Page 24 of The Never Queen

Mom’s cottage sits at the end of Beech Lane, slightly set back from the street, nestled amongst several maple trees. In the summer, it has the perfect balance of sunlight and cooler afternoon shadows, and I can only imagine how it’ll look in the autumn, when all of the trees turn orange and yellow and burnt red.

If I dreamed of a fairytale life in the Tudor house, Mom’s cottage was the dream I had that felt close to reality. If she would just get a better job, if the new medicine would just cure her, if, if, if…

On the sidewalk, we come to a stop and scan the house and the yard beyond. The cottage has a cute little front porch edged in with white railings. There’s a pot of flowers at the top of the stone stairs. Gauzy white curtains hang in the front picture window and further back, a little lamp is on in the kitchen window.

Nothing seems amiss. But the house also seems empty.

We go in through the front door.

The living room is to the right, a small dining room to the left, converted into a library and reading room. Then through there, the kitchen and a mudroom where the laundry overlooks the back garden and a clothing line for nice summer days.

I find a half-empty mug of black tea on the kitchen counter. A few dishes in the sink. There’s a basket beside the microwave overflowing with Mom’s meds and a pill box tucked next to it.

The cottage smells of cinnamon and tea and recently burned vanilla candles.

It’s so homey, so cozy, it makes me want to cry.

I wanted this so badly as a child.

I wanted to feel warm and welcome and safe in my home. Instead we had empty rooms and hollowed halls and blood pressed into sigils and wards, drawn from my own back.

Why couldn’t this be mine with a mother that loved me and hugged me and told me everything was going to be all right?

“Win.” I can feel Vane at my back.

“I’m okay,” I tell him, but I’m not.

Why the hell is all of this bubbling up now?

What is the universe trying to tell me?

“The house is empty,” Bash says, joining Vane in the kitchen.

I turn, pressing my back into the counter. “She has to be here somewhere. Did you check the basement?”

Kas appears next to his twin. “Yes. Pan is out flying above to check the —”

The back door is thrown open, causing me to jump.

Pan appears in the semi-darkness, more shadow than man and his voice rings out. “Go! Run!”

11

WINNIE

There’s no time to question what’s happening. Vane grabs me by the arm and shoves me toward the front door. We spill out, the twins ahead of us, Vane and Pan behind us.

Except we’re quickly cut off.

A dozen figures are closing in on us.

Vane shoves me down as a baseball bat, or what looks like one, comes sailing toward my head. He catches it in the palm of his hand and holds on, yanking the attacker into him. Vane wrestles the weapon away and quickly turns it on the man, whacking him in the head. Down he goes.

I scramble back but a hand catches me by the hair and wrenches me toward the side yard.

Instinctively, I reach for the shadow…

…but nothing is there.