Quest

Chapter 22

Hours later, my brain was still rolling over and over onto itself.

I felt numb.

"You ok?" my mom asked softly, bringing me back into focus. We had gone to a diner somewhere off a nearby highway, I didn't know where. Los Angeles had too many highways."Do you want me to explain it again?"

Explain it again. I wanted her to explain a lot. I should've been happy, thrilled. I had finally found my mother, she was alive. Not only was she alive, but apparently she had been leading some double life behind my back. And to make matters better, I still had all of my friends in one piece. Everything was great, at least on paper.

"We don't need to do this now," my mom said. "I know it's a lot."

That was the understatement of the century. "No, it's fine," I nodded at her and smiled to show that I was doing alright. "Just... just start at the beginning. I'm listening." That wasn't exactly true, but I still wanted to hear what she had to say. I had gotten the general beats the first time she tried to explain herself, but had sort of day dreamed through the details. I glanced up to Warner and Terra, who were looking on encouragingly. Neither of them had done much damage to their greasy diner food.

My mom took a deep breath. "I got into all of this because of your father," she smiled nostalgically. "I didn't know what I was doing when I met him, I was just waiting tables. I had some dreams, some things I thought I wanted to do, but none of them were real. Until I met him. He came into the restaurant I was working at, this handsome charmer. I know you don't remember him, but he was very handsome."

"I know, there's that picture."

She nodded. "Yes, that picture. You'll never know how much I wanted to tell you about him, but...." she trailed off, then cleared her throat. "So, he came into the restaurant and immediately caught my eye. I tried to ignore him, I was working after all, but he kept doing this tricks with his wand."

"He was a sorcerer?!" I asked. This was news to me.

"He was, and a good one," she responded. "Always flicking something around, even when he didn't need to. It worked, and then we were going steady within the month."

"I can't believe you never told me."

My mom smirked, but there was something sad behind it."He didn't have a job, but he said he was looking. It only took two months before I got the truth out of him. He fancied himself this adventurer, said he was looking for treasure or monsters or something. He wanted to see it all, your father. Looking back, I should've throught he was crazy. But instead I fell for him. He had so much energy, he never wanted to sit in the same place for too long.

"That's when you came along, and I made him settle down. I chose Blair because it was out of the way, quiet," she smiled softly. Small tears had formed down her face. "I knew he couldn't help himself. I would let him go on small trips while I stayed home with you. But then he found the great adventure he was looking for. He heard there was a demon out in the Appalachian Mountains, so he went to find it. He begged me to go with him, just like the old days. So I did. We got a babysitter and took a trip for the weekend. Just like the good old days... until we were ambushed on the second night. We went looking for a demon, but the demon found us. He teleported me before I could do anything, and that was the last I saw of him." She stopped, now overcome by her emotions. I had never seen her like this.

"Woah," Warner said quietly. My response was basically the same thing, but I was a little too blown back to make any words or sounds.

"I regret a lot," my mom said through tears. "I spent every year since he went missing looking for him, that's where I always was. I thought I could find the demon, find your father. I thought that would make it right. I thought I could give you that part of your life back. But instead I was taking so much more away."