Page 126 of A Fae in Finance
When we turned onto my street, I couldn’t steady my breathing. My house was halfway up the block, a two-story house with blue siding. It looked long and low from the front, with wings of windows on the first floor and a low sloping roof on the second.
I charged up the grassy slope of our lawn, ignoring the front path completely. I felt Sahir at my heels. We leapt up the flagstone steps to the front door, and I stopped, panting.
Sahir looked at me. I could feel the terror on my own face.
His jaw set. He knocked on the door, then grasped the brass handle, a spark of magic flying from his index finger into the lock.
He opened it. I didn’t breathe.
“Mrs. Geld?” Sahir called. “I bring you your daughter.”
Chapter 20
In Which a Family Reunion Occurs
I led Sahir inside, my heart still pounding in my ears.
Someone closed the front door behind us; I glanced back to see Gaheris and Lene. What I could see of Lene looked terrified, cowering against the inside of the door.
Our entryway was nearly pitch-black. The house had always been long and low and dark. As a child, I often tripped over shoes in the entryway, even with the dim, watery wall sconces on.
I took a deep breath, orienting myself. A wall of closets stretched away on our left, ending in a corner. The far wall held the pocket doors that separated us from the living space.
I kicked off my boots and gestured to the faeries to do the same.
Then I went to the pocket doors and pushed them open.
This was my grandmother’s house first; we’d moved in when she got sick and I’d grown up with her. My mother insisted that the house was the height of ’70s chic and had refused to redecorate for the past several decades.
The entryway opened directly into the TV. Not the TV room. The TV, which was a square box about half a foot across. On the left, a long, narrow, windowless hallway dwindled into darkness. On the right, a wide living room redolent with green couches and a wall of windows looking out onto a wide grassy lawn. Sahir pressed against my back, his right hand curling around my right arm. I shuffled us forward, so that we all stood next to the TV. The watery gray daylight barely reached under our eaves, so most of the light came from the kitchen, above and below the white saloon doors my grandma so deeply loved.
My mother burst out of the kitchen and stopped, a silhouette against the light.
My dad followed on her heels, bumping into her so they nearly tumbled forward.
We all stood still for a moment, caught up in shock as we stared at each other. I wondered if Gaheris’s hair was backlighting me, making it as difficult for them to see my face as it was for me to see theirs against the light from the kitchen.
“Hello,” Sahir said, using his grip on my arm to step in front of me.
I elbowed him in the ribs and pushed forward. “Mom,” I said. “Dad.”
We all stared at each other, their eyes the only bright points in their faces.
My dad reached out and flicked a light switch, illuminating everyone.
“Miriam Rachel Geld,whatare you wearing?” my mom asked.
I deflated.
“How are you here?” my dad asked, pushing past my mom and reaching for me.
I threw myself into his arms, and he held me so tightly I wheezed.
“I wasn’t trapped,” I whispered, feeling my eyes well up. I squeezed my eyes shut until the urge to cry evaporated.
My dad let go of me.
I felt my mother’s hand, tentative, on my back.
