Lily couldn't miss this chance. She had to do it. The steady
'Mom?' Lily said. 'I have something to tell you. Grandpa had a secret....'
Mom raised her head. She looked like a porcelain doll about to shatter. Her tears had left crisscrossing streaks on her cheeks like tiny fissures.
Taking a deep breath, Lily told her the truth.
As she talked, Mom's eyes widened and her mouth opened into an O. Her hands fell away from Grandpa's.
Finally, Lily ran out of words. Silently, Mom stared at her.
'Are you ... okay?' Lily asked.
Mom looked back at Grandpa. She picked up his hand again and held it.
'This is why he bought us to Reunions,' Lily said. 'So that I could learn how to take you home.'
Mom leaned over the hospital bed and kissed Grandpa's cheek. 'No,' she said softly and firmly.
Lily blinked. 'What do you mean, no? No to which?'
'My place is here,' Mom said, 'with my father.'
'Mom, he's not ...' Lily faltered.
Mom smiled faintly. 'Of course he is,' she said. 'He is my family, even if we don't share blood. Or chlorophyll.'
Lily winced. For the first time, she couldn't read Mom. She couldn't tell if she was bitter or amused. She merely sounded calm and certain. 'But you've said it yourself: Every day, you slip away more.'
'I won't leave him,' Mom said.
Shaking her head, Lily opened her mouth to object again.
Mom laid a light hand on her arm. 'No, Lily.'
Lily thought of a dozen arguments and discarded each one. Mom wasn't stubborn often, but when she was ... Grandpa had once compared her to a tree, happily bending whenever the breeze wanted her to but sticking in place when it mattered. Lily wished she could hate him for saying things like that. 'You don't even seem surprised,' Lily said.
Mom cocked her head and looked as if she was considering her level of surprise. 'It makes sense,' she said finally.
Lily gaped at her. She was joking, right?
'Once, I took extra medicine,' Mom said. 'Not intentionally. I forgot that I'd already taken it. Every flower in our apartment bloomed. The roses, they danced.' Her eyes began to shine. 'The morning glories, they sang as beautifully as their name. And the herbs border ... the apartment smelled of basil and rosemary for days. You asked me what I'd cooked; I said that I couldn't remember. I thought I had imagined it all.'
Lily didn't know what to say.
Mom almost smiled. 'It is nice to know that I'm not quite as crazy as you thought, isn't it? I think it's nice.' She turned back to Grandpa and patted his hand. 'You had your reasons for your secrets, I'm sure. You can tell me when you wake. I'll be here.'
'Mom ...'
She repeated, this time to Lily, 'I'll be here.'
CHAPTER Eleven
In the club cafeteria, Lily fetched a cup and filled it with Sprite. She watched the bubbles froth and tried not to think too hard about Grandpa upstairs hooked up to IVs and monitors. Jake approached her. He handed her a lid and straw.
'I heard,' Jake said. 'I'm sorry.'
'He'll wake up,' Lily said. 'He's strong. He runs half marathons on weekends. For fun. With no one chasing him.' She tried to fit the lid over her cup. It popped up, and soda spilled over her hand. She stared at it and suddenly felt like crying. She blinked hard. 'He'll wake up, and he'll ask me why I didn't help my mother.' She watched a tear drop into the soda. 'The dryads could help her. They may have some kind of cure. But she won't go with me, even if it's what Grandpa would want....' She sucked in air and blinked faster, forcing herself to quit crying before she really started. It wouldn't help Grandpa for her to fall apart. She met Jake's eyes. 'I can't force her to go. She's my mother. But I can't wait here while she gets worse and while Grandpa ... I can't do nothing.'
Jake looked as if he was considering how to answer. Or how to flee. He probably hadn't expected her to unload when all he'd done was hand her a straw. 'Does she need to go herself?' he asked. 'I mean, if there's a cure, maybe it's something you can bring back to her?'
Lily gawked at him. Of course! That was perfect! 'Brilliant,' she said.
His cheeks tinted pink. 'I could go with you,' he said. 'I ... owe you.'
'You don't owe me,' she said. 'I understand. Your parents ...'
'... were heroes,' he finished. 'They fought the dragon when they could have run. They saved a woman and her baby when they could have saved themselves. Least I can do is behave like a knight.'
She studied him for a moment. 'Okay. Let's go.'
He nodded and straightened his shoulders, looking like a soldier about to march. 'Are you ready now, or do you want to tell your mother?'
'Fifty percent odds that she won't remember,' Lily said. 'And if she does, she'll only worry. Or hope. Better to go now, find the dryads, ask for their help, and then be back with whatever brain-hiccup cure they have before Grandpa opens his eyes.'
Jake nodded.
Lily set the full soda on the table, and they walked out of the club cafeteria and through the main room. The Old Boys positioned on the couches watched them, but no one seemed interested in stopping them. They walked out the door and down the path to the sidewalk. Lily looked back at the second-floor windows. Mom and Grandpa were safe for now. Being with them wouldn't change anything; returning with a cure could change everything. And maybe it would make up for her idiocy at Forbes.
Lily picked up her pace, and Jake matched her. By the third street lamp, her knees buckled. She grabbed Jake's elbow as the sidewalk undulated in front of her.
He propped her up. 'Lily, are you all right?'
She knew this feeling. 'I think ... I need the gate.'
Jake wrapped an arm around her waist. 'Lean on me,' he instructed. Together, they walked to Nassau Hall. They stopped in front of FitzRandolph Gate. Looking up at the stone eagles, Jake said, 'This will work, right?'
'Sure,' she said. She had no idea. But they'd know in a few seconds.
'So many times I've walked past this gate. ... Now, to stand here, about to cross through ... Intellectually, I know what waits for us, but to actually experience it ...'
'Whoa,' Jake breathed. He spun in a circle, looking in every direction. 'Even the air feels different. Heavy, like it's about to rain.'
She took a deep breath. The air tasted wonderful. As she continued to breathe in, she felt tingling on her skin like light fingernails dancing over goose bumps—the now familiar feel of magic.
'You bring a human here,' a metallic voice said above them.
Jake tensed. 'Run,' he instructed Lily.
'You must see the council,' the eagle said.
The second eagle pushed off his pillar and soared into the air. Jake yanked Lily toward the forest. 'Go,' Jake said. 'I'll cover you.' With a screech, the eagle dove straight toward them. Jake tensed, ready to lunge at the bird.
