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Is this how Zahra has felt for her entire life?
I pin a weak smile in place. “One of my students is from a single-parent household, so I invited him and his daughter to our Thanksgiving. I hope that’s all right?”
“Him?” My mother’s voice creeps from behind me, and I turn to come face-to-face with her. My mother is everything I am—except for our hair. The same brown eyes, slender frame, smile. Her head tilts. “There’s a him coming to dinner next Thursday?”
“And this is the first we’re hearing of it?” my father chides. “Aren’t we supposed to know about these things before it’s serious enough for meeting the parents?”
“It’s nothing like that.” I squash my brain’s depiction of Pollux down somewhere the light will never see it. “I just didn’t want them to be alone on the holiday.” I yawn. “I’m actually pretty tired, so I think I’m going to turn in.” And have a conniption in private. Like one does.
“It is pretty late for you to be getting home.” My father closes his reading glasses. “Do you not want dinner?”
“No, thank you. I got something earlier, then finished some stuff up at the school. I thought I texted. Sorry if I forgot.”
He hums. “That’s all right. I’m glad you made it home safe.”
“Is your student’s single father cute?” Mom asks.
I gasp. “Mother. Dad is right here.” And then I yawn again. For effect.
“Are you feeling well, honey? It’s very early for you to be going to bed.” Mom touches my forehead with her frozen fingers. “You’re very warm.”
I step back. “Actually, you’ve just teleported here from the arctic. I’m fine. Promise. It’s just been one of those long days.”
Concern fills Mom’s eyes, but she shifts her attention back to the single dad I’m inviting over. “Do we need to get a small turkey for your single father?”
For starters, he’s not my anything.
Backing down the hall, I clear my throat. “Um. No. They’re also vegetarian.”
“Marry him,” my father says, helpfully.
I let a dry laugh free. “Good night.” Tucking myself into my room, I find my sweet little Chai curled up on my pillow and sigh.
Vampire cat.
No, vampires aren’t real, and if they were, they’d be bats. Because they’re always bats, and I don’t want to talk or think about it. Period.
Chai stretches, coos, and comes half awake as I drop my purse in the chair at my desk. I slip out of my shoes. Once I’ve sat down on my bed, he happily bounds to me and bonks his head into my side. He’s floppily wiggling in my lap before I can hope to stop him. He doesn’t bite or scratch when I rub his little tummy. And he hasn’t bitten or scratched the entire time I’ve had him.
So if he is a vampire, logic demands he’s starving.
Where did Pollux even get a cat?
And why did he give it to me?
Andromeda probably would have loved a cat. Clearly, he bought food for it, so it makes no sense that I ended up with it.
Nothing makes sense.
My head hurts.
“Faeries aren’t real,” I whisper. I’ve grown up. I know better.
I…
Need to talk to Pollux.
So I get ready for bed, close my eyes, and dream.
