23

I stayed at the cottage for another day, while we prepared everything for when we had to leave. The dwarves helped. Angus was nice to me the whole time and understood what I was going through. I removed the buttons of my jacket and Christian cast a spell to turn them into actual clothes for the journey. I had to use all of the buttons. I was relieved I wouldn’t have to stay in one outfit the whole time. Sean made sure we had all the food and supplies we needed.

    All of the dwarves were concerned about Christian. They told me a lot of stories about how great he was. In these stories, it was obvious he brought a lot of joy to their lives because they talked about what they taught him, games they played, how they loved attending his concerts like my parents attended mine. Angus would take Christian and Sean on trips all the time. The dwarves always told Christian that he didn’t deserve what his parents did. Angus felt bad about what they did. He was relieved, but not surprised when the other dwarves loved Christian like a son.

    Angus and Milton asked me to tell them about my parents because they felt like I needed to talk about them.

    Christian scried and found out exactly where Mom was. In a kingdom on the other side of the forest.

    Sean was impatient to prepare everything, but I noticed after a few minutes that he wanted to help and make sure we would be as comfortable as possible.

    “Plan ahead just like I always do,” he told me and Christian. “So you would be prepared.”

    “He’s the practical one who keeps the house running,” Christian told me. “Jeremy reads a lot and he was the one who used to help me buy magic books until I was old enough to buy them myself.”

    I was glad the dwarves cared about both of us and I thanked them.

    During meals, Gideon made Christian and me laugh a lot because he was good at that.

    On my second night at the cottage, the dwarves ate in the dining room like always.“I want to talk to you in private, so how about we eat in the kitchen?” Christian asked me.

    “Okay.”

    I started talking about Eileen because I wanted to understand her and get some answers. I didn’t know Eileen had magic until I saw her mirror.

    “What happened with my parents was weird because they were doing so well,” I said. “They started fighting out of the blue. It didn’t seem normal. What if it was a spell?”

    “What makes you think it could have been?”

    “Eileen said she sent Mom somewhere else while she was talking to the mirror. I realized it could have been Eileen because she has magic.”

    “Other people have magic too,” Christian pointed out. “It doesn’t mean that it was Eileen.”

    “I agree, but she is the one who benefitted from my parents’ divorce, so she seems like the most likely suspect.”

    “Why couldn’t she have just married a man who was already single?”

    “Maybe she wanted a child.”

    “Why?”

    “Because she said this was the second time she had failed at being a mother. And she seemed even more interested in me than she was in Dad. She said she was picking up where she left off.”

    “What does that mean?” Christian asked.

    “It might mean since she failed the first time with her kids, she wanted another kid who was their age to try again. But she also liked Dad, which was why she chose him.”“You think she wanted to be with him?”

    “She seems to love him.”

    “This situation is weird.”