Casey’s shoulders slumped. “Not knowing got me in a lot of trouble.”
“Trouble would have found you no matter what.” Her mother gazed out at the expansive lake before returning her eyes to Casey. “I actually believed I could shield you forever. That was my mistake. Putting too much faith in my ability to protect you.”
“It’s not all your fault.” Casey swallowed hard. It felt wrong being part of such a personal conversation, but Casey still held onto my hand for dear life. If she wanted me around, I wasn’t going anywhere.
“And you’re Toby?” Her mom stepped toward me.
I blinked in surprise. “How’d you know my name?”
“I make it my business to know who my daughters are spending their time with.” The line wasn’t an overt threat, but it wasn’t particularly friendly either.
Casey seemed to sense this and squeezed my hand. “Did you know who Vera was with when she was dating Murphy?”
Casey’s mom sighed. “I did everything in my power to stop it.”
“But you let her leave. Didn’t you? You let her leave.” Casey’s face reddened.
Her mom looked out at the lake again. “Everything I’ve done has been for a reason.”
Casey’s face softened. “Has anyone told you anything? Do you know what happened to me?”
Her mother shook her head. “No. I heard you were missing and I dropped everything to find you, but I can tell you have magic in you. You came to the right place.”
“Eric told me to come. He’s Marv’s nephew.”
Mom nodded. “I know. I’ve been keeping tabs the best I can, but things have gotten out of control. I’ll explain everything to you eventually, but for now we have to focus on getting you well.”
“And you have people on the island who can help?” I asked. “Someone trained to do this?”
“I’m not sure if trained is the right word. More like born to do it, but yes. Whatever has happened to Casey, we can fix it.”
Casey let out a deep breath. “They said Toby can’t come with me.”
“He can’t.” Casey’s mother said it so simply. “Only one foreigner can go at once.”
“And I’m a foreigner?” And just like that the soft expression was gone. She was back on alert.
Her mother turned back to us slowly. “As of now, yes.”
“I can’t do this alone.” Casey spoke so quietly, but her words said everything. She wasn’t one to admit she couldn’t do things.
I squeezed her hand. “Yes you can.”
She squeezed back so hard my hand hurt. “I don’t want to.”
“Well, that’s something altogether different. I don’t want you to go without me either.”
Her mother smiled. “There’s something there.” I waited for her to continue. “There’s something real between you.”
“Of course there is.” Casey stared her mother down. I didn’t know much about her relationship with her mother, but I was surprised by the animosity. Was it all stemming from the recent events?
Her mother took my free hand. The contact surprised me, but I didn’t pull my hand back. I needed her mom to like me. Whether Casey was annoyed at her or not, she was still her mom, and eventually she’d care about her opinion of me. “She will be in good hands. I won’t let anything happen to her.”
“I understand she’s your daughter, and you’d go to great lengths to protect her, but how can you guarantee her safety?”
“I can’t.”
“Meaning?” I tried to keep my cool, but I wasn’t okay with throwing Casey to the lions so to speak.
“I can’t guarantee anything. But then again, can you?” She looked me straight in the eye.
I shook my head. “No. But I’d risk my life to protect her.”
“I’d give my life ten times over for either of my daughters.” There was so much sadness behind the woman’s eyes. I couldn’t imagine how much she’d been through in her life, but at the moment the only thing I could worry about was protecting Casey.
“I need to do this.” Casey didn’t sound particularly confident, but it was better than her saying she couldn’t do it. “I need to find out if something is wrong with me.”
“Yes you do.” Her mother stepped forward and took Casey’s hand. “You can do this, and you’ll be back with Toby before you know it.”
“It’s not that I’m dependent on him.”
Her mother adjusted the strap of the backpack she was wearing. “I understand that, but relying on someone and finding strength in their presence doesn’t make you weak. Bear, Pteron, whatever you are, you still have a human side underneath everything else. And that side of you needs companionship. It needs love.”
I adjusted our hands. “And you’ve got both of those. I won’t go far.” I didn’t want to push her, but I had no choice. I knew that I had to let her go. At least I’d be able to fly to her quickly if necessary, and hopefully I was faster than any of the people who would try to shoot me down.
Casey held on to both my hand and her mother’s as she looked at me. “You don’t have to wait here for me. This might take a while.”
“You know I’m going to wait. I’ve spent too much time searching for you to just let you go. You’re lucky I’m letting you out of my sight at all.”
“How does that make me lucky?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I just hope you get back soon.”
“The sooner we leave, the sooner you’ll be with her again.” Her mom gave me a knowing look. Prolonging the inevitable wasn’t going to help anyone. “But I’ll give you two a few minutes alone.”
As soon as her mom walked away, I pulled Casey into a hug. “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”
“That’s not what you were saying a few minutes ago.”
“Because I don’t want either of us sounding weak in front of her. You can do this. The question is whether you want to.”
“No, the question is whether I have to.”
“We can find another way.” There had to be one.
“No. Georgina suggested this indirectly and my mom agrees.”
I rubbed her back gently. “I’ll be right here, waiting.”
“Thank you.”