Chapter 6
MICHAEL
As the humans would say, my father had one of the best poker faces around. And because of that skill he’d displayed my whole life, it had taught me how to hide my feelings and thoughts from him, also. I even knew a spell that would smooth out all the emotion from my face, and I had used it earlier when I’d first walked in on Monique and the two guys in bed.
In this moment, however, my father’s normally calm face... was not so calm. The sides of his lips twitched, and his eyes flared with a strange sort of yellow glow. I’d never seen that in my father’s eyes before. Strangely, he looked a lot like the wolves did when they got mad, or their emotion was heightened in some way.
Icy concern shot down my spine. He was messing with something dangerous, and likely uncontrollable. Just as my mother had done, so many years ago. She’d become unwell after my fifth birthday when, desiring immortality, she had played around with spells she should not have. She would have died if it wasn’t for my father’s intervention.
She’d never been the same, living like a shell of her former self, barely functioning and mostly robot-like. I could hardly remember what she’d been like, before the change. Ithinkshe was loving and kind, but maybe that was just something I was projecting as reality, because I’d always wanted a mother like that.
Was the magic Dad experimenting with aimed at saving my mother? Did I have the wrong end of this equation? Was he looking for a solution for her problem rather than aiming to increase his own powers for nefarious purposes?
I wasn’t sure yet, but I had to find out.
“Hello, Father.” I spoke calmly, inclining my head in the respectful way he’d taught me. “Were you looking for me?”
My dad’s eyes moved to the group behind me, then back again. “Yes, I was. Your mother asked to see you.”
“Of course.” I forced the smile to my face. “I can’t wait to see her.”
“Where were you all off to?” my father asked, nodding at Monique and the shifters.
I had my answer ready. “Just walking. Those animals get pretty stir-crazy when you keep them inside too long. You know, they’re not like us.”
My father nodded, though there was a barely concealed panic in his crazed eyes at the idea they might have been trying to get away.
I had to distract him, so I turned the focus around to my mother. I did want to see her. I’d worried about her while I was gone.
“Let’s go, Father. I’m sure Mom is getting anxious with you gone.”
That seemed to snap him out of his reverie. He turned on his heel and began marching back in the direction of his mansion.
I called back to Monique, “I’ll see you after dinner?”
She nodded. “Come for hot chocolate.”