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“Does that mean we’ll lose our place here?”
Papa shakes his head. “I’ve been told we can stay on. The grounds and tower will still need upkeep, which we will continue to manage…” A weak grin tugs at the corner of his mouth. “Don’t worry, sweet girl. It won’t make much of a difference to us. If anything, it will give me more free time to spend with you.”
I shake my head. “I’m not worried, Papa. On the contrary, it sounds exciting—modernization here at the lighthouse. And what a lucky coincidence that you just happen to be summoned to the mainland on the very day I turn eighteen!”
Papa regards me with a curious frown. “A lucky coincidence?”
“Yes! Because it’s a special birthday, isn’t it? I mean, in the Otherworld, eighteen is the beginning of adulthood. It means I’m older and wiser and…” I clasp my hands together in my lap, my chin tipped up with confidence. “Well, the truth is, I was planning to ask you to take me to the Otherworld. For my birthday. But I was worried it might be a bother. And now—” I laugh, a giddy rush of excitement flurrying through me. “Well, now I don’t have to worry about that at all because you need to go to the Otherworld anyway, and—”
“Orca.” Papa’s voice is quiet, but firm enough to stop me mid-sentence. The sorrow in his eyes is outmatched only by his unwavering resolve. “You won’t be coming with me to the mainland. Not this time.”
My heart sinks. “Why not?”
“Because I need you to stay here, to keep the light and look after things. And take care of Lucius, of course.”
At the sound of his name, Lucius trots over and pushes his head into Papa’s lap.
“Lucius could come, too,” I offer, though I only half-expect him to take this suggestion seriously. I lean over the edge of the table to say, “Would you like to see the Otherworld, Lucius? I know I would—”
“No, Orca.” Papa gives me a stern look from across the table. “I need you to stay here. I trust you to take care of things; it’s no small task. Do you think you can handle it?”
“Of course I can handle it, Papa. But I wouldn’t be any bother if I did come with you. And I’m sure the lighthouse would be fine for a day without us.”
“I’ll be gone for more than a day,” Papa returns decidedly, those first three words burning me like a bee sting.
I’ll be gone.
“How long do you suppose it will take?”
Papa sighs, rubbing his beard. “I hope no more than three days.”
“Three days?”
“These government matters can take time. I don’t like it any more than you do, Orca. But I promise I will return to you as soon as possible.”
My gaze drifts down to the cracks in the old kitchen table. I know every line and scratch, exactly how it got there. This one from the bread knife I dropped a few weeks ago. This one from the year I learned to write the alphabet and accidentally scrawled past the edge of the page. This one from Lucius’s claws, attempting to steal a cooling pie before I wrestled him to the floor.
Eighteen years I have sat at this kitchen table and looked across at Papa’s sweet, familiar face.
Six thousand, five hundred and seventy days.
Perhaps I was foolish to hope, to wait, to expect that one of those days would be the day.
The day Papa told me I was old enough, strong enough, wise enough to go to the Otherworld with him.
I swallow the pang of disappointment knotted in my throat and manage to ask, “When are you leaving?”
“A boat will come for me first thing in the morning,” Papa says. “I hate to leave you like this, my sweet girl. But you’ll be strong for me, won’t you?”
I nod, proving it now—if only to myself—as I blink back the stinging tears. “Of course, Papa.”
* * *
“It’s not fair,” I grumble, trudging down the flagstone path to the greenhouse, my harvesting basket slung over my shoulders and Lucius trotting at my side. “My whole life, I’ve been asking Papa to take me. Now, the perfect opportunity arrives and what do you know? I can’t go with him. Even you have seen more of the Otherworld than I have, Lucius.”
He sneezes with an air of smugness.
“Well, you don’t have to rub my nose in it.”
