

“Well, not so much planning, but it seemed like a good idea…” Her mother’s voice meandered off, as though she wasn’t convinced it had been such a great idea. She smiled anxiously at the others as they tried unsuccessfully not to hover at Maya’s shoulders. “I’m interrupting you and your friends?”

“Oh, not at all, this is—”

“We were just about to head off, but I’m so glad we caught you before we did!” Mrs. Blackburn introduced herself and the Dans and swept off, giving Maya a meaningful look as she did so. The meaningful look could have meant any of a thousand things, but she optimistically assumed it meant Igraine was going to keep the guys out of the way.

She bit back a sigh of relief. “And you remember Mr. Bla—Corin? Corin, this is my mother, Gabriela.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you at last,” Corin said, extending a hand.

Her mom took it tentatively. “And you as well,” she said politely. “Maya, sweetheart, I know this is unexpected…”

“Not at all!” She laughed, but it sounded kind of panicked, so she stopped. “Um. I mean, you were probably going to tell me, but this week has been…”

Life-changing. She exchanged a fleeting look of wonder with Corin, then got back to fretting.

“Did you stop to eat on the drive? We’ve got a great restaurant on the waterfront. We can stop off at mine to drop your bags and freshen up, then head out for dinner?”

Caro was experienced at keeping human visitors head-down in their meals so they didn’t see anything unusual. It would have been the perfect plan.

So of course Maya’s mom preferred to stay in.

Which was good, Maya told herself as Tomás ran ahead, pointing excitedly to his home. Her house was a controlled environment. She could limit the people around. She knew most of Tomás’s tricks he liked to play there.

But it was so messy.

“You seem very settled in,” Gabriela said, looking around. “It’s so much bigger than your apartment!”

“Well, you know, city living…” Three times the storage space and there are still piles of mess everywhere.

“Maya?”

“Mom?”

Her mom shook her head, her eyes warm. “It’s lovely.”

“It’s a mess ,” she groaned.

Gabriela laughed. “You think our house wasn’t a mess when you were Tomás’s age? Hah!” Her smile relaxed, and it was only then that Maya noticed the tight creases at the corners of her eyes and mouth.

Gabriela shook herself. “Now, where is the kitchen?”

“No, Mom, you’re not cooking for us when you just drove all this way—”

Maya showed her through the house, nursing new anxieties. What was her mother stressed about?

What had brought her all this way?

Maybe the chance to see her daughter and grandson again? she thought guiltily.

They left Corin and Tomás playing downstairs as Maya showed her mom around.

“Let’s get your bags up to my room,” she said. “I can sleep on the sofa, or Tomás’s room.”

“Actually … I was thinking I might stay in the bed-and-breakfast next door.”

Maya froze.

Something was definitely wrong.

“Sure,” she said lightly. “We’re, um, pretty busy at the moment, but let me call Mrs. H and see if she can put you up.”

Because Maya’s mom didn’t want to stay in her house.

Worst daughter worst daughter worst daughter , she thought to herself as she made the call. Technically, all the rooms were booked, but at least a couple of the guests had been unofficially sharing rooms the last night or two. Mrs. H promised to sort it out.

Maya sent out a silent apology to the contractors who were about to have a sweet little old lady knock on their door and suggest they shack up on a more permanent basis.

Corin mastered the microwave while they were upstairs. He pulled Maya aside for a moment when they came downstairs.

“Don’t worry about Tomás shifting. Leave him to me.”

Corin kept Tomás busy with very important jobs—carrying plates and plastic cups, solemnly handing Maya and Gabriela one random piece of cutlery at a time, all tasks that required him to stand upright and use his human hands. Gabriela fussed over him, and there was one thing Maya didn’t have to worry about. Tomás clearly remembered her. Of course, they’d kept up video calls since she moved here, but…

Corin put his hand over hers and smiled at her. She grimaced back. Was it that obvious how stressed she was?

Probably as obvious as the fact that something was bothering her mom, still. Even as she fussed over Tomás, Gabriela sat stiffly, as though she was uncomfortable in her own body. Had she hurt herself?

“Mom—” Maya began.

“He’s so good at feeding himself!” Gabriela said approvingly as Tomás directed a spoonful of beans directly into his own eyebrow. He cackled, head thrown back with delight, and the contrast with Gabriela’s uncomfortable stiffness couldn’t have been greater.

“There was something you wanted to talk with me about?” Maya asked.

“Y-yes.” Gabriela glanced at Corin. “Perhaps while I’m here … but I didn’t realize Maya had her old job back?”

The awkwardness levels rose. “I haven’t,” she said. “Mr. Blackburn—uh, Corin and I…”

Her mom’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh! Well, another reason for me not to throw you out of your own bed. That sofa isn’t big enough.”

“Mom!”

“I have my own place in town,” Corin said diplomatically.

“Aren’t the Dans staying there with your mom?” Maya reminded him.

“On second thoughts, I would take the sofa.”

Tomás began to wriggle. “‘Buelita wanna see…”

“Want to see what, sweet heart?”

His eyes glowed. “TREASURE.”

“Treasure?”

Shit. “You know, I think it’s way past bedtime,” Maya garbled, standing up.

“He can show me as we get ready, can’t he?” Gabriela stood, reaching for Tomás. “Does he still have a bath before bed? A bottle, or—”

She swayed and went pale.

“Excuse me,” she whispered, and fled.

Maya and Corin stared after her.

“I’ll take Tomás,” Corin said. She squeezed his hand in thanks and followed her mom.

Gabriela was in the garden at the back of the house.

“Mom?” Maya asked quietly. “Are you okay?”

Gabriela jumped. “Oh, sweetheart, I’m fine. Just a— hoo ,” she said, blowing out her cheeks and waving her hands to cool her face. “This heartburn! Yes, that’s it. My poor stomach is causing me so much grief these days.”

“I’ve got antacids, if you need them?”

“Oh, I have plenty in my purse. Don’t worry about me.”

How am I meant to NOT worry about you? Maya bit her lip. “Did you want to talk now?”

Her mom opened her mouth. For a moment, Maya thought she was about to reveal whatever was weighing on her.

Then—

“Tomorrow,” Gabriela said firmly. “Like you said, it’s been a long day, and I’m not feeling … my best. Let’s talk tomorrow.”

Maya bit back a sigh. But what could one more day hurt? “Okay. Tomorrow.”