Raven's Song

Mother Dearest

Tylor was asleep on the couch when I walked downstairs two days after the nightmare night. I'd spent that night in the hospital being tested and evaluated. Then I spent the next day at the station giving my story over and over until I didn't know which way was up. I hadn't seen him since we were in the cabin basement.

I stood over him. He lay with his arms folded across his chest, his face toward the back of the couch. A blanket was draped over him. Probably my father. He'd mentioned that Spencer and Tylor were going to stay at the house until a permanent solution was worked out. What that was, no one seemed to know. Tylor was too close to being a legal adult, but too far to take Spencer yet.

Spencer was sitting at the kitchen table with a notebook. He was a younger version of Tylor, only his hair was wavy. He gave me a tight smile when he glanced up before he looked back down at his notebook.

I crouched beside Tylor and smoothed the hair off his forehead. His hand shot out and caught my wrist as his eyes snapped open. I didn't move as he looked at me, trying to gain his bearings. Once he did, his grip loosened and he sighed softly. He sat up and stretched. I slid onto the couch next to him and wrapped my arms around his waist as he brought his arms around me tightly.

His head against mine, neither of us said anything for a long time. We watched the muted TV as characters of a sitcom moved around the screen. Dad had banned the news until everything settled down, but I wasn't supposed to be watching TV anyway with my concussion.

Spencer disappeared upstairs to the guest bedroom. It was even more silent without his pencil scratching on the paper. I closed my eyes, using Tylor's neck to block out the light. My dad had probably filled him in on everything. At least, I assumed he did because Tylor didn't ask me any questions.

"How are you?" I asked softly.

"I think," he said slowly, "that I now know what peace feels like."

"That's nice."

"It's temporary." I drew back to look at him. He was frowning at the TV. "None of it will end until my dad's entire operation is taken down. They're supposed to give me and Spencer full immunity from anything that comes out of it as long as we cooperate. Then we're free. And that, Kenna, is the most terrifying thought I've ever had."

He looked at me now. His eyes were lighter. His body wasn't bound tight. He looked like a seventeen-year-old boy. All of the weight, all of the expectations, of pleasing his father while keeping track of the lies he had told had been lifted. He could finally find out who he was.

"I'm happy for you," I said before I kissed him softly.

"I'm so sorry for everything, Kenna. I was trying to keep you safe. I still failed. I was trying to keep my plan as secret as I could, and if you knew, everything could have gone up in smoke. I only told Spencer in case something happened to me." The look of pain in his eyes caused my chest to tighten.

"It's a good thing you did," I told him. "And a good thing that I told Izzy where I was."

He nodded. "My little scrapper," he whispered. I forced a weak smile before he kissed me.

We drew apart when the front door opened. I blinked at the figure in it. Not at the light. In disbelief because I couldn't believe who I saw.

"Mom?"

The blonde-haired woman shut the door behind her and put her hand to her mouth. "Oh, Kenna."

I sat rigid as she walked over and sat on the arm of the couch, brushing my hair off my forehead. "Mom?"