Page 26 of Tag
I clutched the dreamcatcher she’d made me the year before, the one with the turquoise beads and a single eagle feather.
She’d kissed my forehead and said,“Be strong. Like your name.”
I didn’t cry.
Not then.
I waited every day that summer, thinking she’d pull back up and scoop me into her arms.
She never did.
And eventually, I stopped believing in magic. I figured she must be dead. She never came home. And then the school turned me in because I didn’t have a mother, even though I was taking care of myself, I had a garden, and chickens I didn’t know anything else.
[End flashback]
“She abandoned me,” I whispered.
Tag moved across the room, kneeling in front of me. “Or she thought she was saving you.”
I looked into his eyes, searching for something—doubt, judgment, anything.
But all I found was understanding.
“You think she’s still the same person?” I asked.
He shook his head. “I think whoever she is now… you deserve to look her in the eye and find out.”
I stared at the rain.
Then I stood.
Grabbed my badge.
Strapped on my weapon.
“Let’s go,” I said.
Tag rose beside me. “You sure?”
“No,” I admitted. “But I’m ready.”
21
Tag
We were halfway to the shelter when Aponi pulled out her phone and stared at the screen like it might bite her.
“You going to call him?” I asked gently.
She didn’t look at me. “Yeah.”
She hit the number and lifted the phone to her ear.
“Faron,” she said when he picked up. “I need you.”
I couldn’t hear what he said, but her jaw tightened.
“It’s about her,” she said. “Mom.”
