Page 72 of Falling in Love with A Tiny Bat

Twenty-three and still trapped beneath the thumb of a toxic parent. I left the moment I could, with nothing but an overnight bag and the sick assurance nothing could happen that would be any worse than what I’d already experienced.

I told no one.

I just disappeared and started a new life as far away from them as I could.

CapyZahra: Can I get a plane ticket to you? I have room here. We can get you out of wherever you are and safe enough to figure out your next move from there.

DaniBird153: I…

DaniBird153: I don’t know. I don’t know how I’d get anywhere without her coming after me. She tracks everything. She’d know where I went, and then she’d come for you, too. I need to go somewhere no one can find me.

I know a place like that. A place with flowers taller than the houses and princes who take the time to send letters if they can’t make it to movie nights. I know a place where no one in this world will find her, but if Dani can’t actually see and hear the fae, being there in Faerie would drive her insane.

I need to figure that part out first.

Then I need to figure out how to get her there.

Or, is it not about getting herthere, as much as it’s about getting herthroughthere? If I can get her to a trod, I can take her far away from where she is without a trace that her mother can follow.

“Xios.” My voice cracks.

He looks up at me, worry pooling and crackling in his stormy eyes. “Yes?”

“How long can a human be in Faerie before they go insane?”

“Long enough. Why?”

“My friend needs help.”

CapyZahra: Where are you? I have a plan. But it’s a little crazy. And you’ll need to trust me.

The seconds tick by like minutes until, one by one, they stretch into a breathless hour filled with nothing but Alexios and I waiting, discussing, hoping.

Ash’s cry is what gets both Alexios and I out of my office, but even as I tend to my little boy, I’m staring at my phone.

Waiting.

And hoping.

For something that doesn’t come.

?

I am overreacting. I overreacted. Everything is fine, and I will enjoy being a rogue elf on this lovely LARP day. Who knows? Maybe I’ll even impale a castle guard and feel a little less…stuck.

It would not be the first time someone I’ve considered a close friend found me somewhat overbearing and stepped back. It’s a fault that has followed me my entire life. My mother raised me in the genericfemale caretakerway. Chuck a heaping helping of extrovert on that, and I’ve been scaring off friends with mylet me help younonsense for literal decades.

Everything is fine.

Dani is a grown woman.

And she will ask for help if she needs it.

I just hope her sudden silence isn’t because her mom took her phone again.

I wish I knew more about what was going on, exactly whatlevelof horrors she’s dealing with. Emotional demands? …physical demands?

The unknown is almost always the worst part.

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