“How is that possible if both your daughters do?”
Nora sighed. “I don’t know, Zadie. I don’t know how it works. Either you can believe that I’m just a normal person, or you can believe that I have eyes in the back of my head. Your choice.”
Zadie held Nora’s gaze for a moment longer before abruptly standing up from the table. “I’m reading Finn her bedtime story, then I’m going to cut holes in all of your hats,” she said with an impish grin.
Zadie was probably just bluffing, but Nora decided it would be best to hide her favorite hats just in case. But first she drained the water from the sink, headed to the living room, and switched on the TV (Law & Orderwas starting in ten minutes). Then she climbed the stairs to her bedroom.
Only she never made it to the top.
“It’s what I deserve,’ said Magnus aloud.”
Zadie was sitting cross-legged on Finn’s bed, the chapter book they’d spent the last few weeks reading open on her lap. Finn lay beside her sister, a starburst of black curls splayed across her pillow, her blanket so tightly tucked that she looked like a butterfly in a polka-dot chrysalis. Zadie imagined her emerging from it in the morning with huge spotted pink wings.
“‘After all, had he not chosen this life?’” she continued softly. “‘Growing up, he had always been a boy with his head in the clouds, so it was only fitting that he should end up here, a mile above civilization, invisible to everyone and yet unable to hide from the one person he truly despised: himself.’”
Finn whimpered in sympathy. Zadie turned to her sister, surprised. “You feel sorry for him?”
“He’s all alone up there on that mountain. He has no friends.”
“Yeah. Because hebetrayedall of them.”
Finn shrugged, loosening the blanket around her shoulders. “I still feel bad for him.”
Zadie was continually impressed by her sister’s capacity for empathy. Not even a murderous wizard was beyond absolution in her eyes. “That’s the end of the chapter. Do you want me to keep reading?”
“Nope,” Finn said, herppopping like a corn kernel. “I’m tired.”
“Okay. We’ll pick it up again tomorrow.” Zadie closed the book and sat it on Finn’s nightstand next to her fuzzy alarm clock.
“Hey, Zadie?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you think Mom is happy?”
The remark would have caught Zadie off guard if she hadn’t also been wondering this herself. Their mom hadn’t been smiling much lately, and when she did, it looked like wallpaper peeling at the edges. “Why? Do you think she’s not?”
Finn paused as if reconsidering. “Notunhappy, just… lonely, maybe. I dunno…”
“She’s not lonely,” Zadie said in a tone she hoped was reassuring. “She’s got us.”
“But what about the rest of her family?”
Nora never talked about her parents. Zadie didn’t even know if she had siblings or not. Their mother’s past was kept behind a locked door, and no matter how hard Zadie squinted, she had never been able to see anything but the vaguest of shadows through the keyhole. “I’m sure she’s fine.”
“Yeah…” The petals of Finn’s eyelids closed. “You’re probably right.”
Zadie waited until she felt her sister’s breath nestle into a slow,hibernating rhythm before carefully climbing off the bed and slipping into the hallway.
The lights were on in the living room at the end of the hall. Her mom was probably watchingLaw & Orderlike she usually did after Finn went to bed. Maybe if Zadie asked nicely, she could convince her to let her watch MTV for an hour. She turned the corner to find the TV on, but the room empty.
“Mom?” Zadie said. No answer. She made a beeline for the remote and was about to change the channel when she felt a chill on her bare leg. The windows were all closed, but somehow there was a draft. Zadie set down the remote and followed the current of cool air from the living room through the kitchen and into the mudroom, which was connected to the screened-in porch. The doors to the porch and the yard were both wide open, their unoiled hinges squeaking in the wind.
“Mom, why’s the back door open?” Zadie said, panic constricting her throat. Had someone broken in? She wheeled around to make sure there wasn’t a stranger lurking behind her. Realistically, she knew her mom had probably just left the door open to let in some fresh air and forgot to close it, but if that was the case, then where was she? Zadie stepped onto the porch and looked out at the yard. It was that time of evening right after the sun has gone down, when everything is tinted blue, like looking through a piece of cobalt glass. That’s why at first the figure Zadie thought she saw moving at the far end of their yard was nothing more than a trick of the light. It was only after a few seconds of squinting that she recognized her mom’s gait.
“Mom!” she called after her. “Where are you going?”
Nora must not have heard her, because she was swallowed by the jagged shadows of the trees. Zadie hesitated. She wanted to follow Nora. She wanted to know what could have possibly driven her out into the night without a word, but that would mean leaving Finn alone in the house. The most sensible thing she could do would be to go back inside, lock the doors, and watch TV until her momreturned. But Zadie was seventeen, and seventeen-year-olds are not always known for making sensible choices.