Wayward: St. Croix Falls Book 1

by Melody Personette

  Mia pressed her lips together and nodded. “I’m still angry at you, but… you’re all I’ve got, and it wasn’t your idea to begin with. It was Rhett’s,” she whispered.

  Her mom nodded as they parted. “He was only doing what he thought was best for you.”

  Mia’s jaw clenched. “I don’t want to talk about him right now.”

  “Alright… how are you doing?”

  “I’m Ok. My head hurts a little and… I don’t know if I want to see anyone right now,” she said, rubbing her throbbing forehead.

  Her mom nodded. “Angie and Kai have wanted to see you, but I’ve told them to give you space. You can have as much time as you need. Why don’t I go get you some medicine for your head?”

  “That would be nice,” Mia murmured.

  “Alright, be right back.” Her mom left to go get medicine and while she did, Mia couldn’t resist getting out of bed and going to the window. She was still in her dress from last night as she pulled the curtain back and peered out, searching for a certain pair of green eyes staring back at her.

  Nothing.

  Frowning, Mia shut the curtains just as her mom reappeared. Mia took the medicine and then decided to shower and change. The beautiful gift from Cillian had been ruined last night, but Mia still set it down on the bathroom counter. She showered and changed, numb and unsure how to process the revelations from the night before. So, she was half Sidhe, her father was on the top of the Fae’s Most Wanted list. Not to mention apparently, she and Rhett used to sneak off to see each other years ago. They had already fallen in love before. Which now made their whole relationship way too complicated for her to even think about right now.

  She clutched the towel tighter around herself and swiped the mist from the mirror. Mia bit her lip when she saw her reflection. She was still her but… different. Unnatural looking. Her ears were pointed now. Not as sharply pointed as Rhett’s but definitely still not human. Her complexion was perfect and shimmery. Not a blemish or pimple in sight. It looked like she was wearing makeup, but she wasn’t. That was why it seemed so unnatural. No person should look this spotless and perfect, especially not after what she had gone through.

  Mia turned away from the mirror, unable to look at her reflection any longer. When she’d changed into a pair of sweats and a tank top, she headed downstairs to find her mother sitting in the kitchen. She tapped her fingers nervously against the side of her coffee cup as Mia entered but didn’t sit down.

  “How are you feeling?” she asked.

  “OK… Confused. I need to ask you something, and I need the truth.”

  Her mother nodded and patted the seat next to her. Mia grimaced but went to sit down by her. The information she wanted scared her half to death, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep at night or move on until she knew the truth.

  “Ryker talked about my father,” she whispered, staring down at the wood grain of the table. “That he upset some important people in Faerie, and they want to use me to draw him out. What’s all that about? Is he… is my dad a bad person?”

  She heard her mom suck in a sharp breath, but still didn’t have the courage to look at her. Mia traced the lines in the wood with a finger, waiting for her mom to answer. “Honey… it’s complicated.”

  “I have to know,” Mia whispered.

  “I know, I know… I had just hoped that with the barrier shut you would never have to deal with him again. That neither of us would ever have to see him again. Mia… will you look at me, please? I need to explain myself.”

  Mia tugged her gaze from the table to her mom where she found tears in her eyes. Her mom’s lips puckered in the way they did when she was trying to stop herself from crying. She raised her hand, cradling Mia’s cheek. “I was barely out of college when I met him,” she murmured, sadness in her gaze. “He was… the most beautiful man I had ever seen in my life. Impossibly charming and charismatic. So full of life and magic and wonder. He blew into my life and changed everything for me. From the moment I saw him, I knew I loved him and within two weeks of secret rendezvous and kisses, he told me he loved me so much. That he had never loved anyone else the way he loved me. What girl doesn’t want to hear that, you know?”

  She shrugged, a wistful smile on her lips. “That was when he told me his secret… That he was a Seelie Sidhe. A Fae. And I loved him more for it. He brought a magic and beauty into my life I had never had. I’ve told you how I grew up… The man my mother was married to before they divorced. It wasn’t a happy life Mia. So, when Lars appeared, I wanted what he promised. I wanted a fairytale, and that was what he gave me… for a little while. He never told me why he was in the human world, just that this place was safer for him at the moment.

  “It wasn’t until I was pregnant with you,” her wistful smile turned down into a frown. This time she couldn’t stop the tears from spilling over. “That I found out the truth. He was on the run. The Seelie guards had caught up to him. He asked me to come with him. To run away with him but… I couldn’t just leave my life behind. I’m human after all. Fragile and mortal. So, I said no. He left that night, and I never saw him again. When you were born, I moved us here. Knowing Lars had given me some friends in the Faerie realm, and they had told me this town would be a good place for you to grow up being half-Fae, half human.”

  Mia swallowed, afraid to ask her next question. “What… what did he do Mom?”

  Her mom closed her eyes and shook her head. “I never had the heart to ask, and no one ever told me. I didn’t want to know, and I didn’t want you involved in any of this. I’m sorry your father’s past is catching up to you.”

  She opened her eyes, another tear trailing down her cheek. “Can you forgive me for lying to you for so long? For keeping this from you?”

  Mia nodded without hesitation. She wasn’t sure she would have wanted to grow up knowing what sort of person her father had been. It was a shock but… Mia wouldn’t have wanted to have to live with his shadow and his mistakes over her shoulder her whole life. She pulled her mom into a hug. “Of course, I do. Thank you for telling me now. I needed to know.”

  “I love you so much Mia. I want you to know that everything I did, every choice I made since you were born was for you because I thought it would be best for you.”

  “I know. I love you too Mom.”

  They sat like that, hugging for a minute or two more before parting when there was a knock at the door. Her mother took a deep breath and swiped the tears away. “I’ll get it.”

  Mia nodded with a tight smile and watched her mom leave the kitchen and open the door. Angie bounced inside and glanced over her mom’s shoulder to Mia. “Oh my stars! Mia!” she exclaimed, running past her mom to the kitchen.

  Mia grinned as she got to her feet. Angie threw her arms around her. “I am so glad you’re OK. Kai and I have been so worried. Are you alright?” She pulled away to get a look at Mia’s face.

  Mia bit her lip. Angie had kept all this from her too and it would take some time for Mia to move past that, but she was still glad to have her best friend there. “Yeah I’m alright. Just a little upset about everything.”

  Angie’s face instantly fell, and tears brimmed in her eyes. “That wasn’t my idea, I swear Mia. The huge argument that ruined Rhett and my friendship? It was about whether to send you away or not. I was against, but he didn’t listen to me. He went and did it without telling me and then when you got back, I wanted to tell you so badly, but he convinced me that it would endanger you. I’m so sorry Mia,” she said again.

  Mia blinked several times trying to process her rant. “Wait… we were friends…before?”

  Angie nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah! I hope that’s not too weird, and I hope you can forgive me. I don’t expect you to right away but… I hope you know it was not my decision.”

  Mia couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “So, in other words you’re throwing Rhett under the bus.”

  “Um, yeah pretty much. He deserves it,” Angie said flicking
her hair over a shoulder.

  Mia grinned and shook her head. “It’s just going to take some time to get used to all this and everything… But I still want to be friends with you. I don’t think I couldn’t be friends with you.”

  Angie beamed and threw her arms around in her in a huge hug. “Thank the stars. I was so worried you were going to hate me forever.”

  Mia hugged her back. “Nah, I don’t hate you.”

  “Good. OK, so your mom said you need time to recover so I’ll let you go but I’ll come back tonight, and we can catch up and talk and I can tell you everything OK?”

  Mia smiled and nodded. “Sounds good.”

  “Awesome, I have to go call Kai and tell him you’re OK.” With one more hug, Angie rushed out of the door and back toward her house.

  Mia didn’t know what to do after that. Everything she’d ever known about her life had shattered within a single night. Her whole life had been a lie and Mia didn’t know how to deal with that. So… she didn’t. It was all too monumental. Too big for her to handle at the moment. Not to mention the prospects of an evil father in Faerie who only she could lure out. The mere thought of that, of him, made her brain want to explode.

  So, Mia did what she did best. She ran. She went upstairs, changed into her running clothes and left the house.

  Whatever Ryker had done to her seemed to have turned her energy dial up to a hundred. Mia didn’t pause to glance at Rhett’s house as she ran past it. She just kept going. Kept running and running. Whenever she felt her strength start to waver, she got a new burst of speed from a store of energy Mia had never had before. Ever since Ryker had unbound her magic, Mia had felt so aware. Abnormally aware. As if she’d been living with a blindfold on her whole life and suddenly it had been ripped away and she could finally see.

  By the time she came back around to the neighborhood, she was out of breath and sweaty and pretty sure she had just run a good ten miles, maybe more in a record amount of time.

  Mia ran every day for the next few days. Her mom let her skip school, which she appreciated. She wasn’t sure she was ready to face the student body now knowing that one of the reasons Rhett had wanted her to leave was because they had all wanted her dead.

  Chapter Thirty

  By the time Friday came around, Mia got done with a run and came home to her mom getting ready for the big opening of her bookstore. Despite everything that had happened, Mia didn’t want to miss that. So, she sprinted for the house and when she got inside, she found her mom in a nice floral dress, fussing with her hair in the hallway bathroom.

  “You don’t have to go if you don’t want. Cillian will be there,” her mom said, peeking her head out of the bathroom. “If it’s too awkward for you, I understand.”

  Mia shook her head. “I want to be there. I need something to get my mind off things…”

  “Alright, only if you’re sure.”

  “I am.” Mia ran up the stairs. After wiping her face off and redoing her makeup, she changed into a pair of shorts, and a dress thing that went down to almost her ankles in the back and went to her waist in the front. She slipped into a pair of flip flops and headed back downstairs.

  Her mom was waiting by the door, biting her lip. “You sure?” she asked.

  Mia nodded. “Yes. This is your big day. I want to be a part of it, and I’m not going to let what’s happened get in the way of that.”

  Her mom’s eyes brimmed with tears and she wrapped her in a hug. “I love you so much, you know that, right?”

  “Yeah,” Mia said, smiling as she hugged her back. “I love you too. Now let’s go open this bookstore.”

  ***

  The bookstore opening was a huge success. Mia almost forgot about what had happened last night. Cillian was there but it wasn’t as awkward as she thought it would be. She had questions for him that concerned her memories, but she could ask him those later. Today was her mom’s day. Angie and Kai showed up. Kai gave her a huge hug while also lugging in a massive box of books. Donations for her store he said. It made her mom’s whole day. Some friends of Angie’s and Cillian’s and apparently old friends of her mom’s from when they lived there ten years ago showed up. It was weird watching off to the side as her mom hugged old friends and chatted with them even though Mia had no recollection of them. She mostly just tried to stay out of the way.

  The store had turned out great, though. One of the walls was completely made of floor to ceiling bookshelves and more shelves lined the rest of the room, all full. There were comfy seats and tables set up near the back along with bean bag chairs and a love seat in the corner around a coffee table. Her mom had gone for an otherworldly vibe with crepe pink walls and fantastical pieces of art depicting wonderous worlds, fairies and beautiful sceneries.

  Mia watched from against a wall as Cillian and her mom talked with a green haired nymph near the front of the store. Angie and Kai giggled to each other by the wall of books as Angie flipped through the pages of one of them. New customers milled about the stacks. This was what her mom had wanted. Her dream and it had come true. Mia’s heart swelled with happiness for her mother and… even though nothing about her life had been what she thought it was, when she scanned the room, she felt like she was home.

  It didn’t make any sense because when she’d first arrived there all she had wanted was to go back to the city. She still loved the city, and she wasn’t sure if the small town life would ever quite suit her but… when she saw her mom laughing with Cillian, a hand on his shoulder and her two friends standing super close to each other and gazing into each other’s eyes as they smiled, Mia realized she’d never had this before. Well, she had, she just didn’t remember. All she remembered was having shallow friendships at school. Of kind of being the loner and never quite feeling like she fit in, like she belonged. But here, now? There was an undeniable knowing deep in her heart that this was where she’d always been meant to be. This was the place she had been searching for all her life.

  Mia chewed on her lower lip as she fished the bottle of homesickness potion from her purse. Since Cillian had given it to her Mia had been carrying it around with her everywhere. Maybe because she thought if she got desperate enough, felt horrible enough she could take it. But for some reason she couldn’t ever bring herself to. And now she realized she didn’t need it anymore. Yeah, she missed their apartment and the city and obliviousness of living her life away from St. Croix Falls but if they had never come back Mia would have lived the rest of her life with a pit in her stomach and the indistinguishable feeling that she was missing something.

  She walked to the back of the store where the trash can was and, staring down at the bottle one last time, she threw it in. Mia didn’t need it anymore. St. Croix Falls had been hard to adjust to, and it presented a whole lot of challenges and problems for Mia. She knew her future there was going to be rocky and full of lots more surprises if the past month had taught her anything but… she didn’t want to go back to living the life of an unknowing zombie. It hurt to know the truth, but Mia would rather feel betrayed than never have found out.

  Someone cleared their throat behind her. She spun around, her eyes widening when she found Rhett staring at her. His sunglasses were perched on his forehead, and he had his hands shoved into his pockets. He gave her a tentative smile, nodding at the garbage can. “You didn’t need that anyways,” he said.

  Mia scowled. “I don’t need you to tell me what I do or don’t need.”

  He flinched and nodded. “I deserve that…”

  Despite still being mad at him for lying to her, for doing this to her, Mia’s heart lurched at the sight of him. “What do you want?” she asked.

  Rhett’s forehead was etched with concern as he glanced over her. “You look good. How do you feel?”

  Mia shrugged, a none of your business on the tip of her tongue but then she realized what was the point of snapping at him? She was just being petty then. “Good,” she said instead. “Actually, really good. I’ve never
felt so… alive in my life and I feel different somehow. The last few days I think I’ve run faster than I’ve ever run before.”

  Rhett nodded. “When Ryker unbound you, he released your Sidhe side. It’ll all start to trickle back slowly in the next few weeks. And um, since I’m one of the only full blooded Sidhe around here and since Seelies and Unseelies share traits and abilities, you’re training will have to come from me.” He rushed on before Mia could say anything. “I know you probably want nothing to do with me and I understand. It’s my fault you’re in this situation. I know that. But… you don’t really have any other choice.”

  Mia nodded curtly. She didn’t really feel like being around him right now. He was a walking, talking reminder of a past life she knew nothing about. The person who had decided without her permission and without even telling Angie that the best thing for her was to wipe her memory and send her away. That was wrong on so many levels. But he was right. Mia didn’t have much of a choice. If powers did start to come back to her, she would need to get them in check. From behind Rhett she saw Ryker peeking through a window. Another reminder that she couldn’t ignore her Seelie side. He wouldn’t let her, and he had made that clear last night at the lake. One way or another Mia would have to open that portal for him and face a past she knew nothing about.

  “Ok,” she said at last. “When do we start?”

  To Be Continued…

  ~~~~

  Thank you so much for reading!! Sorry about that cliffhanger. ;) (Don’t worry, I’m working on book 2 as quickly as possible! Promise!!) If you’d like to be the first to hear about new books and updates, you can sign up for my newsletter at www.melodypersonette.com. You can also find all my books on Amazon.

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