Page 133 of Scars Like Wings

After brief introductions to Simone and Maisie, all five of us headed inside. Seeing the manga series that Leah had been reading, I complimented it, starting a whole discussion of our favorite manga to read and anime to watch. Betty clung to Maisie and Simone, asking them both a ton of questions. I had to swallow a laugh when I saw her eyes almost fall from her head when Simone said she was a mermaid princess. For Maisie, her questions were all about witch-fae and her magic, as if her mom couldn’t answer the questions herself, which made Talli snort.

Inside, Talli directed us to take a seat at the breakfast nook. She used her coral magic to serve tea in an ornate teapot with mismatched tea cups and coffee cake on equally mismatched saucers. Even though I had watched her take the cake from theoven and slice it, the cake was already cool enough to eat. Oh, and it wasso good.

“My oh my, Byrdie-Bee! I can’t believe how long it’s been!” Talli sat down in the breakfast nook across from me. “How were you even able to find me?”

“Maisie here was able to locate you using the grimoire.”

“Ah!” Talli looked from me to Maisie with the same warm smile and twinkle of pride in her eyes. “I knew as soon as you arrived that you were a fitch. And quite a powerful one at that! Using a locator spell on me without me noticing is no easy feat. I’m impressed?—”

“Holy crap, can you teach me how to do that?” Leah turned to ask Maisie. “It’s like Momma has eyes everywhere sometimes.”

“I don’t have to have any of that. I just know my kids because I was a teenager once, too.” Talli snorted. Leah rolled her eyes.

“Have you been so close to Blackbell the whole time since Pops and Max’s services?” I asked.

“More or less.” Talli shrugged one shoulder, reminding me of Quinn. She was super busy with work, so we hadn’t been able to talk a lot today.

Before I could really think of how much I missed my girlfriend, Talli continued talking about her life in a quick brief. She had settled down to be devoted to her own family. She didn’t travel as much for her work outside of going into Blackbell or nearby cities for those she knew who absolutely needed her help. While her husband was a fire elemental and traveled the country as a First Responder for months at a time, Talli homeschooled her girls, teaching them the basics as well as how to control their magic. Her life had both slowed down and maintained the same speed while caring for her twelve-year-old and six-and-three-quarters-year-old. Her life did seem peaceful and calm now.

“So, how have you been? I want to hear everything!” She eagerly asked when she finished.

I smiled, launching into how me and Uncle Everett had moved to Blackbell and had a condo there in the Southern District. I talked about Everett: how he was doing, what he was up to now, what his boyfriend was like, and how fun it was to live with him. I talked about my life: what college was like for my bachelors and masters degrees, what work was like as the Archive Library Manager, my lack of a love life but my abundance in friends. The entire time, Talli’s eyes were a glow with interest in the conversation. It was lighthearted and shallow, like old friends reuniting. But the deeper, heavier questions lapped at our feet like a rising tide. I had no idea how to tip-toe into the waters of it all.

“Oh, Byrd!” Talli beamed. “That is all so wonderful and amazing. Your mom would be so proud of you. I just know she would have had that sparkle in her eyes.”

I looked down to the table as I felt warmth surface within me, the same feeling I always got at the mention of my mom and how she would feel about me now. Mom was taken from me so early. I’m so different from how I was when she was alive. Still, she built a foundation. I am who I am because of her. Every decision I’d made and who I was a person was because of her raising me. I’m doing everything she would want me to do. Be independent. Take care of myself. Most of all, be happy. I knew she would be proud of the success that I had gotten all on my own. But there was something about hearing others who knew her say it out loud. I smiled. “Thank you so much.”

“Oh, my gods, I guess I will just freaking do it!” Leah mumbled under her breath next to me, slamming her fork down. “How on earth do you two know each other? Like, who even are you, Byrd? Why didn’t Momma even know you when you first got here? Why hasn’t she ever talked about you? Like, what in the hell is going on?”

“Leah Marie Walsh, you have the tact of a bull in a china shop.” Talli shook her head.

“I’m sorry! I have so many questions!”

“Yes, but there are better ways to ask them.” Talli leveled her daughter with a look before softening it. “But I know you have questions and you are owed answers. Byrd is, too.”

Talli took a sip of her tea and put it down in its saucer. She started speaking to Leah. “So, I want to start by apologizing to you both and Betty as well. None of you deserved to be in this situation, even if it was done at the time to protect all of you—even before some of you existed. I know it doesn’t make sense now, but all anyone who made these choices for you was your safety and your ability to find happiness in that safety. We wanted you to be able to make the choice to know the truth once the worst was over.”

“What do you mean, Talli? What are you saying?” I asked.

“I suppose I’m getting ahead of myself, aren’t I? Okay, let’s start at the beginning.” Talli leaned back away from the table. She inhaled deeply before exhaling.

Talli maintained eye contact with her oldest daughter as she started. “I’m one of the rare witch-fae who have always known they were one and were raised in a happy home that supported my nature. I learned the basics quickly and moved on to other spells. I found my calling early, helping rare shifters who needed protection that only my magic could provide. I made a living off of it, but it had to be underground to work. Yet, word spread throughout the supernatural community. That’s how I met your mother, Byrdie, her hearing about my services and requesting I make the very necklace you are wearing now.”

“Wait, you made this?” I asked, reaching for the obsidian pendant resting on my sweater. “I always thought that it was a family heirloom or something.”

“Doe requested I make the necklace right before she moved to Blackbell after her mom had passed away. The very stone within it was made from her lava powers and imbued with my magic.”

“Do you remember why she wanted it? What the purpose of it was?”

Talli looked just past me, squinting as if she was trying to figure something out in her mind. When she wasn’t able to after a few moments, she shook her head. “I don’t remember it, I’m afraid. I believe it had something to do with what she was. Doe was a shifter. Even though I don’t remember what sort of shifter she was, I do remember that necklace serving as a door. It could contain, release, or even be a signal of something. What exactly, I cannot say.”

“So, you met her mom,” Leah said, chewing her cake. “Then what? How did you end up getting so close to her?”

“Oh, if you had met Doe, you would know.” Talli smiled nostalgically. I nodded in agreement. “Doe had this magnetic presence about her. You just wanted to be in her orbit to hear her next joke or see her next outfit or justbearound her. She was just incredible. After I made her necklace, we stayed connected. I was a bridesmaid at her wedding, was there throughout her whole pregnancy with Byrd, and visited the family regularly as I traveled for work. She even asked me to be one of Byrd’s godparents, which I wholeheartedly accepted. My relationship with Doe’s husband, daughter, Max, and Everett all were formed because of her, but they were able to blossom because I enjoyed everyone’s company. Of all my customers, Doe and her family were my favorite. Going to visit them all wasn’t a job. It was just like going to check-in with family for me just to see how everyone’s doing. Those were some of the best times of my life.”

Talli shook her head. “Then Doe was murdered.”

“Murdered?!” Leah and Betty exclaimed at the same time.

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