The Other Fairy

Ch. 23

Once we had finished eating dad gave mom and I a kiss before he left to start working on the specialist side of the school. He needed to see how much damage Andreas had done. I decided to stick with mom shifting off her desk and onto the chair dad had vacated.

"Why do you have so much paperwork?" I asked my eyes looking at the stack. She sighed rubbing her face before looking over at me.

"Rosalind did no paperwork at all so I have to do it all plus the normal amount," she said in frustration. "On top of that Rosalind may make a problem in the future so I need to figure out what to do with that."

"Can I help?" I asked eyeing the papers distastefully but honestly hoping she would let me. My mother just stared at me with her dark eyes for a moment before she grabbed a pile.

"I need these letters sent to parents about the Rosalind situation," she told me as I grabbed the thick stack.

"Are the addresses stored somewhere?" I asked as she motioned to the room just outside of her office. "Okay, I got it." I said getting to my feet exiting her office. I sat at the desk opening the filing cabinet pulling out the list of student addresses. I shoved one letter into each envelope before I went down the list writing the addresses on the front. I wasn't sure how long I had been stuffing envelopes but I was interrupted by a cough. I glanced up finding my dad with his hands full with a pizza.

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" He asked as I shrugged getting to my feet.

"Not really," I muttered grabbing the pizza.

"You and your mother really need a break," he mumbled as I laughed heading into mom's office.

"Dad thinks we have a problem," I said teasingly as I set the pizza box on the coffee table pulling out a piece.

"And what would that be?" She asked not looking up from what she was reading.

"We seem to have missed dinner," I stated with a roll of my eyes.

"The school won't run itself," she said flatly as I giggled. My father rolled his eyes at her but didn't say anything as he sat beside me.

"Well will you both at least sleep soon?" He asked as I groaned dramatically. My mother peaked over at me with a playful glimmer in her eyes.

"If I must," I said with a pout before I continued to eat the pizza. "Tell you what, after I finish the letters I'll call it a night."

"How many letters do you have left?" He asked as I shrugged. I hadn't been counting I just knew what person I ended with. He sighed giving me a pointed look. "Just like Farah you are." I grinned as did my mother at his comment.

"Hard to argue with perfection," I said with a smirk getting to my feet. "Now, I'm going back to work." I muttered before exiting the office again and sitting at the desk. As I worked my mind stayed off the darkness that had been plaguing me. I loved the distraction provided by working and understood why my mother worked as hard as she did. It was calming, not as calming as channeling in the stone circle but relaxing nonetheless.

When I scribbled down the final address I returned to my mother's office. She looked exhausted and yet she kept working. My eyes looked at the clock and saw it was almost one in the morning.

"Mom," I called out tentatively. "Maybe you should rest."

"You sound like Saul," she sighed her dark eyes drifting up to look at me.

"I hate that we have to sleep but neither of us will be useful if we pass out," I told her as she set her pen down reluctantly.

"Alright," she said getting up. I smiled softly at her looping my arm through hers. "I assume you are sneaking back into your dorm?"