Page 11

She smelt exactly as I remembered, like the lavender soap she insisted on making herself because the stuff in the shops was too expensive.

“Mum, what is happening?”

She looked into my eyes. “I do not know. But we will solve it, my sweetling.”

“Elowen…”

I turned towards the voice and found my father. Cedric. But he looked nothing like the skinny man who had drunk himself to death. He looked… healthy. I stepped back from Mum, looked between them, and shook my head as tears ran down my face.

“Am I dead?”

“Elowen—” a man beside Cedric began.

“Are you a ghost as well?” I whispered.

He looked confused, and Mum linked her arm through mine. “Sweetling, why don’t we go back to your rooms?”

She guided me through the long corridors, now empty. Did they all disappear? Just like that?

“Are they alive, then? Is that why they’re not here?”

“Who, my sweetling?”

“Ivy and Nora.”

Mum stiffened before relaxing again. “They are well. They are in their rooms. Nothing has happened to them.”

“I don’t understand. What is happening? Is it just me, then? Did I die? Was it a car?”

“Cedric?” Mum said.

“I’ve already sent for Mireya,” my father replied.

He and the other two men followed us back to the room where I’d woken up.

“Why don’t you go to your nest, my sweetling? Whatever this is, we will make it better.”

Mum gently helped me into bed and even tucked me in. I was too shocked to do anything but let her, just as I had when I was little. She was here, as sweet and beautiful as ever, and a shaky breath escaped me when she stroked my hair.

“Sweetling… what are you wearing?”

I stared at her. “A dress from TK Maxx. It was in the clearance section. Do you like it?”

She looked confused. But Mum loves TK Maxx.

“I see.”

One of the men with Father stepped closer, but she lifted a hand, and he stepped back.

“And your scent. Have you taken suppressants, sweetling? I cannot scent your Omega pheromones at all.”

She looked at me as though she understood something, but I had no idea what.

“It’s all right if you have. I know this past year has been difficult for you. It is normal to…”

I frowned, waiting for her to finish. What is she talking about?

“…experiment with certain things. But if you have taken something, we should know so we can deal with any possible side effects.” She stroked my face. “We will not be angry. No matter what.”