Persie Merlin and the Door to Nowhere by Bella Forrest Page 0,71

not to. More than that, I didn’t want to dump a new layer of stress onto my mom’s already packed plate.

I made sure to look into her hologram eyes. “Honestly, aside from the bats in the bathroom, I’m fine. But what about you? How are things at the SDC?”

“Busy,” my mom admitted. “I’ve got paperwork coming out of my eyeballs.”

“Did anything come of what Marius and Azar found?” I pressed a little more.

She smiled sadly. “You know I can’t talk about that, sweetheart. It’s all still under investigation, so it’s secret information.”

“No emerging patterns or anything? You can tell me that much, can’t you? I promise I won’t say anything.” I refused to stand down. This was part of my “failing better” mantra, and I’d keep at it until failure turned into success.

She tilted her head, thinking for a moment. “I suppose so.” She lowered her voice to a whisper, as if the forces that be were listening in. “As of yet, we haven’t been able to find any patterns. Magicals are vanishing from all over the US, so there’s no geographic pattern there. The returnees show up hundreds of miles, even states away from where they were taken, which muddies the waters a lot.”

I gave a humph of exasperation on her behalf. “And what about global disappearances? Do you think this might be a wider problem?” This was the question I’d been leading up to.

“We’re trying to dig into that, but there are always issues with international collaborations. A lot of jumping through hoops on both ends, so it’s a slow process.” Mom sighed. “Until the UCA agrees to hash out a deal, we can only track US disappearances.”

Crap! I probably shouldn’t have hoped for a simple solution. Even so, I had one more angle up my sleeve. “What if you reached out to a local coven? Would they be able to tell you about any disappearances?”

“I could, but they wouldn’t be under any obligation to share information.” My mom frowned. “Why do you ask? Is something going on? Are people going missing in Ireland?”

I kept up a calm façade. “I just thought it was strange that these disappearances cross so much distance, but are only happening in the US. What if it’s happening all over, and you just don’t know about it? Is there no way to kick the UCA in the butt?”

“I could take a hot poker with me next time I go to the head office.” My mom laughed, not understanding how infuriating this was for me. It wasn’t her fault; I hadn’t told her about the dire straits the Institute was in. Still, I could only muster half a snort at her joke. There needed to be another culprit so the pixies weren’t the ones in the firing line. And I just knew someone else was responsible for this.

“Or maybe a clown shoe?” I offered, trying to keep things light.

My mom smiled. “I forgot to ask, how did your first day of classes go? I’m sorry, Persie, my head is overflowing right now—I can barely remember what I had for breakfast.” She looked down sadly. “I guess I won’t be winning any Mom of the Year awards this year, huh?”

“I think you’re still in the running.” I didn’t want to see her downhearted. “And classes were fine—not much to tell. I’m still wrapping my head around physical training, but I really like the engineering. There’s so much to learn, and there are some super cool devices. I think that’s the class that’s going to help me the most.”

Mom’s face brightened. “That’s great! I’m so glad you’ve found a class you like already.” Her smile stretched wider, looking genuinely thrilled. “Engineering, eh? Is that where they make the puzzle boxes?”

“Yeah. They’re genius, and the craftsmanship is amazing.” I allowed myself a little geekery before signing off for the night. “I still like the Mason jars, but puzzle boxes are going to revolutionize monster capture once they’re available to covens.”

My phone pinged, a message from Genie flashing up on the screen. We still on for tonight? You said 11:30, right? X

I checked the clock on my home screen: 11:26pm. The clock had a habit of dragging along or speeding up when I was alone, and I still had a lot of work to do before I could sleep.

“I’m happy you’re settling in. Is there anything going on tonight? A movie, or a get-together?” Mom looked anxious. She’d always fussed over my lack of social interaction, thinking it